Specifically because our time here among the living is by default limited, we should examine our lives every now and then, question our current progress (if we’re making any), and see for ourselves through contemplation, whether or not our limited time here is being wasted or is being well-invested. As a matter of fact, even, what drove me to become a philosopher is to increase my productivity as a writer, something which was a good choice, when I look at it retrospectively.
Anyways, here are the questions. Feel free to memorize them and set a time once in a while to ask yourselves these questions, and check if you’re making progress towards whatever one or more ambitions you’ve vowed to accomplish.
1. Do I really need this/these?
· Take away everything you don’t need, and there shall be less unnecessary suffocating.
· Some of your possessions could be used by people that actually need them and they are deprived of.
· Experience is there for knowledge and development. If you know something without experiencing it, and contemplating on it have contributed to your growth as a person, then experiencing it can be discarded.
· Wanting something you don’t have can create unnecessary frustration. Even if you may attain it, the frustration can potentially stay and be directed to the next thing you lack. It is a cycle of waste, and waste isn’t needed.
· Learn to even your needs with your wants. In that way, fulfilment of needs can bring much satisfaction and serenity.
· If you are to decide to discard one or more objects from your life, make sure to check if their discarding has really made any significant change in your lifestyle, beyond their visual disappearance.
2. Am I currently a productive individual?
· To create something is to embody yourself in it. When you produce something of your own, it can “extend” your life after your death. It can stay for centuries and be consumed by others for their own development in the journeys of the living.
· All people have talents, and talents are there to be used. When they are not used, they decrease in their potential, like a plant which hadn’t watered for a long time. You don’t have to use your all talents, and using one or two is enough to develop for your growth.