Staying Focused on the Project at Hand

What is my big project in life? Is it to buy a house? Get a good job? Produce art? Be happy? Have money set aside for retirement? Die with the most toys?

Each morning as I wake, I am confronted with my big project, but my efforts on most days are not directed toward advancing on it. My project is to work towards being a good person, a virtuous person. It's a big project but one that is mostly ignored. It should be at the center of my days. If I focus only on what is in front of me, and work towards doing the best that I possibly can, I am making progress. If I waste my time focusing on things out of my control, literally waste my life focusing on things that will not bring me closer to being that good person, I will continually be distracted. As a minor example, I reset my browser so that it doesn't offer up the days news to me. I found it to be the source of much distraction particularly given the recent big news about Jessica Simpson that kept appearing on my screen.

An innocent enough piece of clickbait, but the fact that it appeared on my screen all day, and I remembered it enough to mention it here, is a sad comment on what I allow into my brain. Part of being a good person surely has to be guarding what I allow into my head. If my day is filled with the absorption of trivia about trivia about trivia then what can the result be but a trivial mind?

The project at hand is to focus my mind on that which will add to my life not diminish it. Yes, it's fine to watch television dramas about life at Versailles when I am in control and know I am opening my mind to the trivial looking to be entertained. The insult to my time and life is when I hand over my mind without knowing. I will make sure the front door is locked 20 times a day, but how often do I make sure my mind is locked to those that wish to rob me of my own thoughts. And what do we have other than our thoughts? 

Guard your mind and stay focused on the task at hand. Be well.