Time, You Left Me Standing There

Time is the only resource that’s been doled out evenly to all of us—how we choose to spend it, however, is entirely up to us.

This isn’t new advice to anyone reading this but it’s probably worth reminding ourselves of soon after we roll out of bed each morning. It slapped me in the face recently, however, after reading this post from the always insightful Shane Parrish of Farnam Street, who went about the business of pulling all sorts of timeless wisdom from Arnold Bennett’s century-plus old book, How To Live On 24 Hours A Day. 

“How can we, a century later in a somewhat different world, take Bennett’s advice?” Parrish writes. “It’s quite simple. His messages are uncomplicated, despite being wrapped up in his somewhat difficult to understand prose. For starters, we can stop viewing our work as our lives and learn to distinguish the two or intertwine them. We can plan specific pursuits for our spare time, rather than flitting it away. We can take stock of how much free time we actually have and where it is going. Then, we can structure those hours and minutes to ensure they are used for something meaningful.”

+ Along those lines, here’s an updated version of a post I wrote a while back that highlights my top tips for getting shit done. (Note: I could probably stand to re-read it myself from time to time.)

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A version of this post first appeared in the morning shakeout, my weekly email newsletter covering running, writing, media and other topics that interest me. If you’d like for it to land in your inbox first thing on Tuesday mornings, subscribe here.