Monday, March 21, 2016

Get Pocket Tells Me What I Thought I Wanted to Read

Getpocket.com is one of those consolidators of web articles which occasionally alerts me to an article I've missed online. Do you too get  "suggestions" for your reading pleasure? My favorite so far has been http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-custodian-of-forgotten-books which I would have seen if I were diligent about reading my New Yorkers, but I'm not. Thank you, Get Pocket.

Today's entries included a piece by Heidi Isern, who reeled me in with a funny article on Quartz called "Almost Everyone Who Is Single Is Single for the Same Reason." She quotes her dad at the end:

"My father once told me that the secret to his loving 40 year marriage with my mother was simple. “We just like hanging out with each other doing nothing. And trust me, as you get older you have a lot of time together doing nothing.”
Wise words from her father.

Today's gem? I got as energized over this as I did over the task site last week www.toodledo.com which I just noticed fell off my toolbar and hence out of my life.

"Tell Me What You Did Today, And I’ll Tell You Who You Are" by Benjamin Hardy on The Medium.
I am seduced by this type of article. Maybe there is just that much of my business degree left in me? One, two, three and your whole life gains clarity, perspective and satisfaction. The author is working on his doctorate in industrial psych and it's all about setting goals and sticking to them. Isn't everything? So you imagine your ideal day (so much time spent with family, exercise, prep, reading, writing, working) and then see how close you come to achieving it.

"To ensure you not only achieve your goals, but radically exceed them, put substantially more effort in than seems needed. And plan for the worst. Rather than underestimate how much time and effort something will take, overestimate those things.

We are all in complete control of how we spend our time. If we don’t believe we are, we have an external locus of control (i.e., victim-mentality) and will remain so until we claim personal responsibility.

What does your ideal day look like?

How often do you live your ideal day?

If you were to consistently live your ideal day, where would you be in one year from now? Where would you be in five years?"

So I've plotted my ideal day:

coffee & breakfast with a brief look at the papers 60min or 8%;
Write My Words on 750words.com 50min or 6%;
pool or walk 120min or 16%;
lunch, 60min or 8%;
writing and submitting 100min or 13%;
reading, responding or sorting 90min or 12%;
crisis mgmt 30min or 4%;
cooking/eating dinner  90min or 12%;
tv, papers/magazines or Scrabble 150min or 20%;
walk round the block with the dog, 15min or 1%.
Total minutes: 765 or about 12 hours of the day.

To achieve this, I need to be up at 7:30 each morning. Today I got up at 8:45.

It pencils out well with a total of 765 minutes allotted in a standard 1440-minute day less eight hours of sleep minus my dedicated 765 minutes gives me a whopping 195 minutes to screw around, do housework, toilet activities, etc. and there are places like tv which can be shifted into productivity if needed.

It I consistently lived this way, in five years I'd have written a number of articles, maybe even the whole bloody memoir. I can see stealing from reading time for writing time. My writing time, including 750 words, may be a tad unrealistic since I often sit here for hours scribbling away, critiquing or doing book reviews.

Some people in this household might find this hilariously contrary to actuality, the thoughts of a fool or an optimist, but I find it comforting. One can have an agenda. One can stick with it. But most of all, it can be adjusted, expanded or altered to fit reality. Or my idea of reality. My manager friends are going to love this, and by posting, I might be forced to accountability.

 I am reminded of this classic book on time management by Alan Lakein, recommended by my favorite writing teacher, which I can always stand to reread.

How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life

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