The Fit Check: Investing Your Time

One Insight

Where do you invest your time?

I didn’t say spend your time, I said invest. That difference hit me recently. If I want to stay stagnant, I’ll spend my time. If I want to grow, improve, and elevate my life and the lives of those around me, I need to invest it.

Here’s how I think of the difference:

Spending time: This gives you instant gratification but no long-term return. It feels good in the moment but leaves you in the same place once it’s over. It's self-serving.

Investing time: This brings a long-term benefit. It may not always be comfortable or exciting right away, but it compounds. It, too, can be enjoyable and rewarding in the moment, but it’s different than the instant gratification of time spent; it's selfless.

There’s nothing wrong with spending time here and there; we all need moments of rest and joy. But when spending becomes a habit, we rob ourselves of the future we’re capable of creating and the impact we can have on others.

I had to ask myself recently: Am I spending my time or investing it?

If I’m honest, I lose that battle some nights. I’ll find myself laying in bed, doom scrolling, “spending” time on nothing. And when it’s over, that time is gone, leaving me no better, no wiser, no closer to anything that actually matters.

When I think about what I could invest that time into, it’s humbling:

A conversation with my wife. Reading to my kids. Going to bed earlier so I can get up and move my body. All things worth investing in for myself and others. Moments that can fill you up right now and still pay dividends later. That’s the best of both worlds, when what’s good for your soul today also builds something meaningful for yourself and others tomorrow.

So why would anyone ever waste time doom scrolling? We get caught up in the moment and don’t even think about it. We need to slow down to reflect on what our time goes into, determine what needs to change, then be intentional and disciplined going forward.

I recently traded the nightly scroll for an earlier bedtime and earlier morning. Before I leave the house for the day, I now have time for a workout and 30 minutes to spend with my wife, reading a devotional and talking about life. That, friends, is an investment that’s priceless.

We all have the same 24 hours in a day. It's on us to use the time we are blessed with to make the best return, every single day. If you never feel pressed for time, your goals might not be big enough. You shouldn’t have time for everything. Learning to prioritize and having the courage to say “no” to the wrong things is what allows you to invest your time into what truly matters. It's how we reach our full potential and build a future that will have the biggest possible impact not just on you, but everyone around you.

This is true in our personal and professional lives.

-EJ Drake

One Story

David Goggins has one of those stories that stops you in your tracks. He wasn’t born the Navy SEAL, ultra-marathon runner, or best-selling author we know today. He was a 300-pound pest control worker who spent his time avoiding discomfort: spending hours on the couch, spending energy on excuses, and spending years living small.

One day, he caught his reflection in the mirror and didn’t recognize the man staring back. That was the moment everything shifted. He decided to stop spending his time and start investing it. Every single day, he began pouring time into discipline through pain, sweat, and self-respect.

The transformation didn’t happen overnight, it compounded. What started as a few painful runs became hundreds of miles. What started as cleaning up his habits became building an unbreakable mindset. He didn’t find more time, he just started using the same 24 hours differently.

The part of Goggins’ story that gets me isn’t how far he ran or what he accomplished, it’s how brutally honest he was with himself about how he was using his time. He stopped chasing comfort and started investing in challenge. That investment didn’t just change his body, it changed his identity.

It makes me wonder how many of us are doing the same thing, spending time instead of investing it. The hours might look the same on the clock, but the return couldn’t be more different.

One Question

Goggins’ story might sound extreme, but the truth is, the principle applies to every one of us. We don’t have to run 100 miles to make the same kind of shift. For most of us, it starts with slowing down long enough to actually see where our time is going.

We rush from one thing to the next, often without realizing how much time we’re spending instead of investing. But awareness is the first step to change. If we can pause, reflect, and get honest about what really deserves our time, everything else starts to fall into place.

So before you move on with your day, take a second to ask yourself, no excuses, no filters:

Where in your life are you spending time when you know you should be investing in it?