Have you ever come to the end of the day thinking: "crap, unproductive once again!?" I have. I'll start the day off by determining what I want to get done, and then I'll run into my old friend (Mr. Procrastination), and following that, he'll invite me to spend my time on some meaningless, unimportant and/or non-urgent activity (like writing notes on Facebook for instance! nah I'm kidding, I love you guys!)

What could be worse than spending your day on meaningless rubbish? Nothing! Or is it really nothing? Perhaps there *is* something worse than spending your time on pointless garbage, that is: Spending your time and effort on something you thought to be important, only to find out that it wasn't so important after all.

Let's stretch the time frame further than a single day. Lets' talk about seasons. Let's talk about stages in life. In every season, we're always pre-occupied with what I'd like to call, projects. These projects vary from person to person, from time to time and from place to place. For you, it could literally be your school projects, or much more than that. It could be your dance/council cca, or it could be learning a new instrument. If you're serving the nation like me, your project could be to keep fit and learn proper leadership. Your project could also be a person ---- someone you're interested in perhaps? (I never thought this possible until I heard a youth pastor share at Teens Xcite last Saturday)

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that all your pursuits or projects are meaningless. I have projects of my own! Who doesn't? So no, I'm not going to say that we should put down all these projects because they are a waste of time. I believe they're not. If they were, you'd probably recognise it after awhile and kick it out of your life!

But when all is said and done, when you've reached the end in mind, the goal of your project, what happens next? Easy, we start out on another major project. Sometimes we even change the nature of our project!  For instance, you might decide to start learning a new instrument to take your mind off the guy who rejected you on Valentine's day --- now that's what I call a shift in project nature. 

If you ask me who my favourite actor/movie storyline writer is, I would probably say Adam Sandler. Sure, he's made some pretty lame films like Don't mess with the Zohan, but I really like his shows because they often deliver a good blend of humour and insight. One movie I was particularly impressed by was Click! His character, Michael Newman, had been given a remote control for life and he was able to fast forward through the things that really bored him (one of which seemed to be making love to his wife. strange huh?)

When Michael fast forwarded himself till he became a writhing old man, there was nothing but regret on his face. He realised that he hadn't really lived. Fast forwarding himself through the fights, the long time frames before the great promotion, the irritating quarrels amongst his kids, Michael had effectively cut away a huge part of his life. It took away from the idea of living.

Would you want to be in his position? To look back and realise how unimportant those little projects (you worked oh so hard on) were compared to what life was meant to be like? How do you know what life was meant to be like? How should I know? I know someone who knows, and I keep asking Him what life should be like, and not surprisingly, the answers always come in parts. Yet, it is enough, for the answers always come to my heart whenever I ask. Even if it's not an immediate one.

Heart time is about stopping to listen. Yes, the past can be filled with joyful memories and regretful moments. Yes, the future can be filled with bleak pictures or wonderful dreams. And yes, the present can be filled with beautiful things and ugly things. To have heart time is to stop and reflect on the past, learn from it and try and create a better future. To have heart time is to stop and dream about the future and determine how to best get there. To have heart time is to stop and notice the things happening in the present, things that we normally overlook all the time. To have heart time is to stop and learn from the past, live in the present and look to the future.

Like the great force of gravity, the momentum of life, particularly here in Singapore, sucks us into an endless routine of things. That's probably why we feel that sense of futility so often. It takes conscious (and sometimes excruciatingly painful) effort to stop yourself and take a listen to what your heart is saying ----- these projects might be important, could there be something far more important than them? Honestly, what would you like your life to look like in 20 years time? 

You can always say that you want to achieve your big dreams in life: grow deep with God, start a family and live happily ever after, get insanely rich and so on. But whatever your goal is, the little steps you take every day will determine whether or not you reach that goal or not.  To me, avoiding regret simply means selecting the right goal/payoff from the very beginning. Perhaps the best question to help you do this is the one called  'So what?' 

Let's say your goal is to get X. X could be a person, a degree, a skill, a relationship, etc. Now tag it to the so-what question. So what if I have X? What would I still be missing? When you keep asking yourself a question like that, you'll strip away all the unimportant things and find out the true desire of your heart. I hope that your ultimate desire will be a meaningful one, one that you will not regret in 20 years' time. 

I hope this has been helpful. I still waste time on unimportant projects quite a lot, but this piece will help to serve as a reminder for me to focus on what's really important in life. My wish is that it'll also help you to think a little bit more about having a little Heart Time for yourself. Remember, finding your ultimate desire is only the beginning.

"You might be on the right track, but you'll just get run over if you sit there" - Will Rogers

Have you ever come to the end of the day thinking: "crap, unproductive once again!?" I have. I'll start the day off by determining what I want to get done, and then I'll run into my old friend (Mr. Procrastination), and following that, he'll invite me to spend my time on some meaningless, unimportant and/or non-urgent activity (like writing notes on Facebook for instance! nah I'm kidding, I love you guys!)

What could be worse than spending your day on meaningless rubbish? Nothing! Or is it really nothing? Perhaps there *is* something worse than spending your time on pointless garbage, that is: Spending your time and effort on something you thought to be important, only to find out that it wasn't so important after all.

Let's stretch the time frame further than a single day. Lets' talk about seasons. Let's talk about stages in life. In every season, we're always pre-occupied with what I'd like to call, projects. These projects vary from person to person, from time to time and from place to place. For you, it could literally be your school projects, or much more than that. It could be your dance/council cca, or it could be learning a new instrument. If you're serving the nation like me, your project could be to keep fit and learn proper leadership. Your project could also be a person ---- someone you're interested in perhaps? (I never thought this possible until I heard a youth pastor share at Teens Xcite last Saturday)

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that all your pursuits or projects are meaningless. I have projects of my own! Who doesn't? So no, I'm not going to say that we should put down all these projects because they are a waste of time. I believe they're not. If they were, you'd probably recognise it after awhile and kick it out of your life!

But when all is said and done, when you've reached the end in mind, the goal of your project, what happens next? Easy, we start out on another major project. Sometimes we even change the nature of our project!  For instance, you might decide to start learning a new instrument to take your mind off the guy who rejected you on Valentine's day --- now that's what I call a shift in project nature. 

If you ask me who my favourite actor/movie storyline writer is, I would probably say Adam Sandler. Sure, he's made some pretty lame films like Don't mess with the Zohan, but I really like his shows because they often deliver a good blend of humour and insight. One movie I was particularly impressed by was Click! His character, Michael Newman, had been given a remote control for life and he was able to fast forward through the things that really bored him (one of which seemed to be making love to his wife. strange huh?)

When Michael fast forwarded himself till he became a writhing old man, there was nothing but regret on his face. He realised that he hadn't really lived. Fast forwarding himself through the fights, the long time frames before the great promotion, the irritating quarrels amongst his kids, Michael had effectively cut away a huge part of his life. It took away from the idea of living.

Would you want to be in his position? To look back and realise how unimportant those little projects (you worked oh so hard on) were compared to what life was meant to be like? How do you know what life was meant to be like? How should I know? I know someone who knows, and I keep asking Him what life should be like, and not surprisingly, the answers always come in parts. Yet, it is enough, for the answers always come to my heart whenever I ask. Even if it's not an immediate one.

Heart time is about stopping to listen. Yes, the past can be filled with joyful memories and regretful moments. Yes, the future can be filled with bleak pictures or wonderful dreams. And yes, the present can be filled with beautiful things and ugly things. To have heart time is to stop and reflect on the past, learn from it and try and create a better future. To have heart time is to stop and dream about the future and determine how to best get there. To have heart time is to stop and notice the things happening in the present, things that we normally overlook all the time. To have heart time is to stop and learn from the past, live in the present and look to the future.

Like the great force of gravity, the momentum of life, particularly here in Singapore, sucks us into an endless routine of things. That's probably why we feel that sense of futility so often. It takes conscious (and sometimes excruciatingly painful) effort to stop yourself and take a listen to what your heart is saying ----- these projects might be important, could there be something far more important than them? Honestly, what would you like your life to look like in 20 years time? 

You can always say that you want to achieve your big dreams in life: grow deep with God, start a family and live happily ever after, get insanely rich and so on. But whatever your goal is, the little steps you take every day will determine whether or not you reach that goal or not.  To me, avoiding regret simply means selecting the right goal/payoff from the very beginning. Perhaps the best question to help you do this is the one called  'So what?' 

Let's say your goal is to get X. X could be a person, a degree, a skill, a relationship, etc. Now tag it to the so-what question. So what if I have X? What would I still be missing? When you keep asking yourself a question like that, you'll strip away all the unimportant things and find out the true desire of your heart. I hope that your ultimate desire will be a meaningful one, one that you will not regret in 20 years' time. 

I hope this has been helpful. I still waste time on unimportant projects quite a lot, but this piece will help to serve as a reminder for me to focus on what's really important in life. My wish is that it'll also help you to think a little bit more about having a little Heart Time for yourself. Remember, finding your ultimate desire is only the beginning.

"You might be on the right track, but you'll just get run over if you sit there" - Will Rogers

hey, this is Jerald