“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.”
— Seneca
How many times have you become frustrated by not being able to do something because you didn’t have time, couldn’t afford it, or had other plans?
Probably a lot.
In a culture of grind and hustle, it’s easy to get swept off your feet and lose sight of what you really want. Since the advent of social media, self-comparison is at an all-time high.
And comprising those comparisons is usually not even what you truly want. So instinctually, when a request of you arises that you can’t fulfill, you feel bad.
FOMO, sadness, frustration, anger. Consistently, time after time, we react.
The truth is, we have no legitimate reason to be upset. Every choice, every decision in life, comes at a cost. An opportunity cost. Choosing action x, we give up action y. It’s simple economics.
Once we acknowledge that it’s impossible to do everything, we can focus on choosing what’s best for us.
Maybe you’ll say, “well how am I supposed to know what’s best for me?”, and that’s a perfectly reasonable answer! There’s certainly no rush to decide, and no reason to worry.
In music, like in life, there is no incorrect way of playing. The level of complexity that the composer writes with, or the speed of the symphony does not dictate how wonderful the composition is.
In that same way, results for the sake of results mean nothing. So, if you don’t know why you did something, it gives you no benefit.
You better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.
— David L. Weatherford
However, should you know what it is you want to do, or what you want to become, do just that.
Don’t know where to start? That’s okay too. Break it down into small, actionable steps, and simply execute. One week, one day, one hour, and one task at a time.
If you do this, baby-step by baby-step, the regret from not being able to do other things will begin to fade. You will come to realize that your actions are directly aligned with the exact state of being you desire, and everything else will fall to the side.
If you don’t have time, you don’t have priorities.
— Tim Ferriss