Edit Your Life: Commitments

I’m a former newspaper editor, and one of the things I learned was to edit brutally. Cut out everything that’s not necessary, and you’ve got a more meaningful story.

I highly recommend editing your life.

Take an inventory of the commitments in your life. Here are some common ones:

• Work – We have multiple commitments at our jobs. List them all.
• Side work – Some of us free-lance or do odd jobs to take in money. More commitments.
• Family – We may play a role as husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter. These roles come with many commitments.
• Kids – My kids have soccer, choir, Academic Challenge Bowl, National Junior Honor Society, basketball, spelling bee, and more. Each of their commitments is mine, too.
• Civic – We may volunteer for different organizations or are a board member or officer for a non-profit organization.
• Religious – Many of us are involved with our churches or are part of a church organization. Or perhaps we are committed to going to church services once a week.
• Hobbies – Perhaps you are a runner or a cyclist, or you build models, or are part of a secret underground comic book organization. These come with . . . surprise! . . . commitments.
• Home – Aside from regular family stuff, there’s the stuff you have to do at home.
• Online – We may be a regular on a forum or mailing list or Google group. These are online communities that come with commitments, too.

You might have other categories. List everything.

Now take a close look at each thing on the list, and consider: How does this give my life value? How important is it to me? Is it in line with my life priorities and values? How would it affect my life if I dropped out? Does this further my life goals?

These are tough questions, but I suggest seeing if you can eliminate just one thing—the thing that gives you the least return for your invested time and effort . . . the thing that’s least in line with your life values, priorities, and goals. Cut it out, at least for a couple weeks, and see if you can get along without it. Revisit this list at that time and see if you can cut something else out. Edit mercilessly, keeping only those things that really mean something to you.

Each time you cut a commitment, it may give you a feeling of guilt, because others want you to keep that commitment. But it’s also a huge relief, not having to do that commitment each day or week or month. It frees up a lot of your time; and while others may be disappointed, you have to keep what’s important to you in mind, not everyone else. If we committed to what everyone else wanted all the time, we would never have any time left for ourselves.

Take the time to edit your commitments, and your life will be greatly simplified. You will thank yourself for it.

Leo Babauta is a simplicity blogger and author. He created Zen Habits, a Top 25 blog (according to Time magazine) with 200,000 subscribers, mnmlist.com, and the best-selling books, The Power of Less and Zen To Done, as well as several eBooks. Babauta is a former journalist of 18 years, a husband, and father of six. In 2010, he moved his family from Guam to San Francisco where he leads a simple life. You can follow him on Twitter.

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