Striving for Perfection

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I keep coming back to this quote.

As I struggle through life and find that more and more is requiring my attention, sometimes it takes stepping back and reassessing. I’m currently in the process of assessing my habits, my rituals, and my routines. These along with my current goals can create quite a distracting outlook.

“Am I doing enough?”

“What more could I be doing?”

“I’ve got some time. Let me add this to my calendar.”

What ends up happening though is that the more I add the less I get done. I’ve only got so much butter to spread out across an increasingly large piece of toast. And no one wants un-buttered toast. Goals pile up and tasks are left undone. The to-do list continues to grow with less being removed.

I’m taking stock of my schedule and starting to do less. Or rather I’m allowing tasks to take up larger blocks of my time so that those minutes are dedicated wholly to the task at hand without distractions interfering. I’m saying no to more and whittling away at the things that even I want to do. My list of free time activities is growing shorter so that I can focus more effort on the important stuff.

When it seems like we have all the time saving materials in the world, it still never feels like I have all the time I need. So, rather than try to add to it, it’s time to take away. Clear the calendar and clear the schedule. Dedicate chunks to the important tasks and push multi-tasking aside.