In this age, the vast majority of men go through life aimlessly, hoping for life to happen to them. This is not ideal because life doesn't just happen. At the same time, we'd rather not put in effort just for it to go to waste. Along my journey, I've discovered 3 changes that lead to greater efficiency in the way you handle life.

The reason anybody would wait for life to happen is because they don't know how to make life more likely to happen. Contrary to popular belief, you can manipulate luck.

Luck itself cannot be controlled, but the factors surrounding it can be. This results in life happening more often, for lack of a better term.

Out of everything I've tried, these 3 changes are the ones that lead to greater efficiency because they bring the greatest change to the factors surrounding your luck.

1. Stop thinking in terms of good and bad

Take a moment to remember anybody you may have known that saw things in terms of good and bad. Now, notice their overall mood. Personally, I've noticed that people who think this way tend to have worse moods and mental health. If you have bad mental health, efficiency is difficult to acquire.

We've been conditioned to look at things in terms of good and bad. This is done for the sake of simplicity so we can acquire an understanding of the world more easily.

However, like many things taught to us as kids, it becomes obsolete and actually harmful when we get older.

You see, saying something is good or bad is not the same as thinking in terms of good or bad. Words are merely a medium for expression, to get a message across. Your thoughts are another beast entirely.

When you think in terms of good or bad, you label things as should or shouldn't; some things you should pay attention to and some things you shouldn't even bother with.

The problem with this is that you end up not being able to see the lessons in the experience. You're jumping to conclusions before you've even begun to learn.

Good and bad are largely subjective. What one person thinks is righteous and upright another person may think is absolutely atrocious.

When you subject your outlook to this subjectivity, you are diluting your experiences with opinions. When you dilute experiences with opinions, it becomes difficult to pay attention to the present moment.

Staying in the present moment means you see things as they are, not how someone may perceive them to be. Only by staying in the present moment can you truly learn the lessons in each moment.

2. Task management instead of time management

How many people have talked to you about time management in your life? Now, how many times was it actually useful? Chances are it wasn't that useful, if at all. This is because time management is fundamentally inferior to task management. Task management is superior to time management for efficiency.

It's been said so often in the modern day that young people have horrible time management. However true this may be, it isn't the most important thing for getting work done.

Older generations put value on using time effectively because more time used effectively means more work done generally speaking. Nowadays, this doesn't exactly hold up the same way.

When it comes to getting work done, following the Pareto principle leads to greater results. That is, 80% of the outcome will come from 20% of the work and only 20% of the outcome comes from 80% of the work.

With this in mind, the most important skill for efficiency isn't how well you manage your time, but how consistently you get important tasks done.

For this reason, you'll do a lot better if you limit your must-do tasks to 3 - 5 things max each day, rather than having a whole laundry list of things you must do.

This lowers the pressure put on yourself which allows you to get the important stuff done and over with in the same amount of time.

3. Know yourself and know what you want

The number of people who don't know what they truly want in this era is too damn high! The worst part is we can't blame them because modern conditioning teaches us to prioritize others over ourselves. In the wise words of a blind monk, master yourself, master the enemy. In this era, the vast majority of people haven't even begun to master themselves.

Knowing yourself well enough to know what you want is critical for going about life more efficiently. Without it, you have no compass to guide your actions.

This is a big reason why most people end up drifting through life. Because they don't know what they want, they don't know where to go.

Out of the tips in this post, this one takes the most time to accomplish but is the most worthwhile.

To really figure yourself out, you need to dig deep and you need enough time to reflect upon what you find. This can take a few years to really get down.

Most men have been conditioned to forego what they want for the sake of others. Men are supposed to be the leaders, the trailblazers, but this is impossible if he doesn't know how to guide himself.

In order to know which way to go, you must know yourself just as well as you know what you want. Only then will you have the direction to become who you want to be.

An era of mediocrity

This era is defined by mediocre men. So many men refuse to rise to the new standards because it makes life harder for them. This will be your advantage.

Because so many men are dropping out of the race, you have less competition. In combination with these tips for greater efficiency, you will be miles ahead and on your way to acquiring the life you've dreamed of.

- Karl