QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It is not enough to be busy… The question is: what are we busy about?”
-Henry David Thoreau
IDEA OF THE DAY
Autumn and winter suggest slowing down to embrace the shorter days and longer nights with the incentive to get cozy in our favorite fluffy slippers and have a hot chocolate nearby (yum!). However as we shift into the final stretch of the year, more often than not, I find that we as a culture pick up the pace, zooming from one holiday to the next, trying to keep ourselves afloat with all the flurry of activity. In some ways it can be fun, yet in others, it can feel like an overwhelming list of “will never get done”, leading to stress and burnout.
So…if this sounds like a tendency you lean towards, how about we try something a little different this time around?
Let’s make a Not-to-Do list.
What’s that, Joyna?
A not-to-do list involves taking a step back, looking at habits or busy routines that affect you negatively, and setting the intention to remove them from your life. In a bigger sense, looking at lists from this angle is a mindset shift, helping you to move away from the busy doing of checklists, to the slowing down and being more intentional of how you spend your time. Interestingly, being aware of what you want to do less frees up time for what you do want to do AND permits you to leave some things undone. Having a not-to-do list may pave the way to slowing down, the original intention of the season! Shall we give it a try?
I’ll get us started.
As a maximizer, I often squeeze as much as possible into the time I have. Many times it leaves me feeling depleted and I’d like to no longer do that to myself. For the remainder of the year, I will take notice before jumping into a flurry of activity and ask myself “How can I simplify this?”.
Let’s go!
QUESTION OF THE DAY
What’s the top thing on your not-to-do-list? How will it support you throughout the rest of the year?