What value am I creating?

Imagine two axes, value and effort, and four quadrants that it creates:

1. High value, low effort.?
2. High value, high effort.?
3. Low value, low effort.
4. Low value, high effort.

In an ideal world, we’re prioritizing these quadrants in roughly this order.?

In practice, this can be quite challenging for some of us.?

During my commute today I expended a comically large amount of energy feeling frustrated after witnessing someone drive recklessly on the road. Of course, this frustration was futile and in no way would change this driver’s behavior.?

It wasn’t until I managed to step back and recognize that this reaction fell squarely in the least helpful quadrant, low value/high effort, that I was able to shift my attention towards something more useful.

As much as we might fancy ourselves as masters of wisely allocating our time and energy it’s important to recognize that we’re still human and that we’re all occasionally susceptible to throwing our time and effort into things that don’t serve us in any meaningful way.?

Before you throw any significant energy into anything, or in some cases the moment you realize you’ve started to throw significant energy toward something, it’s helpful to ask yourself: “What value am I creating right now?”?

An inability to answer the question is as clear an indicator as any to spend your precious resources elsewhere.?

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The Daily Spark exists for two reasons:

1. To document one idea every day that I've found helpful in my life.
2. To inspire you to discover what matters most and to take action towards it

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About me:

I'm a second-generation Taiwanese American trying to find life’s greatest sources of meaning and make the most out of it.