A Hundred Things To Do

True or false.

There's never enough time during the day.

Trick question!
The answer varies due to each person's perspective. Every person determines
on their own, whether that statement is a truth or a lie. It's soley based on the way they manage their day-to-day life.

Let me explain.

Last Friday on my lunch break I caught myself eating Popeyes, texting 3 different contacts on my phone, listening to The Minimalists' podcast on my mp3 player and trying to think of all I had left to do once I clocked back in at work. I know, I know, multi-tasking at its finest, right?

No one forced me to do all of these different things, all at once. Sadly, we create most of our own problems.

Usually, our intentions are good and our hearts are in the right place, but we fail in the overall execution. By trying to accomplish many, we miss out on the very reason we are choosing to do the things we do. We are robbing ourselves of the small, simple pleasures and joys life has to offer.

The problem isn't that we are lacking the proper amount of time during the day to complete what we feel we have to, but the issue needing addressed is how our time is being managed.

For years, I have been trying to cram an unfeasible amount of tasks into a 24-hour span. My expectations have been unrealistic and on most days, even half would be impossible to accomplish. By trying to be busy, I have been multi-tasking my life away. I'll be the first to tell you:

Being busy doesn't necessarily mean you're being productive.

To fix this, I am starting to make minor, subtle changes. Instead of trying to complete 20 projects a day, I have decided to limit myself to only a handful. And if I accomplish all of these, then it is my decision to add another to that day's agenda or choose not to add anything until the following day.

This process of minimizing and prioritizing is already helping a lot! Instead of multi-tasking, I am switching to the beautiful and less stressful art of single-tasking. Although it's only been a week, the positive results are already visible!

Single-tasking let's you focus all of your energy and attention on one thing at a time. It actually makes each experience more enjoyable, even those tasks that seemed tedious and mundane before.

You also become more appreciative. It teaches you to live your life more in the present, instead of always looking ahead into that nonexistent future we all like to get caught up in. Single-tasking allows life to be lived the way it was meant to be lived: in the moment.

So take your life a little slower. Enjoy the environment you're in right now. Appreciate the people who are around you this very second. Be thankful you are alive and healthy.

You don't have to rush things. Slow down and take your day, one breath at a time; one task at a time.

If you're eating, just eat.
If you're talking, just talk.
If you're listening, just listen.
If you're walking, just walk.
If you're reading, just read.
Don't overcomplicate things.
Enjoy the wonder of true simplicity.

Be. Here. Now.