Do Less, but Do Better
There is so much to do in life, don’t you think?
There is so much to do, or else we are only wasting away the fleeting,
temporary time of existence we are privileged to walk with in the face of this
earth.
There is so much to do and it feels like there is always so little time.
I can only speak for myself, and for me I am never bored.
I don’t get bored because there’s always something I want to do.
I always have something to conceptualize and create, something to think or
pray about, something to reflect on, and something to work on to provide for my
family’s needs.
The list doesn’t stop there, and it will fill this whole blog post if I mention
them all.
There’s
always a backlog
It feels like I always have a backlog of things I want to get done.
For instance, right now I have to submit a 5,000-word ebook for one of my
freelance writing clients on Monday. I’m in the 2,000-word neighborhood when I
decided to take a rest to – oh, joy of joys – write this blog post.
I also really want to finish up my first published novel, Sometime In
July, which I’ve only completed the first act or about a quarter of it with
20,000 words.
And those are only about what I do professionally as a writer.
I didn’t even mention my personal quiet and family time, the house
chores, the list of books I want to finish reading, and the things I do for my
parents and grandmother.
As you can see, I never have a problem with boredom. My problem has
always been that THERE IS NOT ENOUGH TIME.
And I’ve always thought what if there were eight days in a week, wouldn’t
that be awesome?
Adjust your
priorities, not time
Honestly, I don’t think eight days a week is going to be awesome.
Because we always have the tendency to squeeze in new activities whenever
we are given more time.
We tend to manage time, attempt
to control it as if it is something we can organize or manipulate.
The truth is we can’t manage, control, or adjust time to fit our things
to do. Time is constant, and the thing that we can adjust is our priorities.
We need to set our priorities in place so we can avoid wasting our time doing
trivial things.
Busy is good?
Not lacking of things to do is actually good because it means that we are
being productive.
We are stepping up, holding responsibility, and being thankful and a good
steward of this life that we don’t want to waste any second of it.
But the problem comes when we compress too many activities in one day, or
even in one hour.
It doesn’t only stress us physically. It also burns us out mentally and
emotionally.
For example, if you are given an hour a day to teach a five-part lesson,
forcing to lecture those five parts in one hour will not be as effective
compared to teaching one part a day for five days.
Busy may be good than not being productive, but unrestrained busyness may
make us miss the very best things life has to offer.
Quality takes
time
Quality can never be rushed. It just doesn’t work that way.
If you want to have a quality family life, then you have to prioritize it
and spend more time with your spouse and kids.
If you want to have a quality work or business, then you have to
prioritize it and stop playing computer games and doing activities that will
not contribute to its growth.
If you want to have a quality spiritual life, then you have to prioritize
it and put your whole heart into it.
It’s just the way it is.
The answer
If you feel like there isn’t enough time in a day, then do less but do it
better.
Question all the daily tasks you are doing right now.
You can get a piece of paper and put them all in a list.
Make four columns and label them as “Non-negotiable,” “Important but not
essential,” “Helpful but not necessary,” and “Trivial.”
Eliminate the trivial and helpful but not necessary, limit the important
but not essential, and focus on the non-negotiables.
If you have been honest with your self-assessment, then your
non-negotiables should be your priority and where you should spend more time
on.
You may even get a nice surprise that so many of what you do every day
are actually trivial and that there are only a few non-negotiables.
And when you focus on these non-negotiables, everything will become
simpler, more manageable, and less stressful.
Again, it’s just the way it is.
The best way
Jesus made a simple statement about setting priorities when he said “Seek
first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be
added unto you.”
It doesn’t mean that God is not concerned with all the little details of your life.
As a matter of fact, He is. He cares about what you do more than you could
ever know.
But what He is saying is that if you make Him your non-negotiable, as the
top priority in your life, He will take care of the rest.
When you cut down your priorities to just one task – seeking God – then every
other task and responsibility falls into place.
It may not be easy at first or you may not right away feel the difference,
but as you stay with it and give the details of your life to God, you will soon
find out that He is more than able to carry them for you as you focus more on
Him.
