Saying no to the things that don’t matter
January 3rd in The Daily Stoic:
How many have laid waste to your life when you weren’t aware of what you were losing, how much was wasted in pointless grief, foolish joy, greedy desire, and social amusements — how little of your own was left to you. You will realize you are dying before your time!” — Seneca, On the Brevity of Life, 3.3b
What did I say No to in 2017?
- The stuff everyone else is doing, i.e. Game of Thrones
- Spending time w/ people I don’t enjoy
- Guilt — in saying no to spending time w/ people I don’t enjoy
- Bad books (giving them up)
- “Pointless grief” — over lost things (losing my wallet with PHP 10,000 in it)
- The need to be right (over things that matter — being kind, getting results)
What else should I have said No to?
- Self-help books promising the key to life
- Commitments and phone calls that are no longer relevant
What can I say No to this year?
- All of the above
- Reading business books from cover to cover when extracting the outline and main points would suffice
- Hiring against my gut’s doubts
- Not letting go fast enough when I fail to say no to the above