Have you ever committed to an event, meeting or agreed to do anything in advance, and regretted it? I know I have.
I heard a story of Warren Buffett showing Bill Gates his diary in an effort to impart some knowledge on how he organises his time. You would expect the diary of one of the richest men on earth to be packed to the brim. It was empty; with only a few engagements in the following months.
When I heard this it didn’t initially resonate with me. I thought, “but I’ve got to do all these meetings and have all these things on so that’s impossible for me,” dismissing it. That was until today when I was thinking about my honours year, planning on committing myself to all these different projects well in advance. I realised this was the exact trap Buffett was talking about when he passed Gates his calendar. By committing to anything in advance you’re assuming that what is important right now will continue to be important then. I know that what’s important in the morning will be different to that afternoon, so why do I expect that things will have the same importance in the coming weeks and months?
It is impossible to know what you will want to do in the future or what opportunities may be presented to you. This is why it’s important to keep your options open, so you can embrace new opportunities as they present themselves, rather than regretting committing to yet another meeting.
Harrison Hansford 