Less is more

Ever heard that expression and wandered what it really meant, or simply struggled to believe it? Me too.

I have always been someone who 'gets stuff done'. No matter what it is; work related, bill paying, housework or social. When something needs done, I do it and I do it pretty sharpesh. This stops things building up and causing stress. And I am probably the best list writer you can find. I have books just for writing lists in. I take them everywhere and write them for everything. Without some outline of what I am meant to be achieving, I am a bit lost. So, the more I list, the more I achieve.

During life coaching sessions, the client will create some home actions for themselves in order to get them closer to their goal. When I was being coached, I thought up huge long and wonderful lists that I wished to achieve. My coach would ask me to choose just four from the list. I felt a bit cheated. Surely if I felt like I could achieve everything, it was valid. But remembering my goal 'thick crunchy peanut butter' was about not spreading myself too thinly, these huge lists would only leave me daunted, she felt. And right enough when I looked back to the start of my day when I had an entirely unticked list, I felt pressured not to waste a moment of time. So I set about doing everything and I appreciated nothing.

By only having a small number of things on my list, I began feeling more relaxed each day. 'Well' I would think 'not a great deal to contend with today'. And almost miraculously, I began achieving more than I ever had before. I began appreciating all those things that just happen sponteniously. I had been living in this rigid world of 'if its not on the list...' and had lost track of those moments that you have no control over but you wish you could recreate every day.

It was then that I started appreciating that less really can be more.