Do less?!
Matthew McConaughey had shut down his production company and his music label because as he said…”I was making B’s in five things. I want to make A’s in three things.” (Those three things were his family, his foundation, his acting career.)
Stoic Emperor Marcus Aurelius would say that doing less “brings a double satisfaction.” We figure out what’s really essential and we do those things better!
Some more good advice from the Stoic writers: just do one thing every day to improve. Incremental, consistent, persistent work. Our career, our body, our relationships-it doesn’t matter-we build them with little things day after day.
One of George Washington’s favorite sayings was “many mickles make a muckle.” It was an old Scottish proverb that illustrates a truth we all know: things add up. Even little ones. Even at the pace of one per day.
We know that it is the little things that add up to becoming who we want to be. What we read. What we prioritize. What habits we cultivate. How we treat someone. Day to day, practiced over and over, this is what leads to a good life.
One by one, step by step, life unfolds. We can choose how we want it to be!
Let’s make good choices!
1 Comment
And then there’s sandstone that began with a single grain of sand and grew into a lovely rock that can support almost anything.
I often think of the little things I have done and how they have developed — positively or negatively. It’s one or t’other.
Thx, Pat, for the wisdom you share.