No, now is not a good time
|
How many open loops do you have at the moment? Opening more loops than you close is a surefire way to increase your perceived busyness. You’re not getting more done, you don’t have more on your plate—you’re just trying to do it all at once. When I feel overwhelmed, I stop opening new loops. No, this week is not a good time to meet for lunch. No, I can’t commit to releasing this new product soon. No, I’d really love to join, but I’ll have to skip dance class this time. Sometimes, our mouths are bigger than our bellies. So we eat less for a while. And then we feel better. |
Peter Akkies
Join 10,000 people who receive free weekly productivity tips ⬇️
Is being busy good or bad? “I am so, so busy”, one might say — “I just have so many things to do. It’s one thing after another. It never stops!” Being busy can be stressful. But someone else might say, “I like to keep busy”. “Well, I retired from my job last year, but I keep busy! Don’t worry, I never get bored.” Being busy can give life meaning. The truth is that being busy is neither good nor bad. In fact, being busy is nothing more than an idea: You can’t touch “busy”. You can’t see it....
When you hear the same thing from three very different people, there’s usually something to it. Especially when those people are a friend, an elderly lady, and the Pope. This morning, my friend and I talked about the value of spending time together in person. We agreed that connecting face-to-face feels much more rewarding than endless digital messaging. Later, biking home from a fitness class, I saw an elderly lady lying on the road by a tram stop. She’d fallen, so I helped her up, moved her...
Here’s an app you should check out if you haven’t already. It’s a Mac App of the Year… It’s an Apple Design Award Winner… And it’s even available for Windows PCs! It’s my favorite calendar app, Fantastical. (No, that’s not an affiliate link—I’m not affiliated with Flexibits, the company that makes Fantastical, in any way. I’m simply a fan.) Fantastical has been my calendar app of choice for years. It has a great interface, it lets you connect almost any calendar (Google Calendar, iCloud...