Importance: 10%
The Big Idea
Over the course of my life I have struggled with two extreme when it comes to keeping track of and accomplishing tasks. Either I have not cared at all and let the wind blow where it pleases or I have been so focused on checking off all the todo list that I feel like I have no time for anything else.
A helpful change of perspective that I have run across is framing tasks differently. The typical way our efficient and production focused world often presents task to us can be thought of as “the tyranny of tiny tasks.” Every little task needs finished and time is a precious resource that needs to be spent in the most efficient and productive way possible. This way of living is exhausting and often bogged down in the weeds rather than ever being able to slow down and enjoy life.
An alternative way to see tasks that avoids this is “fidelity to daily tasks”. In this mental frame rather than tasks crushing and pushing on us, we can see the tasks we need to accomplish as ways in which we are faithful to the people around us. This means that sometimes not doing the “planned” task in order to care for someone right in front of us is natural and logical because the whole point of tasks are not to get them done but to be faithful within our relationships.
Article that laid this perspective out: waste your time your life may depend on it