Our lives can be very full. Finding balance between family, work and social obligations can seem like a quest for the Holy Grail. Add beeping and flashing smartphones and it's not uncommon to feel like we are being pulled in a thousand directions at once.
Forget about flourishing... sometimes it seems that life is just about surviving minute to minute.
"Busyness can be a good or bad thing," Don says. "It depends on whether or not what you are doing is consistent with your life's purpose."
But where do you start to work towards leading a less busy and more fulfilling life? Don has five key tips.
1. Work out your life's purpose
"Take a step back and think about how you spend your time. How could you spend it in a more beneficial way, for yourself, those you care about, and society in general? Are you squandering a lot of time on trivial or superficial things? Ask yourself 'What is my purpose? How can I improve the lives of my family and friends? What can I do to help society function better - to be a little more compassionate, a little more caring?' When you have a strong sense of meaning and purpose in your life it allows you to focus more on the things you value most. It's like a guiding light."
2. Prioritise
"Write your life purpose down, stick it up on your workspace, and review it regularly. Prioritise the things that are truly important to you. And then keep track of your actual behaviour, to make sure that your actions reflect your priorities. If you find yourself spending lots of time, effort or money on things that you don't value, then stop and reorient your attention to things that you actually care about. Things that matter. There are not enough hours in the day to do everything. Be selective."
3. Slow down
"Every day is like a battle royal, where family, friends, co-workers, clients and faceless internet marketers fight for our limited attention. Don't let the loudest, most intrusive voices win. When we are feeling pressured or overwhelmed, it's helpful to take a few deep breaths and be mindful, even if only for a minute or two. This helps us to recalibrate. During those quiet moments remind yourself what your priorities are and what your purpose in life is, to help get you back on the right path."
4. Set time aside to engage in 'deep work'
"Don't let emails, beeping phones or the seductive lure of social media run your life. Pursuing important life goals requires setting time aside for 'deep work'. This involves pursuing tasks that create new value, are hard to replicate, push our cognitive capabilities to the limit, and are performed free of distraction. Even if it's only half an hour a day, focus on one important thing that brings meaning to your life. You might think that you're killing it by working on 10 tasks at once, but lots of evidence suggests that multi-tasking not only decreases productivity, it also undermines our quality of life. Give 100% of your attention to important tasks."
5. Schedule decompression time every day
"Life shouldn't be all about hard work. It's important to set time aside each day to switch off, calm down and decompress, whether it's with a glass of red, a trashy novel, or something sublime from Bach or Beethoven. Everyone is different. If you are finding it difficult to fit in some serious 'me time' into your life, schedule it, much like you would an important meeting. The cult of busyness tells us that we should be switched on all the time, but quality downtime is essential to maintaining your edge and mental health. Make it a priority."
