Avoiding busyness is one of the best things you can do for your well-being.
Sure, so many things are beyond our control. At least that’s what we’re telling ourselves. Even when that might be true in some cases, I believe we can still focus on what’s most important… on what matters most.
Here’s the thing, as humans we like to make simple things more complex. We can always think of something to add. And the adding comes in many forms… work, possessions, obligations, wants, desires, you name it.
The problem is busyness. And the answer is simplification.
Busyness is driven by our inability to say “No” and our innate affection for complexity.
Get busy living or get busy dying.”
⎯ This famous line is delivered both by Andy Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins and by “Red” Redding, played by Morgan Freeman, in The Shawshank Redemption (directed by Frank Darabont, 1994).
Which one sounds better to you? When you get busy living, you’re naturally avoiding busyness because you’ll be focusing on what matters most in your life.
Now think for a moment about how long ago that story took place, the late 1940s.
Then multiply the busyness by seventy-plus years!
When you take breaks⎯when you allow yourself to rest, the net result is greater than if you tried to push through without throttling back at all.
Sometimes simplifying and going ‘back to our roots’ is what it takes to fall in love with what we’re doing again. ‘Back to [the] basics’ as the old saying goes.”
– Cait Mack on Medium.com
So, how can we get there? Here are five strategies to get you started so you can dial back the busyness…
- Resist trying to cram in everything you think you can just to try to prove to everyone that you can.
- Throttle back sometimes. I like to say, “You’ve got to unplug to recharge.” Besides, the truly authentic experiences in life tend to be analog, don’t they?
- Keep the week out of your weekends.
- Be sure to simplify BEFORE you multiply. This strategy comes to us from my friend, CPA, and entrepreneur Erik Solbakken. He’s developed a method that takes the endless overtime out of public accounting!
- Do what works for you and say no to the rest.
Begin the process of simplification by asking yourself these three questions,
- Is the task I’m about to take on even necessary?
- If it is necessary, how could I simplify the task?
- If it were already simple, what would that look like?
Life is tough enough, so let’s work on not making everything so difficult.
Be untucked.
At LifeUntucked® our journey is to reconnect with the ‘soul’ of living, to the life well-lived, in a less digital way (although we still use the tech).
p.s. Oh! One last thing, if you found this post helpful, be sure to share it with a friend. Use the Share Buttons at the top or the bottom of the post. Thanks, I owe you one.
Copyright © 2023 Jeff Meister – All Rights Reserved
Leave a Reply