Day #11: Hara Hachi Bu

Living a “full” life doesn’t mean having a full plate.

There is a Confucian-inspired adage in Japanese culture known as:

Hara Hachi Bu

Hara Hachi Bu, or “Stop Eating When You're 80% Full” Is a reminder to stop eating when their stomachs are 80 percent full. Your stomach takes a while to actually send satiated signals to your brain anyway, so it’s a good practice all ‘round.

I don’t adhere to this, personally. I fast, then I eat like a rabid wolf.

I do, however, apply Hara Hachi Bu to the days on my calendar. If I notice my day is so crammed full of crap that I don’t have time for any surprises, I stop adding. I defer things to tomorrow, or I pick things to say NO to.

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Homework:

Go through your calendar from the past 5 weeks and find things that you could have easily said NO to with little downside. Find any similar items in your calendar that are coming up in the next 5 weeks. Then, you “NO” what to do…

Telling your boss NO is quite simple, but not easy.
Enduring your peer pressure is quite simple, but not easy.
Protecting your irreplaceable time is quite simple, but not easy.
Staying on your course when everyone tells you to change it is simple, but not easy.
Baby steps. NO takes practice. Start small, and work your way up.

Tomorrow and Saturday, we’re going to look at working from a calendar instead of a To-Do List, JOMO and learning to sit with the idea of not having to fill every minute of your day.

Good luck,


- Jason