Beggars don’t choose, some say. But being a beggar is a choice. We become because of our choices.
In my time management seminars, I asked participants to list as many things they believe can be done in five minutes at work. I give them 3 minutes to make a list.
Some participants come up with less than 20 things. Others give more than 50 activities. And if we put together what they have written, they can quickly come up with a list of 200 activities that can be done at work in five minutes.
I then asked them which of the activities are frequently done. Then, I told them to pick the most productive things to do. Popular activities are seldom productive.
Vilfredo Pareto said that we spend 80 percent of our time on things that give us 20 percent of our happiness. I am not sure how to measure happiness, but I think Pareto was into something.
We’ve got to choose well.
Whether we spend our time on trivialities or on what we treasure is a choice we make.
People aren’t comfortable making choices. We procrastinate. We buy the illusion that we delayed making a choice. In truth, when we did not choose the true, good, beautiful, and meaningful, we chose things that we eventually regret.
I think the cure to procrastination is to make a deliberate, mindful choice. Your choice defines who you are and what you will become.
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