Probably not, right? Even people who like challenges would be weighed down eventually by things which are overly complex.

Complexity decreases efficiency and more often than not encourages procrastination.  You might have heard of the term “paralysis by analysis”, which simply means that when you analyze too many factors, you get inundated and start procrastinating instead.

Further, complexity wastes a lot of your energy and drains you of whatever initial enthusiasm you might have.

Yes, Life is complex at times.  Problems are complex at times.  Choosing simplicity doesn’t mean denying reality.  It means making the effort to understand that everything complex is made up of many simple things.

Take for example, building a  customized website with good content would seem like a complex project initially.  What you have to do is to identify all the small subtasks that needs to be done and decide on the right sequence.  e.g. identify your niche, research your niche, choose a site theme, hire a freelance coder, etc.

Anything big, once broken down in the smaller tasks will immediately give you a lot of clarity.  Of course, in the process, you will also begin to realize that you might lack certain skill sets and this could be the time to acquire them or outsource the task.

When things are broken down and simple enough, you achieve them more quickly and easily, building your self-esteem in the process and increasing your motivation.  The converse is true, when they are too complex, you get overwhelmed, lose your momentum and end up in the undesirable state of procrastination.

So, if there is any area of your life which you’re experiencing procrastination, it might be useful for you to break up the tasks into smaller, and more easily achievable sub-tasks.  Achieving many small sub-tasks gives you a sense of accomplishment and keeps your motivation high and before you know it, you’d have completed the task which you were previously procrastinating.

You can perceive and experience the world around you using your five senses.

Unfortunately for you (and most of us), one day, your life will come to an end.

The important question therefore,  is, from now till then, how are you going to live your life?  Will it be a life of joy, bliss, accomplishments and fulfillment?  Or will it be one filled with anxieties and worries, stress and depression?

Which do you want it to be?

As we talked about in the previous article on Take Charge of Your Attention!,  you know that it is of utmost importance to be in charge of your attention.

But what happens if you’ve tried umpteen times, and yet you’re still unable to stay focused on your task?

Then it means 2 things :

1) You’re not doing what you love (many people like to believe this)

2) You’re not loving what you do (sounds familiar?)

This begs another question : Should I learn to do what I love, or should I learn to love what I do?

If you’re a little apathetic or nonchalant about your job, your studies or maybe even your life as a whole, this could be a question that strikes a chord in you.  Interestingly, this can be a blessing in disguise if you’d learn to read the hidden message.

The message is simple – there are things that you’re deeply not satisfied about in your Life.  It is Life’s way of telling you that you can’t find meaning and fulfillment in the situation you’re currently in.  The adage “Circumstances do not make a man, they merely reveal him to himself” succinctly describes this point.   So, if you’re not happy about about certain things in your life, don’t fret – these emotional signals are just your body’s way of communicating with your consciousness.

In the book “DaVinci Method”, Garret LoPorto makes a very powerful statement :

“Don’t ask what the world needs.  Ask what makes you come alive.  Then go do it.  Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.”

Even Slyvester Stallone said “I’d rather do something I love badly than to do feel bad about not doing something I love.”

Think about it.  What makes you excited?  What drives you?  What would make you eager to wake up in the morning?  What is something that when you do, you feel that resonance within yourself?

You have to do something that you love to do.  You need something that invigorates you every single day.  Now, it might sound over-romanticized but that is the truth.  We are not here to find the meaning of Life – we are here to create meaning for our lives.  And so we have to find or decide on our Life’s purpose.

Some people believe that they’re trapped in unfulfilling work and have no recourse because of the monthly mountains of bills and possibly debts.  And this is probably where people trap themselves since according to Parkinson’s Law, expenses always rise to meet incomes.  I’m not going to pretend that Life is fair – there are people  who have environmental disadvantages, family disadvantages, health disadvantages and so on.  But we have also seen people with their fair share of disadvantages go on to achieve great things in their lives – look at Lance Armstrong, Honda, Slyvester Stallone, Nick Vuijic.

The point here is this – if you find yourself trapped and unable to be doing something you truly love, then learn to love what you do first.  Because only when you begin to develop a passion for what you do can you begin to excel, and in doing so, climb out of the bottomless pit.  Of course, if you’re just a pizza delivery boy, or a garbage collector, you might be going “are you nuts? what passion?”

Look higher up.  Develop the passion not for the job, but for your higher values e.g. excellence, integrity, recognition, etc.  Whatever job you are doing, you can always aim for excellence.  Do the best with what you have.  Continually read and upgrade yourself – improve your own personal productivity and become the best.  In doing so, you’ll be cultivating the attitude of success.  At the same time, you will attract the attention of people who can and will help you.  When the opportunity comes, you will be ready for it.

Learn to love your Life as a whole.  Bad things happen so that good things can happen.  When failure and frustration keeps knocking you down, chin up and keep moving forward.   Everything happens for a reason and when you learn to accept that, you can move on to find and do that which truly resonates within you.

Now, go do what you love and love what you do.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

STOP!

How did you end up here?  Something caught your attention?

You know what, mortal? I’ve successfully stolen a few seconds from your life.

Fortunately for you, reading this will be rewarding.

Because as you’re reading this, for once, you’re probably more aware of what you’re now reading.  Think about the myriad of content that competes for your attention everyday and everywhere, which you mindlessly indulge in.  Does it raise to your awareness how much time was possibly wasted?

One of the ironies today is that while we have advanced technological tools to leverage our time to do more, many people actually achieve less.  There is lesser contentment, lesser fulfillment.  More procrastination.

We all know that procrastination has robbed success, achievement and fulfillment from many people including ourselves.  And it still continues to do so today, and will most likely stay this way until we make a concerted effort towards fixing the root causes.

I’ve come to realize the central reason why procrastination is so challenging to overcome is that it has multiple causes.  Some people procrastinate because of a lack of a clear goal; others don’t take action because of disempowering beliefs about their abilities.  Some hold back from doing what they need to do because of a painful bad experience in the past.

For most of us today, especially the younger generation, it is the overwhelming amount of content that screams for our attention every moment.  DISTRACTIONS! They’re everywhere.

Just think of some of the things that catch your attention everyday :

• Instant messenger chats
• TV commercials and programs e.g. Drama serials, Sitcoms, etc.
• Unsolicited email – some people are actually drawn by the content
• Eye-catching magazines
• Attention grabbing headers in the newspapers
• Social networking stuff – twitter, facebook, friendster, etc.
• Internet forums, where discussions occasionally ends up in a lot of off-topic banter.
• Reading online articles (not) like this one!
• And the list goes on…

I’m not saying that the aforementioned stuff are bad – the question is whether it is useful for you to spend your time on it.

If it’s not, then think about how much time had been wasted on all those activities.  If you’ve made wrong decisions in your purchases, you’d have wasted money.  But money can always be earned with your diligence and creativity.  My view is that Time is the most important resource that we have.  You can’t turn back the clock nor can you buy an elixir.  So if you’d wasted your time, it is gone FOREVER.  It’s the only real scarcity in life.

So, use your time wisely by blocking out distractions and taking charge of your attention.  If you’re distracted easily because you don’t have a goal or definite purpose, then use your time wisely to quieten yourself to discover and decide on that.

Distractions might be enjoyable and even cathartic if you have a heavy burden of worries and problems.  But always remember that problems don’t get solved by plainly seeking tension relief; our life only becomes better when we seek solutions and work harder.  When things go wrong, work harder, not less.

I’m not going to give you 10 tips to block out distractions because I believe you have to decide what works best for you.  More importantly, the motivation should be intrinsic.

But I’d share with you something.  If you’d read Stephen Covey’s books, he mentioned that the way to say “No” to unwelcomed requests vying for your time is to have a BIGGER “Yes” in your heart.  What this means for you is this – For you to say “No” to things that scream for your attention is to have a bigger “Yes” to the things that matter.

Personally, when I encounter an attention-grabbing and perhaps pleasurable time-waster, I’d say to myself “I have better uses for my time.”

So while this reading has probably taken up several minutes of your life, you know it is an investment once it begins to make more sense to you.  Your return on investment will be much higher once you begin to govern your attention.

So, run along now, you have better uses for your time.