Sometimes when I visualize my time in my head, it all presents itself like a pack of wild ponies running away in a million different directions. I feel like I can’t get a handle on all of the things I need to do, in the time that is available to me. Probably because I can’t. It’s likely not physically possible, or at least not physically healthy.
I’ve been in the habit of rigidly planning my time and cramming every spot full. I’ve noticed that this is no longer working for me. It’s crushing my soul, leaving it no room to breathe. Me, as a person vs a productivity machine, is being smothered. I’m angry, resentful, decreasingly present in my most important relationships. Including the one with myself.
When I still my mind enough to listen, I find the answer isn’t to be more efficient and cram the calendar more full; it’s to choose the things that matter most and leave the rest behind. This is not failure. This is wisdom.
Back when I was doing a major house-cleaning, the key was not more organization systems or methods – the key was decluttering. I was trying to cram too many things into the space available, and it wasn’t working. Removing things and making more space so the things that really mattered to me had their place and were visible and easily accessible were the keys to true change.
The same is happening with my time. I don’t need a better organizational system, I need to remove things and make more space so the things that really matter to me have their place and can exist with ease.
In a world that idolizes productivity and busyness, this can feel like swimming mentally and emotionally upstream.
But when I turn all the external voices off and search deep within myself, I know this is the right thing to do.
I can’t do it all, and I don’t want to. Doing less does not make me less of a person. It makes me more centered, present, healthy, and sane.
It makes room for the best version of me, the real me, to thrive and produce fruit.
It gives the most important people in my life the love and attention they deserve. It allows me to pursue the things that really matter to me, rather than the things other people say should matter to me.
This is my focus and my deep work as I move through the end of this year and prepare to move into next.
How about you, friend? Are you feeling overwhelmed, like there is never enough time? How can less be more when it comes to doing things? What are you doing because it’s good, and what are you doing because you feel like you need to do it to keep up? How is this affecting you and those you care about?
Sindy Hankins 