I just finished Greg McKeown’s book Essentialism.
I have a habit of taking on many priorities and need to learn and practice the art of doing less better. It’s a mantra repeated through the book and it’s good advice. McKeown points to the teaching of Lao Tzu – “to attain knowledge add things everyday to attain wisdom subtract things everyday.”
I was first introduced to Taoist teachings in the early 2000’s in a philosophy of religion course at Camosun College. Tasked with researching and presenting my findings to the rest of the class, what I learned about taoism continues to deeply influence my life and work today.
In politics there are so many issues. Everyday I get emails from people strongly suggesting I need a louder voice, a more robust response, or who are desperately seeking my assistance. There is always another thing to add to the list. Indeed it’s a long list (and growing each day.)
There is only so much capacity to take on things. There is even less capacity if the expectation is to do those things well.
It’s still unclear to me exactly how these important ideas materialize in my life. However, I imagine success will have something to do with that key word in the previous paragraph – setting and managing expectations, including the (sometimes) insurmountable expectations I have for myself, clearly identifying the expectations I have of others and respectfully setting boundaries for the expectations others have of me.
Image by LIMAT MD ARIF from Pixabay
I’ve long given up expecting very much of others — that way, I get to take delight in when they come through!
But the “expectation from myself” is a tough one to conquer.
Expectations are but the seeds of disappointment. That’s my mantra.
I wish it worked better… oops, there’s a disappointment growing out of the expectation that a mantra will change things!