The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

What you give your attention to is the person you become.

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Rating: 4.5/5 – Recommended without hesitation
Read if you need: A kick in the pants to get focused on what really matters in this life (and the next)

Hurry, this book claims, “involves excessive haste or a state of urgency. It is associated with words such as hurl, hurdle, hurly-burly (meaning “uproar”), and hurricane.” The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry claims it’s about slowing down this frenetic pace of one’s life, but it’s really about two separate – albeit related – problems:

1. Being too hurried.
2. Being too distracted.

The author attempts to present these as though they’re the same concept, but I think it’s perfectly possible to be afflicted with one and not the other. Long periods of my life have been spent in a discontented malaise, each day spent chasing pointless distractions and entertainments. Much of my 30’s has been spent trying to add more business to my life, to get off my ass and actually accomplish something.

This particular disagreement notwithstanding, I think the author makes a lot of very good points in this book. He deftly identifies many sources of our distraction and hurry and suggests precise and actionable steps to correct them. I have made several changes to my life (mostly focused on technology usage) since reading this book that have had a real, noticeable impact on my day to day life.

I would be surprised if someone read this book and didn’t find some useful advice. A short read, the author wastes none of your time with endless reiterations and rephrases, moving quickly from one point to the next. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry gave me a lot to think about, and I’m sure you’ll find it just as thought provoking as I did.

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