Isn't it fair to say most of our days are spent either gearing up, doing, or winding down?
What percentage of your time would you estimate you routinely spend gearing up for the day ahead? Avoid judging the things you consider gearing up. If you work full time, chances are good you spend fewer hours gearing up each day than folks who don't, like me. Also, if you're raising children, the line between gearing up and doing can be more difficult to parse. Think of a typical day and give it a shot without overthinking. Call it gearing up, getting started, finding your groove, but while making your estimate, avoid putting anything in this bucket that is aimed at "accomplishing".
Next part of today's thought experiment is likely to be trickier. What percentage of your time would you estimate you spend aiming to accomplish something, i.e., what I call "doing"? Although full time work clearly falls into this bucket, again, avoid judgments, even if your work can sometimes feel like you're not "doing" much. Think of this as the bucket with goals or aims or objectives attached to it, even if the goal is simply to make a living.
I suspect estimating the percentage of time you routinely spend winding down might be easier than the first two, if only because winding down activities are generally those aimed at relaxation. Most of us can readily identify what we do to wind down/relax. Remember: Avoid judgments or comparing what you do to wind down to what others who you know say they do.
Now for the question that most interests me. Except for those who struggle with sleep, most of us are awake about sixteen hours each day. As of this moment, what calibrations do you feel are called for in the percentage of time you routinely spend in each bucket? For some time now, I've been feeling like the percentage of time I take to gear up has gotten a little excessive. I know for sure I didn't start out my post full-time work life with so much gearing up each day. That said, I'm not at all convinced that increasing my percentage of doing is the right answer for me this moment, especially given how goal oriented I've always been. And those forty years I spent working full time - often with more than one job at once - are still pretty fresh in my mind.
At sixteen hours a day, I've had about 438,000 hours so far to gear up, do, wind down. This moment? I'm feeling like more hours in the winding down bucket is the right medicine. Maybe moving up one or two of my regular winding down activities - e.g., meditation - to the start of my day will help reduce the excessive gearing up? Worth a try. Future calibrations? No doubt. With an optimistic 58,000 hours still in front of me, today's medicine is not necessarily going to work indefinitely. To keep the system in balance, fine tuning must be an ongoing process. What are your strategies for correcting any current imbalance you're feeling?
With the addicting nature of the internet and social media I find myself dedicating less and less time to winding down. My goal this week is to recalibrate that!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous; Intriguing that your comment mentions the Internet and social media. This particular post was a synthesis of three different jottings in my blog notebook, one of which was from a morning when I discovered I'd wasted a few precious hours one morning with some meaningless scrolling. Can't call that gearing up, doing, or winding down because those hours did not help me get ready for the day, I certainly wasn't accomplishing anything, and I sure wasn't relaxing. Thanks for the comment and good luck with cutting down on the Internet and social media, surely a worthwhile pursuit.
DeleteHey Pat. I have, either out of necessity or habit, setting into a fairly regular routine, Mornings start between 5 and 6 AM when my dog sees me turn one and decides that I'm awake and ready to take care of him. From there my day has begun and whatever is planned will take place. Gearing up for a trip - wherever or whatever that may be - doesn't take too much time as there was, hopefully, preplanning the day or so before. Winding down is easy and comes without much notice. Since my day usually begins so early I will undoubtedly find myself dozing off during one of the binge watching sessions I noted in a couple of other comments. But, fear not, it is so easy to simply 'start over' whichever episode we were watching or save it for another day. May not sound like much but the days are filled (also noted in an earlier comment).
ReplyDeleteBe well,
Bob
Bob; Thanks for the comment. Noticed you gave me the gearing up and the winding down without any mention of the doing. Hmmm.
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