PSA: If It Doesn't Add To Your Life, It Doesn't BELONG In Your Life

Your life is a zero-sum game. You have finite time and energy, therefore anything you add to your life that requires one of these resources takes it away from something else.

That's why it's super-important to be vigilant about how you spend your time and energy. If you aren't careful, you can let your life slowly fill up with negativity, leaving less and less room for the positive forces in your life.

You take on obligations; you acquire "friends" you can't stand; you have a relationship that's going nowhere.

Even if a thing is neutral and doesn't necessarily have a negative impact on your life, it actually does because it crowds out the possibility of something positive taking that space. That's called opportunity cost.

For example, you might go to happy hour with coworkers every Friday. And it's fine, but you do it mainly just to make appearances. Could you have done something with that time and energy to make yourself truly happy or add to your life in some way?

I'm a firm believer in occasionally examining your life to trim the fat. Look at all the things you do and relationships you have and determine if they're making your life better. Anytime you're stuck somewhere wishing you were somewhere else, that's a prime candidate for being cut from your life.

And that somewhere you're wishing you were? That's where more of your life should go. Or at least try something new that has the potential to add to your life.

If this all sounds a little abstract and hypothetical, it's because this could apply to even the tiniest facts of your life. It's not just about big decisions and major relationships.

If you're periodically evaluating all the little aspects of your life and cutting away the parts that are holding you back, you'll find that your life naturally fills with things that bring you happiness. Easier said than done, but isn't it at least worth trying?