Last night I happened to listen to this report on NPR about “time management” with tips that are quite different from the usual ones of “task optimization”:
https://www.npr.org/2021/10/23/1048723012/life-kit-how-to-better-manage-your-time
It’s basically suggesting we admit our human limits, our mortality, the fact that time isn’t infinite and that we cannot do everything, so they suggest choosing what we want to “fail at”, i.e. what we can or must give up, even if just temporarily, for a while, and make peace with that.
For me this was quite a serendipitous piece to listen to, because one of the major causes of my anxiety and stress lately is wanting to do too much, and do to it all perfectly well.
I just cannot.
So now the question remains for me: what ball do I want to drop for the time being? What am I willing to put on the shelf, or to “fail at”, at least momentarily?
The Little Prince and the Fox 