Before I start talking about the relentless whining about being busy in life and the much needed change you can bring, I would like to mention that this very nice thought has been shared by Tobias Van Schneider in his recent weekly mailer. You can sign up for that here; it’s worth the effort.
Recently I have left a very convenient job with great work life balance to work on a new product with a startup having less free time than my previous job. The work has always been the same and so are the deadlines. In retrospection, I could only understand a simple thing of playing with the mind. The alleged more free time was actually a cause for more anxiety during the deadlines in my previous job. The work commute and errands took the same time as they are taking now with long working hours. So what exactly has changed? As definitely I didn’t get the secret to adding more hours in a day.
The change here is the adaptability; of the mind to process same amount of work, every day. Day one might seem to be tough but day two is better and so on till you get used to it. The whole idea of keeping up the momentum of your work works in magical ways. With those small little efforts that you make to keep the momentum (like for me writing this post) doesn’t require much time and you just start doing those things on the move, in no time.
As humans, we have learnt to adapt to our surroundings in no time and I have done the same. To reach out to you all with my design thinking and life thoughts through this blog is an environment I created for myself. And to sustain this; writing every week becomes an action item demanding my attention in my subconscious mind. So in my work commute, conversations with friends and family, daily chores, my subconscious mind is already working towards the next post.
I remember a very nice quote by Steven Spielberg
Technology can be our best friend, and technology can also be the biggest party pooper of our lives. It interrupts our own story, interrupts our ability to have a thought or a daydream, to imagine something wonderful, because we’re too busy bridging the walk from the cafeteria back to the office on the cell phone.
While you are commuting, or taking a stroll, don’t dwell into another trap of technology and let yourself do the thing that you’ve been wanting to do. Sing, paint, dance, write, play because this is the free time you’ve been whining about; make good use of it. With the small steps that you take, you will soon push the momentum up and make a world where you have more time to accomplish more things.
In no time, you make time; for things that add purpose and pleasure to your lives.
Dhruv Sharma 