Progress and sanctification

I want to begin by emphasizing that everyone is different and my thoughts on how this applies will be different for everyone. So here goes.
As conscious and active human beings, our life is about movement.  I've heard it said that life is never stagnant, we are either growing or shrinking.  We are either developing or diminishing. 
We all go to school for the first 18 years of life (some maybe more) and the common life after that seems to be routine, a decline towards retirement.  It seems that far too many sludge through school, to finally finish it and get on with life.   This shouldn't be our attitude.
Regardless of what piques our interest, we should be making some sort of progress.  Whether it's academics (my choice), the arts, financial, humanitarian or something else, we must be progressing.  God did not give us minds and abilities to waste them on mere distraction.  Far too often we spend all our free time on distracting trifles.  We don't think about anything valuable, but distract ourselves with toys, games or entertainment.  Obviously, none of these things are wrong in and of themselves, but only when we elevate them and allow them to distract us from what is actually valuable.
How are you progressing?  What are you doing to make your life truly better? What are you doing to make someone else's life truly better?
Beneath all of this is our responsibility to progress in our sanctification.  We must spend whatever time/money/energy it takes to become more holy.  More often than not, we spend a large portion of our time doing the exact opposite.
Give this some consideration.