Hunting through my garage I came across reminders of things that never came to fruition.  Sometimes it’s the tangible that offers insight into who we are and how we haven’t changed.

The lesson I picked up, that’s been a theme for me this year is to do a little less, buy a little less, and generally bite off less than you can chew.

I probably have 4,000 never-to-be used business cards with my name on it.  And another 2,000-3,000 of people who are no longer with my company.  Maybe we’ll get famous and they can be used in a documentary.

Nevermind that each of those cards is worth at least $.15, bringing the total to over $1,000 of paper that doesn’t convert to currency.  Sunk cost, right?  There’s more to the lesson.

It’s buried alongside the books I’ve skimmed and abandoned, usually after getting too far into them.  And next to the kitchen appliances used about a dozen times.  I didn’t buy these things because I had to have them, they’re not on display for the world to see.  I bought them because I thought I’d try a new book, learn a new skill, cook a little more.

Business cards are tough—our networking styles change, our brand changes, our address changes.  There are things you can’t predict about their use.  Then again, only once have I reprinted a set of cards, and that was five years ago.

Books are a wealth of information, and arguably some of that could be valuable to our lives.  We can’t know for sure until we dive in.  (Much like you don’t know where I’m going with this blog post, but are hopeful…)

Wrong.  A book (and this blog post) have to be judged before diving in.  There simply isn’t the time to read everything that might be worthwhile.  And it’d be foolish for me to dish out 500 cards in 6 months, no matter how much networking I do.  Not the way I work.

The difference between one and the other is that one is wasteful of time (reading) and the other of resources (cards/$).  But in both cases they’re very real tangible reminders of places where I was hopeful, even though I had evidence to the contrary.

I’ve bought a lot fewer books this year.  I reduced the minutes on my cell plan.  I disconnected one of the two office lines.  I decreased my Netflix plan from 3-at-a-time to 1-at-a-time.

I still have more to do than I’d like, and I probably still buy more than I need.  But there is a lesson in there—learn who are you and how you handle new purchases, new hobbies, and new responsibilities.  If you think one of these things will change you, you’re probably going to be wrong.

The only thing that can change you is you.  In the mean time, bite off less than you can chew and be more reasonable in your commitments.  I think you’ll be happier.

Flickr photo credit: ninjapoodles

Filed under: Happiness, Productivity

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