Do What is Difficult While it is Easy

"Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small." ~Lao Tzu

We must do what is difficult while it is easy. What does this quote mean to you? Have you made complete good use of your time? Using the 86,400 seconds in your day to their fullest potential? Back when I first read this quote, it caused me to revaluate my life. There was a time when I often did the complete opposite.

We all make choices. But in the end, our choices make us. There is a saying that you do not determine your destiny. You determine your habits and your habits determine your destiny. So what are you doing in those downtimes my friend? Those periods where you don't have as much on your plate? Many times in life we don't realize that it is passing us by. We don't notice how much we are spending it doing things that aren't serving us. If we are not changing the life to one that we want, we are choosing the life that we have.

Designing your downtime

You've heard the story. You get home from work and you feel exhausted. You've spent all your energy. You've been writing checks all day in your energy checkbook. Now you've got nothing else left for your goals or your dream. You want to relax. To pop in a movie or watch Netflix and chill. If you were like me, coming home from work, this is your downtime. This is the time you get to finally enjoy life.

Putting off our enjoyment till later. Enjoying life in our spare time. Doing things that please and make us happy. Things that make it all worthwhile. Things we get to continue to experience. But we're paying a price with our time. With the energy that we give away each day to a job or things that we don't enjoy doing. We do them because they are necessary at the moment. We think "Right now this is all I have." May we ever realize or understand that those are the times that influence our future the most?

The times that we are at the job, we're working to maintain what we have. But the times that we are not at the job, we can work on ourselves. We can work towards a brighter future. We can work so that we never have to work again. What are you doing with your downtime? It is what you do in your downtime that is determining your destiny. If we are failing to plan, we are planning to fail. If we do not know where we are going, we may end up where we're headed.

Unless you have a plan for yourself, your own life, you will fall into the plan of someone else. What they have planned for you is not as ambitious or magnificent as your own plan for yourself could be. They don't have your best interests at heart. I pray that you do not fall into the plan of someone else. I pray you use your downtime to direct you towards a brighter future. The life that you want to live. The life that you've been telling yourself you deserve. The life that is more fulfilling for you. The life that you enjoy can be the life you live today.

We fool ourselves into thinking that the life that we want is meant for others and not for us. I have fooled myself many times in this way. Now I understand that it is not for the chosen few. Rather, it is for the few who choose. There are 80 percent of people who are living their lives at 20 percent. While 20 percent of people enjoy the life that the 80 percent of people wish they could have.

Playing your hand

What are you doing in your downtime my friend? Is it shaping the life that you want? Is your future self thanking you or are they shaking their head at your daily decisions? Is your future self wishing that you did better with moments you had in spare time? There are people who feel they've got it easier than others. We all go through struggles that are relative to us. There will always be someone who has a worse hand than you, but turned it into a winning hand. They were able to get their chips on the table by either bluffing or using the hand to their advantage.

If you were dealt a bad hand, even if you feel the cards stacked against you, focus on your downtime. I ask you this because this is what I had to ask myself. This was my self-evaluation. What I thought would be my life forever was wrong. I was wrong. I found out that everything is temporary. Nothing is permanent. If you think that things are good now, just wait. If you think that things are bad now, just wait.

Finding time

I implore you to do what is difficult. Especially while it is easy. Make the difficult choices. The hard decisions. The tough things in your life that need to get done. Make those choices now, while time is on your side. A good way to check is if you are still breathing. If you are, then time is still on your side. If you feel as though you have no time to give, you may find it with closer observation.

"You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it." ~Charles Buxton

Make time for your future today and the future will thank you tomorrow. Do what is difficult while it is easy because later on it may be more difficult than you could ever imagine. Whatever we are not changing, we are choosing my friend. Remember to choose wisely. After all, you're worth it.