KARMASay no toeverythingthat’s notrelevant toyour journey.Anything that’snot in line withyour priorities,say no. Just sayno.32 www.yogicherald.com Jan. 2020
remain motivated and curious. Overlyenthusiastic, sure, but overly optimistic,think again.So often you’ll hear things like, you cando it, just set aside 20 minutes, or 10min etc. Don’t fall for that temptation.Examine the current demands on yourtime and be reasonable about howmuch you can really devote to anythingnew. It helps to remember thateverything adds up. If you are seriousabout finding the time to work onthings that are important to you, learnto say no. Try and say “no” to everythingnon-essential, non-core. It will save youa lot of time, believe me. I politely turndown 98% of all speaking invitations.Even then, I struggle to find a few sparemoments. (I know it’s neither healthynor sustainable and I’m fast makingamends. After a long and tiring day, I’mwriting this post at midnight.) If youwish to produce quality, you will needto put in the time. There’s no other waythat I know of.Important things firstBuild your day around the things thatmatter to you. This is just about the onlyway to ensure that you will get themdone. And, it’s not the same as eatingthe frog first. Because I’m not sayingthat get the most difficult action itemout of the way before anything else(though that surely helps). Instead, I’mreferring to creating your daily schedulearound the essentials. That is, what arethe top two or three things you must doevery day. Whether that’s exercising,devoting time to learning a newlanguage, writing your dream book oranything else at all.Let’s say you always wanted to write abook but just can’t seem to get to it.Well, tell yourself that at x am or pmevery day, you will sit down to write,and you won’t get up till you havewritten 500 or n number of words. Baseyour other activities around this one.When the clock strikes that time, sitdown, turn off your phone, disconnectfrom the world and start writing. Youcan take any example, the philosophyremains the same. Write down not onlywhat you must do on a daily basis but atwhat time you will do it and for how long.Ideally, your time allocation should bemindfully done between important andurgent things. In doing urgent things,we often postpone and neglect theimportant ones. Avoid this trap byresolutely setting time for not just whatis essential to living (urgent) but life too(important).One day at a timeThere’s an old story about a manlamenting that he always wanted tolearn to play the piano, but could neverfind the time because of his otherresponsibilities.“Why don’t you start now?” asked hisfriend.“Are you kidding?” he retorted. “I’m fiftyyears old! It’ll take me five years to learnto play well. I’d be fifty-five by the time Ibecome even remotely proficient as apianist.”His friend paused, then inquired “So,how old will you be in five years if youdon’t learn to play the piano?” 2This is perhaps the most importantpoint. Often our dreams are big and weaspire for the highest, the best. In doingso, we tend to underestimate how longit’ll actually take us to reach our goal.The journey appears long and daunting.Just remember, if you won’t do it, itwon’t get done. And if you want to do it,do the best you can with whatever timeand resources you have at hand bearingin mind that what may seem like a littleeffort today will matter when you do abit more tomorrow. It stacks up realfast.Nothing will happen if you don’t act.The young Mulla Nasrudin was makingfaces at other children in his school.With his wide array of contortions, hewas scaring some and amusing othersuntil a teacher saw what he was up to.“Nasrudin!” she bellowed. “Stop this!When I was a kid like you, I was told if Imade ugly faces, it would freeze, and Iwould stay like that.”Mulla immediately relaxed his face, andsaid, “Well, madam, you can’t say thatyou weren’t warned.”Now, you can’t say that you didn’t knowabout how to live your life fully or howto make the best use of your time. I’veshared with you the easiest way to thebest of my knowledge.Say no to everything that’s not relevantto your journey. Anything that’s not inline with your priorities, say no. Just sayno.Be reasonable, prioritize and take a stepat a time.About AuthorOm Swami is a mystic living inthe Himalayan foothills. He hasa Bachelor’s degree in businessand an MBA from Sydney,Australia. Prior to hisrenunciation of this world, hefounded and successfully ran amultimillion-dollar softwarecompany. He is the bestsellingauthor of A Fistful of wisdom,The Ancient Science of Mantras,A Million Thoughts, Kundalini:An Untold Story, A Firstful ofLove and If Truth Be Told: AMonk’s Memoir.Jan. 2020 www.yogicherald.com 33
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