Last night, as I write this, I found myself being productive in a way I did not expect. While I had intended on doing other activities, I found myself answering the questions of someone. As those who know me well understand, I tend to be very willing to answer questions asked so long as I am knowledgeable about the matter that questions are being asked about. To be sure, it took quite a while to answer the questions, long enough it to delay what I wanted to do, but it allowed me to reflect on the fact that one can be productive in ways other than one originally plans so long as one is dealing with people who respect one’s time and one finds a way to spend one’s time well.

There are many ways that one can spend one’s time well. Sometimes we have ways in mind as to how we want to spend our time, and are inclined to be stubborn as to doing what we plan on doing and disinclined to enjoy that which interrupts our own plans and expectations. Even so, there are many ways that time can be spent profitably even if our plans do not always survive the encounter of those plans with what is going on in our lives. It can be worthwhile to ponder, at least from time to time, the many ways that time can be spent well, in the search for how it can be spent best.

As I was thinking about this subject this evening, I watched a video on the trope of immortality, and I was struck by the way that mortality serves as a spur to use time wisely. The knowledge that one’s time is a finite resource gives a sense of urgency to our efforts, knowing that this resource can always run out for ourselves or for those people we care about. We don’t know how much time we will have with loved ones, or how much time we will have to make right what has gone wrong in our lives and in our relationships, and that knowledge of the limitations of time that we and others live under inspires much of our efforts to grow, to learn, and to improve.