Aug 06 2008
Need More Time and Energy to Write? Simplify!
Bob owns a large home with a huge yard that requires his constant attention, a car, a Jeep, a ski boat, a motorcycle and a snowmobile. He is involved in social groups and is a leader in more than one community service group. He golfs, plays tennis, is on a bicycle racing team and loves to fish. He is into the latest technology and has three televisions of different sizes, an LCD projector, two DVD players, a large sound system, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, an iPod, an iPhone, an expensive digital SLR camera with an assortment of lenses, and more. He spends hours every week staying abreast of the latest trends and products and learning how to make the “stuff” he owns work properly … or getting it fixed when it breaks.
Bob wants to write, but doesn’t have the time or energy. Fancy that.
Phil lives in a modest but nice condo, minimally furnished, with no yard. He has one car. Socially, he goes out with friends when he has the urge to. The only group he is involved in is a monthly writers’ group. He loves to walk and hike. He has two pieces of technology: an iPhone and a laptop computer. He knows both inside and out, and uses them not only for normal computing tasks, but also as his television, newspaper, DVD player and sound system.
Phil has plenty of time and energy to write. Fancy that.
It seems that everyone is too busy these days. They complain about it, but in reality, most people don’t have to be as busy as they are. They don’t have to acquire and manage all the material things they can get their hands on. They don’t have to say yes to every invitation to join a group or become involved in a committee.
We all have basic necessities and responsibilities, of course. But beyond those, the things we choose to own and the activities we opt to participate in should enrich our lives – not bog them down.
Make regular assessments of your life. You will likely find that you have and do things that you neither have to do nor want to do … nor are they doing anyone any particular good. So why are you doing them? Get rid of them!
Granted, when a spouse and children are involved, life becomes more complicated. But even then, challenge every new or extra thing that tries to creep into your life. Who says every child should be signed up for three little league teams, two play groups, piano lessons and a performing group?
Granted, you will find many material things and activities to be enjoyable, instructive, fulfilling and exciting. But are they worth the novel you never wrote?
Yes, we all have responsibilities to fulfill and obligations to meet. But most of us are wallowing in the muck of all those unwanted and unneeded extras that ooze into our routines. We become addicted to the noise and motion of life. We say yes when we should say no.
If you want to write, you must throw time and energy at it. And you will have to fight the whole world to find them because that world wants a bigger piece of you than you can afford to give it. The secret is to reduce rather than add to. Less is more. You can only drag yourself out of bed so early or stay up so late every day to carve out extra time for writing before you burn out and/or ruin your health.
You only have so much time and energy to give, so choose carefully what you give it to.
PS. Be sure to sign up for free weekly e-mail updates from TheWritersBag.com at the upper left of this page.
How true! I find this around me all the time. On the other hand, there are some, particularly women, who seem to be able to achieve a great deal more than men are able to. The secret I suppose is necessity.
Steve,
thanks for this very inspiring post.
I was always thinking: “Why is Warren Buffet living in that, comparing to his fortune, very modest, 50 years old house and driving 5 years old car? And how about Ingvar Kamprad? He drives even older car, 15 years old Volvo and flying economy class when he can afford buying new car every day (really!) and flying private jet easily like this?”
I saw it like some oddness rich people usually have, maybe even some PR games. But then I realized that they are not pretending something like common people - simple because they don’t have to.
For WB: I think in his case it’s exactly like you write, Steve: his could afford any house or car or whatever and paying nearly no money for it, comparing to his fortune. But he knows or feels that the total payment for that would be huge: he would pay for it with lost of his attention, he wouldn’t be able to focus on his investments so much so he would start doing mistakes, his self-confidence would go down and so on… He would be simply distracted from his most important goals and tasks, he would weaken his strong side – being great investor.
I guess, there is a good news for us, who are not (yet
so rich like WB.
Even when you are rich like hell you still have to fight very hard for being focused on goals and values that are most important for you. With money you can “outsource” everything, but not this, maybe it’s even gets harder. There are so many “sweet distractions” that you can have instantly when you have money, there is always gorgeous and irresistible Siren that “… sings so sweetly that she lulls the mariners to sleep; then she climbs upon the ships and kills the sleeping mariners…” [Leonardo Da Vinci, Notebooks]
And for IK: I guess it’s quite similar to WB, but there is also one more thing.
They say “put your money where your mouth is” - or, in IK’s case, “don’t”
If core values of IKEA are economy and frugality, than if he also behaves that way, he shows to every IKEA customer and employee that those are not empty or temporary words, but the values that can really be maintained.
But the distraction and focusing on most important is the core, I guess.
Thanks again - and not only for this one