Limited Time

There are twenty-four hours in a day. That’s how many each and every one of us receives. How we choose to spend them (or, in many cases, how we’re forced to spend them) varies from person to person. But the fact remains: twenty-four is the number. No more, no less.

As a fun exercise, I thought I’d take a stab at what I spend my allotment on:

There’s not a lot of “me” time in there. Which isn’t saying much because I would guess my graph applies to the majority of humanity. “Me time” (along with weekends, vacations, and professional sports) is a relatively new invention in human history. The fact that I have any at all is a marvel of modern society.

Focus

I don’t miss working crazy hours. And, fingers-crossed, I’ve honestly sworn it off for good this time. That said, if I had to pick just one thing that I do miss about the recent crunch period, look no further than my first post in this mini-series where I wrote:

On the upside, I was focused.

As much as the weight of the task bore down on me (and everyone around me), the one little chink of light let in was that the project tapped into my productivity circuits. I feel best, mentally and emotionally, when I’m on a mission and that mission becomes the sole target of my attention. It’s a rare occurrence, too, which is probably what makes it extra special, in spite of the cost.

So this next part will come as no surprise: if I had to pick just one thing I dislike about the current not-crunch period, it would be:

I’m not focused

There are two old sayings. One originates from the east, the other from the west, but they both come to the same true conclusion:

• He who chases two rabbits catches neither
• Jack of all trades, master of none

My cousin Brian gave me a book for Christmas called Zen Guitar. It was written by Philip Toshio Sudo and first published over twenty years ago. In the chapter The Twelve Common Missteps, the author blames loss of focus on two attributes: lack of concentration and lack of commitment.

While both are important, for me the second one is the bigger culprit. He writes:

Today we see many people [roaming aimlessly] because they can’t commit to anything. They wander through life looking for a better path rather than polishing their own. […] Yes, there is more than one path to the top of the mountain. But the only one that will get you there is your own. Do not look longingly at the paths of others. Give yours your undivided attention.

Wise words. Wish I’d thought of them.

So Now What?

If I’m to find a path that deserves my undivided attention, I must begin by examining my inventory of paths, where the Y-axis represents the percentage of A Partial Hour of Me Time. Sadly, this isn’t even the entire list:

Quick question: for the person with that small daily sliver of time to invest in himself, how successful will he be if he chases all these rabbits at once? Yep. This explains a lot, doesn’t it.

It’s clear I have a hard decision to make. And I have. So today I would like to formally announce my candidacy for President of the United States in 2020.

Haha. No, no, no.

So! What to do. What to do. I always assumed that one of these endeavors would’ve naturally risen to the top by now and everything else would’ve fallen to the wayside. But like it or not, that hasn’t happened yet, so I really need to speed up the process.

Why? Well, for one thing, I’m not twenty any more. I have my own mortality which I need to seriously take into account. Back in 2012, before treatment started, my doctor gave me a one hundred percent chance of dying. And even though I successfully bounced back from Stage IV cancer — news flash — I still have a one hundred percent chance of dying. Contrary to popular opinion, chemotherapy does not grant immortality.

What to do. What to do.

Conclusion

Okay, here’s my plan. First up (since we’re less than three weeks away) is NaNoWriMo. That one is easy since it’s something I just do (or pretend to do) every November. But if history is any indicator, I’ll get stuck and/or lose interest in the project soon after. Besides, “right after that,” is December and everything pretty much breaks down in December.

But in a time frame I’ll just call ASAP, I’m going to fire up the home recording studio again. It is, after all, my first and oldest dream on the creative front. It’s sat dormant for years — for decades, honestly — and I should change that.

There are a few reasons for this decision.

• I like it. (That’s a big reason)
• I miss it. (Also important)
• It takes far less time to compose and record a piece of music than to write a full length novel. In short, I’m closer to a win in this space.
• It takes far less time to listen to a song than read a full length novel. Meaning, it’s more likely that someone will take a few minutes to listen to a song than someone will take a couple weeks to slog through one of my novels.

So I think I’m good with this plan. There’s just one tiny flaw. When have any of my plans ever worked?

Stay tuned.