The Petty Enslavement of Daily Trivia

“In absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia, until we ultimately become enslaved by it.” – Robert Heinlein

How do you decide what you are going to do each day? The better, more relevant, useful question is do you decide what to do each day?

Few people do. Decide what they are going to do each day that is…

Despite the calls of so many to get clear about goals and develop a plan for their achievement, so many people operate on their own form of auto-pilot.

I see so many people who merely react to what’s in front of them, each minute, each hour, each day, each week – and most tragically, each year, year after year.

We (myself included, sometimes (too much, if truth be told), don’t honor the opportunity and gift that of our lives. We breath in and out, wasting out lives with mere existence.

Could we do more? Absolutely.

But what? What do we do when we’re doing all we can?

First, learn to pause. For very short periods. At first, take five seconds to breathe.

This may sound silly, but you must find a way to create space and practice holding space.

You don’t need to do anything but notice your breath for five seconds. Breathe in, fully and naturally; breathe out, fully, noticing only the air moving. One.

Do that five times. Then resume whatever you were doing. Do this once per day, for seven days.

After you’ve spent a week creating space, ask yourself if you either want to increase this practice and do this exercise to a greater extent. I imagine you will. Be bold and extend the cycle count to ten and increase the overall frequency to three times per day.

You are now doing this “space-creation” exercise 30 seconds per day, even with the getting-into-it and the getting-out-of-it, you’re still well under two minutes.

I guarantee that if you will do this for one month (the first week at once per day and the other three weeks three times per day), you will have greater peace-of-mind, feel more calm and centered and be champing at the bit (so to speak, or whatever the calm, peaceful equivalent is) to look at what you’re doing and how it compares to what you authentically want.

Then you can begin to more consciously and intentionally create your life – and free yourself from the petty enslavement of daily trivia.