I got into an argument with my girlfriend the other day.

I enjoy a good argument.

I enjoy pitting ideas against each other to see what/whose ideas are more “true”

During said argument, she mentioned that smart people have a tendency to over-complicate things. And, she noted wryly “you’re very smart”.

I thought (quietly and to myself) that perhaps she tried to make things a bit too simple.

The argument passed like a spring storm in the tropics.

The next day, however, I pondered her accusation. I thought about the immense amount of reading I did before I took action. I thought about the pages of to-do lists that I create just to knock out a couple of things on them. I thought about the year-end/beginning goal list that I create and what my percentage of completion is for them.

She might be on to something.

The day after this realization was a bit clearer and less stressful.

I was less focused on the future and creating plans for the next 12 months. Instead I focused on what I could accomplish this week. I felt a significant change in my stress levels. Instead of trying to conquer the world, I just needed to conquer my week.

And none of the tasks on my weekly to-do list required superhuman levels of discipline. Just a bit more follow-through.

The other thing that happened is I started to think about how many goals I’ve added to my to-do list because I felt like I should. How I “felt” I should be making more money, but I wondered if I actually wanted to work harder, or was it just what everyone tells me I should be doing.

More money would be nice.

But so would more time to think, write, and exercise.

In fact, I think that more thinking, writing, and exercising would make me significantly happier than another 5-10k.

Today was a calm day. Not a elon-musk-level-productive day. But a conscious day. A happy day. A introspective but relaxed day.

I look forward to more thinking and less over-complicating.

To just being,

OFO