Most people are only concerned with consuming without thinking about the return of value. They watch TV, consume social media, buy stuff, etc. Now, I'm not putting down these people, I’m just saying how it is. If you look around, I think you’d agree.

I also think you’d agree with me if I say that they are not happy with their lives. In fact, I’m quite sure, it’s the producers who are a lot more content with their lives. Entrepreneurs, artists, writers, creators, YouTubers - everyone who feels they are creating something instead of following a manual - fall into the producer’s category.

I'm quite sure it has something to do with the fact that there's meaning in what they do. Whereas a life where you only consume has not much meaning.

Do an audit of your life. How much time do you spend consuming, and how much time you spend on producing?

Even when you’re looking at ads, you can look at them with a consuming mindset, as in: “I wonder if I should buy this” or with a producing mindset:” I wonder how this ad was made”, “what was the process of this ad to get here”, “How it was designed?” etc.

Consuming for the sake of consuming is meaningless. We should consume in order to produce. That also applies to e.g., eating. We should only eat in order to do things, not because we’re bored or we just feel like it. Eating high-carb foods like ice cream and bread is a lot of the time meaningless - they just give empty calories without any nutrition.

“Balance” is the keyword. Again, I’m not saying we should never eat ice cream and never watch a stupid TV show, but it’s better to keep it at a minimum. We should try to do things that actually add value to our lives. Spending time with friends, exercising, learning new skills as opposed to scrolling social media feeds, watching TV and news, smoking, playing video games all day.

So, it’s good always to ask ourselves: “Does this add value to my life?” if the answer is no, why do it? Why do the things that don’t add anything or that have no return whatsoever?

KRISTJAN