Gather what matters. Relinquish the rest

You’re holding on to too many possibilities. Time to relinquish most of them, so you can focus on what really matters.

Too many options.

You’re drowning in options. Ten of this. Fourteen of that. How can you move forward confidently, with so many possibilities to distract you?

In the current option-rich environment, it is incumbent upon you to limit the number of possibilities you are willing to entertain. Otherwise, you’ll lose your focus and drift off into frustration.

Remember: confidence comes from repetition; which means that if you want to become confident at anything, you’ll want to choose from among your many options — so you’ll have time to get your reps in on the stuff you care most about and want to do.

Time to choose. 

This is the first step toward confidence: Choosing what to focus on; and then doing what you’ve chosen over and over.

But how do we choose from all the options out there, whether it be choosing spaghetti sauce or how to spend the precious time we have each day?

Here’s how: by being lazy. Remember this:

Hard choices, easy life.

Easy choices, hard life.

In other words, give yourself an easy life, with less stress and anxiety by doing the hard work up front of choosing, so when you’re in the daily mix you’ll know what to do without all that overwhelm and struggle. Whereas if you put off making the hard choices now you’ll be in the soup forever.

What really matters?

You may think: it all matters. No. It doesn’t. Most of the things you let eat up your time and energy don’t really matter.

Time is the only commodity you have. And in your limited time, there are only a very few things that really matter.

Write them down. That’s right: take out a piece of paper right now and right down the five to seven things that really matter to you. Be brutal. Only gather what is most important.

Then get to work. Focus on what you truly care about.

Let the rest go.

Relinquish everything else. You may have a few extra minutes here and there to do what is somewhat important, but make sure you give yourself time for what is essential.

It’s not easy to make the hard choices. But once you do, you will enjoy a tranquility you have not known before, as you easily say no to everything that is not on your list of what matters most.

Want to know more?

Please listen to this short talk (about 12 minutes) by Sarah Knight about the life changing magic of developing your f*ck budget, and sticking to it. Then come right back for today’s takeaway.

The takeaway:

Make your list now of what truly matters, and stick to it. Your confidence will grow each time you say yes to what matters most, and no to what matters less.

Read more.

I can help you make the hard choices, and stick to your decisions.