The Red Envelope Race
I will never watch every movie on my Netflix queue. The Kindle bookstore has a thousand times more books than I will read in my lifetime, with more being published each day, and the library is right down the street. My phone buzzes every few minutes to politely announce a new email. Even if I limit myself to single-player video games with a linear storyline, I'm already a century behind. Every time I load my Facebook news feed, there is more to see.
There is a neverending torrent of worthy pursuits, and yet my night can be summarized as reading the dull comments on a blog I didn't even like that much. Why did I burn my limited free time on something so insipid? Reddit is not an acceptable hobby.
There’s enough great work out there that you don’t need to waste any time with anything that isn’t great.
Return your unopened red envelopes, stop paying for Pandora, sell all your books, redirect Hacker News to localhost, turn off your Xbox, get rid of cable TV. Go empty the trash, get a breath of fresh spring air, come back here, and sit back down.
What is the best thing you can think of doing right now? I'm not asking you what would have the most impact on the world; you should do that at work tomorrow. You earned this little moment of free time. It's the only free time you get today. What would make you happiest?