“Ask yourself at every moment, is this necessary?” — Marcus Aurelius
Every day and in every moment we should be asking ourselves this one simple question – is this necessary?
I do this every day at work, much to my own frustrations and to the frustration of those around me.
But time is finite, we start with a limited amount so we have to make sure we prioritise how we spend it.
During my time working at Facebook, this ethos was drilled into me – “ruthless prioritisation” – do what is needed and remain focused on the goal.
After all, if everything is a priority then nothing is a priority.
The average life expectancy is around 80 years old, and men typically have 5 less years than women.
At work, we have roughly 40 hours per week, and our day may include 8 hours working, and often less than 8 hours sleeping and 8 hours for ourselves.
So use the time wisely and at every moment, ask yourself – is this necessary?
