Are You Doing The Right Things?

Are you doing the right things with your time? How would you know either way?!?

Let me preface this by saying that this will not be one of those posts where I tell you what the right things are. I don't have any clue. I am don't even know if I am doing the right things! Much of this post is me trying to justify the way I spend my time, because if there is one thing I do know, it is that you get 24 hours in a day, and you have to spend it right to achieve true success and happiness.

What does that mean? To me, it could mean that I spend more time with my wife. It could mean that I spend more time working on my guitar practice. It could mean more time at the gym, or running, or cycling. It could be more time spent on my entrepreneurial pastime. It could be just more time relaxing, reading books and listening to music. For some people, it could be working at their 'day job' for long hours, to be the absolute best they can be at their job.

In the end, what I don't want to do is regret the way I spend my time. I am pretty happy guy. Things are good. Great, really. I feel like an awfully lucky guy. I just don't want to look back and think that if I just done this, I could have done that, and so on. I suppose some would say that you know whether or not you are happy, because at the moment when you are doing something, you woudln't want to be doing something else. There must be something to the bliss of not having anything to do when you get home, but I remember in the years after college, just coming home and veg-ing out and feeling somewhat unfulfilled. I think what I've figured out is that the 'grass is greener' theory definitely seems to apply.

The biggest things you have to make sure of, in my opinion, are:

1. You are always learning something, whether it be a barre chord on the guitar, a new programming language, or a new recipe
   
2. You aren't doing things you hate to do just because "it seems like the right thing to do"
3. You aren't neglecting the really important things in life (family, health)
4. You are ALWAYS investing in yourself and your future
   

Even if you STILL don't know what you want to do when you grow up, as long as you are moving in the right direction it's okay. This can be achieved (in my experience) in three ways:

1. Set attainable goals and attack them
2. Check back on goals you have already set to measure progress and to decide if they are still applicable
3. Once you have attained a goal, see how it actually affects your overall plan

By taking these steps, you can know if you are getting closer to your destination in life, and more importantly if your destination is actually somewhere you want to get to. I am still figuring it out, and if anyone knows of ways to keep all this mess straight and still sleep, I am all ears.