Bemoan your need to catch up on anything

Here’s proof that pressure is a choice.

When was the last time you complained about how you needed to catch up on something?

Maybe it was email, television, work, sleep, laundry, life goals, books, podcasts, social media, celebrity gossip, news, whatever.

For some reason, you felt a nagging sense of being behind.

Like the two women who were seated next to me on the subway. One of them was stressing about the upcoming three day weekend, as she needed to spend the bulk of her time catching up on the past three seasons of that new zombie apocalypse series everybody was talking about at the office.

Keep in mind, that was a choice she made. Pressure she put on herself to keep up with something that other people deemed meaningful.

When the reality is, all of that stress could have been avoided from day one, if she had a better handle on identifying and managing her priorities.

The problem is, most of us have not mastered that skill. We allow external forces such as culture and friends and trends to determine our priorities for us, rather than engaging in activities that are uniquely appealing to us.

All because we’re afraid of missing out. Our fear is that we won’t be able to join the conversation at work about that stupid zombie show, lose our social status and bragging rights, get rejected from our peer group, get fired, go broke and die alone.

Pressure is a choice.

On the other end of the attitudinal spectrum, people who have a healthy, prosperous and relaxed relationship with time rarely make these kinds of statements. They never bemoan their need to catch up on anything, since they trust that they have plenty of time to do everything.

They don’t fall behind on their life because they practice complete abstinence from ever complaining about anything time related. The only people who stress about needing to catch up on things are the ones who live in a victim position in regards to their time.

And sure, everyone’s life gets busy, stressful and overwhelming. Nobody is immune to the ordinary misery of human existence.

But for the most part, the more you complain about needing to catch up on things, the less healthy of a relationship you have with your priorities. Period.

If you’re concerned that your time is managing you, not the other way around, consider some of these questions. I’ve collected them over the years to help keep my priorities aligned with my own values, and maybe they can do the same for you.

Are you inventing things to do to avoid the important?

Are you satisfied with the way you currently spend time?

Are you spending priority time with problem people or potential people?

Can you live with the consequences of not doing this?

Did someone else ask you to do this for their purposes?

Do you know how much money one hour of your time is worth?

How much time do you spend on obligations imposed by others?

What are you doing that makes no sense at all?

What are you doing today to increase your freedom tomorrow?

What drives you into a desert of meaningless activity?

What in your life would change if you believed you had all that you needed?

Now if you’ll excuse me, season four of the zombie show just got released, and I gotta go catch up.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What if you accepted that pressure was a choice?