Less Is More ⏸
Are you busy being busy?
Over the last few years it’s an achievement if I don’t drop spread-eagled onto my bed before the sun has even set.
In between working, parenting, trying my hand at creating YouTube content, and attempting to kickstart a blog career (phew, I’m tired just typing all that out) — it’s easy to wish for a fantasy world where the days consist of thirty hours instead of the paltry twenty four we currently get.
We’ve heard time and time again that in order move forwards in life we have to be productive and always be ‘doing‘ something. I don’t know about you but sometimes it feels as though there is no breathing space to just do absolutely nothing.
It feels as though ‘being busy’ is a badge of honour these days, the busier we are, the more validation and impressed looks we get from people. “Ooh, look at her, she’s so busssyyy.”
I’ve realised that being busy does not necessarily equate to being productive. In fact, you can be busy +++ and be totally unproductive. Ever had that I keep cleaning the house, but it still looks not clean? It’s kind of like that. We’re expending hours and hours of our day but are seeing very little return for all that time and effort.
I used to get fidgety and sometimes even guilty for not striving towards something at all hours of the day.
What I learnt was that I had fallen into the busy for nothing trap.
I was spending too much time on things with little return.
Be strategic about time spend
What is our hierarchy of importance?
This is an important question to ask ourselves whenever we embark on the daily (mental or written) to do lists.
Have a look at the activities and tasks that are taking up most of your time - are they worthwhile, do they add value or benefit to your short and long term goals? If not - is it something that can be kicked to the curb?
Personally my meaningless time wasters include social media, mindlessly watching TV (and I don’t mean watch consciously decided programmes, but watching for the sake of watching) I’ve realised that when I don’t want to start a big/difficult thing done, one of the ways in which I procrastinate at home is TV and/or social media or even worse busying myself with meaningless activity.
What’s yours?
Organisation is key for a more zen life
Becoming aware of what is important vs urgent. A study recently showed that people who were drowning in busy were tackling tasks that were time sensitive over tasks that actually mattered. I talked about this in my most recent video but there is something called the Eisenhower Matrix which divides tasks based on importance and urgency and in turn helps us prioritise what and when to address first.
Delegate (Outsource)
If there are tasks other people can do for you, whether that’s relatives, other household members then please DO. It’s not a sign of weakness to ask others but actually a sign of an organised person who knows how to be efficient with time.
For parents, get kids (who are old enough) involved with the minutiae of household chores. My eldest — he’s two — enjoys helping with chores more than he does playing with his toys. There’s something about them exerting their independence and an endless fascination with how things get done. Examples include, helping with loading the washing machine, clearing away their plates, cleaning up mess.
By turning it into a shared task it becomes less about what YOU need to achieve and more about what can we do together?
Work Smarter not Harder
There are periods in our day where we are maximally primed for complex / cognitively challenging tasks.
A book I would recommend people read is Cal Newport - Deep Work, rules for Focussed success - in here he talks about setting aside protected time when we want to do our ‘deep work” i.e. the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task.
For me that’s early morning, whether that’s studying, tending to important administrative tasks, coming up with video ideas etc.
Take advantage of your best time and do your most important and or valuable work then. This could be just before going to work, after work, before the kids wake up, a weekend where there are minimal distractions.
What is the Whole Point in This?
At the end of the day I want more time to do the things that REALLY matter. Not emails, not to do lists and definitely not work. Instead the things I’d much rather remember is spending time with loved ones, doing the things I enjoy, creating, watching, writing and to generally be a better human.
I’m not trying to be all philosophical here but when we’re more efficient and organised with our time - after all it is finite, and get rid of the unnecessary time wasters we can properly savour the real moments, be present and experience the worthwhile parts of life.
“What will be the good of the conquest of leisure and health, if no one remembers how to use them? - Bertrand Russell
Take care!
Roda
Interesting things…
📚Book - How to stop People Pleasing - Emma Reed Turrell This was such an interesting book, it goes through different people pleasing personalities and how that affects us in lots different settings i.e. work, relationships, home. Definitely eye opening and worth a read.
📰 Article Stumbled across this - it was JK Rowling’s journey to success. Such a motivational read and very thoughtful lessons to learn from. In particular this line stood out to me “probability of success increases with persistence”
🎥 Video - Yasmin Mogahed is one of my favourite inspirational role models. I always return to this video when I need that kick up the backside .