Time's A Wastin'

The start of a new year is a perfect opportunity to begin the weeding process. I'm not talking about weeding the garden. That will come soon enough! January is the perfect time to begin weeding out the things, habits, thoughts and even people that gobble up our minutes, hours and days.. leaving us to wonder... "Where did the time go?"

What, or who, steals your time? Better question, to what or whom do you willingly give up your time? Here are a few time-wasters you can hit with the weed-eater:

Gossip. My favorite quote, attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt: "Great people talk about ideas. Average people talk about places and things. Little people talk about other people." And... gossip wastes a lot of time. Talk about what's important in life. Your faith. Your family. Your goals. Literature. Art. Science. The future. Just DON'T waste time talking about other people.

Jealousy. Coveting something, or someone, that someone else has... eats up your time...and eats away at your spirit. This is time that is better spent working on ways to find your own something, or your own someone, who makes you happy.

Unpleasant people. They are out there. We all know them. We can't avoid them. But we can control our reactions to them. Refuse to take their bait. Walk away. Be so nice that THEY walk away. Just don't let them dirty up your mind and your day and rob you of your time.

The Internet! Don't get me wrong. It's a wonderful thing. But, you need to use the internet. Don't let the internet use you. Do the important things first... then surf the net. P.S. Reading my blog is NOT a waste of time! :)

Television. See the above reference to the internet. It holds true here. Hey... I've watched The Young and The Restless since I was a teenager. I just don't watch it every day.  Limit your TV watching. And for goodness sake, when a friend or family member is in the room... TURN OFF THE TV. Talking to them is much more important than watching Aunt Bee make yucky pickles for the 978th time on a re-run of The Andy Griffith Show.

These are just five ways to reduce the wasting of time. I wrote them to get you started thinking about what, or who, pilfers your time each day. Take control of the time-clock of your life. Remember... time's a wastin'.