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Trying to dominate time we end up being dominated by it. And instead of trying to live in line with what the world offers us, we end up trying to control it, which is impossible and therefore frustrating. In practical terms, the realistic attitude of embracing the truth that it is not possible to do everything we want leads us to put energy into making better decisions. On the other hand, believing that it is possible to develop a method to do everything leads us to a life so fast-paced and full of anxiety that we end up losing ourselves. As greek and roman philosophers said: the noblest of human goals is not to transform into a god, but to fully embrace your humanity. Chapter 2: the efficiency trap. The contemporary world offers us infinite possibilities of experiences to have and things to do, while the established culture makes us believe that life is only worth living if the maximum of them is accomplished.
To deal with this context, gurus and techniques emerge that want to make us believe that it is possible to find a way to accomplish everything we would like. It numbs our ability to understand that there are difficult choices to make. Anyone who believes that it is possible to do everything they want ends up embarking on a frantic search for productivity on a journey towards an unattainable goal. And what's worse, as you Japan Email List become more productive, you create an image in front of other people that makes them place more expectations and tasks on you, creating a perverse and never-ending cycle, because “the more effective you become, the more you become an unlimited reservoir for other people's expectations” and “the work expands to fill the time available to carry it out”. The way to deal with this situation is to become aware that there will always be more things to do than time available, make good choices and endure the anguish of what was not chosen while truly enjoying what was chosen.
Chapter 3: facing finitude. The decision to do one thing leads to the immediate consequence of sacrificing an infinite number of potential alternatives that are left undone. With this, I build a life and give up thousands of others, which puts me face to face with the inevitable fact that my limitations and my finitude only allow me to live one life and abandon all other hypothetical ones. Chapter 4: becoming a better procrastinator. The big challenge of managing our limited time is not being able to do everything, but understanding how to decide more wisely what not to do. Which is extremely difficult because we all have a big list of very important things. And what we decide not to do must be procrastinated indefinitely without causing suffering. While what we decide to do should not be procrastinated. Three practical tips in this regard are: starting your actions with what is important to you; limit the number of ongoing projects; and be ruthless with medium priorities, as these are the ones that compete with high priorities and end up stealing time from them.
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