Motivation is a funny thing.

In order to make any important changes in our lives we must first find the motivation to initiate the first step. As someone who often has difficulty finding the motivation to bring myself to accomplish the tasks in front of me, I can attest that it’s easy to find a million ways to procrastinate.

In our modern society it is easy to say that you have A.D.D. It seems as though the world has developed in a way to constantly distract ourselves and escape the reality of our responsibilities. The entertainment industry has evolved to provide us with countless outlets to keep ourselves occupied.

Netflix for instance: I can’t tell you how many unproductive days I’ve spent binge watching a series (Star Trek, Peaky Blinders, Dexter, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones) when I have so many important responsibilities that I would consider priority uno. Some people turn to video games. I know people who can spend two to three days straight playing a new release. I even spend time with friends when I should definitely be writing an article, applying for classes, or finding a job.

I once had a Professor who gave some very scary speeches. Speeches that make you look at yourself and think about how you could be so much better then you are. He introduced the class on day one with the number 86,400 on the board. He asked us if we hypothetically had a bank account, and every day we had $86,400 in that bank account. We can spend that money on whatever we wanted and at the end of every day it would replenish back to $86,400. The question was what we would do with that money. Most people said they would try to spend as much of the money as they could every day. He then revealed that the number 86,400 is the amount of seconds we have in a day.

The point of the exercise have us realize the importance of time and how we spend it. If we saw time the same way we saw money, we would utilize it is much as possible. The difference is that we don’t get back the time we spend. This is what makes time priceless. Every minute could be spent improving ourselves, helping others, or working towards a dream we once thought achievable.

Truthfully there is a lot we can do in a day. Millions of people’s lives change every day, for better, or worse. If only we could perceive our true potential, and how little time we have in this life, then I guarantee that no one would waste a single day on this beautiful planet.

This is how I find my motivation.

How are you going to spend those 86,400 seconds tomorrow?