Stop hoarding PDFs, podcasts, videos, e-books, and online courses. We already have enough.
The problem is something else. Can you guess what?
Our reflex answer — ‘I don’t have time.’ Not true. Here is what is going on.
When we have to pick a task, we only pick the top item from our priority stack. But you might say, “I don’t have a priority stack.”
Maybe, but your mind still creates one, even if totally arbitrarily, in the heat of the moment. And the problem with this is that your big goals will almost never make it to the top of this priority stack.
Almost everything really valuable is long-term. And almost everything long-term is not urgent. And if it isn’t urgent, it won’t go to the top of your priority stack on its own. Some day, you will have to push it to the top.
And that ‘some day’ won’t come, unless you are conscious of it.
The way to make progress is to allocate some time each day/week to do STRICTLY non-urgent stuff. Do this almost algorithmically, overriding your screaming instinct to do something else instead (e.g., checking your email for the thousandth time).
Urgent stuff helps you survive. But the non-urgent is what helps you thrive. Those who find the balance are the ones who flourish in life and career.
– Rajan