Your bookshelf is overflowing with books you haven’t read. Your to-do list is a hundred items long and you’ve only checked off two. There’s so much you want to do, to see, to obtain and the wanting has you overwhelmed.
Somewhere in the back of your mind, you’re frantically trying to find a way to grab it all up in your tight little fists and stuff it into your life.
But life is not a hotdog eating contest. You don’t have to cram it all in. With no time to chew and no time to savor, you’re left with little more than indigestion and regrets.
Take just one book off your shelf and read it – and enjoy it. Spending an hour with one good book is far better than shopping for three more that will only add to your collection of things undone and the guilt that follows. You can buy another book when you’ve finished the one you’re reading.
Draw one picture, just one picture, and take your time. Notice the curves and the angles and the shapes. Get lost in it, swim in it, live in it. Drawing one picture as best you can is better than wishing you could draw a dozen more. When you’re finished, you’ll have something to hold and gaze upon, and you’ll be better than when you began. Then you’ll be ready to draw the next one.
Take any of the things you wish to do (It doesn’t matter which one.), and do it, and only it. Let go of all the other things for just this time. They’ll still be there when you’re done. But for now, do this one thing and let it soak your bones.
Multitasking, neuroscientists have repeatedly shown, is a myth. Your brain simply can’t focus on more than one thing at a time. All that switching about shortens the attention span and lessens your ability to enjoy and be at peace with the task at hand.
Let others aim for quantity. Set your sights on quality. Use all your senses and really experience what you’re doing. It will make everything you do afterwards that much richer.
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