I love irony. Truth be told, I stand gawking at its beauty every time.
A few weeks ago, I made a few decisions in the section of my life that I call “work.” Why the quotation marks? Because I know enough to know that my “work” would be PLAY in the lives of those of you who day in, day out do really hard work.
It seems, somehow, unfair to use the same word for what I do during the day that’s used for nurses, construction workers, lawyers, waitresses, soldiers, authors, salespeople, Starbucks employees (I love you), etc. Deadlines? Demanding customers? Clock in? Clock out? Irritable boss? Frustrating co-workers? Hateful people? Alarm clocks, what?! That’s the sort of stuff that would make me want to hide under the covers. Like, forever.
Anyway, I decided that I had spread myself too thin. I realized that having more to do was sucking the life out of what was being done. I made a few decisions, while I let a few more simmer on the back burners.
While they were simmering, I was sent a beautiful little green book, Less: Accomplishing More by Doing Less
Our daily incessant busyness – too much to do and not enough time; the pressure to produce a to-do list and tick off items by each day’s end – seems to decide the direction and quality of our existence for us. But if we approach our days in a different way, we can consciously change this out-of-control pattern. It requires only the courage to do less. – From the Prologue, Less: Accomplishing More by Doing Less
The author, Marc Lesser, lays out and explains his 5 step approach which he calls the Less Manifesto. The goal of this system is to accomplish more, do more, and enjoy more by doing less. His approach is, I’d say a younger sibling to the “Work Smarter not Harder” philosophy and is one that more of us should become more familiar with.
While the steps focus mainly on our professional lives (Wait? I have one of those?), they are equally effective in our personal lives.
In Chapter One, the author proposes the idea that many people become addicted to busyness.
We all get overwhelmed with busyness at times. But if you find yourself frequently comfortable with or bragging about how over-busy you are, you may want to question whether you’ve become addicted to being busy. Have you convinced yourself that you thrive on busyness? Do you often feel a physical satisfaction and increase in energy from “multitasking” – from the thrill of jam-packing a day with more than seems humanly possible, or from the drama of working under impossible deadlines and meeting them at any cost to health and family? At the end of a workday, do you have difficulty focusing and calming down? Do you feel a sense of emptiness?
If the answer is yes to most of these questions, you might want to consider developing a more sustainable approach to work and activity in general. Your current and future health probably depends on it. – Page 9
If you recognize yourself in the description above (even slightly), I’d recommend a quick hop over to Amazon. This is a wonderfully inspirational book that’s full of wonderful ideas and insights. It’s also one of those books that “reads” very quickly. But while it can be read in one day, it has the power to touch all of your tomorrows. The author, and thereby his words, have a lot of heart. If you let them, they’ll bring a great deal of peace into your life.
Doing less leads to more love, more effectiveness and internal calmness, and a greater ability to accomplish more of what matters most – to us, and by extension to others and the world. – Marc Lesser, Less: Accomplishing More by Doing Less
Visit www.accomplishingmorebydoingless.com for more information.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
If I did any “less” I wouldn’t be doing anything…but I do know people that have completely ridiculous schedules and they could really use this book. My economic point of view: Doing too much causes inefficiency – It is true that the more you do, the more you produce. But, eventually you will get to a point where your long list of tasks will actually make you less productive (diminishing marginal returns). A fairly simple concept that applies to almost everything we do in life.
Glad to see you love Starbucks employees.
I work on the two minute rule for all tasks that come my way in the day.
When something routine or ‘process’ linked comes up, if I cannot do it within two minutes, I delegate it, or file it for later. This leaves me able to stay focused on what matters that day.
This ensures routine tasks are put in their place, without leaving you feeling overloaded. Works really well.
sahail’s last blog post..How to stay positive…
Yes I read this. It is also very similar to the 4 hour work week. The keep is to loose the clutter activities like reading your email every second it comes in
selfhelpblogger’s last blog post..Giving not receiving for a good marriage
Years ago, when I was addicted to the 70-hour work week lifestyle, a friend sat me down and said, “Curt, you’re trying to do everything, and you’re not doing any of it well.”
It was sobering, but oh-too-true. I made a list of the things on my plate and divided my life into two-week chunks. I looked at the list and started prioritizing, assigning tasks to the current two-week period, the next one, and so on.
As a result, I got much more traction, felt much less stress, and did a much better job.
Funny how less really can be more.
Curt Rosengren
The M.A.P. Maker [Meaning, Abundance & Passion]
http://mapmaker.curtrosengren.com
Curt Rosengren’s last blog post..How to get things done with a five-minute focus