Forcing the Issue: An Anti-Hoarding Drill

If your hand isn’t forced, you’ll likely hold onto more than you need. No, I’m not talking about hoarding Beanie Babies. I’m talking about roles, responsibilities, and corners of your life. I love the mental exercise of “forced” editing if even it stays hypothetical. 

Let’s do an experiment. 

Let’s say you have a gun to your head and you have to trim 20% of your schedule to survive. Whether you take action (which in many cases, you should), it’s helpful to know what your deep intuition is saying to you. 

Most busy people over index on how much time things really take and what’s essential. I learned this from Tim Ferriss, who would give early copies of his books to select friends. He found that asking for general feedback got him general insights. So, he told these folks that they had to cut out a certain percentage of the writing. This forced the editing mind to decide what isn’t essential. 

I think you could benefit from trimming the fat.