Why you shouldn't do it all, apart from because you can't
Why you shouldn't do it all, apart from because you can't
#56 - suited and booted in a consultancy company
Hi there,
It’s been a mostly bog-standard week with a test, a weekly occurrence during Sixth Form it seems, a couple of careers events and more economic & cost-of-living turmoil. It has been nice to get back to life a bit more, after my terrible illness, although the cold has begun settling in.
But with the cold, of course, comes its alliterative partner, Christmas 🎄! The Christmas-themed coffee cups are back out, the sparkly lights around town are turning on and (in a whispered voice) I did my first playlist run through this morning. Don’t tell anyone.
Highlight of the week: going to the PwC office in Birmingham to learn more about their tech arm. Granted permission from school, I got to spend a day in the heart of the city centre in a pretty sleek office and met some fellow ambitious consulting enthusiasts. And got free lunch so 🤭 😋.
Author and journalist Oliver Burkeman emphasises the value in embracing our limitations and finality in his book ‘Four Thousand Weeks’. In a podcast episode on Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO, he says,
(0:12:15) A lot of time management is actually emotional avoidance from feeling who we are as humans, which is finite (the title refers to the average human life span) in our time and control we have.
In productivity, the quest to do everything and become limitlessly optimised and handle all email, tasks, obligations and do it all is trying to become unlimited.
When people say, “But isn’t it great to feel limitless? Then you can do astonishing things”, I say ‘no’. Confronting and feeling this finitude is a precondition to being extraordinary because you get to give up on this impossible quest to fit yourself to every expectation the world might have.
You can’t do it all, and neither can I. Another one of our cold, hard, uncomfortable truths to face. Don’t run away from it, don’t flinch, think about it. Just like the pizza takeaway, there is only so much for you.
It seems obvious but it is so easy to fall into saying ‘Yes’ to countless things, driven by a lack of self-awareness, organisation or even an unintentional instinct towards people pleasing, unaware of how committing yourself to these tasks is slashing gashes into your precious time. Time, a scarce resource that you should have as much control over and allocate wisely.
Time to bring in a bit of microeconomics, without the unnecessary jargon.
We need to choose how we spend our time because it is limited, making it impossible to do it all. Economists would say that choosing to play on the XBOX has an opportunity cost of doing some Physics. We should always be trying to spend our fixed time cash in a net-positive manner.
Ahead of a small test next Wednesday, I’ve also been revising economic growth, where I’ve come across the term sustainable growth: meeting the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
On an individual level, unsustainable growth can be dubbed as burnout. Something I was instructed to be mindful of this week by a teacher at school, it is important to take care of yourself and not scramble to finish in-the-moment desires at the detriment of future happiness (as I may or may not have realised by doing a maths puzzle until 11 on Thursday night and missing my usual bus on Friday night… 🫣)
At the same time, we need to think of the reverse as well. Long-term gratification might be phrased as putting future benefit over immediate happiness.
So we need to strike a balance, necessary but not perfect, between using our time for short-term success and aiding future gains. Why? Because time is limited, you are limited, you can’t do everything you ever want to - we must choose.
A few parting words from one of stoicism legend Ryan Holiday (whose podcast is this week’s one to lend your ears to…)
It takes discipline not to insist on doing everything yourself. Especially when you know how to do them well and have high standards about how they should be done. Even if you enjoy doing them—whether that’s mowing your own lawn or answering your own phone.
You have to be able to pass the ball…especially when somebody is open and has a better shot.
You have to be strong enough1 to hand over the keys, to relinquish control, to develop a system—an organization—that is bigger than just us.
Podcast of the week🎙️
The Daily Stoic: Ramit Sethi on What It Means to be Rich
Featuring a name I’ve heard before, this is a great chat about the psychology behind money, especially in marriages. Whilst it barely relates to me, I found the mutual respect and casual nature of their chat refreshing, along with a couple of gems unearthed in between.
Article of the week📰
Sustainable Farming Has an Unlikely Ally: Satellites
Food production is a massive part of our global carbon footprint. Here’s some innovative tech that’s part of the solution
Quote of the week💬
The self-confidence one builds from achieving difficult things and accomplishing goals is the most beautiful thing of all. - Madonna
Ahead of a busy week ahead, I promise to spend my time effectively. I hope you do too.
Adi
Note the choice of phrase here - it is a brave courageous thing to accept your limitations and work with it. And you might as well: it’s a fact.