Are you struggling to find enough hours in the day to chase your dreams? What if the secret lies not in relentless hustle but in harmonizing with life's natural rhythm? Discover how aligning your efforts with reality can transform your mindset and lead to greater fulfillment.

I often wish there were more than 24 hours in a day.

I don't know about you, but I have so much I want to accomplish and so many aspirations that there simply isn't enough time for everything.

I thought it was a matter of having the right system. By being more productive and seeking the latest tips and tricks, I believed I could find enough time to do it all.

I wasn't just wrong, it was destined to fail from the start.

There's a saying: "don't eat with your eyes." When we are led by our desires, we set ourselves up for failure because they disregard our limitations. Our dreams are endless, but our time, resources, and energy are not.

Trying to satisfy an insatiable hunger detaches us from our true nature as finite beings in a chaotic world. We become out of sync with reality, like a child playing their own music while a different song is playing. It "sounds" wrong, it feels wrong.

We unconsciously attempt to bend the world to our will. For example, if I set a goal to run a marathon by next year, I may feel compelled to achieve it at all costs, regardless of how my body feels, whether I have time to work out, or if it's raining outside. "My will is law, and it will be done."

We praise such behavior, viewing these individuals as "go-getters" who embody "grit," the power to overcome and persevere. We internalize the belief that we must manifest the future we desire, that we should "go big or go home." But like someone trying to sail upstream, we must ask ourselves whether we are "fighting" the world for the sake of fighting, as if blood, sweat, and tears are a badge of honor.

Life is hard, but we shouldn't make it harder.

Seneca (of the ancient stoics) wholeheartedly believed that much of the suffering in life is the result of our judgment, rather than the event itself, or "We suffer more often in imagination than in reality". Regardless of how harsh life is, by thinking that only sheer resolve and unstoppable determination can help us overcome it, we add so much to our burden.

I'm not saying we shouldn't have goals or that achieving something worthwhile won't require effort. I'm suggesting we view life as a song with its own rhythm that we should attune to, rather than constantly trying to change the beat. Let me explain.

Life has its own rhythm. For example, if you sell coats, would it be easier to reach your sales quota in winter or summer? Of course, it's winter. However, if we try to meet the same quota year-round, we will have to work twice as hard and likely not reach it at all. What if, instead, we acted more like (reverse) ants, using the higher sales from winter to survive the summer? If we work just a bit harder during winter, we could sell much more than we ever could in summer. It's not that we don't need to make any effort, but it's smarter and more efficient to align our efforts with life's seasons.

While that was a simplified example, it applies to every aspect of our lives. When we rush things, we often do more harm than good, like someone who dates a different person every day in hopes of finding "the one," without giving each relationship time to develop. Or the person who is so determined to advance their career that they abuse and step over everyone they meet, only to discover that reciprocity is what helps you reach (and stay) at the top.

By wanting it all and wanting it fast, we end up with nothing, or as Lao Tzu says regarding his notion o of "no action" (wu wei): "Rushing into action, you fail. Trying to grasp things, you lose them. Forcing a project to completion, you ruin what was almost ripe".

Instead of trying to control the world and bend it to our will, we must listen. We need to feel the "flow" of reality and ourselves as water flowing within it. Water is the most gentle, flexible, and powerful force in nature. It carves mountains and finds its way into the most closed spaces.

We must find the frequency where our actions harmonize with reality, striking at the optimal location for maximum effectiveness and minimal investment of time and effort.

We need to be flexible in mind and action. Doing that won't just make our life easier, it will change them completely - "The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes" (William James)

This means we can't give 100% at all times, our energy is limited. Most importantly, we must learn to let go. Some dreams are impossible to achieve, some will take longer than we would like, and some will adapt and change over time and that's okay.

Most songs sound horrible at 3x speed. Slow down, find your rhythm, and let it play.