One of the biggest frustrations in our lives can come from being busy but feeling like we’re getting little done.

 

We start early, finish late and try our best to get more done but the tasks keep piling up. Our list of things to do grows, rather than shrinks.

 

In response we try harder, start earlier and finish later. Still the cycle repeats. We pedal hard but get nowhere. How can this be?

 

Part of the reason is our inclination to chase too many rabbits at once.  We attempt to spread ourselves thin, across many tasks.  We try to get too much done at once.  We introduce complexity where there should be simplicity.

 

What We Can Learn from Nature
Nature doesn’t complicate things.  Rarely is energy wasted without a good reason.

 

Animals graze, gather or hunt to eat for survival.  They find water to stay hydrated.  They find or make shelter.  Raise a family as best they can.  The young play and learn while they play.  Adults rest and gather their energy for when they need it most (running after or away from something mostly).

 

Energy and effort are spent on a few key areas.

 

Life is kept simple and streamlined, living in the moment on instinct.

 

Animals keep life focused on the essentials because their very survival depends on it.

 

What We Can Learn from the Great Minds
Most of the greatest thinkers in our history have thought deeply, and spoken about, the dangers in adding complexity. Or, instinctively, they have avoided it.

 

These people cut to the core of what matters in their fields of excellence.  They intentionally seek out simplicity, the straightest path and the things that matter most.  They avoid distractions.

 

Why then, do so many of us choose another route?

 

We whittle away our time on things that don’t move the needle, that don’t support our goals, and then complain we are time starved.

 

We add complexity, and moving parts, to situations when the answer is more likely to involve stripping away, streamlining and paring back.

 

The result, we pedal hard but get nowhere fast.

 

Complicating things is conditioned into us from early but we can fight back.

 

We can strip away the complexity mindset and get back to simple.

 

 

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Note: This is an extract from my book:

Busy: A Manifesto for Distracted Times

 

 

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