If You Try to Chase Five Rabbits, You’ll Catch None

Two weeks ago, I had one of the strangest mornings of my life—a morning that completely changed how I see self-improvement and productivity.

I woke up at 6:30 AM, groggy-eyed, staring at my messy desk filled with sticky notes, half-read books on “success habits,” and an untouched to-do list from yesterday.

My phone buzzed with motivational quotes from productivity apps I had downloaded the night before.

“If you win the morning, you win the day.”

I mumbled, “Yeah, sure… if only my brain wasn’t still asleep.”

I dragged myself to the mirror. My reflection looked like it hadn’t gotten the memo about becoming a better version of me. My hair was messy, my eyes tired, and my expression screamed burnout.

Still, I told myself: “No excuses today. I’ll be super productive.”

I packed my laptop and went to this cozy café in Lekki that always smelled of fresh croissants and ambition. Gen Zs with AirPods were everywhere, typing furiously as if they were hacking the Matrix.

I ordered a cappuccino and opened Notion. My to-do list glared at me:

• Finish article draft
• Reply emails
• Edit video script
• Clean room
• Meditate
• Call Mum

“Piece of cake,” I whispered.

But three hours later, all I had achieved was staring at the blinking cursor, replying to one email, and overthinking how people around me looked way more productive than I was.

That’s when something unexpected happened.

An older man sitting at the table next to me leaned over and said,

“Young man, do you know why you’re stuck?”

I blinked, confused. “Uh… caffeine hasn’t kicked in yet?”

He chuckled. “No. You’re trying to do everything at once. Productivity isn’t about doing more—it’s about doing less, but better.”

I raised an eyebrow. “So, I should just… be lazy?”

He shook his head. “No. Be intentional. If you try to chase five rabbits, you’ll catch none. Focus on one thing, finish it, then move to the next.”

I laughed nervously, but his words hit harder than the espresso shot I just downed.

As I packed my things, I noticed his laptop’s wallpaper—it was a bestselling productivity book cover I had pretended to read the previous month. My jaw dropped.

“You… wrote that?” I asked, pointing at the screen.

He smiled. “Yes. And guess what? I almost burned out before realizing that success comes from subtraction, not addition.”

He stood up, grabbed his coffee, and left me stunned.

That day, I went home and deleted half the “self-improvement hacks” I had been drowning in. I simplified my to-do list to just three tasks:

• Write one complete article.
• Do a 20-minute workout.
• Call Mum.

For the first time in weeks, I ended the day feeling like I won.

As I lay in bed, I whispered to myself:

“Productivity isn’t about cramming more into your day—it’s about creating space to actually live.”

And that’s when it hit me… Self-improvement isn’t about becoming a robot that checks boxes. It’s about becoming a human who lives with intention.