Why do we always think we can do more than we can?
We try to cram all sorts of things into our days and weeks, telling ourselves that today will be different and we'll really get through all the to-do list items.
But we never do.
Most of the time I have a vague awareness of what is on my plate, but I rarely stop to take any time to really think about EVERYTHING I am committed to. There is more going on in life than what is on our to-do lists. Relationships, family, friends, health, housing, sleep, general life admin, the list goes on.
In the book Focus by Pedram Shojai he puts it like this "Every time we say yes to something, we need to understand that there's an opportunity cost and that there need to be time and space created in our lives for each thing we say yes to."
I am like an excited puppy most days. I love to say yes to shiny new things. But the reality is that every time I say yes to something, I am taking time & energy away from something else. And that might be totally OK, but it's only OK if it's a considered decision.
I'm playing around with this idea of life accounting. Taking stock of everything that is taking up time & energy in my life and measuring it against how much I actually have. I'm going to go ahead and assume right now that I'm probably in the red.
Time to make some decisions to get back some space and margin in my life.