When a man has not a good reason for doing a thing, he has one good reason for letting it alone.

— Walter Scott

RESILIENCE

WHAT THIS MEANS

Not having a reason is itself a reason. The usual assumption runs the other way, that you should act unless something stops you, and that assumption fills a life with commitments nobody ever chose. If you cannot say plainly why you are doing a thing, the case for doing it has already failed. Momentum and habit are not reasons, though they impersonate them well.

Take one recurring commitment and try to state its purpose in a single sentence without using the word should. If the sentence will not come, stop the commitment for a month and see whether anything is missed. Most of the time nothing is.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

What are you continuing without a reason you could state?

MORE IN CHOICE & CONSEQUENCE

Free, with nothing to buy inside it.