"And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is Thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:" (Luke 19:20)
Don't waste your time. Don't waste your life. These admonitions, while wholly practical and true and repeated umpteen times in the presence and ears of those less inclined to work hard and achieve than others, seem to be fear based. In other words, not necessarily the best of synonymizations of the above verse. I find that once you realize hell is real and fear and tummy aches and other things of utter, paralyzing unpleasantness, you had better know Jesus because everything you do on the upside--in this case, looking to capitalize on what God has given you--will indeed be fear based. When Jesus issued the hard words He did, they always not only came from Him, i.e. the only true source of confidence in the universe. But also, He never gives instruction or admonition or warning without the accompanying grace to see through and enable you to do whatever it is you are called to do on this earth, for Him.
"The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing." (Proverbs 20:4)
"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure."(Philippians 2:13)
I know Jesus is elucidating an overarching life-defining parable. Reason why it comes across as so harsh is because the person in question has taken every opportunity, every moment of their life not having realized the gift of God and the beauty thereof. It is utterly and supremely sad to think of someone having how does it go? Yes. "Wasting their time and their life". All of Heaven was at their disposal to help and back them up and in turn grow and scale the things God wanted to do for them. And they negated it with their own will. Such negatively grand observations must necessarily come from someone with all the insight in the world. Something no human (except Jesus) possesses and can as such level judgment. But we can at least imagine out reasons and explanations as to why someone would "waste their life". What could be the culprit? Jesus gives a reason-by-way-of-excuse:
"For I feared Thee, because Thou art an austere man: Thou takest up that Thou layedst not down, and reapest that Thou didst not sow." (Luke 19:21)
Gasp! Could this be true of our Lord? Certainly the parable is not over but look at this bizarre interlude. The "servant" in question levels the blame back on the Lord citing some elitist and skewed morality that has no basis in reality. I suppose it could be said of Him that He takes and steals and snatches away. All in the positive, I might add. As "the whole world lieth in wickedness." (1 John 5:18), it would behoove the Lord to take back what is now His as He'd be the only one powerful enough to do so. A failure on the part of the "servant" to provide sufficient reason not to have done anything. Think about Jesus. The moral of any parable and biblical story is meant to draw you to Him. He is everything the Bible says He is but He's also an individual who loves you and wants to help you more than anything. If, as was in the case of the servant who got one pound, you have some misunderstanding of who He is, even something fear based, ask Him to reveal His true, joyful self to you. I would say that God would rather you do nothing in His presence and simply enjoy Him, than worry about going to hell because you didn't do what you were supposed to with the time and life and gifts you got from God.
"Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4:11-13)