“Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away” — Marcus Aurelius
Ever find yourself wondering where the time has gone…or perplexed that the years seem to be passing by more quickly these days!
Whether it’s family or work or both, we all seem to be saying the same things. “I’m too busy” or “I don’t have enough time”. Yet we all know that one person who gets it all done with less effort than most.
And it’s not like these people have more time than you or me! We all have 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in each week. So, it must come down to how we use that time.
A great book that discusses this topic is called “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” by Greg McKeown. It talks about how so many people feel as though they are stretched too thin, yet many of have forgotten that we actually have the ability to “choose” and say “no” and ask ourselves “is this the most important thing I should be doing with my time right now?”.
At work you might recognise the situation whereby you’re in meetings all day and then come 4 o’clock you sit down at your desk for the first time that day to start the report you need to write for tomorrow. Ask yourself, “do I need to be in each of those meetings?”. If not, buy yourself an hour and opt out!
5 key lessons of Essentialism
Less but better – it’s not about getting more done, but getting the right things done.
Your highest contribution – by giving yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, you can make your highest contribution to the things that really matter.
Prioritise – if you don’t prioritise your life, someone else will!
Do more with less – make every word and action count. The best surgeon in the world is not the one who makes the most incisions. Just the most efficient ones.
Remove to grow – “To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.” – Lao Tzu
If you’re interested, click here to check out the book.