Fight Entropy
ENTROPY: As a physical system becomes more disordered, and its energy becomes more evenly distributed, that energy becomes less able to do work.
Ever feel overloaded? Too much going on?
I’m on a mission to simplify how I work. It’s difficult but I think it’s worthwhile. I’ve noticed myself in the past getting my fingers into more pies as time goes on, more activities, more projects until everything is very complex and the energy that I have is dispersed..
The East Coast expression “Busy as a fart in a mitten” comes to mind.
The problem is, the Universe seems to like entropy which makes fighting it so difficult. Here’s what I’m doing:
- Reducing from many email addresses to one (this cuts down the checking of so many emails, with so many passwords with so many connection points on both my laptop and my iPhone)
- Resisting the urge to add bells and whistles to my website (this cuts down on maintenance and time spent troubleshooting)
- Refining where I spend my time online by choosing only the most effective tools (this will mean dropping some or drastically changing how I use them)
- Radically thinking of the ramifications before I say “yes” to people or projects.
In general, it’s about letting go of things and taking a breath and realizing that the world will not end if I don’t do “everything.”
We bring this on ourselves and then wonder why we have no time for important things. I’m tired of rushing through activities because there’s a laundry list of items still left.
Wish me well on the war with entropy.
“Hey, hey. Ho, ho. Entropy has got to go.”
Its difficult to get rid of the feeling of urgency that comes with entropy, and that’s what kills me. This so many things, so little time syndrome is tough to beat out of my brain.
Its a little like zen and thoughts. Many clouds in the sky but none worth clinging to more than the other…Being able to look at them and say Oh…looks like a dog…and then move on…and not feel we did not achieve something because we did not get the shape of all the clouds right. There will always be clouds, its a never ending continuum…and yet our brains want to find the beginning and the end..
Ok, back to the next thing on my list….
Serge, well-put. I like the clouds analogy. Makes me think of Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now “It’s cloud’s illusions I recall, I really don’t know life at all.” Cheers – John
You observe and describe well, the clutter so many must feel we are accumalating as more and more innovations that are exceptionally fun or useful – gather about us; to negate their effectiveness by their mass!
I find I want to enthuse and encourage what I see as clever/good/inspired ideas on the web and show this by subscribing to newsletters I will never have the time to read – but this is the way I ‘vote’ for positive actions like well researched, unbiased news, simply shared science, logical political actions etc.
Working to use the tools at my disposal more efficiently is a morphing skill that is impossible to define but seems to refine itself as it goes along – I think I have faith that we are adaptable enough to avoid drowning in a sea of activities – just taking a while to learn to swim the right way.
Thanks for the inspireing read – I will now go find where to sign-up for further info!!
Namaste,
Tina Louise
@tinalouiseUK
Thank you for your very thoughtful additions. “Learning to swim the right way” is very good.