Category Archives: productivity

When you make buying choices, does the longevity and lasting impact of what you are buying enter into the equation? Obviously, some things don’t lend themselves to this (food for example) but many things do. I find that the longevity of some items and the alleviation of future choice are key motivating factors for me.

My desired goal is this. Anywhere I can make a buying choice that I, with proper care and maintenance, will never have to make again for the rest of my life, I do. In those cases, I’m willing to pay far more for an item if I know it will last a lifetime and, even more importantly to me, I will never have to spend the mental energy making a choice again. Especially because making final choices often requires far more time and research then making regular ones. In fact, I would argue that the more final the choice, the longer it should take to make it. Also, what you spend on the front end usually repays exponentially, and in many more ways, on the back end.

For me, such final choices are huge wins because the less choice I have to make and because I am well satisfied with what I have, the happier I am. I believe that want, desire, longing and need are at the root of suffering. I also believe that such things, while part of the human condition, can be alleviated. One of the ways to alleviate these is to put long thought and consideration into the things that matter to you and making the one choice you will be satisfied with and never have to want for that item again.

I would like for you to indulge me a bit on a little exercise I would like to lead you through. It will only take a couple of minutes of your valuable time. Having a timer with alarm may help but is not essential.

At the end of reading this paragraph, I would like you to close your eyes for a minute or two and try to pay attention to all of your remaining senses. What do you smell? What to you hear? Touch? Taste? Try to pick out each detail of every noise you hear. Listen to your breath. Can you feel your heartbeat? Can you hear it even? Spend a minute or two in quiet and full attention to everything going on around you. Then open your eyes.

Now, while you stare at your computer screen all day paying attention to other things, at least you will know part of what you are missing.

Here in America, we live in live in a culture that is obsessed with doing. The forty (Fifty? Sixty? Eighty?) hour workweek. The two weeks of “vacation”. When we meet strangers, one of the first questions asked is “What do you do?”. When we mention that we have a vacation coming, we are asked “What are you going to do?”. I would argue that our current obsession with having a constant connection to technology is largely driven by the need to always have something to do. But does all of this doing actually make us who we are? Our essence? Our being?

I don’t think so. I think the more we fill our lives with more and more things we have to do, the less and less time we are spending on who we have to be. Being is what happens when you stop doing. Doing, in a life of balance, should driven out of who you have decided to be.

Before you look down at the next task on your list, or answer that call from your coworker, or answer that next email, or compose that next status update for Facebook or Twitter, take a moment to stop what you are doing. Decide first, to simply be.