which of my activities steal my energy without return?, and other terrific questions from the shibumi strategy
Shibumi: Elegant simplicity, effortless effectiveness, understated beauty…
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Elton Trueblood believed that life is best understood when looked at in chapters. This is but one of many frameworks that I have come across over the years. In the book the shibumi strategy: a powerful way to create MEANINGFUL CHANGE by matthew may (I tried to “recreate” the design of the cover: all but the end of the book title, and the author’s name, are printed in lower case on the cover) proposed this: life can be looked at as the life-long pursuit of answers to questions. And since this is true, getting and knowing the right/best questions is really important.
In the back of his wonderful book, he asks a few pages worth of such questions. They are all worth pondering. Here are a few that jumped out at me:
• What is the reality of my situation – dangers and opportunities?
• What are my plans and strategies for meeting my objectives.
• Which of my activities steal my energy without return?
• What can I eliminate, reduce, or subtract to make more room for what matters most?
• What can I leave unfinished without loss of impact?
• What can I do to take a physical or mental break from what I’m struggling with?
• Who am I helping to succeed? What do they need most from me?
These questions are worth a little (or a lot) of our thought time. I suspect that there are many others. And a good place to start is with the list at the end of the shibumi strategy.
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You can read the review of this book by Bob Morris on our blog here.
