2-3-4 Friday 19 Apr

‘Seeking to spark the most potential within you per word of any online newsletter’

1 thought

When I visited Dublin, Ireland, I once went to a hamburger restaurant.

On its menu, were only 2 items.

The hamburger. And the cheeseburger.

Nothing else.

I thought that pretty interesting, especially in a world where you would see dozens of options for burgers, at the likes of McDonald’s.

Can more actually become less?

And more importantly, should we pursue less in our lives, and if we can, how do we do that?

I would argue that yes, you should definitely pursue less in your life. 

Because if you don’t, you end up going everywhere, but moving nowhere.

I’ve a story on this.

When I was trying to write a book, I did nothing else for two years, beyond writing. I had no job, little income, and I was spending the rest of my income trying to get my book published and printed.

Each day, I would wake up, go for a run, and then sit on my chair. On the chair at 930am, I would begin writing.

I would time myself for 90 minutes, before then getting up to get some snacks. (I did grow fatter as a result).

I started in January 2022, and at the end of that journey in December 2022, I had not one, but two books ready for print.

Because I focused on nothing else, other than writing.

Sure, you might say,

John, you’re jobless. I’m not. I can’t just do one thing at any one time.

So my question then is,

Can you reduce your commitments in all the different directions you’re taking yourself in?

We often say yes, but what we don’t often do is to edit our yeses over time.

We often think a yes is forever, but it’s not.

Think of some of these commitments that regularly appear:

1. Being on a planning committee
2. Being part of a parent support group
3. Being in a WhatsApp group (yes that is a commitment)

As we begin to edit the things we say yes to over time, I think it becomes easier for us to commit even better to the things that we really, really want to do.

1 talk

So I have invented another myth for myself—that I’m irresponsible. I tell everybody, I don’t do anything.

If anybody asks me to be on a committee to take care of admissions, no, I’m irresponsible, I don’t give a damn about the students—of course I give a damn about the students but I know that somebody else’ll do it...

Irresponsibiity requires eternal vigilance.

• Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize winning physicist

1 tip

If you’re in a full time job, you might find it hard to know how, and what to cull, without affecting your chances of promotion, or being accused (or seen) as not being a team player.

When you’re young, it’s also hard to turn down requests for your time. You might feel that you have to do everything, so that you can get somewhere in life.

One thing that has personally helped me is to regularly, have a count of the projects that I have on hand, and what else needs to be done.

I define a project as anything that will take more than 3 days to complete. 

For example, a book is a project, whilst an article is not.

Cal Newport, the author of Slow Productivity, talks about how we can try to keep to at most 2 or 3 main ‘missions’ at any one time.

For example, right now, my missions are

1. Writing
2. Business building

The projects are those that move the mission. Again, you might be an office worker. You might be involved in

1. Planning your wedding
2. Doing up your home
3. Organising a conference for work

If you lay out those projects, you will start to realise what you can and cannot do, and slowly do less.

Let me know how that goes,

John

Live Young, Live Well - Work Your Love

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