Protecting Your Time

Sweet Bites for July 11, 2025

Mind Candy is a newsletter on practical philosophy and human flourishment—aka how to live “the good life.” Each month we tackle a new theme.

This month we’re exploring the theme of Mortality.

Welcome to another edition of Sweet Bites, Mind Candy’s bite-sized newsletter with thought-provoking finds to send you into the weekend with.

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🍰 Mini Bite

Greg McKeown had a decision to make: allow his job to dictate the day his wife was scheduled to give birth, or make a stand and tell his boss to pound sand.

While the decision should have been simple, it actually wasn’t. McKeown was getting pressure from his boss to attend a client meeting the same day his wife was scheduled to deliver their child.

“Friday would be a very bad day to have the baby,” his boss told him.

While the decision seemed like a clear-cut one, when his livelihood was on the line, it actually became much harder for McKeown to say no.

He was able to see his baby born and support his wife, but shortly after the birth, was picked up by his manager and delivered to the client meeting.

“Afterwards they said to me, which I thought was interesting, they said, ‘the client will respect you for the choice you’ve made.’

That isn’t the impression I got from the clients, to be honest. But even if it was, and even if some extraordinary thing had come from it—which it did not—surely I had made a fool’s bargain.”

The entire situation has most reading about it saying this is ridiculous. And in hindsight, it is. But in the moment, when one’s entire livelihood is on the line, it becomes harder to say no.

But from this experience McKeown learned an important lesson that he’s passed on to millions through his book, Essentialism: most of the things in life we think are important aren’t.

Life is setup to make you think you have to say yes to everything.

• You have to say yes to the client meeting.

• You have to say yes to the additional project you don’t have bandwidth for.

• You have to say yes to going to a party you have no interest in attending.

The fact of the matter is, this is all an illusion. The majority of the things we think are needed from us every day are in fact fabricated. Instead, we need to focus on what is essential to our lives, not just in the moment, but in the overall story of our life.

“If you don’t prioritize your life, then someone else will,” McKeown says.

Marcus Aurelius has a great quote on this, he says, “Because most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you'll have more time, and more tranquility. Ask yourself at every moment, "Is this necessary?" But we need to eliminate unnecessary assumptions as well.”

The first assumption we need to be comfortable rebutting? The thought that we need to say ‘yes’ to everything.

The serial entrepreneur Derek Sivers has another way of looking at this:

If it’s not a “hell yeah”, then it’s a no.

We all fall prey to the trap. We get caught up in our jobs, in our lives, in our responsibilities. We know we’re limited on time and we try to shove it all in, to make people happy, to make ourselves feel like we’ve done it.

But at what cost? Missing the birth of our child? Missing a moment we could spend with loved ones? Missing a final goodbye?

Marcus Aurelius says there are three things (he actually lists four) that are essential at all times for a good life:

• Your actions benefiting the greater good;

• Things happen outside your control. We must learn to accept this and manage it;

• We’re all born from the universe and will one day return to it;

And finally:

“that if you were suddenly lifted up and could see life and its variety from a vast height, and at the same time all the things around you, in the sky and beyond it, you'd see how pointless it is.”

Your time is limited, but it is your time.

We have to preserve what will cease to be at some point Seneca says.

If you don’t protect the limited time you have, someone else will take it.

And once that happens, there is no getting it back.

🧠 This Week in Mind Candy 📚

🧘🏻 Monday Meditation

🦉 Wednesday Wisdom

📰 Article Worthy of a Read

Rick Fox explains why Kobe never hung out with other teammates

Hat tip to my good friend Carlos for sending me this article.

While most of us don’t aspire to be the greatest basketball player of all time, the mindset Kobe Bryant kept around his time and ensuring he did what needed to be done is a lesson we can all learn from.

“It wasn't as simple as Kobe not liking his teammates; it was that Mamba didn't have time for anything that didn't push him toward his ultimate goal.”

🧍‍♂️Person’s Story to Explore

Roman Opałka was an artist who began painting numbers, starting with one and moving to infinity.

Until his death over 40 years later, Opałka painted sequential numbers on canvases, each one becoming lighter and lighter. He’d also take photos of himself daily, showing the gradual transition of time, the ultimate mortality art.

By the time he passed away, he had reached 5,607,249.

You can see some of his work and the photos taken in this video.

📖 Book to Continue Weekly Theme

Essentialism by Greg McKeown

McKeown took his decision and learned what was most important in life. By doing so, he overcame the pull many of us feel when having to make a decision between two desires.

“If it isn’t a clear yes, then it’s a clear no.”

📚 Wisdom

“Bear in mind that everything that exists is already fraying at the edges, and in transition, subject to fragmentation and to rot. Or that everything was born to die.”

Marcus Aurelius

Source: Meditations 10.18

🎶 Song to Listen To

Every time I hear this song bu Kansas, I think of, and reflect upon, Marcus Aurelius’ note to himself:

“Everything's destiny is to change, to be transformed, to perish. So that new things can be born.”

Think someone you know would enjoy these? Hit below to forward and spread the love.

Until next time,

D.A. DiGerolamo

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