I see it written in finance that an important part of wealth building is not spending more than you need to. Yes, find ways to earn more and bring more in, but also take a look at what is going out.
I apply a similar mindset to my time and effort. If I’m going to spend an hour today learning something new, that’s an hour which won’t go to anything else. Taking on new challenges is something I enjoy. I’ve had to learn how to say “no” or even “No!” because of the times I’ve burnt myself out. I can’t think of anything which burned me out where the reward was worth the depleted output during the time I was recovering.
When I work for someone else, I don’t have the option of making all decisions about what I’ll do. If the task today is sweeping floors, I sweep floors. I also know that I have options such asking why we’re doing it this way. Multiple places, multiple supervisors, I’ve pointed out that whatever they have me working on, everything else on my to-do list isn’t being worked on.
I don’t enjoy filing. The time I spend filing now is time saved later when I look something up. (I learned that lesson the hard way, multiple times.)
For everything else, there’s always alternatives. For everything I do on my own times, there’s at least two dozen other things I could be doing, and at least a half dozen other things I should be doing.
I view my time, energy, and attention as limited resources. I’m never at a loss for something to do. The question I ask is “What am I doing right now, and why?”
(Edited shortly after publication to change the title slightly and add an extra category.)