This applies not only to things you have to do, but also to things you think you want to do. Maybe you think you should learn Spanish, but you haven’t actually done anything to learn Spanish. Admitting that you’re not really committed enough to the idea of learning Spanish can help close that loop. Letting go of the feeling that you need to learn Spanish might be the thing that frees your mind so much that you decide to go paddleboarding without even thinking. The point is that the new year isn’t just a time to start something new. It’s time to let go of things from the past that no longer serve you.
In many ways it is a counter to that all-too-popular slogan “Just do it.” just do it What it means is that you should not think about it, but rather decide what you really want to do or should do. Maybe spend some time remembering why you wanted to do it in the first place, and if those reasons no longer resonate with you, then just No Do it.
If you like this idea, I highly recommend picking up Allen’s book. It explains this idea in more detail and gives some practical advice on how to abandon it. You can still keep track of those things if you decide, years from now, when you’re paddleboarding through the Sea of Cortez, that you now really want to learn Spanish and are willing to make it work.
remember to live
I will confess, my enthusiasm getting things done Has decreased in the last few years. Not because the system doesn’t work, but because I’ve found that doing less, not more, has dramatically improved my life. It’s not that I have stopped working. It’s that I’ve discovered that many of the things I thought I should be doing weren’t really my idea; Those were ideas I absorbed from other places. I really didn’t want to do them, so I didn’t, then I felt guilty about it.
Although everything I’ve written above is good advice for starting and maintaining a healthy habit, it’s worth spending some time and making sure you know why you want to do what you’re doing. I’m rereading Bertrand Russell In praise of lazinessAnd this line came out of my mouth: “Modern man thinks that everything should be done for something else, and never for himself.”
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