Do less

I am a master of the to do list.
I’ m quite good at getting stuff done.
Both in business and in private life.

I do even better with my long term goals:
Write them down, forget about them and
a couple of years later they are achieved.

I don’t mean this ironically.
It is a fact of my life and most people would envy
me for my ability to get stuff done.

A few of my friends are even better
at this game than me.
Entrepreneurs who are even more determined than me.
They achieve bigger goals, faster than me and
and then move on to the next one.

But recently I picked up on some strange signals that make me
want to get out of this game.I realised that while I felt
some contentment about achieving a lot,
my happiness did not increase with getting more accomplished.
One trigger was a simple statement,
picked up on twitter:

You are not your to do list.

Later, over Christmas,
I read a book with the rather blunt title “fuck it”.
It’s  more refined message is, in my words:

We attach so much meaning to so many things in life,
that we become too attached. And we miss life on the way.

Aterwards I discovered the fantastic blog
of Leo Barbauta, http://zenhabits.net/.
(My favourite  post)

Leo writes about a lot of the  things that
I’ve been doing for quite some time now.
Getting fit, consume less.
Our home is actually quite minimalist
and I work a lot to keep my life simple.

– Er, repeat that: I work a lot to keep my life simple.

Phew. There I said it. There must be a better way to do this.
I don’t want to work a lot to keep my life simple.

Do less. Want less. Breathe.