So you want to Ace stuff?

So you want to ace in stuff, you have ambitions, you want to get it all done efficiently. Well here is the truth, human desire is unlimited, so you can never get everything you want to do, done.

At a given time you can never ace all stuff, even to ace in a single stuff is really tough. The best way to get things done is not to have expectation to do things.

It worked for me

The things I write on this blog worked for me, I don’t know if it would work for you or not. This is my way of getting things done, or to precise this is my way of not getting many things done, and to be okay even when things are incomplete and imperfect.

Letting things go, and being happy with incompletion and not getting things done has given me mental peace. You might be a task master and want to really hurt yourself to achieve success for brag value, in that case this blog is not for you.

Expectations

People might expect you to do something for them or for yourself. If you bow to others expectations, it does not work. It might not be possible for you to satisfy your own expectations, in that case how can you satisfy that of others?

It’s better for you not to expect others to do things for you, even if you expect so because of your desire, it’s better that you don’t feel hurt if those expectations are not met.

Your tasks should be your first priority, only then comes the tasks expected of your from your loved one, and from your work and so on. Else you will burn up and feel void since none of your tasks were completed.

So even though people around you blare at you with megaphones, do not give thought about it.

Todo lists

Todo lists don’t work. Maybe you can do a lot of planning, be meticulous as possible, but todo lists simply doesn’t work. May be if it gives you lot of joy to see long incomplete todo list, then fine, you can have a huge todo list and feel great that you have so much stuff undone, otherwise todo list is just a junk.

Habit forming

Habit-forming never worked for me, you need to decide on a routine, and do it again and again periodically. You must force yourself against you. They say you have to win over yourself, but they don’t see the side of you that you want to defeat is a peaceful side of you which just wants a happy living.

Multi task

Humans are not for multitasking, all my attempts to multitask failed. I think even scientific research says we suck at multitasking. So try not to juggle many tasks, just try to do one task with concentration.

Hard work

Hard work is act of stupidity according to me. You have to work less and less in your life, to such a point where you become like a king. If a society is shaped in such a way that you must work hard all the time, then it’s a failed, and unproductive society. If you want to be part of such a society, be happy with such a bleak future for humanity, yes do hard work, else stop doing it.

Forced work

There are some forced work you must do, these are great interruptions if you don’t like it. You might need to take break thrice a day to fill in your tummy, that’s a forced work if you don’t like it. You must work for your boss, your company so that you can earn money to live life, that’s a forced work. You must live your life in such a way that forced work gets reduced. Save and invest money so that you become less and less dependent on your salary and you can choose quality jobs. Choose a forced work that demands less of your time and freedom. Keep looking for ways to reduce forced work.

Comparison and competition sucks

Comparing yourself with others is a great waste of time. What matter’s is, are you comfortable with what you are. You should be comfortable with what you are, else there is a serious deficiency you need to fix.

Competition sucks too, there is nothing really one achieves by winning or loosing. One has to realize we came from nothing and we will go back to nothing. Getting trapped in illusions of comparison and competition is super waste of time and energy.

Murphy’s law

When you getting things done, sometimes things go wrong, and in worst times all that could go wrong, goes wrong. There is nothing you can do about it. Accept it and try to have a cake and tea.

It doesn’t matter

In grand scale of universe, it just doesn’t matter if you get things done or not. It doesn’t matter if you exist or not. It doesn’t matter if humanity poped into existence or not, it doesn’t even matter if solar system poped into existence or not.

In much grander scale, it doesn’t matter if this universe popped into existence or not. You are creating an illusion in your brain that something should get done, and you are suffering from that desire.

Nothing is constant, everything is meaningless.

Do what you feel like doing

The best way of doing and possibly finishing stuff is to do what you like to do at the moment, and reflect upon how far have you come. You may not finish all in your todo’s, in fact for a good life you must not have todo’s, instead do what you feel like doing, do what gives you peace and satisfaction.

Work bursts

I have always found that I achieve something in bursts of work. I get an intense energy to do something, I do that work, don’t bother if it really gives me any benefit in the future, or I am completing or achieving something. When the spirit is there, I do. These moments, I call it work bursts.

One may say this is not the right way to work, you must form habit so things are consistent every day, I say ‘screw you’. Those habbit forming is just waste of time, and it doesn’t work for me.

Take a lot of rest

Maybe before and after work bursts, I do take a lot of rest. Sometimes I do feel like I am wasting time while taking rests, I ignore it and take rests anyway. First I thought these rests are unproductive and should be avoided, but if I skip it, I get burned out. So I do take lot of rests and I strongly feel it helps in getting things done in the long run.

One thing I found out was work done after taking rest gets finished or progresses better, somehow your brain seems to come up with new and efficient ways to do stuff after rest.

Completion doesn’t matter

It doesn’t need to be complete, doing things is part of journey of life and even though you might have a goal to complete it, it shouldn’t bother you if you do not complete it.

Wabisabi

Your work isn’t perfect. Accept imperfections. We are humans, not robots. Imperfection is a part of us, accept it. Even if your work has imperfections, it’s okay. You may try to fix it, but it’s a big MAY. Not fixing imperfections adds beauty and character to your life. Even if there are imperfections, it’s okay, things makes things flavorful. Don’t be too strict on yourself to get things right.

Kaizen

It doesn’t matter if you are imperfect, you are not consistent, don’t get your tasks complete. All you need to do is to improve. Just keep improving each time a bit till you are satisfied. Don’t over work. If you have to move one step forward and many steps backward that’s okay too, but just improve. On the longer run that counts.

Satisfying curiosity

Most of the time when you work on things you like to work, it’s not about getting things done. You have to get certain things done to get money and stuff, but I am talking about the work you love. Mostly work of love is not about getting things done, but it’s to satisfy your curiosity. Maybe the unknown unknown becomes known unknown, and a known unknown becomes known, and your curiosity is satisfied, and then you tend to cease to work.

So when you have ceased to work on something, or if you are having a block, think, did you learn something new and understood some of the yearnings you had for learning? Maybe your brain made you start doing a thing because it needed to experiment and learn something, now it has learned it, it has stopped you from doing it. I feel this is an okayish behavior, and you must not resent it.

Get wiser

Ultimately, I think all we do is to get wiser, learn about the world so that we can be prepared and react better to what comes in the future. That’s what is getting done here. It’s not complete, it’s not perfect, but it’s improving at your own pace as long as it can improve, and it hopes for the best.