When you feel that you have too much to do, know that that feeling is something you learned. You learned to be overwhelmed. You learned it. Now learn that you can accomplish everything. Give yourself credit. Why hobble yourself?

You can get everything done. You can get everything done better when you give yourself credit.

Of course, in the world, you are being stretched. That's what the world does. The world preoccupations are there so you can burst through them.

You may have told yourself: "There aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish all I have to."

And you are the same person who may have told yourself: "I have to have a good night's sleep, or I am not good for anything."

You may have made self-imposed requirements on yourself such as thinking that you do not get enough sleep, and that you absolutely must have those hours of sleep only to discover that sleep doesn't come and time passes slowly. You may impose upon yourself that there are not enough hours in the day, and, even if there were, you can't avail yourself of them appropriately because you didn't sleep well enough the night before. Make it easier for yourself.

It's time now to abandon this kind of propaganda. With or without sleep, you can do well. With or without time enough in the day, you can do well. Remember that time is not. It is an illusion. And whatever you tell yourself relevant to time is also an illusion. Give yourself a good start.

There is a difference between doing and thinking.

We are talking now about matters that require doing. If you are moving from one house to another, you have to pack, whether you like it or not.

The truth is that you like to do what you feel like. You feel like reading a book or making a sandwich, and there are things you don't feel like. You may have told yourself you're not good at them. You could be good at them. You could make short work of them.

Now, life does impose conditions upon you, and these conditions require that you fulfill them.

It's necessary to get to work on time. Why resist that?

There are things you have to do and things you want to do.

You have to get up in the morning.

If you want to earn a salary, most likely you have to earn it.

If you want to dance, you have to stand up.

What prevents you from accomplishing what you have to do? Why isn't it done already? What are you balking at? Something holds you back. Would you agree that there is an aspect that you don't find charming in what is before you? Give yourself some inducements. Play a game with yourself.

There are some things that you can dispense with. Maybe you don't have to rake the leaves. Maybe you really don't have to do something you have told yourself that you must do.

On the other hand, there are matters in the world that you do have to attend to and attend to in a timely manner. For Heaven's sakes, just do them!

This is called education of the will, beloveds. Educate your will, and you will stick to the task at hand. A housepainter has learned education of the will. Whatever he may feel like at a given moment, he keeps brushing the paint on, or he rolls it. There is no getting away from the details. Maybe it is details you do not like. Maybe it is repetition you don't like.

You will indeed like it when you get the job done.

Certainly you are made for greater things than, let's say, packing. Get the packing out of the way, and you will have unburdened yourself, and you will be lighter, and you will feel great. Anticipate that great moment. Hold a carrot in front of you!

 

John