In No More Mondays, Dan Miller talks about the statement, “I am so busy.” He writes, We say this as a badge of honor, as if our exhaustion were a trophy and our ability to withstand seventy to eighty-hour work weeks a mark of real character. We convince ourselves that the busier we are, the more we are accomplishing and the more important we must be. But is this really so? Does more activity really mean more accomplishment? To be unavailable to friends and family, to miss the sunsets and the full moons, to blast through all our obligations without time for taking a deep breath – are these really the marks of a successful life?
I couldn’t agree more. At the end of the day, or at the end of our lives, we want to be able to say we invested our time, energy and resources on who and what really mattered to us. No one ever said on their deathbed, “I wish I’d spent more time working.” While some things are obvious, the challenge is saying no to good, even great things so you can say yes to the best.
So instead of adding more to your To Do List, why not sit down and create a Not-To-Do List? Eliminate the people and things that subtract your time but don’t add to your goals and dreams. Think about it – whether at the end of the day or at the end of your life, what if you managed to check off everything on your list but missed out on the people and things that matter most to you?