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‘The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.’ ~Thich Nhat Hanh
Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on twitter .
These days we have an abundance of luxuries, but I’ve found that excess actually decreases my enjoyment of life.
Sure, we can get massive amounts of rich foods, feasting to our heart’s content, stuffing ourselves in alarming displays of gluttony … but is that really enjoyable on a regular basis?
And yes, television can be fun, and so can ridiculously large parts of the Internet, but if it’s always on, if we’re always connected, doesn’t that lower the fun factor?
Excesses lead to all kinds of problems, but the biggest problem is that life is less enjoyable.
I’ve been finding that simplifying things means I can savor life more fully.
Savoring life starts with a mindset. It’s a mindset that believes that excess, that rushing, that busy-ness, that distractedness, isn’t ideal. It’s a mindset that tries instead to:

simplify
do & consume less
slow down
be mindful & present
savor things fully

It’s the little things that make life enjoyable: a walk with a loved one, a delicious book, a chilled plum, a newly blooming tree.
And by simplifying, we can savor life to the fullest.
Some ideas I’ve been considering lately:
1. Coffee: Instead of ordering a latte, mocha, cappuccino with whipped cream and cinnamon and shavings … simplify. Just get pure, good coffee (or espresso), brewed fresh with care and precision, with quality beans, freshly roasted. Make it yourself if you can. Drink it slowly, with little or nothing added, and enjoy it thoroughly.
2. Tea: I recently had tea with Jesse Jacobs, the owner of Samovar Tea Lounge, and he poured two different teas from tiny tea pots: Nishi Sencha 1st Flush and Bai Hao Oolong tea. It was fresh, hand-made tea from real leaves, not a tea bag, and it was simply delicious. Drink it slowly, with your eyes closed, fully appreciating the aroma … wonderful.
3. Workouts: I’ve been a fan of simpler workouts recently. While others might spend an hour to 90 minutes in the gym, going through a series of 10 different exercises, I just do 1-3 functional exercises, but with intensity. So I might do some sprint intervals, or a few rounds of pushups, pullups, and bodyweight squats. Or 400 meters of walking lunges. Let me tell you, that’s a simple but incredible workout. Another I like: five rounds 85-lb. squat thrusters (10 reps) alternated with pushups (10 reps). Today’s workout was three rounds of 15 burpees and 800-meter runs. No rest unless you need it. These are great workouts, but very simple, and very tough. I love them.
4. Sweets: I used to be a sugar addict. Now I still enjoy an occasional dessert, but in tiny portions, eaten very slowly. What I enjoy even more, though, is cold fruit. A chilled peach, some blueberries, a few strawberries, a plum: eat it one bite at a time, close your eyes with each bite, and enjoy to the fullest. So good.
5. Meals: While the trend these days is super-sized meals of greasy, fried things (more than two people need to eat actually), I have been enjoying smaller meals of simplicity. Just a few ingredients, fresh, whole, unprocessed, without chemicals or sauces. My meals usually include: a breakfast of steel-cut oats (cooked) with cinnamon, almonds, and berries; a lunch of yogurt, nuts, and fruit; a dinner of beans or tofu with quinoa and steamed veggies (or sauteed with garlic and olive oil). These simple meals are better because not only are they healthy, each ingredient can be tasted, its flavor fully enjoyed.
6. Reading: While the Internet is chock full of things to read, I’ve been enjoying the simplicity of a paper book, borrowed from the library or a friend (borrowing/sharing reduces natural resources consumed). When I read online, I read a single article at a time, using either the Readability or Clippable bookmarklet to remove distrations, and in full-screen mode in the Chrome browser (hit Cmd-F on the Mac version or F11 in Windows). It’s pure reading, no distractions, and lovely.

By Tara Sophia Mohr
Time and time again, I’ve watched coaching clients walk into my office stuck, in the fog of confusion about some situation in their lives. They are sure that they don’t know how to move forward, that they don’t know which next step to take.
We’ve all been there – in that uncertain, frustrating place. It’s no fun.
Time and time again I’ve watched those same clients walk out of my office having uncovered a clear, wise answer to their questions, a clear resolution to their dilemma, the kind that allows them to move forward with that wonderful sense of confidence and calm.
I certainly didn’t give them their answers – I don’t have them. They found the answers inside. We followed a simple process that cleared a space for their own answers to emerge.
This article is a guide to doing that process on your own. In 3 simple steps, you can shift from a state of confusion to mental clarity.
All of us have an ever-present, remarkable well of inner wisdom, there for us whenever we need it. The tricky part is learning to access it. Our inner guru speaks quietly. In the midst of busy lives and busy minds, it can be difficult to hear.
Here’s how to access the wealth of wisdom within us and overcome mental confusion, in three steps.
Step 1: Clear Confusion by Clearing Inner Clutter

Inner wisdom needs an open, quiet space to emerge. Problem is, our minds aren’t usually a quiet, open space.
They are typically cluttered with all kinds of stuff – fears, “shoulds”, and others’ opinions –and our minds are particularly cluttered with all of that when we are facing a difficult choice or navigating a challenging transition. That clutter drowns out the voice of our inner guidance system.
The first step to clearing confusion is to clear the mental clutter, which includes:
a. “Shoulds”
Ideas about what you “should” be doing, or things you want to do in an ideal situation. For example, how a “good” person (or a “good” mother, father, employee, friend, daughter, son etc.) would act in the situation.
When we take seriously or feel bound by our shoulds, it becomes very difficult to decipher what we authentically want, what we truly value.
b. Fears

We’ve all had experiences when fear accurately warned us about a dangerous situation or person. But most of the time, our fears are irrational and over-reactive. They are about protecting our egos, not about protecting ourselves.
We’re plagued by fears that obscure the wisdom within — the fear of rejection or failure that keeps us from trying something new or going for our dreams; the fear of being unloved or being left out that causes us to censor ourselves and conform; the fear of the unknown that causes us to lead safe but unfulfilling lives.
These fears are like loud static that makes it hard to hear our inner voice, causing us to feel confused and distancing us away from the clarity within us all.
c. Inner Critic
We all have a critical inner voice that chatters away about how we don’t measure up. (In case you’ve been wondering if yours is pathological, you can relax. It’s normal. We are all hard-wired to have a tough inner critic.)
When we face a major decision that requires stepping up, taking risks, pursuing our dreams, telling difficult truths, being ourselves, that inner critic chatter tends to get louder, more frequent and more intrusive. It prevents us from hearing our own truth.
It needs to be cleared (or at least quieted down) for us to move away from confusion.
d. OPO – Other People’s Opinions
Then there are all those other people’s opinions echoing in your head: Your know parents will go through the roof if you quit the secure job and go for your passion. Your married friends will cheer if you get engaged, and be disappointed if you decide to wait.
You may also have internalized the attitudes of whole groups of people you are part of – your religious community, workplace, or extended family. There’s a whole darn crowd in your head!
Here’s the problem: it’s impossible to hear your own opinion, to sense where your inner guidance would lead you, with all those other people in your consciousness.
Your inner guide needs an open, empty space to emerge. It will come out when the one right person (that would be you) is listening.
e. Beliefs About What Isn’t Possible
Our inner guidance will often lead us toward creative solutions we would never consider if we were looking through our habitual lens of what’s possible or realistic.
For example, if you are sure that you can’t make a good salary doing something you are passionate about, you’ll be unable to hear any guidance from your inner wisdom that would give you ideas on how to do just that.
Clearing a space for inner guru, includes suspending –temporarily– your beliefs about what is and isn’t possible – to create a truly empty, open space, a blank canvas.
How to Clear the Mental Clutter
Take out a journal and write down all your mental clutter, downloading it from mind to page without editing: List all the “shoulds” you feel about the situation and any fears.
Write down the lines your inner critic is feeding you. Write down the other people’s opinions swarming in your mind. Write down all the things that is causing you confusion and anxiety. Make a list of any pertinent beliefs about what is or isn’t possible.
Then clear your mind of the clutter, using one of these simple tools:

Close your eyes and take some deep breaths. Spend a few minutes letting go of any tension in your body. Then visualize emptying your mind of the clutter and confusion, one source a time. Use whatever imagery works for you. You might imagine a beautiful rain, washing it away; a candle burning it up; or a raft carrying it away on a peaceful lake.
Let these pages you’ve been writing on symbolize the mental clutter. Physically move the paper to a different part of the house. Then return to the original room, to a space metaphorically free of all those polluting influences. Then continue with step 2.
Give the clutter a send off. Close your eyes and imagine bundling up the clutter (the shoulds, fears, etc.) and taking it to a fun or beautiful place where it can rest without bothering you. Maybe you take all the clutter to your favorite beach, or a camping spot, or the mall. (Sounds hokey, I know, but it works.)

Step 2: Tap into Your Wisdom

Now, with a space cleared of confusion and mental clutter, tap into your inner wisdom. There are many ways to do this. Here are a few of my favorites:
a. Journal About the Big Questions:

If I could have it any way I wanted, if anything was possible, what would I want?
Deep down, what do I desire?
What’s the truth of this situation?
What next step am I being pulled toward?
What feels right?

Explore what arises in answer to these questions, particularly any fragmented words, images or ideas that does not make sense at first.
The more foreign the answers seem, the more your inner guidance is taking you beyond what your conscious mind is yet aware of. That’s a good thing.

b. Check In with Your Gut Instinct and Your Body
Try on different decisions and notice how they feel in your body. What feels energizing, and what feels draining? What feels like a strong “no” in your body, and what feels like a “yes”? What feels scary but right?
The answers have subtle effects on your body, take your time to relax, and then ask yourself the questions, and see the first gut instinct reaction out of you.

c. Be Playful Visually
Doodle, draw, paint, or make a collage in response to the questions above. See what the images tell you.

d. Ask the Future You
Imagine yourself ten years from now, a fulfilled older you. Step into that person’s shoes and journal from his or her perspective. How did you resolve the dilemma you face now? What advice would that self give you?

e. Time Travel
Close your eyes and travel backward in time to visit your childhood self in his or her favorite place. Spend some time with him or her, just playing. Then ask him or her, “What would you want me to know about this situation?” “What do you want here?”

If an “I don’t know” feeling persists as you use these tools, that’s just fine. Ask yourself, in a friendly and compassionate way, “What more do I need, in order to know?”
Use this clarifying question for all the other techniques above, if an “I don’t know” feeling emerges.
You may hear a clear “wait, just wait for now”, or you may hear “go get more information about x” or “you know the answer, you just need to face it.”

Step 3: Trust & Respect What Emerged
To move from confusion to clarity, it’s not enough to simply go inside, find the answers, and leave it at that. It matters what you do with the answers once you have them.
Here are a few guidelines for how to integrate your inner guru into your daily life, and what to do with that wisdom once you’ve tapped it.
a. Treat It With Love and Respect
How would you treat a person with whom you wanted to develop a deeper, closer relationship with? That’s how you should treat your inner guide.
How would you want to treat someone who has always been there to support and love you, no matter your capacity to love back? That’s how you should treat your inner voice. Treat it with love, appreciation and respect.

b. Trust
Though it’s difficult, try to trust whatever emerged from your inner voice, even if it doesn’t yet make sense to you.
Often, our inner guidance system is so far ahead of our conscious minds and present-day lives that its guidance feels surprising. Live with the guidance lovingly and patiently and see what emerges. Be open to hearing more, to coming to understand.

c. It’s Okay to Feel Scared or Resistance
Maybe your inner wisdom is directing you to make a major life change or make a choice other people won’t understand. It’s okay to struggle with the direction you’ve been given. It’s even normal.

d. Protect What You’ve Discovered
Don’t throw your pearls before swine. Don’t share new, still gestating ideas with people who are unlikely to be supportive.

e. Remember that You Don’t Have to Figure It All Out
Maybe your inner guide presented a vision of your future you have no idea how to create. Maybe it reignited your passion for a dream you don’t know how to realize.
You don’t have to know how to make it all happen. That part is not your job. You only have to trust, be open to more guidance, and take one step forward at a time.

Next time you are feeling confused and overwhelmed, take a moment to step out of your current situation, and follow the 3 steps above. It’ll get easier with practice: clear mental clutter, tap into your inner clarity, and trusting the answers that rise out of your inner clarity.
* What do you do when you are distracted by confusion and mental clutter? What do you re-gain clarity? Share your tips and stories in the comment section. See you there!

About the Author: Tara Sophia Mohr is a coach, writer, and the creator of Wise Living. She helps people live more simple, compassionate, authentic lives. You can receive her free Goals Guide, “Turning Your Goals Upside Down and Inside Out (To Get What You Really Want) by clicking here. Or find Tara on twitter here.
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Other Articles Your May Like:

Overwhelmed? 8 Ways to Overcome It
The Art of Happiness
How to Quiet Your Mind
Design Your Life
Overcome Fear in the Economic Crisis

External Resources on Confusion to Clarity:

Book: Creative Visualization
Book: Loving What Is -Four Questions That Can Change Your Life

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Photo Credit: Andrea D’Aquino

(via Dan Morrison)
“A mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought…alone”
– William Wordsworth, The Prelude
I’ve always wondered if this quote, found on the original Apple logo above, was being incorrectly attributed to Newton. It would seem so due to its placement but then I think to myself that Steve Jobs was far too detail oriented and educated to make such an error. I’ve never been able to discover, in my light searching, what the story is here. That aside, it was a beautiful piece of work – though not nearly as iconic as what came to be.

All Unitasker Wednesday posts are jokes — we don’t want you to buy these items, we want you to laugh at their ridiculousness. Enjoy!
Cotton, staple fiber, dies at home
Cotton, one of the world’s most natural and soft fibers, has passed after a long battle with technology. No longer able to keep up with advancements like the Sunpentown SD-1501 Warm-Air Dish Dryer, cotton went into hiding and refused to be made into dish towels, clothing, and other extremely useful and multitasking items.
Cotton’s representatives notified the media of his passing in a press release on Wednesday. Foul play is not suspected.
Cotton is mourned by his natural fiber cousins wool, cashmere, flax, and angora.

At 13 pounds and wearing an oddly specific $101.22 price tag, the Sunpentown SD-1501 Warm-Air Dish Dryer is available to do exactly what a clean dish towel or regular air can do.
Thanks go to reader Luci for introducing us to this fabulous unitasker.
Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland's Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.

Desk of the day.
(via Blue Perez, a writer and digital nomad currently working Brittany, France.)

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Chris Guillebeau of The Art of Non-Conformity. Follow him on Twitter here.
When you were a kid and wanted to do something your parents or teachers didn’t like, you may have heard the question, “If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you?” The idea is that it’s not good to do something stupid, even if everyone else is doing it. The logic is think for yourself instead of following the crowd.
It’s good advice, regardless of the motivations of the authority figure giving it to you. But one day, you grow up and suddenly the tables are turned. People start expecting you to behave very much like they do. If you disagree and don’t conform to their expectations, some of them get confused or irritated. It’s almost as if they are asking: “Hey, everyone else is jumping off the bridge. Why aren’t you?”
Every day, you’ll encounter the bridge in countless decisions and conversations—but the choice of whether to jump or not is completely up to you. How can you back away and make your own choices?
Try this:
1. Ask why. A powerful, annoying question, why is frequently used by three-year-olds but usually abandoned by adults. Support the why revolution. Start asking why of everyone, including yourself.
2. Clarify. What’s it all about? What do you really want to do, and how can you make that the priority?
3. Simplify. That’s what minimalism is all about—letting go and living the dream. But the best part of simplicity has nothing to do with how many socks you own; it lies in being clear about your intentions and motivations.
4. Do … more. That’s right, do more, not less. When you don’t know your core passions and are staring out over the bridge, it’s good to back off and strip everything down. But when you’re crafting a remarkable life, why wouldn’t you want more of it?
Here are a few options for step four: learn a language. Write a book. Take a trip. Learn to walk on hot coals. Enroll in trapeze school. Volunteer.
Or do something else—it’s a big world out there. The main question is: How can you wake up tomorrow and live the life you want, while also connecting with the world around you?
Most of us don’t really want the simplest possible life. We want a life that is free from clutter, yes—but we need to connect our lives with a greater purpose. We don’t need to own things we don’t use, but we should spend freely on meaningful experiences. We should invest in ourselves and invest in others.
Take a hard look at the life before you. Are you staring out over the bridge? Take a step back. Decide for yourself what’s best.
The rest is entirely up to you.
Chris Guillebeau travels and writes for a small army of remarkable people at chrisguillebeau.com. His new book, The Art of Non-Conformity, is now available online and in bookstores everywhere.
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Some recent posts on mnmlist you might be interested in:

moving to a new home
a fresh start
undistracted reading
letting go of fake needs
addition by subtraction

When I learned Chris Guillebeau had written a book, I begged him for an advance copy. In person, Chris is charismatic with extra doses of magnetism, practicality, and kindness thrown into the mix. I imagined his book would be similar (it is) and I would want to carry it with me even after I read it, like a trusted companion (I already do).
The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World is hitting bookstores today and is a handbook for anyone who wants to break free of an unfulfilled life. As Chris explains, “It’s your own life, so why not set your own rules. You can do good things for yourself while helping other people at the same time.” It helps you plan a course for a remarkable life, get over the fears and obstacles that are currently in your way, and get started living the life you imagine. It is detailed, plausible, and full of concrete examples.
Chris is obsessed with traveling the world — he’s on a quest to visit every country by April 7, 2013 and has made it to 149 of 192 already — and he explains how he transformed his life to make achieving his non-traditional life possible. The book is full of advice for how to achieve similar ambitions — whatever type of life your heart desires — even if it doesn’t include traveling. In addition to Chris’ first-hand experiences, there are interviews and biographies of more than a dozen others who have bucked the system and lived life on their terms.
At the end of most of the chapters is a “Remember This” section that highlights the major themes in that block of text. At the end of the chapter “Setting the Terms of Your Unconventional Life,” are the following notes:
REMEMBER THIS

The pathway to world domination, or whatever it is you want to do, begins with clearly understanding what you want to get out of life.
Once you begin taking your ambitions seriously, you can usually accomplish most things in less time that you initially expected.
In the end, it’s not all about you. Most of us want a life that leaves a positive impact on others.
When you start doing what you really want, not everyone will understand. This is okay.

The reason I pursue an uncluttered life is so I have the time, energy, and resources to live remarkably. I don’t want to be weighed down by my stuff; I want to have as much freedom as possible to focus on what matters most to me. Chris’ philosophy is similar, and his book even includes tips for creating a “stop doing” list and suggestions for how to live with 100 things. A key component for living his remarkable life is keeping clutter out of it, and he provides strategies for doing this.
A word of note: If you are not interested in setting your own rules and changing the world (even just a little part of it), this book is not for you. This book speaks directly to people who already have the desire to live in unconventional ways. No pages are used to persuade or convince someone to pursue a non-traditional lifestyle. Either you’re on board from the beginning, or you’re not. In my opinion, this makes the book stronger because it doesn’t waste time preaching to the choir.
If you are interested in living a remarkable life, I highly recommend Chris Guillebeau’s The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World.
Book details:

Available as a paperback and e-book
Suggested cover price $14.95, Amazon price $10.17
243 pages

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Having the right tools to do a job can increase productivity and greatly improve your overall experience working on a project. Our friends at Chopping Block graphic design firm recently made a fun film illustrating how difficult it would be to do their jobs without Photoshop. Introducing “The World Without Photoshop“:

What takes eight hours in this short film, takes just seconds with the modern software. Are you wasting time, energy, or money not using the right tools for a job? Is there broken equipment on your desk that needs to be fixed? Evaluate your situation and acquire the right tools for the task.
Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland's Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.

Steve Jobs Oldie but Goodie (via Kottke)
“We believe that people with passion can change the world for the better. That’s what we believe.”

Reader Sage submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:
I have tons of lotion bottles — and they are all near full, and perfectly good to use, but I only use about 4 or 5 of the scents. What do I do with the rest? I don’t want to throw them away because that would be really wasteful of the lotion.
In my high school biology class, we bred mice to track which genetic traits of an original pair of two mice were transferred on to the more than 100, fourth generation, great-great-grandmice. Before the project started, my lab partners were convinced we could name all of the offspring after rock stars who died from drug overdoses in the 1960s and 1970s. (One of us had recently discovered her dad’s Sex Pistols’ album.) Since I was in high school before the days of Google and Wikipedia, we ran out of names during the second litter of mice and had to start using names of rock stars we were surprised hadn’t overdosed. We had no idea how quickly mice bred and how fertile they were, in addition to our lack of real knowledge about the music industry. We were also overwhelmed with cleaning, feeding, tracking pregnancies, and separating the mice into independent cages.
I think of this lab experiment gone awry whenever I go through my lotions, shampoos, and conditioners. These liquids appear to breed like Sid and Nancy, our first generation pair of mice. Without much time and effort, they overwhelm drawers and shelves.
To keep your lotions, shampoos, and conditioners from cluttering up your space, try these tips that have significantly helped me:

Start by checking all of the bottles’ expiration dates and putting the liquids through a smell test. Dispose of any lotions that are past their use-by dates and throw out any lotions that smell rancid or funky. After pouring the expired lotion in the trash, you should be able to recycle most of the plastic bottles.
Identify the exact location for where you will store your lotions in the future and create a perimeter that defines the area. This will be your dedicated lotion space, and you need to commit to not storing more lotion than can fit in this footprint. When this space is stuffed, you’ll know it’s time to unclutter again.
To get rid of the lotions that are good but you no longer want, trade with friends and extended family members for scents you like or simply give them as gifts.
Another option is to donate the good lotions to a charity, like a women’s shelter or homeless shelter. Call the charity before you drop off your donation, and only donate products that you would use if you liked the scent.
You can also put them in a guest bathroom in a basket with a sign “For Our Guests: Help yourself!” on it.
You can commit to using them up, regardless of your love for them. Most lotions lose their scents an hour or two after skin contact, anyway.
Even though it’s not always the most sane financial decision, you should commit to buying only the small size bottles of lotion in the future. Anything over 4 oz. will likely go unused.
Finally, resist the urge to take home bottles of lotion from hotels in an effort to keep your lotion stash under control. Or, do the exact opposite, and stop buying lotion and only keep the free samples you like from hotels. (And, yes, hotels are okay with you taking these samples. I’ve asked numerous folks in the hotel industry and they view these products as advertising.)

Thank you, Sage, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. I hope I was able to help you with your lotion dilemma. Be sure to check the comments for even more ideas on how to keep lotion, shampoo, and conditioner from becoming clutter in your bathroom.
Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.
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This week’s Workspace of the Week is Barb McMahon’s itty bitty netbook office:

This home office is so superbly simple that there isn’t much to say about it. The do-it-yourself desk/storage box works wonderfully with the re-purposed bathroom mirror hanging above it. The office chair is one of the dining table chairs, and the bookshelf on the left is conveniently out of the way. Brilliantly minimalist and uncluttered.
Thank you, Barb, for submitting your workspace to our Flickr pool.
Want to have your own workspace featured in Workspace of the Week? Submit a picture to the Unclutterer flickr pool. Check it out because we have a nice little community brewing there. Also, don’t forget that workspaces aren’t just desks. If you’re a cook, it’s a kitchen; if you’re a carpenter, it’s your workbench.
Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland's Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.

The September issue of Outside magazine has an inspiring interview with author-documentarian-bar-owner Sebastian Junger that speaks directly to an uncluttered pursuit of a remarkable life. Junger, most famous for The Perfect Storm, was once an extreme minimalist who slept on the floor until he was 40, and he continues to live quite simply in New York City with his wife.
A few highlights from Junger’s interview “The Path of Most Resistance,” which will be online when the October issue hits newsstands:
The things in life that aren’t exciting, if they’re a hassle, I just don’t do ‘em. Like, I could go out and buy a shaving mirror, or I could use the back of a CD.
Everything I do, I just assume I’m going to fail. It all seems impossible. But I’m very scared of failure — you know, everyone is — and that sense of impossibility gets me to crank up the turbines. Everything mentally and physically at my disposal I pour into a project.
The people I know personally who cannot sit down and chill out for a while are people who have not really come to terms with their emotional, inner story. They’re staying a step ahead of it. I did that through my twenties and thirties. In my forties, I stopped working so hard for a bit and confronted a certain amount of stuff about myself. I think that one of the impetuses for working outrageously hard and traveling constantly and always being on deadline is that your personality can’t catch up with you.
Also in the magazine, tangentially related to Junger’s interview, is advice from Eric Greitens about how he manages to get everything done. Greitens is a former Navy SEAL commander, Rhodes scholar, has a Ph.D., and a laundry list of additional accomplishments and activities. Speaking about how he does it all, from page 24:
It’s all about energy. Whether you’re leading a nonprofit organization, running a private company, doing something outdoors, or conducting military operations — you have to build habits that keep your energy high. This is my formula: (1) Vigorous exercise: Six days a week, I walk out of a gym, a dojo, or off a track pouring with sweat … (2) Good fuel: When I eat clean, quality food during the day, my energy never sags. (3) Good partners: Working with a team of positive people keeps your spirits up. (4) Balance: I pray every day, and I also laugh, a lot. You won’t have focus without balance. (5) A goal: A worthy challenge will take care of your motivation for you.
Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland's Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.