I've been doing a lot of things at the same time for many years, school, work, studies outside school and stuff like that; but have never ever felt stressed or really "busy" either.<p>When people talked to me about how stressed out they were and all the stuff they had to do i used to think "Seems like you should just do it and not be so stressed and freaked out and everything would be a lot simpler."<p>But some weeks ago I actually felt stressed, for no apparent reason either; it was a really creepy feeling bothering me much, much more than I would have expected. It made it harder to sleep, i would almost get an upset stomach.<p>I could not figure out for the life of me why I was feeling that way, or how I could make it stop. It was completely new. The feeling have since passed and I hope it won't ever come back. But I have a bit more respect now for people who get stressed, it's not really helpful or useful to just tell them "Don't be stressed and everything would be easier."<p>And it's not really that easy to just.. get rid of the feeling.<p>The post is absolutely correct, stop "being busy" and you wouldn't be so busy.
But some real tips psychological or otherwise on how to avoid the feeling would be far more helpful than simply; in my opinion: stating the obvious.<p>"Stop being busy. Just decide to stop, today."
Has that ever worked? Has it worked for the author or is he like I was and have simply never felt stress?
As much as I appreciate Leo and ZenHabits, his content us ultra-cyclical. I understand the efficacy of repetition, but I unsubscribed after the 500th post on "doing less." This post is more of a teaser and linkbait for the rest of his site than a solid example of his capacity to inspire.
When I decided to focus on the things that matter in my life, I got much busier. Sure, I have fewer items on my todo list now, but each one of them takes a lot of time, energy, and focus to get right. When I was less focused, I had plenty of free time because I didn't realize how much work it takes to get the most important stuff right.