Take a moment to think about what occupies your time. Some of it will be important and some of it will be necessary. A lot of it won’t and it’s keeping you stuck in the busy trap, frittering away your precious time.
Time is the most valuable asset you have.
After all, you can always make more money but it’s impossible to make more time. Being busy is like being numb to life. Fretting about things keeps you away from all the fun stuff. It piles an endless stream of tasks on your plate. The result is perpetual exhaustion.
Why Do People Spend Their Energy Unnecessarily?
There are two reasons. First, the existential reassurance that your busy life is also somehow meaningful; second, the fear that stepping out of the trap will cause everything to go to ruin.
If you’re frequently busy with things that give you very little joy, then take this as a sign that you change what you’re putting your emotional energy into.
The things that you enjoy doing is where you’ll find your bliss. Everything else is stress.
“It’s Never The Right Time To Do Something Spontaneous”
My bliss is skateboarding.
As I zip along neighbourhood streets, I clear my mind of thought and focus on the enjoyment at hand. If I have a problem that needs my focus then the chances are all the challenges will get worked out as I’m flying down a hill.
Problem-solving this way is much more fun than doing it in front of a computer.
Did I ever have any desire to be a skateboarder? No, no, no, no…no. Gosh, no. I’m a business owner in my thirties. Skateboarding is for delinquents. At least that’s what I thought until I saw my friend Andy on a beach promenade in Barcelona whizzing through the middle of terrified tourists.
I wasn’t there, of course.
I was doing this 700 miles away in London, tapping away on my laptop and watching a video of him online. It was at that moment I felt my heart tug because I wanted to be messing around in the sunshine too.
Luckily, I listened to my inner-delinquent and bought a secondhand skateboard and a second-class plane ticket to Spain. I’ve never looked back, but I do remember that it was a big step to take.
I had to drop everything. Emails went unanswered. Maybe someone got angry. I can’t remember. It’s never the right time to do something spontaneous. Perhaps that’s the point.
Three Simple Steps To Bliss
There’s a good chance that any idea that causes you to feel a happy emotion will be linked to your bliss in some way. Listen for them because taking the time to have fun requires a lot of effort – certainly as much as it does to be busy.
Here’s a three-point plan to shake things up and make bliss a priority in your life:
Step 1: Find something fun that you enjoy doing and start doing it.
Step 2: Find something you don’t enjoy doing and stop doing it.
Step 3: Whilst performing step #1 set your mind on solving step #2.
If Arthur C. Clarke can invent satellites between scuba diving and pinball, there’s a good chance you can solve reasonably large problems whilst doing something you enjoy.
Take a look at your current work schedule. Your ultimate goal is to replace all the activities that cause you to feel drained of emotional energy and replace them with ones that make you feel invigorated.
Hint: Have a think about how you’re going to do that whilst already following your bliss.
