How we search to spend our time might depend upon how a lot time we understand ourselves to have.
― Atul Gawande, Being Mortal
Earlier this month, on my birthday, I introduced the publication of my second e-book, Boundless. I obtained lots of congratulatory messages, however a number of folks additionally requested in regards to the two different books I’d introduced beforehand—The Worldly Knowledge of Charlie Munger and Shut Up and Wait. Neither has made it to bookshelves but.
I knew this query was coming. Actually, I’ve been asking myself the identical factor. Why begin a brand new undertaking when there’s unfinished work on the desk?
The reality is, typically your coronary heart doesn’t comply with the identical timeline as your to-do checklist. It’s not that the duties in your checklist aren’t vital—they’re. And ignoring them totally isn’t an choice. However there’s this quiet nudge that comes from someplace deeper, possibly your coronary heart, that claims, “Not now.” Or typically, “Now, earlier than it’s too late.”
As I’ve discovered, this—when your coronary heart diverges out of your to-do checklist—usually occurs as a result of the stakes really feel completely different. The to-do checklist you create is a results of your priorities and deadlines. The guts, alternatively, operates on that means, instinct, and emotion. It asks questions that no spreadsheet can reply: What’s going to you remorse not doing? What feels pressing—not within the hurried sense however within the soulful sense? What would convey you pleasure, peace, or fulfilment?
Anyway, it was in Could this 12 months, on a visit to Omaha, that I realised why this shift mattered.
Earlier than shifting ahead, I ought to clarify the Omaha journey as a result of it wasn’t simply one other journey, however a pilgrimage. For years, I’d dreamed of attending the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Assembly, of seeing Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger in individual. They’ve influenced my pondering in profound methods, shaping how I view investing, decision-making, and even life itself. However regardless of that, I’d by no means made the pilgrimage. Why? Oh, the standard excuses—too busy, possibly subsequent 12 months, not the precise time, or too crowded for my consolation.
However Munger’s passing final 12 months at 99 jogged my memory of time’s unrelenting march, for all of us. So, I requested myself: “What if I by no means get to see Buffett?”
It wasn’t nearly him. It was about me, too—whether or not I used to be pushing aside one thing that mattered deeply for causes that wouldn’t matter in any respect in hindsight. Would I remorse not going? The reply was a loud sure.
So, I booked the journey, with none overthinking or hesitation.
As I walked into the AGM venue on Saturday, 4th Could 2024, at round 7 AM, surrounded by hundreds of others who had made the identical pilgrimage, I felt an awesome stillness—a way of each insignificance and connection.
Buffett had spent many years sharing his knowledge, however he was nonetheless simply an getting older human sitting on a stage. And when he stated this as his closing comment, “I not solely hope that you simply come subsequent 12 months however I hope that I come subsequent 12 months,” it hit me that we’re all working inside the similar constraint: time. No quantity of brilliance or wealth should buy extra of it. And that’s the great thing about it, isn’t it? Nobody escapes time, however all of us get to resolve how we spend it.
That thought stayed with me lengthy after the journey. However aside from peace, it additionally introduced forth a number of large questions, like: “If this have been my final 12 months on Earth, what would I remorse not doing? What have I been pushing aside as a result of I feel I’ve extra time than I actually do?”
These aren’t straightforward questions. In truth, they’re a bit terrifying. However they’re additionally crucial. For me, they triggered what I can solely describe as a “life assessment”, the place I began wanting again at my decisions, evaluating whether or not they align with what I actually worth, after which deciding what wants to alter.
And like a very powerful twists and turns that seem in our lives, these questions weren’t one thing I deliberate. They simply occurred, sparked by that journey and deepened by a rising consciousness of my very own mortality.
A fast historical past of the place I’m coming from might assist right here. Coronary heart points run in my household. My great-grandfather died of a coronary heart assault in his mid-40s. My grandfather handed away of cardiac arrest quickly after turning 60. My father had coronary heart bypass surgical procedure at 64 and fought most cancers earlier than passing at 70.
At 46, I’m conscious the clock is ticking—not in a doomsday method, however in a ‘take advantage of it’ method. In truth, that considered mortality doesn’t scare me as a lot because it motivates me. I don’t see it as a burden however a wake-up name and a reminder that point is finite, and the way I exploit it issues.
This consciousness reshaped how I lived via most of 2024. I began asking myself questions that have been uncomfortable however clarifying:
- What am I holding onto that now not serves me?
- What am I pushing aside that I would remorse later?
- What actually issues to me, and what’s simply noise?
This self-assessment made one factor clear: I used to be carrying too many commitments, too many distractions, and too many unfinished initiatives. And this wasn’t simply bodily litter however psychological litter.
I realised that each “no” I stated might make room for a deeper “sure.” Saying no to pointless obligations meant saying sure to extra time with my household. Saying no to fixed busyness meant saying sure to the issues that actually encourage me—like writing Boundless.
This wasn’t straightforward. Setting apart initiatives I’d began however hadn’t completed felt like a betrayal of my very own values of seeing issues via and by no means quitting. However I needed to remind myself that saying no to one thing isn’t the identical as failing. It’s making a alternative—a acutely aware one—to prioritise what issues most (or extra).
And that’s how Boundless got here to be. The e-book wasn’t on my radar at the beginning of the 12 months. In truth, when you’d requested me in January 2024, I’d’ve informed you I had no plans to begin a brand new e-book earlier than ending those I’d already began. However as I mirrored on my life, my notes, and the teachings I’ve discovered, it grew to become clear that Boundless was the e-book I wanted to put in writing—not later, however now—and never only for my kids or anybody else who might profit, however for myself.
Sure, writing Boundless wasn’t nearly making a e-book, however about confronting myself. The method compelled me to take a look at the hole between what I say and what I do, between the teachings I’ve discovered and those I truly stay by.
It was humbling. Writing has this manner of exposing your contradictions. But it surely additionally gave me readability and a way of alignment between who I’m and who I need to be.
This readability got here from asking questions, time and again, and sitting with the discomfort of not having straightforward solutions. In truth, simply sitting with my questions was a revelation for me, for that gave me time to decelerate and actually really feel the burden of them.
The questions, like those I discussed above, weren’t tidy or linear. They got here in waves. However sitting with them gave me one thing I hadn’t realised I used to be lacking: perspective. It allowed me to step again from the noise of every day life and actually study what I used to be doing with my time—and, extra importantly, why I used to be doing it.
In truth, one of many largest classes 2024 has taught me is that readability isn’t one thing you encounter however one thing you create. And also you do this by letting go of what doesn’t matter and holding tight to what does.
For me, meaning doing much less however doing it higher. Fewer initiatives. Fewer investments. Fewer distractions. Fewer selections. Extra deal with the issues that actually matter—my household, my writing, and a few significant endeavours.
The remainder? It will probably wait. Or possibly it doesn’t have to occur in any respect.
And I’m okay with that. What issues to me now could be asking questions—and taking steps, nevertheless small, to stay in alignment with the solutions.
Waiting for 2025, I don’t have any resolutions. I’ve a easy intention: to stay absolutely and embrace my finite time not with concern however with a renewed sense of goal and risk.
I don’t know what the 12 months will convey. None of us do. However I do know this: I need to hold writing, continue learning, and hold sharing. I need to be current for my household and shut pals, and true to myself. I need to stay a life that feels boundless, even inside the bounds of time.
And that might be sufficient.
What about you?
In the event you paused for a second and actually thought of it, what would you realise you’ve been pushing aside? What’s one factor you can do immediately to stay with fewer regrets?
It doesn’t must be large or dramatic. Perhaps it’s reserving that journey you’ve all the time dreamed of. Perhaps it’s writing a letter you’ve been that means to ship. Perhaps it’s simply taking a second to sit down with your self and ask: Am I residing the life I need to stay?
You don’t want excellent solutions. You don’t even want a plan. All you want is a willingness to begin. Generally, that’s all it takes to show a query right into a life well-lived.