It may have been a while since you were in (second-level) school.
But there’s probably at least one teacher you’ve never forgotten.
One of mine was Denis Craven whom we had for English.
Denis – or Ned as we called him – loved the topic of our transience.
“The worms will eat you” was one of his (own) quotes.
Shakespeare’s sonnets dealt a lot with our transience. There’s only one extract I still remember:
Like as the waves make towards the pebbl’d shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forwards do contend.
It can feel that way with tasks too can’t it?
Let’s re-phrase the Bard:
Like as the waves make towards the pebbl’d shore,
So do more tasks hasten towards us;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forwards do contend.
All those competing tasks vying for your attention.
And, no matter how many you do/delete/delegate/defer, there’ll be countless more coming behind them.
Does that ever fill you with despair?
Thinking that your very best is not (and cannot ever be) enough?
You cannot stop the tide – as King Canute all those years ago taught us.
You’ll win some battles every now and again – but you cannot win the war.
So why fight it?
It’s ok to have limitations. And it’s ok to reveal those limitations to others. (King Canute had the humility to actually demonstrate that.)
The best you can do is your best. That’s it.
So here are two questions:
1: Are you doing your best?
2: Are you improving (what your best is)?
The most capable people on the planet can do no more than that.
You can do no more than that.
PS: If you want to receive content like this blog in my twice-weekly email, sign up here and you’ll also get my ebook – “Get Off The Hamster Wheel: The Smart Small Business Owner’s Productivity Bible“. You’ll read it in less than 15 minutes.