Since I moved back to India in 2009, I have struggled with managing my calendar. There were more things to do than I had time for. There was always that one new project to work on.

The last few years though, I made a conscious decision to slow down. Do less. Work less. Spend more time doing nothing. It was a long process of slowly parting ways with projects I had worked on for ten-plus years. As much as I enjoyed working with the team and on the product, I told myself I should be doing less. Do less instantly became a mantra.

Do less to do what though? I never asked myself that question. “It’s a question I answer later,” I told myself, because I was not sure if I would ever get to now. I am glad I did not answer the question then and pressure myself to do five new things to replace the previous things I committed to.

I have been doing random things with my free time: reading more, walking more, listening to more podcasts, working on an app that I have been wanting to work on. None of these take as much time, and it’s been great. Do less. I would highly recommend it if you can afford to. Being bored has been great.