» Timothy Ferriss
« Of all ridiculous things the most ridiculous seems to me, to be busy — to be a man who is brisk about his food and his work. Therefore, whenever I see a fly settling, in the decisive moment, on the nose of such a person of affairs; or if he is spattered with mud from a carriage which drives past him in still greater haste; or the drawbridge opens up before him; or a tile falls down and knocks him dead, then I laugh heartily. » Soren Kierkegaard. The tale of the busiest man in the world. Overwhelmed & Rushed? Do a Stress Assess. By Leo Babauta If you find yourself rushing from task to task, worried that you don’t have time to do everything … If you are feeling a high amount of stress and are just overwhelmed by the number of things you have to do … You might try doing a Stress Assess.
It’s something I just did for myself, because I woke up and had a million things to do, and another million things swarming around in my head. I lay there in bed for 20 minutes, just thinking of all the things I needed to do, and some problems that were stressing me out. And then I decided to make a list: everything in my life that’s on my mind or causing me some stress. Are You Addicted to Doing? Perhaps you’re familiar with this experience: After a long week of work, the weekend finally arrives.
It’s time to wind down, relax, and do nothing. However, before 9 a.m. Saturday morning you’ve organized three social appointments, ordered a new IKEA closet, and set in motion four other plans that will keep you active for the rest of the weekend. Or something like this has happened to you: It’s 8 a.m. and you’re in the office. On your desk is a clear list of the four important priorities of the day. Both cases are examples of action addiction, a deep-rooted human condition caused by imbalances in the chemicals of our brain. Test Your Action Addiction: The consequence of action addiction is that we are constantly chasing short-term wins. Next time you get to your office in the morning, just as you are about to get in action, sit down, and look out the window or at your computer screen.Don’t act. Why Busyness is Actually Modern Laziness Action addiction is an advanced sort of laziness. Addicted to Busyness? What It Means, & 6 Steps to Overcome. In part 1, I shared some of my experiences with busyness and how I recently realized I was actually addicted.
The One Word that Can Kill a Friendship. There’s this word you use all the time.
It’s a seemingly harmless word — it’s close to meaningless, really — but it’s slowly, subversively tainting your relationships. Look back over any recent texts and emails you’ve sent to friends. The Shortness of Life: Seneca on Busyness and the Art of Living Wide Rather Than Living Long. “How we spend our days,” Annie Dillard memorably wrote in her soul-stretching meditation on the life of presence, “is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
And yet most of us spend our days in what Kierkegaard believed to be our greatest source of unhappiness — a refusal to recognize that “busy is a decision” and that presence is infinitely more rewarding than productivity. I frequently worry that being productive is the surest way to lull ourselves into a trance of passivity and busyness the greatest distraction from living, as we coast through our lives day after day, showing up for our obligations but being absent from our selves, mistaking the doing for the being. Despite a steadily swelling human life expectancy, these concerns seem more urgent than ever — and yet they are hardly unique to our age.
In fact, they go as far back as the record of human experience and endeavor. Seneca writes:
Simple Living. Relationship to Time. The Need to Say No. These 8 Things Are Wasting Your Valuable Time Everyday. What has been your most productive day, week or month?
Millions of people spend the greater percentage of their time doing things that does not add value to their lives. Among other things, internet/social media/email, trying to change things outside of your control, talking instead of doing, procrastination, worry, waiting on other people, dwelling in regrets, thinking about the past, worrying about future without planning and worrying about what others think of you could be wasting your precious time. These are a few more things that are wasting your valuable time. 1. Criticising yourself for not being perfect Don’t be too hard on yourself. And that is all I can expect of anyone, including me.” 2. Stop waiting for tomorrow; you will never get today back. The simple fact that you’re alive makes you worthy. Start today by taking one courageous step forward. 3. The Busy Person’s Guide to Reducing Stress. By Leo Babauta Stress is one of the biggest causes of health problems in many peoples’ lives: it can cause heart disease, depression, anxiety attacks, sleep problems, auto-immune diseases, weight problems and more.
But we’re busy — how do we drop the stress levels down while still getting our jobs done, taking care of ourselves and our families? The busy person might have no time for weeklong meditation retreats, mini-vacations, or weekly counseling sessions. So what can be done? I’m going to be brief about this: there are five small things you can do. Be completely in one task. How to Cure Anxiety — One Workaholic’s Story, Six Techniques That Work. Charlie Hoehn was a full-time employee of mine during the making and launch of The 4-Hour Body.
It was an intense period. In this post, Charlie will share his M.E.D. (Minimum Effective Dose) for overcoming anxiety and managing workaholism. There are six techniques in total.