Mental Health
A Metaphorical Angel Who Taught Me My Priorities
Here’s How I Learned to Do Less but Achieve More, Lowering My Cognitive Load
My secret to success for decades
This title may sound paradoxical, but it is a proven life hack. At least from my experience!
In this article, I aim to share my story, including insights gained from a distinguished research supervisor who helped me understand the importance of focusing on situations that truly mattered in my life. I believe the principles can apply to any discipline.
My purpose in this article is to emphasize the benefits, how to apply the simple principle of “doing less, achieving more,” and explain how I turned it into a productive habit in my life.
Doing less and achieving more is a principle I learned in the early 90s during my doctoral studies. One of our senior lecturers, who was also one of my research supervisors, taught me to focus on essential tasks to complete my studies on time.
Due to the nature of research-based studies, one can easily be distracted and digress to many other attractive ideas and diverse content not necessarily core to the fundamental idea being researched.
As the Internet was new in those days and I had the privilege of freely accessing various invaluable publications in the body of academic knowledge globally, I was overloading my brain unnecessarily and unconsciously.
Most of the information and knowledge acquired, sucking my mental power, had minimal merit in supporting my big goal.
The library was my heaven, but it was slowly poisoning my perfection-hungry brain.
My silver-headed wise supervisor recognized my stress symptoms and knew the root causes as he had been there and done that.
Each time when we met, my supervisor asked what important tasks I planned to undertake on that day. He kept asking me about my priorities and wanted to review them, and he provided instant feedback.
He was like a god-sent angel disguised in human form to me. He emphasized the critical focus on completing my studies on time “effortlessly” with care and compassion.
The word effortlessly was paradoxical and sounded too good to be true. I started calling him Mr. Wise.
With his guidance and encouragement, I started prompting myself with a question each day: “is this important?”
Mr. Wise also taught me to ask another powerful question each morning when I woke up: “what results do you want to achieve today.”
Mr. Wise wanted me to quickly jot down the answers on a piece of paper and carry it with me and check the points during the day.
He suggested that if something was not on the list unless that point is urgent or critical at the time, he asked me to ignore, delay, delegate, or schedule it for action at another time.
It was interesting to find out that some things sounded interesting, but after ignoring or delaying, those things became clearer to be unimportant. I learned that leaving things to time sometimes could be magical. Our perspectives change with time.
Mr. Wise’s principle turned my focus from perfection to wisdom.
His wisdom was rewiring my brain day by day.
It took me a while to get used to this empowering discipline; however, with repetitive and caring guidance from Mr. Wise, I turned this principle into a habit. I felt that my brain was rewired. It was noticeable from my behavior, easily noticed by Mr. Wise.
With this novel and habitual approach, I achieved to reduce the stress stemming from my work, studies, and family commitments happening in parallel. I learned that focusing on only the things that truly mattered reduced the unnecessary load I used to carry prior to meeting Mr. Wise.
What was my core issue?
Since I loved learning new things and exploring new ideas each day, I quickly digressed into many different unrelated areas. I was striving for perfection in knowledge acquisition. This natural human tendency was creating unnecessary stress for me.
Unfortunately, I was unaware of it and did not know the ramifications.
It was wonderful to be observed by a trained observer, diagnosed correctly, and treated with care and compassion. I am still so grateful and remember the magical words of Mr. Wise during each thesis review session, who successfully rewired my brain sustainably.
I am now passing on this invaluable learning to my friends, colleagues, and proteges, hoping to make a real difference in their lives.
Practical tips for setting priorities
One of the key points Mr. Wise helped me understand was the importance of the 80/20 rule in making my priorities.
I also learned from him not to manage time but to manage my priorities based on my goals. He was wisely echoing that time was not manageable.
Learning to complete small tasks in a systematic priority order methodically and in agility helped me to complete my research, write my thesis, and submit my dissertation on time. Before knowing these simple principles, submitting a dissertation with over 200,000 words looked like a mammoth task, almost like pie in the sky.
Mr. Wise’s principles helped me to focus on writing 100 words per day rather than worrying about 200,000. It was like eating the proverbial elephant bite by bite deliciously when my appetite was on. If one’s appetite is not there, eating can be hard work.
In addition, I applied the principle of “to do less and to achieve more” in my professional work, writing practice, and leadership endeavors.
Applying this principle to my daily work helped me to be effective at work, become a recognized leader in my field, and remain joyful in my personal life.
This simple yet effective principle helped me transform into a more stoic and satisfactory lifestyle sustainably. I love doing less and achieving more effortlessly each day.
Therefore, I hope this approach will give a perspective to those who want to achieve more with less stress and with more joy.
In later years, I also suffered from procrastination, focusing on low-value work and missing high-value ones. However, I resolved my issue and documented my research and experience in an article. I hope it gives you valuable perspectives.
Here is how I move out of my comfort zone and operate in stretch and risk zones with pleasure.
If you enjoyed this story and have time, you might also check my experience on other topics in the original stories that made an impact on my readers.
I wish I had Gone Self-Employed 40 Years Ago for Three Reasons.
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I aim to increase the hormonal intelligence of my readers and write about various hormones and neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, GABA, acetylcholine, norepinephrine, adrenaline, glutamate, and histamine.
You can listen to this article by clicking on the play button below.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
As a new reader, please check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting my reviews, observations, and decades of experiments optimizing my hormones and neurotransmitters. I write about health as it matters. I believe health is all about homeostasis.
Petechiae, ALS, Metabolic Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Fatty Liver Disease, Heart Disease, Strokes, Obesity, Liver Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders, Homocysteine, Lungs Health, Pancreas Health, Kidneys Health, NCDs, Infectious Diseases, Brain Health, Dementia, Depression, Brain Atrophy, Neonatal Disorders, Skin Health, Dental Health, Bone Health, Leaky Gut, Leaky Brain, Brain Fog, Chronic Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, Elevated Cortisol, Leptin Resistance, Anabolic Resistance, Cholesterol, High Triglycerides, Metabolic Disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders, Thyroid Disorders, Anemia, Dysautonomia, cardiac output, and urinary track disorders.
I also wrote about valuable nutrients. Here are the links for easy access:
Lutein/Zeaxanthin, Phosphatidylserine, Boron, Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, PQQ, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, zinc, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, and other nutrients.
Disclaimer: My posts do not include professional or health advice. I only document my reviews, observations, experiences, and perspectives to provide information and create awareness.
As part of my creative non-fiction writing goals, I’d like to share a few stories that might warm our hearts with a bit of humor into weighty topics.
Sample Humorous Stories
Finally, After Burning Her House, Georgia Found Enlightenment
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Based on my writing experience and observations, I documented findings and strategies that might help you amplify your voice, engage your audience, and achieve your desired outcomes in your writing journey.
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