Too busy? Try this.

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The motto of the Lichtenbergians is Cras melior est, which means Tomorrow is better,[1] which is an amusing call to “structured procrastination.”  Part of the lesson of our First Precept is to slow down and not produce dreck that needs more time before you share it with an audience.

I personally have extended that lesson to more of life: getting All The Things done is not necessarily the way to happiness or an understanding of yourself and/or the universe.  Being too busy is not a sign of success, in other words. So when I come across a title like “If You’re Too Busy for These 5 Things, Your Life Is More Off Course Than You Think,” I go to check it out to see if there’s any strategy for not-doing that I could learn.

Well.

tl;dr: it’s more Things To Do.

Here’s an outline:

  1. Organizing your life

    1. Environment

    2. Finance

    3. Relations

    4. Health

    5. Spiritual

    6. Time

  2. Plan & Invest in Your Future

  3. Tracking Important Metrics

    1. (He’s currently tracking his income/expenses; new email subscribers; relationships; progress toward goals; weight, muscle-mass, and body fat percentage)

  4. Prayer & Meditation to Reduce Noise

  5. Move Toward Your Goals Every Single Day

That last one is the tell, isn’t it?  His motto is clearly Fac plus ut facere plus possis.[2]  He probably would salivate at this page.

I’m being unfair, of course.  He has found that paying attention to life, all aspects of life, rather than simply flying blind, is a better way to live, and I cannot disagree with him on that idea.  More power to a thoughtful life!

But this Lichtenbergian has found that the metaphor of a plane flight has one important flaw as a guide to thinking about life, and that is that it’s all about getting somewhere.  Your destination.  Your goal.  I’m generally suspicious of this kind of thinking and I almost always have been.  (Back in college I wrote a sonnet about throwing stones: as long as you’re throwing stones, you cannot fail; it’s just when you aim at something that the universe becomes an impediment.)  It’s far too easy to let a goal become your life.

And note that if you’re in a metal tube hurtling through the air toward your destination, that’s the only place you’re going to get to. You are ignoring the other journeys that are out there.

So I thought about it, and I think I have a simpler list of things to keep you on course.

If You’re Too Busy For These 4 Things, Your Life May Be On a Course

  1. MAKING: Making a living? A home? A quiet space? Art? Cocktails?

  2. SHARING: Sharing your home? Your love? Cocktails?

  3. GIVING: Giving to your community? To the next generation? To yourself?[3

  4. SMILING: Seeking for joy? Beauty? Cocktails?

There you go.  That was easy, wasn’t it?

Cheers!

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[1] Technically, I’ve been told, it ought to be Cras melius est.  But Latin teachers are notoriously disputative, and it’s already on all the t-shirts and mugs.

[2] “Do more so you can do more.”

[3] Specifically, cocktails.