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Ajit Patel UK Sanda Wellbeing - Are You Too Busy To Live A Full Life?



Are You Too Busy To Live A Full Life? – Ajit Patel UK Sanda Wellbeing


It’s not uncommon to hear work colleagues or friends boasting about their lack of sleep because their lives are so busy. It’s as if they’re proud of the fact they don’t have time to live. Rushing through life without resting or eating properly isn’t good for either your physical or emotional well-being. You need time out to simply appreciate life.

Why do we act so irrationally?

In his book, ‘How The Mighty Fall’, business consultant, Jim Collins, calls it “the undisciplined pursuit of more.” Three main factors are to blame: Smart phones, social media and extreme consumerism. The result is not just information overload, but opinion overload. We are more aware than at any time in history of what everyone else is doing and assume we should be doing the same.

Success apparently means being a superman or superwoman who can do it all at once. So boasting that you spent so much time at work that you didn’t sleep, in a sense, is a code for telling people you are successful and important.

And it’s not something that only happens at work. It happens at home, too. But if you devote yourself to having the perfect home and perfect children, you are already teaching them ‘the undisciplined pursuit of more’ by making sure they excel at everything from school to sports, clubs and hobbies – all while you strive to keep up with the neighbours in terms of your home, the car your drive and all the latest fashions.

Less is more. A growing number of people are bucking the trend. Instead of the ‘undisciplined pursuit of more’, these individuals are devoting themselves to the ‘disciplined pursuit of less’. They’re called essentialists.

The goal of essentialism is to design your life around only what is essential, eliminating everything else. These people take walks in the morning to think and reflect on their lives; they don’t work at the weekend, and they turn technology off when it’s not needed. Instead of spending time on Facebook, they spend time with their closest friends. Instead of putting appointments in calendars, they insert periods of free time.

Even big companies are getting in on essentialism: Twitter now has meditation rooms. These companies understand that emotional wellness of their employees is just as important as their physical wellness.

Essentialism is about removing the clutter you don’t need from your life. It’s a bit like throwing out old clothes you know you’re never going to wear again. And the feeling is just as liberating. If you continue filling your life with what you perceive as ‘more’, you will be left with the feeling that your time has been wasted doing things that have no value

Plan for less. Take a few hours every month to think about what is essential and what isn’t. Identify what is valuable, what you really want to achieve and sideline everything that is not.

Sleep is good. Success doesn’t come from a lack of sleep; quite the opposite. For example, the best performing violinists sleep more than less accomplished violinists, managing, on average, 8.6 hours of sleep every 24 hours.

Do Less. Transform your To Do list into a Do Less list. To Do lists only become bigger over time. If you haven’t completed something by a certain date, it probably isn’t going to get done, so probably wasn’t ‘essential’ in the first place.

Say ‘No’ more often.

You don’t have to do anything – unless, of course, you really do have a good reason. Turn down invitations if you want. Even a promotion opportunity at work may not be in your best interests, if you’re expected to spend another 10 hours a week working. Use the time you save to figure out what you really want to invest your time in. Or simply use it to enjoy life!

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