There's Only ONE Thing to Do

"Half of the troubles in our lives can be traced to saying yes too quickly

and not saying no soon enough."

- Josh Billings

 

What is essential? No - really essential? We believe, falsely, that more is better. We need to do more in our life and our business to succeed. We need to do everything and do it at the same time to get it all done. It is a lie, it is a false belief.

What really works is less but better! Seth Godin says, "if you want to be the best in the world make your world smaller."

Greg McGeown in his book Essentialism says "saying no to people is awkward for a few minutes but saying yes to every request will be a problem for weeks, months and even years down the road." He advises us to do less but better. You will be shocked how people respect you when you say no, politely.

Here is Steve Chandler's take:

 

"And that is the thing I have chosen to do right now.

If I do it as if it's all I have to think about, it will be extremely well done and my relationship with that person will be better and even more relaxed and full of trust than before.

Because a careful study of my past week shows me that I did a lot of things last week and they all got done one thing at a time. In fact, even in my busiest time ever, I was only able to do one thing at a time, even though I stressed myself and other people out all day long by always thinking of seven things at once....so when I talked to you all I could think about was the seven other people I needed to talk to....so all seven people felt that stress and that lack of attentiveness....that absolute lack of warmth.....doing more than one thing at a time produces fear and adrenaline and anxiety in the human system and people pick up on that.

 

The mind entertains one thought at a time, and only one.

The greatest cause of feeling "swamped" and "overwhelmed" in life is caused by not knowing this."