Distractions, etc.

We are constantly being distracted by "the world". If it's not one thing (or 100), it's another (100).
You can easily let your available time slip through your fingers... going towards what? What are you spending your time doing? I am increasingly telling myself: "Stop. This doesn't matter. Move on." Maybe I'm reading a paper or magazine or something that came in the mail. Maybe I'm watching something on TV (rare, but when it happens I can sometimes get sucked into finding something interesting to watch, and then something else interesting, etc.). Or maybe I'm at Safeway or Target or wherever, and find myself spending too much time there, when I've already met my objectives.
I don't want to overspend my time in those scenarios. There's too much to do (on a small scale AND large scale).
I've been (in the last 1-3 years) becoming more and more aware of a force trying to thwart my progress and limit my successes. It wants me to get distracted, to waste time, to put things off, to feel overwhelmed. It wants those things to become normal, accepted, and nothing to be done about it.
However (slightly related), I feel that I have (for the most part) successfully killed the temptation to purchase things (or spend money on things) that don't matter, or don't contribute to the person I want to be (more on that later). There are things I've spent money on in the past, that I either enjoyed, or am partially glad I now have... that I would not be spending money on in my current state of mind and heart.
Also needing to be acknowledged is that even our goals that we want to accomplish... can also sometimes be distractions from loving God and loving others. Sometimes our goals, or the things we want to do so much... are just selfishness wrapped up in a pretty box.
There's much more to say, but I need to go to bed.