Why you should do less this year

We’re always looking to do more, aren’t we? With each new year, new resolutions and new ambitions are visualised. But what if we streamlined and decluttered those goals?

I don’t know about you, but I have a nasty habit of being distracted by the new and shiny. Not physical stuff, but mental stuff. Like wanting to learn a new skill or language or something.

I think, as humans, we are programmed to constantly better ourselves. Which is good, of course.

And, we are also always acquiring things. This includes acquiring knowledge and skills. It makes us a better person, sure.

But for some reason, it’s not good enough to just acquire a few things and be master of those. Nope. It’s the new and the fresh that’s exciting and well, makes us more interesting, you think?

Anyway, so I run around like a headless chicken chasing after the next high.

And then, I don’t really accomplish all that much, and it makes me feel like, what? What have I been doing…

Because as chill as we should all be, having that sense of accomplishment does add to our sense of self, therefore to good mental health, no?

Anyway, in the past year, I have become better at this, at focusing. I decide on just a few things that I want to spend my time on, and then forget the rest.

It has helped my mental health. It’s a positive cycle of satisfaction.

This is going to sound like some majorly basic advice, but hey, we can all do with a reminder now and then, no?

Pick a few things that you would like to focus on for the next few years, and concentrate on those. They could very well be things you had already started on.

For me, I have 5 things I will focus on:

1. Continuing to build mental health awareness via my blog and other community outreach initiatives.
2. Continue building up my marketing consultancy business and clients base.
3. Continue to improve my French which I restarted learning two years back.
4. Continue with my exercise routine, nothing drastically new here, just my 3 times a week sessions.
5. Continue learning more about wines, something I started getting more into two years ago.

Of course, my time is not 100% mine, there will be other things such as family matters that require my attention. But, during the time that is mine, these are the 5 things I want to spend doing.

I intentionally say “continue” because I know I have not even scratched the surface of many of the activities mentioned above.

So, instead of jumping around acquiring shiny new skills, I will focus on what I have already started and build up on those.

This will help my active mind to focus and strengthen the sense of accomplishment, which should lead to a more grounded realisation of happiness.

What are you focusing on for the year? Let me know in the comments below. 🙂