It’s almost November. The end of the year is around the corner. I had certain goals for 2025, and regrettably, I haven’t met them. I was lamenting this because these are my personal goals. I had imagined how achieving them would crown this year and satisfy me.
But even though the tenth month is over in a few days, I decided that two months is sufficient. My inclination is to find fault with this decision, but I think my goals are important enough to start pursuing again. I lost motivation. I got very distracted. I deviated from my structure. Unexpected things came along the way. I got trapped in that spot where you find yourself making progress, but it feels like you’re a hamster on a wheel --- you’re not really moving. And rather than pushing past it, I stopped.
But I won’t go down that rabbit hole. One thing about life that I’ve discovered is that, if something is important enough, you’ll make the effort, you’ll take it up again. When you’re passionate about a thing, you have to make a way. There are many things in life, many activities during the day and week that require attention. But you have to take back your attention from them and decide what it is that you will willingly give your time to.
I complain about not having time. I’m even shocked that it’s the end of October, as though I mindlessly went through this month. But I have to admit, I gave my time away. I didn’t decide what I’d give my time to. I mean, even the important things don’t dictate all my time. I remember the first time that I went for a massage, and I discovered that it wasn’t the full 60 minutes. It was 50. And I think I was maybe 5 or so minutes late. The end time did not change because I was late. And it was like that with other services. But with time, you notice that it’s not everything, or everyone that runs a tight ship. And you think the ones who are relaxed with their time are better, but when you wake up from that silly dream, you realize that time theft is not just relevant in the workplace. If you do not guard your time, someone else will decide what your time is worth. They will fill up your time with their own activities. And you’ll be resentful of the things that you didn’t get to accomplish.
I’m terrible with time, because I’m around people who are terrible with it. And I’ve shamefully allowed their cavalier attitude to influence me. However, I can change that if I want to. I can start valuing my own time. I don’t have to be swallowed up by my environment, neither do I have to be influenced by others’ lack of time management. I have to decide the value of my time. I have to decide the value of everything that I do, and act accordingly.
In short, my personal goals are important to me, hence why I feel bad about the state I find myself two months before the year ends. But two months is plenty enough time to reinvest in myself and my goals again. You can achieve a lot a short amount of time if the right fire is lit. I can still salvage some of my goals. There’s still time. If you’re in the same boat, feeling a bit defeated and a lot disappointed, there’s still hope. You can still salvage a lot in a short period of time. But it’s up to you.
