I don’t watch TV. This isn’t a superiority holier-than-thou thing. I wouldn’t mind watching TV. It just gets in the way of things I want to do more. I’ll watch some things while I have mundane tasks to accomplish; movies playing in the background and I am only half-way paying attention.
The only thing on TV I’ll set aside time for is watching a nice game of soccer. I still work while I watch it. Can’t help myself.
I wake up at 5am every day, even on the weekends. I feel better doing this. It also means I go to sleep at the same time, even on the weekends. My mind works better and I simply feel better when I know, precisely, what time to wake or sleep.
Everything else in my day is scheduled. I really, really like this. I have blocks of time I use to get things done.
This was inspired by reading about Benjamin Franklin’s daily schedule. It’s a wonderful, simple thing:
There are two important things:
- What good will I do today?
- What good have I done today?
I absolutely love this and adhere to some degree to this schedule. I didn’t start to do it consciously. It fit something I was already doing and helped me formalize it.
In contrast with working long hours.
It is especially noteworthy how much Benjamin Franklin managed to accomplish while still sleeping for 7 hours each night. His only real work was constrained to 2 4 hour blocks. The rest was in contemplation and planning.
I bet Benjamin Franklin wasn’t really stressed out.
I was reading about Lyndon B. Johnson, who was said to have worked 18-20 hour days. He was indefatigable. Right until he had a massive heart attack and lived the rest of his life in pain, with failing health until another heart attack did him in. He was stressed out.
Both men did a lot, but I don’t want to be LBJ (I certainly don’t want to send kids off to die). I don’t want to be high strung and wound up.
I want to be relaxed. I want to be structured. I want to be stress free. I want to be like Benjamin Franklin.