(IJCH) Something To Ponder - These Three Simple, but Profound Questions Save a lot of Our Precious Time
(IJCH) Something To Ponder - These Three Simple, but Profound Questions Save a lot of Our Precious Time
IJCH - Inside JaiChai's Head (Meaning: My Warped, Personal Opinions and Musings)
From the Author:
Salutations.
I am JaiChai.
And if I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you before, I'm delighted to make your acquaintance now.
I invite you to interact with everyone, learn, and have as much fun as possible!
For my returning online friends, "It's always great to see you again!"
In this post I present three simple, but profound questions we can ask ourselves that, in the long run, will save a Hell of a lot of our precious time.
First we must consider what time-wasters are and their impact on our lives.
Leeches of Our Personal Time
Let's face it.
All of us waste much of our lives attending to things that do not help us or our loved ones whatsoever.
How many times has each of us thought back at how we spent our time and said to ourselves, "That was so stupid. Why did I waste my time on that bullsh*t?!"
The answer is quite simple, but few people know it:
The biggest reason why people lament spending time and effort on something that yields absolutely nothing - totally fruitless - is because they don't consciously choose what to pay attention to. - JaiChai
The main culprits that steal our time are what I call "Time Leeches".
They literally suck the life blood out of you and me.
These Leeches are totally non-life enhancing activities and eat up enormous portions of our lives.
- They are not aligned with our personal beliefs.
- They do not contribute to our life goals.
- They do not bolster our capabilities to help ourselves and significant people in our lives.
But how do we decide which of all life's stimuli are important or merely frivolous distractions?
How do we prevent succumbing to them?
How do we "filter out the noise"?
Simple.
It's called making a habit of exercising our "Conscious Choice"; instead of instantly allowing all external stimuli (significant or otherwise) to dictate how we spend our time.
It leads to building our ability to "respond", rather than "react".
Barring those rare, urgent and extreme emergencies that must be acted upon immediately, consciously choosing what to attend to filters out the obvious (or camouflaged) Time Leeches in our lives.
What can we do to help us make that all-important "Conscious Choice"?
Read on.
"Three Simple, but Profound Questions Save a lot of Our Precious Time"
Let me explain how three simple questions can quickly help us decide if something is truly worth our time.
So What?
Ask yourself, "So What?"
If the answer to this question shows that it [whatever issue that we may spend further time on] has no impact whatsoever on our lives and does not pique our interests in the least, we can bet it's a Time Leech.
There really is no reason that obligates us to continue.
But what if the answer tells us that it will affect our lives sooner or later, or that we find it interesting and may want to explore it further?
Then it's time to ask Question #2.
Question #2
The answer to this question deals with who else thinks it successfully answered Question #1 and gives us a better picture of the scope of its impact.
How many people agree or disagree with our assessment?
What do the experts in the field think?
If we now think that it's currently a road to nowhere, again, we have no obligation to continue.
But what if we believe that "we are the lone sane voice among the ignorant masses" and are dead set on enlightening them?
On the other hand, what if others agree that the impact warrants action?
Then it's time to ask Question #3.
Question #3
And Then?
What are you gon'na do now?
Here is where the rubber meets the road.
If it successfully passes our requirements of Questions #1 and #2, what can we really do about it now?
A thing that will not change no matter what - or how people debate its flaws and merits - is called "Reality".
Best to accept it or run the risk of wasting a buttload of precious life on a moot point.
And the "opportunity costs" - the value lost if we spent our time on things we can change - is incalculable.
Of course, if we have the ability, resources, and most importantly, the will to act, at least we now know that we're not wasting those precious moments of time (that accumulates into an individual, unknown final tally) called "Life".
Most of the time (at least for me), when presented with a so-called "important issue" that doesn't meet all the above criteria, I simply walk away...
Parting Shot
By JaiChai
Really Appreciate You Stopping By.
Truly hope to see you again!
And if you liked my post, kindly Upvote, Comment, Follow, and ReSteem.
(This above post is an updated version of: https://steemit.com/philosophy/@jaichai/ijch-something-to-ponder-these-three-simple-but-profound-questions-will-save-a-lot-of-our-precious-time)
About the Author
Believing that school was too boring, he dropped out of High School early; only to earn an AA, BS and MBA in less than 4 years much later in life – while working full-time as a Navy/Marine Corps Medic.
In spite of a fear of heights and deep water, he performed high altitude, free-fall parachute jumps and hazardous diving ops in deep, open ocean water.
After 24 years of active duty, he retired in Asia.
Since then, he's been a full-time, single papa and actively pursuing his varied passions (Writing, Disruptive Technology, Computer Science and Cryptocurrency - plus more hobbies too boring or bizarre for most folk).
He lives on an island paradise with his teenage daughter, longtime girlfriend and three dogs.
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TrufflePigA simple but excellent set of wisdom nuggets. These things are extra important in the social media age. The greatest cost is always the opportunity cost.
I love your post. I can't think of when these questions don't apply. "So what?" is the best. "Then?" is next. Actually not that impressed with "Who cares?", because sometimes you have to do stuff that nobody cares about. Right action cannot be determined by consensus, I think. More than once I've been obliged to stand out from a crowd because nobody else cared. I'm not a hero--just see stuff and have to act without looking around for approval. The issue may not matter to anyone else, but that doesn't mean it isn't important.
Of course, we don't operate in a vacuum and should listen to input from people we respect. But, ultimately, we have to answer to our own values and conscience, I think.
Otherwise, a brilliant post.