It's up to you to choose!

Have a look at the graphic on the left.
Read it over thoroughly.
Maybe you've read this before ... but maybe you haven't.
It's pretty powerful stuff, IMHO.

One thing that I have learned over my 57 years walking this chunk of interstellar rock is that we have sole control of our attitude surrounding the life we live. We are the masters of our seconds, how we choose to spend them, and how productive we view their use to be. If you're like me, you've caught yourself uttering the dreaded, "I don't have time to ..." in response to a request or suggestion, but is that really the truth? Or is it a case of poor prioritization skills? A key concept in managing those seconds is honestly identifying what is important and creating a hierarchy of To Do's.

I'll be the first to admit to any reader that there are many things that are beyond the realm of personal influence, and that occasionally those seconds get sucked into a vortex external to our control. Having said that, if you examine the root of the issue and honestly identify the causative factors leading to the issue or event, you might find that you're like me and what was originally shrugged off as an external locus was impacted by decisions made with those seconds, creating a vulnerable position.

The point of this occurred to me when examining the "state of the union" as the autumn slowly gave way to winter, and being caught in that transitional time between bare versus snow covered roads/trails. I feel the need to adjust how I use my seconds to really cash in on life. While I don't see myself as person content with being idle, quite likely born from a long educational career being pulled in multiple directions creating a daily pace quite different from the retirement pace I find myself experiencing, I also don't see a perpetual need to continue grinding forward. Keeping that in mind, I find that I am far more content to use my new found freedom to use those seconds for things that for so long were on the back burner. I'm still being pulled in a variety of directions, but those directions are all acceptable and desirable choices now.

Getting up on my personal soapbox, I feel strongly that society today bombards our collective eyeballs with unrealistic and unnecessary expectations for how we should look, be, and live, with the goal of influencing our decisions surrounding our daily use of those seconds. It's not an easy task, but one could step back, look at the big picture, honestly evaluate needs vs wants, and prioritize the important things. It has been my experience that one can alleviate a tremendous amount of stress/internal conflict through effective prioritization leading to a significantly enhanced feeling of control over those seconds. 

One of the most over-looked needs for your seconds is sleep ... are you budgeting enough seconds for that? How about some form of exercise? Even a brisk walk on a lunch break provides enormous health benefits ... look it up! How about spending quality time with loved one? I will admit I allowed far too many of my own seconds to be swallowed by the Community Service vortex.

More "Success is being happy with what you get" and less "Success is getting what you want". 

So, you might be thinking, "How do I actually do that?"
I am by no means an expert in this field, but I do know what has worked for me:
1) arrange quiet time with a recording method - tech if you're inclined; old school pencil+paper if desired
2) Brainstorm a list of what's important to you ... I mean, REALLY important, not "fluff stuff"
3) Review that list and prioritize from MOST important to LEAST important
4) Starting with MOST, examine how many seconds each day it will take to achieve success (Hard to do!)
5) Continue with each other item on the list ... you might even decide to discard something
6) Here's the tough part ... Do a good copy of this list and post it somewhere easily visible
7) Ever time you see the list, ask yourself, "Am I making good use of my seconds?"

I wish you good luck and happy decision making in your pursuit of enhanced control of your seconds!