a time to be brief.
“I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”
Who said this?
Barack Obama
Blaise Pascal
Maya Angelou
Mark Twain
Scroll to the end to see the answer.
Lately, I’ve found myself seeking brevity in everything.
And I know. I know this isn’t shocking or new to those who know me. After all, I’m an introvert with a type 5 (enneagram) personality and a melancholic temperament. So, compared to most people, I’m more likely to want to get things over with.
But this is different.
Because after 18 months of waiting, patiently or otherwise, for everything, or anything, to move faster or at all, many people are still dragging their feet.
We’re still sitting through pointless meetings.
We’re still overextending ourselves unnecessarily.
We’re still consuming and processing boatloads of unhelpful information.
And as we keep betraying our own boundaries, overexplaining ourselves, dreaming of starting or quitting but never doing so, we keep missing the point: less is more.
And the more time we spend on things that don’t matter, the less likely we are to get to where we want to be.
Maybe it’s time we focused more on the little, few things that matter and less on the excesses that tend to lurk around. Maybe it’s time to be brief.
So here I am, seeking brevity. In everything. And hoping that’s all I need.
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