The Fallacy of Time Management...

Over the last 10 years, I have tried every trip, tool, and technique to harness time. Productivity hacks, organization, scheduling... Burning the candle on both ends, waking up extra early, multitasking during Zoom meetings and yes... being on my phone during family/kids events.

I just finished reading "4000 Weeks - Time Management for Mortals" by Oliver Burkeman. Burkeman's simple point... time is finite. It can not be expanded, influenced or manipulated. Most of us tend to over estimate the amount of time we have, and under estimate the time we need to complete the task(s) at hand. And a humbling point to all, in the grand scheme of the world... our individual actions are actually quite insignificant. How does that sit with your Friday AM coffee?

For me, this is just what I needed. Acceptance is hard and I admittedly have anxiety over the thought that of accepting that I can not get it all done. I can not engineer my time/schedule/life to do more... because the reality is that "more" will always to fill the time we give it, which only makes this worse. I anticipate this is hitting home with many of you, especially those that seem to have a never ending "To Do" list.

This Friday, tear up your current list. To take a step back and think, what is truly important, and say "No" to everything else. Will this mean some non-important (which often tend to seem urgent) things do not get done? Yes. Will the world move forward and you will be able to spend more time, focus and attention getting the few right things done? Yes, yes.

It's a shift, but the most worthy one we can take. Let's call out this fallacy and recalibrate to better live our lives intentionally and with purpose.

Enjoy and have a great weekend!