Why Deciding What Not To Do Is As Important As Deciding What To Do

in life •  7 years ago 

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Do you know what fascinates me most about life? The fact that it is dynamic. All our lives are constantly changing based on the smallest (and biggest) decisions that we take and also a plethora of external factors.

There are billions of ways that life can happen from any given point in a person's life and that just blows my mind away. It also makes me realise just how important it is to take caution of what we decide to do and not do.

We generally give a lot of thought about what we want to do and how we want to do it and there goes a lot of planning in it, but I don't think much thought is given to what we shouldn't do.

I mean we can often have multiple options regarding the smallest of things in life and it is just as important to say no to a whole lot of other things, so we can say yes to the most important one.

Learning To Say No

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Some people have absolutely no problem saying 'no' to things and people but some of the others really have a hard time doing that and so, they struggle to keep up with every little commitments of theirs, which of course, makes life miserable.

Plus, considering that time is a precious and limited resource for anyone, we should definitely be using it judiciously towards a limited number of things that we deem important so that we can maintain a laser sharp focus.

Focus is the key term here. Doing a hundred things is not an achievement if you are not able to do even one of them properly but doing even one thing and doing it the best you can, surely is.

That can only be possible if you learn to say 'no' to the ninety-nine other things. It sounds easy, but trust me, it is really very hard to say no to even a few things, let alone to most of the things. You may have heard of the term "FOMO". I think that's the reason behind it.

Focus Is Key

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If you take a look at the life of highly successful people today or even in history, you will find that focus has been one of the major ingredients of success. We can achieve anything we want, we just have to direct our complete and unwavering focus towards it.

In fact, Steve Jobs said, "Deciding what not to do is just as important as deciding what to do" and it worked out pretty well for him because using this same mantra, he brought Apple back from the brink of bankruptcy which is today, the richest company in the world.

Imagine what we can do for our own lives if we decide that everything that we do is going to be towards achieving our end goals. Of course, I am not telling you to become a robot who doesn't think about anything else except the "mission", but I think you get my point.

I think what I am trying to say is that, we should aim to do a limited number of very important things and do them with a hundred percent commitment and yes, make sure that you add "enjoying your life" to that list too!

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Focus is surely the key to success and also the happiness mantra in today's time. The problem is mostly we fail at being consistent as there are a hell lot distractions in life, and also if there are not any, we spend our time thinking about the irrelevant things which makes us regret in some future time!!

Totally agreed. The problem is consistency. We tend to focus for a while and lose it again and go back to the "things not working out" phase.

So damn true!! We soon go back to the "things not working out" phase. But you know what? I really want from all my heart to have a control on the instability and the inconsistency in the life. I genuinely wish if there is something we can do to control it.

There is a very meaningful quote that matches with your write up about focusing. They say "A turtle that knows where to go is always faster that a rabbit that doesn't know where to go.."

That is a very true saying :)

To be able to focus effectively requires self discipline as there are many things that can easily distract from achieving our goals. Making a decision is the easy part following it to fruition that is the hard part.

I agree. In today's world there are a million distractions and that makes it hard to focus but if we want to get anywhere, we just have to do it. No excuses.

I completely agree with your point @badmusgreene. Cutting down on distraction really helps to save a lot of time and one can utilise it for something better.
And yes, training a mind isn't an easy task at all. It takes time and practise.

I totally agree with you. Continuity and focus are the key to success. It is better to achieve perfection in few projects rather than thinking of starting many projects together.

The basis to this is that all of us get limited time in life. 1440 minutes a day. And the focus is a must. Losing on focus can cost a life and that is not something we should take for granted.

True that!!

Fully agree that deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do as a wrong decision can lead to a big mistake.

That's so true.

Well, of course, our lives are based on what decision we take. But, sometimes even the wrong decisions give us the biggest learnings which helps a person becoming wise in taking such decisions further. It has a big learning curve involved and that’s how the human species evolve. So, learning the way to learn is a must too.

reviews and a good brother @sauravrungtha motivation. true and I agree with you, to decide the slightest thing something should be careful and should focus on an issue and when something we decided it worked well then the happiness will come to us

I agree with you.

thank you

I totally agree with u. especially with part, that was about saying NO to others.
anyway thanks for your great post.

Yeah, a habit we should all exercise more.

Time management and focus go together like a strand of DNA... If we can get that right, combined with the correct project, anything is possible.

Exactly. The Pareto principle states the same theory.
80% of results come from 20% of the causes. One needs to figure out what is truly required and what is not. Understanding the difference between important and critical is a must.

Absolutely true!

be "conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience” - david foster wallace

That's a beautiful quote :)

Wonderful. Conscience is the key.

Hi Saurav!

I get your point that one should give time to analyze thing at hand and then think of whether to go for it or not.

But I have one question here, do you think people do it intentionally or it happens because of the surroundings?

The world is changing so fast and it’s the era of information. People have countless opportunities and confusion is certain. People should try to eliminate all the unnecessary distractions in life and then decide from what is left but at the same time distractions like social media itself provides a lot of opportunities. I guess it’s better to think of it this way....
We need to set priorities in life and then figure out what things align to those priorities and what doesn’t. Then probably we can have better utilisation of our resources at hand and the most valuable thing “time”.

Great post by the way. Made me stop and think for a moment. I have written a post yesterday which you might like and I am sure would definitely help in what we are talking about here.

Yeah, the act of setting priorities in itself is actually saying "no" to a hundred different things. That's because you are choosing what to do and at the same time choosing what not to do but you are aware of what are choosing not to do. And yes, then we go with what we have chosen.

This is true. Not making a decision counts just as much as making one - sometimes it is just easier to let things pass.

It is called the trolley problem.

Pulling the lever save five workers, but will kill one man. Not pulling the lever kill five workers alive and will keep that one man alive.

Not making a decision is also a decision.

I totally agree with you. Not making a decision is also a decision. Because doing something and not doing something both will lead to a series of events that we directly had influence over.

Couldn't have said it better!

It's really looking nice that my countryman doing great in this platform.CONGO from my heart! Hi all steemians.

Thanks for the kind words man :)

Very well said bro. Focus is something the most important thing, we need to prioritise things. And everyone has enough things to keep themselves busy but what he needs out of life should be the most focused and a big NO to all others.

Yes, totally. Focus on things you want to actually achieve and say no to everything else.

हेल्लो

सुपरस्टीम इंडिया आपकी इस पोस्ट को रेण्डम तरीके से अपवोट कर रहे है और फॉलो भी करते है।

आइये कोरिया, इटली और रशिया की तरह स्टीमइट पर भारतीयों की कम्युनिटीको मज़बूत करे।

इस के लिए आप सुपरस्टिम इंडिया को फॉलो करे और हमारे रिस्टीम किये हर पोस्ट को अवश्य लाइक करे.

शुक्रिया।
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हम हर एक पोस्ट जिसमे कोई भी टेग "india" होगा उन सभी पोस्टर को फॉलो करेंगे और कुछ अच्छी कंटेंट वाली पोस्ट्स को रेण्डम तरीकेसे रिस्टीम करेंगे। जल्द ही हम पावर अप करने वाले है। सम्पर्क में रहे।

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Thank you :)

Well said sir 👍👍👍👏👏👏

Thanks :)

Thanks, this resonates. Just posted about having to learn to say no more the other day, good synchronistic message.

Thanks for the kind words man :)