#233

Has that familiar moment arrived for you again this January?

Goals written with hope.

Routines promised with certainty.

And then, quietly, the fade.

By the second Friday of any new year, many people have already loosened the grip on their New Year’s resolutions.

Not because they don’t care.

But because life rushes back in.

Urgent things reclaim the space that intention briefly held.

Leaving some feeling quietly self-aware, some a little disappointed, some relieved.

What strikes me isn’t the quitting.

It’s what gets crowded out.

We often talk about motivation as if we need more of it.

But maybe what we really need is a better understanding of scarcity.

Your time and attention are limited.

Not metaphorically. Literally.

Time is a finite resource. One day it will run out. You won’t know on which day.

I’ve written about Tim Urban’s Wait But Why blog before. This one is a powerful reminder of what’s left - The Tail End

It’s clarifying, isn’t it?

When we truly remember that time is scarce, happiness stops being something we postpone. It becomes something we orient toward now. Being present enough to notice the moments that matter.

Scarcity isn’t meant to scare us.

It’s meant to focus us.

Do the thing

Give that gift

Say you’re sorry

Write the song

Express the love

Take that chance

Ask the question again

Resolve the resentment

Put down the load for a while

Take a step towards that dream.

Take another step towards overcoming that fear

Live the moment your future self will be thankful for

Happiness rarely arrives through grand plans alone. More often, it emerges when we stop deferring what matters, when we actively choose presence over pressure, when we calibrate our days in small ways that honour what we value.

You don’t need to overhaul your life.

You don’t need a perfect plan.

You just need to remember what’s scarce.

And choose accordingly.

Where has your attention been going by default, not by design?

What are you waiting for permission to prioritise?

What small choice could increase your sense of aliveness, not achievement?

Because happiness isn’t something to chase.

It’s something you feel when you’re living in alignment with what matters most.

What scarcity will you focus on this week?