"The reason isn’t that you haven’t yet discovered the right time management tricks or applied sufficient effort, or that you need to start getting up earlier, or that you’re generally useless. **It’s that the underlying assumption is unwarranted: there’s no reason to believe you’ll ever feel “on top of things,” or make time for everything that matters, simply by getting more done**. "For a start, **what “matters” is subjective, so you’ve no grounds for assuming that there will be time for everything that you, or your employer, or your culture happens to deem important**. "But the other exasperating issue is that **if you succeed in fitting more in, you’ll find the goalposts start to shift**: more things will begin to seem important, meaningful, or obligatory. Acquire a reputation for doing your work at amazing speed, and you’ll be given more of it. (Your boss isn’t stupid: Why would she give the extra work to someone slower?) Figure out how to spend enough time with your kids and at the office, so you don’t feel guilty about either, and you’ll suddenly feel some new social pressure: to spend more time exercising or to join the parent-teacher association—oh, and isn’t it finally time you learned to meditate? Get around to launching the side business you’ve dreamed of for years, and if it succeeds, it won’t be long before you’re no longer satisfied with keeping it small." --- **Tags** -- [[quotes]], [[progressing-slowly]], [[acceptance]], [[momento-mori]], [[ever-present-now]], [[infinite-scroll]], [[attention]], [[discipline]], [[self-control]], [[personal-values]] **Source** -- [[202410130434 - B - Four Thousand Weeks]]