Do you know the names of your eight great grandparents? Do you know any of their stories? How did their decisions impact your life?

We all know moments become days, then months, then years. And sadly, ‘someday’ often becomes never. 

What story are you creating with your moments? Will your actions matter 50, 10, or even 5 years from now? If you could create any story for yourself, what would it be?

To create our story, we need to take control of our moments. We need to get the right things done.

It’s counter-intuitive, but getting the right things done requires slack in our schedule.

Take a moment to think about each of these scenarios:

• What happens on a bumper-to-bumper expressway?
• What happens to a computer when it runs out of free disk space?

The answer is the same in each scenario: slowness. This is because systems require free space to work. Without free space, they get clogged. Things go wrong. Badness ensues.

Supplying your brain with free space throughout the day helps it work better. It enables you to spot the right path, avoid costly mistakes, and pivot when things don’t go perfectly (and they very rarely go perfectly.)

In the end, the decisions we make in each moment create our story.

Isn’t it worth taking a moment to ensure it’s a good one?

Wondering how to build free space into your day? This article from Entrepreneur shares 9 ways successful entrepreneurs manage their time, and this one from RescueTime describes what happened to Brad Frost when he scheduled every minute of his day.

Image by Brooke Lark