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“Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.” -Lin Yutang

I am struck with how often I have things on my “To Do” list that stay on there forever. That is partly because I have used my “To Do” list as a catch-all. There for every idea and project that catches my interest and that I want to be able to remember. I have never doubted that I was an idea magnet and that they come at me day and night. I was, in fact, just a little proud of that even if it meant my brain was always on overload. But to consider that there is wisdom in the noble art of leaving things undone never occurred to me.

Recently, I made  an effort to tame this beast. I created “Project Files” on my computer where I could “park” all these ideas until I was ready to pursue them. If nothing else, I can say that I am a lover of systems. Does anyone else feel that way? It’s as if you have some semblance of a system in place then you have never totally lost all those ideas.

That is pretty good in theory but in reality, there are still a lot of things that remain “undone.” I have actually deleted some things on my “To Do” list once I asked myself if I really did care about them after all. Some I could say that I cared….just not enough.

This all leads up to this modern phenomenon of de-cluttering and simplifying our lives. For some it is living a minimalist life. For others it is just getting rid of things we don’t really need. But for me, this also applied to chores and tasks and even accomplishments. Translate that to read “To Do” lists.

When we narrow our focus down to the things we really want to accomplish in this short life that we are given, we have to start asking some tough questions. This can apply to our personal or professional life. How much more can we accomplish if our focus is so sharp that we only work on the things that truly are essential? How much more time could be freed up for something else- or nothing else- if we did this?

I sit here at my desk and look at my planner board. It is filled with Post-It notes of projects and steps to take. I ask myself: “If I left any or all of these undone, would my life be better or worse?”  The answer is becoming very clear that some of these things should be left undone.