Too Much “Doing”

Photography by William Walther
WjW Photography

"The wise know that too much doing and a thing won't get done. The secret to manifesting on the highest level is to find the perfect amount of doing and non-doing to allow the doing to be done. Sometimes much more can be accomplished simply by letting go and trusting." ~ Jackson Kiddard
 
We live in a society that attributes success to getting lots of things done.  Many of us view ourselves and others based on the accomplishments of the day.  We look at our endless “To Do” list and are happy when we have crossed off numerous items.  However in having established a mindfulness and meditation practice, I no longer view “doing” as I once did.  In fact, I think it is more important to “just be” during the day than to crossing things off my “To Do” list. 
 
I still have a “To Do” list, but it isn’t as important to me to cross things off as it to make sure that I was present and mindful as I do everything in my life.  I feel successful at the end of the day not by looking at the quantity of things I have done, but to look at the amount of time I was focused on the task at hand and not thinking of something else while I was completing the task. Many times when we are washing dishes, cleaning, driving and our minds are thinking about the past or worried about the future.
 
To many people, meditation seems like doing nothing, yet to me it accomplishes so much.  Meditation first thing in the morning sets my day so that I approach the busyness from a state of stillness and I am much less reactive and calmer as I go about the day. During meditation I am “being” instead of “doing.”  I am getting in touch with who I am at my core.
 
It took a long time for me to learn to delegate.  Many times I would want to control things and I thought that if I did the job that it would get done right and I would have thought of all of the things that might go wrong and I had them covered with back-up plans.  I also thought that it would take me longer to explain how to do the task to someone than to just do it myself.  But, I learned that Kiddard was right and that when I let go and trusted that the other person would do the job that more things were accomplished and I was less stressed and tired because I didn’t do it all.  Plus, many times it ended up better because the other person did it in a way I hadn’t thought about and I had more time and energy to devote to the part I took responsibility for and the situation was a success.
 
What is the perfect amount of “doing” and “non-doing” for you?

Do you agree with the statement, “Sometimes much more can be accomplished simply by letting go and trusting?”  Do you follow that philosophy?