Do Less, Better

“Do less, better.” - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

I’m a systems and routines guy.

I like to set daily habits to move to me toward a goal.

But, I tend to take on too much.

A pattern that has played out over and over in my life is that I layer on more and more commitments.

More and more projects, goals, and habits.

My calendar gets cluttered and soon I’m not sticking to any of the systems I established.

So I scale back.

It’s only when I keep my focus to 1 to 3 things at a time that I make meaningful progress on my goals.

But it takes discipline to do less.

To stay focused.

I refer back to Marcus Aurelius’ line in Meditations: do less, better.

Those words were written 2,000 years ago but are more important now than ever before.

The modern world is full of options. Careers, beliefs, partners, hobbies, information to consume.

The one iron truth in life is that we have limited time.

This biological experience will come to an end for all of us.

It is not possible to do more than a few things with our time.

So must ruthlessly prioritize.

Say no to almost everything.

And focus relentlessly on just a few things.