Spend Less Energy Than Necessary
You’re better off not giving the small things more time than they deserve.
"Let no one rob me of a single day who is not going to make me an adequate return for such a loss." - Seneca.
“A key point to bear in mind: The value of attentiveness varies in proportion to its object. You’re better off not giving the small things more time than they deserve.”- Marcus Aurelius
“I don’t agree with those who plunge headlong into the middle of the flood and who, accepting a turbulent life, struggle daily in great spirit with difficult circumstances. The wise person will endure that, but won’t choose it—choosing to be at peace, rather than at war.” - Seneca
I have a bright colleague. She’s competent. Intelligent. Hardworking. But she doesn’t know how to suffer fools. Every misstep registers as an insult, every loose word as a challenge, every inefficiency as something that must be corrected immediately and expressively. She doesn’t let things pass. She cannot. Meetings turn into battlefields. Emails turn into skirmishes. The day fills with friction, and she answers all of it. At first, this looks like strength. But it’s not until later that you see it reads as waste. She grows tense. Others grow cautious. But reality, untouched, continues on its way. It’s a silly, exhausting spectacle really.
There’s an old story about Michelangelo that explains why this happens. A patron- wealthy, powerful, and possessed of very little taste- complained that a statue’s nose was too thick, that something was off. Michelangelo didn’t argue. He didn’t explain proportion or anatomy or structure. He climbed the scaffold, scraped marble dust into his palm, and tapped his chisel against the stone without changing a thing- letting the dust fall into the patron’s eyes. “It’s better now,” the patron would say, satisfied. The work continued. The statue retained its purity. Time and charm were saved.
What I want you to learn isn’t cleverness, although there’s a use for that- but wisdom. I want you to prioritize adding fuel to what serves you and what you enjoy.
Most people lose energy because they’ve never learned to rank resistance. They treat every irritation as urgent, every disagreement as meaningful, every effort as worthy. They answer to friction reflexively. This is how small disputes turn into chronic anger, how busy effort replaces effective movement, how a lack of peace becomes chronic anxiety and burnout.
Experience teaches restraint- economy of motion. A place inside where we live untouched by applause or misunderstanding. The moment you begin explaining yourself to those who’ve already decided to vilify you, correcting people who gain nothing from being corrected, or insisting on being understood by those unwilling to listen, you abandon that reserve. You step into mud. You cast your pearls before swine. And the cost is always higher than it appears.
The disciplined response is subtler in action and heavier in effect. You speak up once, clearly and firmly. You set a boundary where you feel crossed. The rest of the time, you observe. You let others talk. You let them reveal how they think, how they move, how much you can trust them. You allow the appearance of agreement when substance isn’t at stake. Inside, nothing changes. You do your work as you like. You’re still assertive. You get more capital to influence these relationships. People become responsive to the goodwill, and are more open to you.
This same misallocation shows up in effort. Especially effort that disguises itself as virtue. The workout that stretches far past its benefit, driven by image rather than vitality. The project that keeps consuming your evenings despite returning nothing but sunk cost pride. The toxic relationship that demands constant self-adjustment, until what remains barely resembles you. You tell yourself you’re committed- but you’re not. This is but a refusal to see your limits.
Relief arrives when you stop searching for understanding, approval, or reciprocity where none exists. Some people offer friction. Some offer instruction. Some offer nothing at all. This doesn’t require bitterness. I want you to cultivate discernment. Problems become training. Pressure becomes practice. Wild encounters become raw material for your perfection.
This is where acceptance stops being passive and becomes useful. Fate ceases to feel like an opponent once everything it delivers can be converted to your purpose. The foolish demand. The unfair slight. The difficult colleague. All of it cultivates love, leadership and patience when you stop resisting its existence. Composure increases. Character consolidates. Your peace stops depending on conditions.
The refined person moves differently. Like a boxer who doesn’t trade blows unnecessarily, who watches the punch arrive and simply isn’t there. No reaction. No anger. The other person spends effort. But nothing lands. Over time, this economy compounds. You remain intact. Others tire themselves out.
The most destructive conflicts, though, never happen out loud. They occur when you know what must be done and delay it. When rumination replaces action. When envy pulls attention sideways. When you fracture yourself by violating your own word. This internal disorder costs more than any external argument. It erodes trust in yourself. It fragments your focus. It turns ambition into a ‘could have been.’
Your life’s grand strategy can’t survive constant interruption. Every time you chase a minor grievance, every time you indulge a reactive impulse, you step away from the arc you claim to care about. The distance grows slowly. Then it glares with how far off you’ve veered from the path.
And look, I don’t want you to disengage from an active life. I just want us to focus less on trivilialities and impossible dreams, however burning they might be, and tend more to the little beautiful life we want to build for ourselves that actually responds to our effort and is in line with our energy and abilities. Work on the right things. Fight for the right things. Get angry at the right things.
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Pick your battles.
Thank you. I really enjoyed today’s read. It struck a cord with me but I do have reservations. One of them is whether or not it’s right to be true to yourself and your own reactions. This leads on to:- Is it right to take on somebody else’s take on how you should react to things. I do understand what you’re saying and it probably makes for her calmer easier life.