simplify your life

To know how to be
ready, — a great thing— a precious gift, —
and one that implies calculation, grasp and
decision. To be always ready, a man must
be able to cut a knot, for everything cannot
be untied ; he must know how to disengage
what is essential from the detail in which it
is enwrapped, for everything cannot be
equally considered ; in a word, he must be
able to simplify his duties, his business, and
his life. To know how to be ready, is to
know how to start.
It is astonishing how all of us are generally
cumbered up with the thousand and
one hindrances and duties which are not
such, but which nevertheless wind us about
with their spider threads and fetter the
movement of our wings. It is the lack of
order which makes us slaves ; the confusion
of to-day discounts the freedom of tomorrow.
Confusion is the enemy of all comfort,
and confusion is born of procrastination.
To know how to be ready we must be able
to finish. Nothing is done but what is finished.
The things which we leave dragging
behind us will start up again later on
before us and harass our path. Let each
day take thought for what concerns it,
liquidate its own affairs and respect the day
which is to follow, and then we shall be
always ready. To know how to be ready,
is at bottom to know how to die.

Henri Amiel