Don’t overfill your life

Every new “yes” in your life comes with an “instead of” attached to it. If you’re considering something new, what will you stop doing in order to add this new “yes”?

Don’t overfill your life. Too many good commitments result in a very bad life. This is unavoidable and universal. I think the only fixed resource we all have is time. Even if your answer is, “I will sleep less,” every time you add a new thing, you use up time you could have spent on something else.

So, when you are considering anything new, review all the things you are doing in your work, your family, and your downtime, and ask yourself: “Is this new thing more important to me than one of the other things I’m already doing?”

Also, if you want to be really smart about it, say “no” to enough items until you create at least 10% margin (unplanned time) for each major area of your life. Unexpected problems and unexpected opportunities are coming. So you can either say no now, or scramble to say no at the last minute.

For those of you who have learned this lesson already, I would love to have you share your story with the rest of us. Sometimes we just need to see that it’s possible. When is the last time you said “no” (either stopped or reduced) to make room in your life? Was the uncomfortable conversation worth it?