Less, But Better
I added a full-time MBA to a life that was already full.
The math was ridiculous: fifty to sixty hours of work a week, another twenty to thirty for school, and the rest of life still waiting to be handled. I did what I usually do. I made room by taking it from the parts of the week that did not complain. Somehow, it all fit. My downtime proved remarkably accommodating. A surprising amount of work would take all the time I gave it. Once I had a result that did the job, I had to get it across the finish line. Another hour wasn't automatically making it better. Good enough became a useful place to stop. An MBA was an odd place to learn that.
Then, before school ended, I got a promotion. A promotion. Just what that week was missing. The added burden nearly flattened me. Unburdening myself became mandatory. Some work needed less of my time. Some of the load needed putting down. And I had to keep doing it. Clear the load once, leave it unattended, and I could be back at roughly eighty hours in no time. Downtime had no deadline and nobody waiting for a deliverable. Very easy to borrow from. I was the one doing the borrowing.
That's what I'm bringing into next year's plans. I want the same useful result in a much smaller piece of the week. Last week I wrote about containers, the few parts of life I want to keep tending. Mine are relationships, athletics and business. Yours may be different. Now I'm looking at what goes into them.
What is this work supposed to accomplish?
Could I get there with fewer steps, less polishing, or help with part of it? The result still has to do its job. I'd like to give the things that matter my attention before the urgent ones help themselves to all of it. Some things won't have a place in next year's containers. I'll have to stop doing them. “But I've always done it” is such a touching argument. It isn't much of a plan.
Other things deserve more. A difficult practice session makes more sense when I can see the person I'm trying to become. The effort is building something I've chosen. Even the dull parts have somewhere to go. A long conversation with someone I love can take its time. Keeping myself occupied has never been the hard part. I'd like to see more growing in the containers I chose, with enough of the week left to enjoy it.
Make your life fuller by making it more spacious.
If you'd like help working through these choices, we can do that together.
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