Spent Monday to Thursday this week in Krabi, on a work / holiday type of thing. No islands were hopped, and there wasn’t really too much to do if you don’t visit the islands. But I kind of liked that there wasn’t anything to do. I could just walk and be with my own thoughts for days. And be accompanied of course with my favourite thai teas and the occasional street food snack.
Learnt that you could actually get quite a lot done through your phone. At least when trying to do outreach and sales. Yes, it’s not the most convenient. You won’t achieve speeds and ease anywhere close to that of a computer, but then I ask myself. If I wasn’t spending time following up with leads, I would just be scrolling through Reddit. I think my logic in the past was that it doesn’t make sense for me to try and do inefficient work on the phone that I could do on a computer. It’s a waste of time technically. I should instead do something that optimises the mobile experience and that I can gain the most out of, which I thought was Reddit. But I realise that at the end of the day, I don’t really enjoy aimlessly scrolling through Reddit. Probably law of diminishing returns or some econs thing I don’t fully grasp. I actually feel more entertained just doing this inefficient task, that still at the end of the day nets me a positive, no matter how little.
That kind of leads me to my absolute key learning for the week, which is something I got from Deep Work by Cal Newport. Not a bad read - some parts a bit slow so I skimmed, but finished it on the flight back. The learning is that free time making you happy is a lie. Working actually makes you happier. There are rules and feedback loops in place so that when you do achieve something, you feel good about it. With free time, there aren’t any similar boundaries and goals, which makes it feel a bit bleh. Something I’m currently experiencing firsthand. If Cal’s reading this - I might be butchering the full extensive argument you made, but just bear with me that this was what I took away from it. So maybe I’ll feel more satisfied if I run a full-time engagement activity like a job with clear boundaries outlined by somebody else, and then continue working on The 100 Club and sidehustles etc. 6 Oh and I’ve also taken some points from Deep Work to further flesh out my daily BAU. The rules are just something I scribbled down and I plan on expanding it as I discover more edge cases. But I am really digging the system so far - knowing what I should be doing at every single minute of the day and accounting for all possible variations. It’s something that took a way a lot of my limited willpower, figuring out what next to do, so this helps a bunch.
0730-0800: Wash up 0800-0830: Check emails 0830-1000: 100 Club / Blog on Saturdays 1000-1100: Labyrinth 1100-1200: Gym 1200-1330: Lunch 1330-1800: Labyrinth 1800-2045: Chill Work (No internet) 2045-2100: Clean up 2100-2130: Reading Time 2200-0000: Relax
Rules of Engagement:
- Mark off in book when a day is successfully completed
- All work will be done pomodoro style, with a minimum of 10 sets completed every day. Each half hour meeting counts as one. You can only be distracted during the 5 mins after.
- When you’re about to get distracted, slow down and say that you’ll get distracted at the end of the 25 minutes.
- No internet time means no internet time.
- Clean up sequence comprises of cleaning up emails. Then settling tasks for the next day. And then saying “Day complete” and marking off the book
- If meetings eat all the way until lunch. Have lunch first, then go gym.
- Reading time comprises of reading a chapter and then posting my learning on a Twitter draft thread
- What should I do during my free time in the day? Limited to 1 hour of screen time. It’s ok to read books. Toilet and gym time doesn't count towards the 1 hour. The same 1hr limit applies when I’m travelling on the road. So podcasts or reading during travelling time.
- Read a non-fiction book every month. Fiction is OTOT.
I’ll need to figure where exactly to display all these rules as I well to remind myself.