I took the first half-hour I had dedicated to writing to look through some *very* old things that I had written on my private blog in late high school/early college. Putting myself back in that mindset and reflecting on it, it’s pretty clear the most significant thing at the forefront of my mind and entire life was figuring out who I was and what the hell I was doing. Which is funny, because… that’s basically where I’m still at, hahaaa

Except now, I have figured some things out. Women no longer occupy the vast majority of my thoughts. Instead, it’s work. The whole mess about who I was trying to date and feelings and failures is all… evaporated. No longer an issue. But my career? Where am I trying to work, why won’t anyone hire me, am I devoting time to the right thing, how can I find success and be happy – these are the struggles now.

Which leads to what I’ve been thinking about in my insomnia this evening/morning: value creation. It started with the provocative thought that I am not good at being self-directed, historically – I need to have someone else to tell me how to use my time productively. The person who is successful in business is ultimately extremely adept at creating “value”, whether by turning their own time and materials into something that other want, or directing others’ time and abilities towards making something others want; that is the end goal.

This is worth thinking about because I have never really focused on value creation. Seeing things through that lens may make it easier to navigate making decisions and choosing what to do next or how to do it. And of course, how to spend my time. Does spending 30 minutes reading old blog posts create value? Maybe for myself, as it gives me a point of reflection. If I spent 30 minutes creating an eligibility quiz for dual citizenship, though, that potentially creates value for someone else.

So – converting time into money? If I spend 1 hour on myself, I receive no money; at best, I convert that time into personal growth (certainly possible and necessary sometimes). If I spend 1 hour working for someone else, I receive some of the money they made utilizing my time towards their value-creating activity. If I spend 1 hour working on something of my choice, and figure out how to sell that thing, then I am capturing more of the value being created for myself. So selling a thing I have created can represent a block of hours I have devoted to creating value for someone else, and then converting that block of hours into money.

I’m tired now, but honestly that was most of the original thought, and I think it was pretty solid. Hopefully it helps to create more value going forward.