Decide

“(The original Latin word for “decide,” decidere, means “to cut off,” as in slicing away alternatives; it’s a close cousin of words like “homicide” and suicide.”) Any finite life — even the best one you could possibly imagine — is therefore a matter of ceaselessly waving goodbye to possibility.”

~ Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman

In learning HOW to declutter my life I’ve gotten to the part of Four Thousand Weeks where it talks about learning how to be better at procrastination. Since no one can do everything, you have to learn how to best decide what not to do, and “feel at peace about not doing it.” That last one is hard for me, but I’m learning. Learning how “to neglect the right things”.

It also talks about something I learned from the financial world, “pay yourself first,” and applies it to the decisions we make about time. That if you try to find time for your most valued activities only after you deal with all the other important things demanding your time, you will be extremely disappointed. Claim time for what matters and accept the consequences.

At first, when I read this I was worried that it meant I hadn’t devoted enough time to my Kung Fu, but I realized two things.

1. Decluttering is my Kung Fu, especially this year. It is an important project for making space for other aspects of my Kung Fu. It’s easier to keep up than catch up, and I have a lifetime of accumulated clutter I’m catching up on.

2. The recommendation that you only work on a maximum of three main projects at a time. Once one is done you can pull another one from the list demanding your attention.

Two pieces of time management advice that the book gives:

1. Work on your most important project for the first hour of each day

2. Protect your time by scheduling “meetings” with yourself, marking them in your calendar so that commitments can’t intrude.

Right now, I have a major project for which the end is finally in sight. Should be done before the end of this month and is an extremely important part of my decluttering process. So important that it was a project unto itself. I’ll be so glad when it’s done! Looking forward to the next project, one I want to do rather than have to do, that I can concentrate on.

Still learning how to decide which things to keep, to procrastinate on, “to neglect the right things”, and to wave goodbye to.

“Keeping a journal of what’s going on in your life is a good way to help you distill what’s important and what’s not.”

~ Martina Navratilova