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Busy signal: When it's time to slow down and do less
By Wan Lixin |
September 19, 2009, Saturday
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MOST people feel flattered when others consider them to be a busy person.
There is the generally untested assumption that being busy suggests one is responsible, important, disciplined, self-sacrificing, and dedicated.
If they slow down and look around, however, they soon realize how easy it is to become busy today.
"The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential ... in Business and in Life" is a useful guide for those yearning to trim their to-do lists.
Author Leo Babauta, who also wrote "Zen to Done," elucidates why living with limits improves life, and how doing less can be more meaningful -- it helps you focus on what's really important and get it done.
It can be observed that being in the fast lane is an unnatural state for any living species, not excepting those important personages entrusted with the administration of state affairs.
Lushi Chunqiu ("Lu's Annals") was written more than 2,000 years ago and contains much wisdom on how to effectively conduct personal and state affairs.
"Since ancient times a good sovereign makes an effort to choose the right officials, but refrains from being bogged down with practical affairs," the annals reads.
"Those sovereigns not good in statecraft are often physically exhausted, and that usually results in insults to their persons, as their countries are certainly heading to a precarious state. They lack the ability to identify, to say nothing of concentrate on, the essentials," the book goes on.
In other words, we have good reasons to distrust a well-placed official engaged in activities that should be beneath his official responsibility.
That kind of multi-tasking can be energy-draining and would certainly distract him from more important commitments.
If important people in responsible positions must slow down to be really effective, the multitudes of us common folks have even less reasons to be in a rush.
A real change begins with a reexamination of your core beliefs, values and goals.
"Going from a limitless life that's overwhelming and not very effective to a life with limits, focus and power is an incredible transformation," Babauta observes.
As has been illustrated above, those who are determined to slow down can be empowered by conversing with the best minds of the past.
Izaak Walton's "The Compleat Angler," for instance, suggests the value of a life of contemplation as compared to that of action.
"... there be many men that are by others taken to be serious and grave men, which we contemn and pity ... money-getting men, men that spend all their time, first in getting, and next in anxious care to keep it; men that are condemned to be rich, and then always busy or discontented; for these poor rich men, we Anglers pity them perfectly ..." Walton observes.
Unfortunately, the difficulty confronting many modern people is that, given their chaotic existence, to spare time for a few minutes of contemplation can be a formidable task.
A casual look about anywhere, any time shows so many people are talking, shouting, whispering or giving instructions into their cell phones while commuting, walking, or driving, that it is surprising to realize that mobile phone is a fairly recent invention.
Off the phone, their minds can be immediately plugged into a host of other e-gadgets.
Once they are in the office, computer takes over immediately.
Without knowing it, many office workers become willing slaves to computers, constantly surfing the Internet and checking e-mail.
"The way to e-mail nirvana is by applying the Power of Less -- simplify, set limits and find yourself becoming more powerful," the book suggests.
Babauta advises that you check your e-mail two times a day instead of 40, and break the habit of Internet surfing.
My own solution is to simply shut down the computer when its service is no longer necessary.
But the book's gradualist approach may be more effective for the beginners in simplification.
"Make gradual changes, in a series of small steps over time, and you're more likely to stick to those changes than if you attempt a big change all at once," the book concludes.
For example, declutter your desk and learn to appreciate mundane things can help.
There is the generally untested assumption that being busy suggests one is responsible, important, disciplined, self-sacrificing, and dedicated.
If they slow down and look around, however, they soon realize how easy it is to become busy today.
"The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential ... in Business and in Life" is a useful guide for those yearning to trim their to-do lists.
Author Leo Babauta, who also wrote "Zen to Done," elucidates why living with limits improves life, and how doing less can be more meaningful -- it helps you focus on what's really important and get it done.
It can be observed that being in the fast lane is an unnatural state for any living species, not excepting those important personages entrusted with the administration of state affairs.
Lushi Chunqiu ("Lu's Annals") was written more than 2,000 years ago and contains much wisdom on how to effectively conduct personal and state affairs.
"Since ancient times a good sovereign makes an effort to choose the right officials, but refrains from being bogged down with practical affairs," the annals reads.
"Those sovereigns not good in statecraft are often physically exhausted, and that usually results in insults to their persons, as their countries are certainly heading to a precarious state. They lack the ability to identify, to say nothing of concentrate on, the essentials," the book goes on.
In other words, we have good reasons to distrust a well-placed official engaged in activities that should be beneath his official responsibility.
That kind of multi-tasking can be energy-draining and would certainly distract him from more important commitments.
If important people in responsible positions must slow down to be really effective, the multitudes of us common folks have even less reasons to be in a rush.
A real change begins with a reexamination of your core beliefs, values and goals.
"Going from a limitless life that's overwhelming and not very effective to a life with limits, focus and power is an incredible transformation," Babauta observes.
As has been illustrated above, those who are determined to slow down can be empowered by conversing with the best minds of the past.
Izaak Walton's "The Compleat Angler," for instance, suggests the value of a life of contemplation as compared to that of action.
"... there be many men that are by others taken to be serious and grave men, which we contemn and pity ... money-getting men, men that spend all their time, first in getting, and next in anxious care to keep it; men that are condemned to be rich, and then always busy or discontented; for these poor rich men, we Anglers pity them perfectly ..." Walton observes.
Unfortunately, the difficulty confronting many modern people is that, given their chaotic existence, to spare time for a few minutes of contemplation can be a formidable task.
A casual look about anywhere, any time shows so many people are talking, shouting, whispering or giving instructions into their cell phones while commuting, walking, or driving, that it is surprising to realize that mobile phone is a fairly recent invention.
Off the phone, their minds can be immediately plugged into a host of other e-gadgets.
Once they are in the office, computer takes over immediately.
Without knowing it, many office workers become willing slaves to computers, constantly surfing the Internet and checking e-mail.
"The way to e-mail nirvana is by applying the Power of Less -- simplify, set limits and find yourself becoming more powerful," the book suggests.
Babauta advises that you check your e-mail two times a day instead of 40, and break the habit of Internet surfing.
My own solution is to simply shut down the computer when its service is no longer necessary.
But the book's gradualist approach may be more effective for the beginners in simplification.
"Make gradual changes, in a series of small steps over time, and you're more likely to stick to those changes than if you attempt a big change all at once," the book concludes.
For example, declutter your desk and learn to appreciate mundane things can help.
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