Living Life
Executive summary:
- Get in sync
- Get your priorities straight
- Stay in shape
I guess everybody has some internal guidelines according to which they
live their lives. I am pretty forgetful, so while I come up with some
helpful ideas every now and then, I tend to forget them just as
quickly. So, to assist my scatter-minded PhD-riddled brain, I am
going to note these down. I hope that, with time, these ideas will
converge to a useful, personal hitch-hiker's guide to the absurdly
busy and exciting galaxy we live in.
Goals
If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favourable.
- Seneca
You can't achieve anything if you don't know what you want, so here
are some medium-to-short-term goals I want to achieve:
- I want to complete my PhD. I used to have some very noble reasons
for doing so, but now I just can't bear the thought of
disappointing myself by failing.
- I want to be a good husband. And it's not always easy with both of
us facing a mountain of studies in front of us.
- I want to be healthy and fit.
- I want to help others.
- I want to find pleasure in what I do.
Sometimes, I wonder whether these criteria are in conflict, but I
don't think they are. Even the PhD, which makes me sleep very badly,
is something I really enjoy working on.
Enumerating all the reasons why I'm not currently progressing in all
of these fields will take too long, so I'd rather focus on some
constructive solutions.
Lifestyle-changes
- Get in sync
- However much I love working in the beautiful and quiet night,
it's just not feasible. My job starts at 08:00 and my wife gets
up at 06:00. Besides, it's good to breathe some morning air and
feel the sun on your skin. Sure, I am absolutely useless in the
mornings, but luckily there is a 30 minute commute!
- An added advantage of rising with the sun is that you have more
time for staying in shape (point 3)!
- Get your priorities straight
- This is not so important in the evenings, when you can (should?)
do whatever you like, but during working hours: do what is
important first, not whatever can complete easily, or what most
recently arrived via the INBOX/door/phone/twitter.
It's very satisfying to have a long list of tasks completed by
the end of the day, but keeping the ball rolling on priority
tasks is what counts.
I'm forever looking for the best system to deal with tasks (GTD
via Emacs org-mode, or toodledo.com, maybe paper is best. What
a waste of time.)
One technique that works well is to choose three Big Rocks for
the week (3 important things that you need to complete or work
on). I also do this on a daily basis (they call it MITs or
Most-Important-Tasks). This allows you to focus (and it helps
to get rid of instant messaging, e-mail, etc. at times). Less
is more. GTD's End-of-Week-Review is a very good idea for
Sunday nights.
- This also means extricating your life from the computer, to some
extent. While your work absolutely depends on computers and the
internet, not all learning takes place online. You can, and
should function offline to some extent.
- If you succeed to achieve the unthinkable and get back some real
life hours, consider reading a book for an while before you go
to bed. Book authors tend to invest more time into their
writing than the average blogger, so it should be worth your
while. Maybe you'll even remember how much you used to enjoy
reading in the past. Also play the clarinet, another activity
you can't perform online (not even on XBox World Tour :-).
- Get in shape
- This one is tough, especially during the cold winter months. If
you can't get yourself to go for an hour cycle, walk to the shop
in the evenings. Any motion is better than none at all! You'll
also be less cold in winter if you excercise.
- Which reminds me to dress warmly. I am very bad at this, and
tend to freeze in the office. Cape Union Mart is just around
the corner, so grab a warm, water-proof jacket, some warm
thermal undies, and suit up in the mornings before you face the
wilderness! Having the right gear and tools always makes me
feel good.
- It's old and clichéd for a reason: drink enough fluids.
rainbow
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