View Full Version : Kestra's Life Analysis
I’m going to give this journaling thing a try. I have a particular interest at the moment, but may use this area to post about other topics as well.
You may have seen my other thread, here: http://www.simplelivingforum.net/showthread.php?8119-How-Much-Would-You-Work about trying to decide how much time to spend working versus doing other activities, when one has no particular commitments.
Among the many interesting and useful responses, this section from lhamo really stood out for me: “Track the time you actually spend on different projects (having blocks of time to devote to them -- X hours a day or Y days a week is a good way to keep yourself accountable) and see what the result is. If they are income generating, what is the RHW? How does that compare to your RHW at the day job? Do you enjoy it enough to increase the amount of time you spend on it? Would it make you happier overall to be working more on the side projects for bigger parts of the day? If you think it might, extend your experiment by telling your employer that from Q date you will need to reduce your hours further to R hours a week. Keep tweaking it and adjusting the balance until you find the fit that feels right (or until your self-managed activities are generating enough consistent income with enough reduction in stress/unhappiness that you are able to say goodbye to the day job altogether).”
I decided to use this suggestion to get a better feel for how and why I’m spending my time the way I am. Now, this is nothing new. It reminds me of sections of YMOYL as well as The Happiness Project. But I’ve never made a concerted effort to think scientifically about how I spend my time. Until now.
I want to use this as a place to record my thoughts about my activities in a systematic way. Feel free to ignore, comment or join in however you want.
I decided to take a few things into account (and will continue to add to this I’m sure):
- mental enjoyment before/during/after the activity, as appropriate. I’ll use a rough scale of -5 to +5
- cost factors
- other factors
- should I do more or less?
Here is my analysis of today’s activities:
1. Work – for pay – at home: 7 hours total
- Enjoyment: +1 I felt useful and I made some money
- Cost – obviously beneficial financially
- Other factors – positives included first day I could have my window wide open and hear the birds singing; minimal frustrations and the computer/server was fast
- Should do a little less, ideally.
2. Baking – 30 minutes not counting baking time or clean-up
- Enjoyment: 0 During, downgrading to -1 after. Messy, frustrating, lots of dishes - I’d rather be working.
- Cost – I lost money on this venture if I include the cost of ingredients plus the lost opportunity cost of not working
- Conclusion – no more baking. I’m going to try to find someone else to do this for me. Perhaps a service swap of some kind. Or I’ll just continue to buy gluten free cookies at the store.
3. Watching Netflix while eating – 45 minutes
- Enjoyment: +1 – reasonable amount of time, good break from work
4. Walking outside slowly - 30 min, trying to take pictures of sneaky animals
- Enjoyment +1 during, +2 after. During I was too tired from work to properly enjoy. Now I am glad I went out. Except for sunburn, should do this a lot more.
5. Writing – 70 minutes
- Enjoyment +2 Relaxing, useful and enjoyable
6. Random Internet Surfing – this site 30 minutes
+3 Extremely helpful thread today. Lots of new thoughts generated.
7. Random Internet Surfing – other sites 30 minutes
-1 Didn’t do much today, but nothing else was useful on the internet. Just do it out of habit. Need to do less.
A very interesting day and a move towards living more intentionally.
fidgiegirl
5-7-13, 11:09pm
I am really intrigued by your scale. I like it a lot more than 1-10, because the "-" connotes a negative, whereas if the scale were 1-10, a 4 would be the equivalent of a -1 on your scale - slightly negative. But "4" doesn't really say that in the same way. Talking in circles, but I like your scale better. It's more honest, I think.
Also the tracking of the value of how you spend your TIME. I have done the monthly questions with my SPENDING, but sometimes I think to myself as I'm doing some activity, "I don't care if this saves me money, I'd rather stay another hour at work and hire this out." But I never really knew how to put it.
Will be watching your journal with interest!
This is a fascinating way to look at use of time...I'm going to follow you and think about how it could apply to my life and how I use my time. Thanks!;)
It took me many years to realize it, but I don't actually like baking and I do very much like cooking. Baking is too fussy, too many bland, monochromatic powdery ingredients. Cooking, though - colors and textures and aromas. We just quit eating baked stuff in general. I bake on a rare basis now, whereas i used to make bread and muffins at least weekly.
A few more from yesterday:
Lying down for 15 minutes when I felt tired after walking instead of mindless technology. Historically using technology as a resting alternative makes me more tired, get less accomplished and feel bad about my actions.
Enjoyment: +1
I did feel more refreshed after this.
Drinking wine – 1 glass, just to finish off the bottle
Enjoyment: -1
It makes me feel kind of sick. And sometimes I eat too much after drinking to try to minimize the sick feeling. I might enjoy a little wine occasionally, but having the bottle in the house and especially open makes me drink when I shouldn’t.
Conclusion – don’t drink for no reason
Alternative – fancy juice. I bought Pomegranate/Blueberry the other day and have been having small “shots” of it. I feel much better during and after drinking the fancy juice.
Cost: Even though the fancy juice is expensive for juice and the wine is cheap for wine, price per serving is less with the fancy juice. Juice is the economical win. I can afford to buy fancy juice even if it seems expensive.
Overall the day was a success, due to working comfortably, going outside, self-contemplation, writing, minimal random screen-viewing and positive responses to my posts.
From today, May 8
Working, in the office, normal day, 7.5 hours
Enjoyment: -1 to -2 during. Same afterwards.
Factors: too cold, had to wear office appropriate clothes, no fresh air, computer was slow, forgot my music, bored out of my mind. Basically I wanted to be anywhere but where I was. Quite a contrast to my peaceful day previously working at home.
Conclusions: Although financially beneficial, this is a reminder why I need to work on side projects that can be done more under my own terms.
Future Plans: next pay period, plan to only work 7 hours on my two weekly obligation office days. Continue with other projects.
Driving to work (as opposed to walking and busing) – about 45 minutes round trip
Enjoyment: -1 to -2
Factors: driving is stressful and tiring for me. I get less exercise when I drive. Walking and busing is a good way to decompress after work.
Comparison to busing: Driving is less healthy, less relaxing, and only takes slightly shorter in terms of time.
Cost Comparison: The cost of car purchase and insurance are not included as they are sunk costs as my husband wants to own a vehicle. Maintenance is negligible. Only costs are gas vs. bus tickets. My vary rough estimation is gas at under $2 and bus fare at just over $4. So cost wise, driving wins out but only slightly. Also if I spend an extra $2, I share that with my husband, so I only pay $1. I can afford $1 to give myself less stress and more enjoyment.
Conclusion: Stop driving to work unless I have specific errands I need the car to do.
Napping immediately after work: 70 minutes (length was longer than anticipated due to actually falling asleep)
Enjoyment: During -1 to +1. Afterwards: -1 to 0
Considerations into weird enjoyment rating: Yes, lying on my bed and sleeping is fun. But I don’t like that I needed to do so after a normal day and night. I shouldn’t be so tired at 5pm, so the need concerns me and decreases the enjoyment. Afterwards, I felt better than if I’d surfed the internet. But feel a lot of time was lost I could have spent doing other things. And more post-sleeping contemplation on the need for sleeping. Was it the combination of working in the office and driving. Or just driving alone? Or just one of those unexplainable things.
Thoughts on this morning.
Working at home. Did 4 hours. Want/need to do 2.5 more hours today. But I really don't want to go back to work after lunch. I need to consider only working in the morning or the afternoon. 4 hours a day total, other than my two 7 hr days in the office.
I still want to make a reasonable amount of money. So if I work 5 days at 4 hrs each plus 14 hours in the office that is 34 hrs per week. Which is where I would like to be financially, though I don't technically need that much money. I wonder if it is better to work less, but 7 days a week, or work a little more - say 4 days at 5 hrs per day plus 14 hours - each day, but have 1 day off completely from paid work. The hours per week would work out the same. And I could adjust things slightly to get a full day off if I needed it.
I'm just not sure if an entire day off is beneficial to me. Sometimes working gets my mind going. If I just slouch around in the morning it can feel like a waste of time.
But I've never carefully experimented doing it either way.
So for next pay period, I will plan to only work 4 hours a day for my at home days, and do other projects/exercising for the remaining time. I will see how that feels and then decide if I should take one day off entirely during the week.
This is really cool -- I'm glad my suggestion is working for you and helping you figure things out!
lhamo
Activity from May 10 – new activity – archery
Background – there is an indoor archery range close to where I live and I’ve been going past it for years without checking it out. Last month DH went and ended up liking it enough to buy a bow. I want more activities to do with him, especially active winter activities, since it’s winter all the time here and I have a desk job, so I went to check it out with him on a Friday afternoon instead of working.
Enjoyment: +1 to +2 Once I got over my discomfort from the new people and new surroundings and got better at using my rented bow it was quite fun. It wasn’t physically really challenging, but standing, walking and pulling back the bow was better exercise than I get with most of my time. It was a nice indoor activity for when the weather is bad. And it was a new activity to do with DH.
Result - I’d like to go again. Perhaps once or twice a month, more in the winter. It was also a nice place to casually socialize with other adults that isn’t a bar. I was invited to become part of a women’s night they might be starting up, so that was good, too, as I don’t have anything like that currently.
Activity from today, May 12:
Writing for hire with minimal potential for pay. Last year, I was given the opportunity to help write and edit some young adult short stories. It’s for real publication, although for a really small market, but is for a not-for-profit organization, so any pay will be an honorarium at best.
This is a mixed blessing. Yes, real publication would be great. However, the topics are pre-chosen and the plots must be approved by the chief editor, so I am not free to write about whatever I want. This is a new experience for me. I’m not sure what I think of writing for hire. I definitely have trouble with procrastination on this project, especially as there are no specific deadlines at the moment. However, once I get into the actual writing I find it enjoyable. And I like having a finished product at the end of only a few hours of work. And getting positive feedback about my work is fun, as well as the collaborative effort between me and the other two contributing writer/editors.
Overall, writing this analysis, after just finishing the first draft of a story that has been weighing on my mind for weeks, my enjoyment level is +1 to +2. Before I wrote the story I was at a zero or even -1. So the results seem to be worth the effort.
Tomorrow is the first day of my new plan to work 4 hours a day for money. I think I will work my paid job in the afternoon as I don't want to waste my more productive and creative morning time on easy paid work. I think I'm also more lazy after doing my normal job, so don't want to just laze all afternoon. For the first day tomorrow I won't do anything too intensive with my time. A bit of cleaning and some catching up on some small started projects. Probably some reading and possibly some TV/video games. The point is not to be productive all the time, but to spend my hours in activities I enjoy, without having to do any one thing for too many hours in a row. I will also continue to make my list of things I want to do in my mornings. I'll get more productive as the experiment continues, I hope.
What I want to get out of this is to have the feeling of semi-retirement indefinitely, without moving my FI date too far into the future.
I know that I will need to have concrete plans and to get out of the apartment fairly often. I don't want to fall into the trap of just TV and internet surfing for hours on end. But having a lazy morning once in a while is okay.
fidgiegirl
5-15-13, 11:20pm
Kestra, great decision. I love that just noticing how you've used your time has led you to change it.
Kestra, great decision. I love that just noticing how you've used your time has led you to change it.
Yes, it's quite interesting. I've always felt that "Intentional Living" describes my philosophy better than "Simple Living" and I've felt I was living quite intentionally, and probably was doing better than the average person. But clearly I wasn't doing all that I could in that area.
About a year ago I decided to more purposely live by the motto: "If it's boring AND useless don't do it." But this is taking that idea quite a few steps further. I like things to be more concrete and analytical. And it's useful to focus on the positive - what I want To Do, rather than what I Should Not Do.
It's nice to feel that my mind is more engaged in my life and activities. Hopefully this will help me live in the moment more, as I think about the past and future too much sometimes and time just seems to be zipping by.
rosarugosa
5-18-13, 8:30am
Kestra: I think your analysis is an excellent activity and I'm going to engage in some of this as well. Our time is the ultimate precious resource, and using it wisely it what living a good life is all about!
Well the first four hour work days weren't very productive but they were relaxing. I've been so mentally and emotionally exhausted for so long now that mostly resting felt like the right thing to do. I did get some catch up stuff done and started this awesome list of things I want to do or try.
But other than priority tasks and seasonal things it was (and will be) hard to decide what to do. I don't want to fall into the trap that I often do of having so many possible things to do that I don't do any of them.
I also have the attention span of a gnat and am always looking for the next shiny thing. I need a way to feel like I'm doing things randomly, just because I can, with lots of changes of things I'm doing and also a way to surprise and motivate myself. So I decided I would number my list and then pick an activity randomly each day. As long as it’s not something completely unfeasible I will do that until its natural conclusion whether a half hour or half a day. If I happen to get involved in something of course I will keep at it. But when I need a break I will pick something else. I hope this will help me have that excitement of getting up in the morning eager to do a personal activity. I will want to get my day started quickly so I can find out what the first randomly selected activity is. Maybe this won't work at all, but it's worth a try.
The list in progress, in no order: (perhaps I shouldn’t post this here but nothing is excessively personal and some may find it interesting)
1. Yarn store and new knitting or crochet project
2. Cross stitch (while listening to pod casts)
3. Run up and down hills
4. Fast walk jog
5. Slow wild life walk
6. Bus to different area of the city and walk around
7. Conservatory at the park – cold season especially
8. Butterfly conservatory – summer only
9. Coffee shop
10. Make new playlist for ipod - soon
11. Plan for South Dakota trip - soon - almost all done June 2, 2013
12. Library
13. Look into library book drop off volunteering
14. Wheel pottery - find out when class is – July/August hopefully
15. Read book I'm reviewing – Sci-Fi one
16. Read book I’m reviewing – father’s one
17. Work on children's short stories
18. Work on personal blog posts
19. Sort old stories for posting
20. Paperwork sorting - monthly
21. Budget spreadsheet - monthly
22. Investments - monthly
23. Cook – especially legumes in batches
24. Puzzles
25. Mind video games
26. Exercise video games
27. Work on drama kids idea – novel and play
28. Sort emails
29. Move desk – one-time thing
30. Make reference list – writing related
31. Fabric store and make dresses - started
32. Fabric store and make bras
33. Fabric store and make shorts
34. Contact Kijiji personal re gluten free products
35. Self help website
36. Small animal website and products
37. Clean – ha ha
38. Read other people's blogs
39. Karate
40. Yoga
41. Pilates
42. Strength training
43. St James library for art
44. Fan fiction to post
45. Sort notes on iPod
46. Store to buy plants – one time - seasonal
47. Scanning pictures – will finish soon - All DONE! - Yay me! June 1, 2013
48. Find time planner ap
49. Find ap to read to me
50. Make list for warehouse store
51. Practice keyboard
52. Review and organize “what I do” spreadsheet
53. Look at kijiji for random interest
54. Find ladies book or craft group
55. Archery
56. Sort filing cabinet - yearly
57. Work on inspiration document
58. Work on funny pamphlets – way to make PDFs?
59. Find index card software for writing
60. Design new board/video game
61. Learn about playwriting
62. Sell karate books
63. Learn how to do picture books online
64. Work on crochet dress
65. Work on sci-fi script
66. Finish financial instructions for DH – started
67. Finish financial instructions for both of us - started
68. Do exercise DVD
It has been a little while now since I changed to the four hour work days and while I have not been particularly productive, I am more relaxed.
For productivity I feel I’ve been in a bit of a slump the last week. Although I have many things I could be doing, and lots of time to do them, I tend to do very little. It is the motivation part that is really difficult for me. However, I feel more inspired and encouraged this week. There are a couple reasons for that. One thing that seemed to help is that for my paid job this weekend my supervisor asked me to do a harder and more interesting task than I usually get to do. It was great to get to use more brain power than normal. And working at home without interruptions I was extremely productive. It’s a good reminder about how accomplishing something makes me want to accomplish more. Whereas doing nothing makes me want to do more nothing.
And also, it’s only three more working days until our big road trip vacation on Friday. We decided on South Dakota – Black Hills, as my husband was concerned I’d be too cold in Northern MN/WI this time of year. We haven’t had a proper vacation since Feb 2012, and this is only the second vacation in 6 years together. So I am super excited about that.
What I have accomplished:
1 big thing off my list is #47 - scanning slides into electronic pictures. DH’s late father took tons of slides of his time in Europe and Egypt with the military and also of the family. These pictures go back about 45 to 20 years ago, from before my husband was born. His father died 16 years ago, and his mother, my DMIL, hasn’t been able to see these pictures for about that length of time. So, as our Christmas present last year, to her, we bought a scanner and undertook the process of scanning all 2500 slides, 4 at a time. I ended up doing about half, with the last 500 done over the last 7 days. Now they are all done. And we will be giving copies to the entire family and now DMIL can look at all these wonderful old pictures on her TV whenever she wants. There are some fascinating pictures of Egypt and Europe that I will probably share here in the future once I decide on my favorites.
#11 - Planning for our vacation is generally done as well, thanks to DH’s excellent mapping and research ability.
Other things I’ve been working hard on:
#2 – Lots of cross stitch work. I started this project about 11 years ago (seriously) – it’s quite large and completely self-designed. I really want to finish it as the hours I have put into this thing are just mind boggling. Of course there were periods of time I didn’t work on it for months. But I’m at the point where there is less to do left than what I have already accomplished, so I’m making headway.
#23 – I’m trying to eat healthier, so I made some big batches of 3 types of beans last night.
Generally, I have been managing to get outside, though it’s still kind of chilly here. I like to bring my camera as there’s a lot of wildlife behind my apartment. Of course, if I forget the camera, I see even more things. I’m obsessed with Flickers and Wood Ducks. And of course, last night, when I didn’t have my camera, the Wood Ducks were really close. I did get a beaver picture this season.
So, overall things are going okay, but hopefully will get better if I can remind myself how good it feels to actually accomplish things.
Here’s the deal. I want to write but I’m not doing anything about it. And because it’s weighing in the back of my mind I’m not doing anything at all. I need to start actually writing and putting my writing out there or I need to just stop. If I don’t want to write that’s fine. Lots of people don’t. There are tons of other things in life I am interested in and could be doing.
However, I’ve determined that I don’t want to quit writing because if I did then I would just do so. There are lots of things I've decided aren't for me – most of them involve speed or people or going back to school – and they don’t weigh on me. I know they are not for me so don’t cause me any second thoughts.
So I need to get past the anxiety, or fear of success or whatever it is. And just do something. Sometimes I feel it is laziness, but when I am doing the right activity, like at my paid job, I am a very hard worker. I do have excellent focus skills and don’t get bored easily when it is something I enjoy. I’m an efficient person, but not strictly lazy.
As I write this I’m wondering if is the unknown element that is bothering me - whether I will be any good or not - not that that particularly matters. Everyone has different opinions of what is good or engaging or not. And if I enjoy the process then that should be good enough. When I started my current paid job, of course I had no idea that I would be good at it. But it didn’t take long to see how well my job description fit my strengths. I know I do a good job, both from my own perspective and from feedback I get from management.
I guess I am used to being successful, which sounds bad to say, as it sounds boastful, but what it really means is that I don’t take on challenges unless I think I have a good chance of success. If something becomes too hard and there is a greater chance of failure, or of god forbid, looking bad in front of others, I back out. “I just want to dabble.” “I’m not really interested in that.” I stopped playing chess with DH as I felt defeat was inevitable before we even started. I couldn’t enjoy the process or the time spent together knowing that I would most likely lose, even just at a silly game.
What have I done that was actually hard? Karate. What’s the one thing (other than DH) that changed my life the most and for the best? Karate. Hmm, perhaps there is a link between those things. That should hardly be a novel concept. But that is why I enjoy writing – it focuses and organizes my thoughts in a way that nothing else can.
To give a point to all this, it is my goal to write or edit one hour a day. And to report here that I did so. If I don’t write I’d might as well quit.
And also, here (terrifyingly) is my blog: http://kestra.ca There are only two posts so far, but I have several more posts in production and hundreds of ideas, so I will post something new weekly. I’d like to get a couple more hits than just my own, so I appreciate you clicking on through, if my writing interests you at all.
Final thoughts – between writing this, revising and posting my blog post I’ve spent about 70 minutes today on writing. It feels good. Now I can move onto my paid job and any other fun activities of the day knowing that I actually accomplished something.
Back from vacation and ready to re-focus on my goals. Before we left I got a new idea for a book that I started outlining so I need to get back to that asap.
Today I also plan to rearrange my bedroom to give myself more separate sleeping and office areas, which is difficult in a small space. I want to be able to decorate my office to make it a more enjoyable and motivational place to be. DH also helped me to get the right cable to hook my work monitor up to my work PC and my personal laptop at the same time, so I now can write on a large screen, which makes everything so much easier. I can actually see 2 documents almost side by side now, and at a good eye level height.
I also am trying to wean off coffee. Which was not helped when the coffee lady today said she had no small cups, so gave me the medium for the same price. I find that my coffee addiction really slows me down in the morning. Firstly, I’m not as awake first thing, and secondly, I need to actually make the coffee or go and buy it somewhere. I’d rather just take this whole segment out of my morning, so I can focus on the more important and useful things such as shower, breakfast, walk, write.
So, that is where I’m currently at. I have added a third blog post today and I will work on my travel write-up of the trip, and continue outlining my book. When I need a break from writing I’ll switch to rearranging and cleaning. But I should do as many hours as possible on writing activities, as I didn’t write on vacation at all, which doesn’t help with my goal to write an hour a day.
Kestra, I am enjoying reading how you are thinking and planning. Have you don "the Artist's Way" by Julie Cameron. I found it helpful to focus on what I want to do...not that it is a cure all or even an instructional guide, but I've gone through it part way 2 times and completely one time. Certain things have stuck- others not. I would love to read about your South Dakota trip. That's not an area I've ever thougth about traveling and wonder how you enjoyed it.
Kestra, I am enjoying reading how you are thinking and planning. Have you don "the Artist's Way" by Julie Cameron. I found it helpful to focus on what I want to do...not that it is a cure all or even an instructional guide, but I've gone through it part way 2 times and completely one time. Certain things have stuck- others not. I would love to read about your South Dakota trip. That's not an area I've ever thougth about traveling and wonder how you enjoyed it.
Thanks so much for your comments here and on my blog. I cannot tell you how excited I was to get my first comment that was not spam.
I've heard of "The Artist's Way" through several people but haven't read it myself yet. It is totally on my library list to get soon.
Something scary today.
The extra company (as in background characters for TV/movies) that I've worked for, said they need a stand-in (you know, the person who stands there for the lighting and stuff so the lead actors don't have to) for a movie in production this summer and I fit most of the criteria. It would be really long days, exhausting and really a big hassle, but also a fascinating opportunity and would pay more than my regular job because of the overtime. So I put my name in. They probably won't want me, and I don't know if I really want it, but if I didn't at least apply it would always bug me. I hate what-ifs. So, there goes nothing. Hopefully I'll at least get to be an extra again, which is way less of a commitment, but pays less than half as much as well.
Update on my four hour work days since it's been a month and I've settled into a routine:
(Quick refresher on my schedule - 2 days a week I work 7 hours in the office. For the other 5 days I work 4 hours at home, except for every second weekend, when I'll work 4 hours on the Saturday, but none on the Sunday. It works out to about 30 hours a week, or 13 out of 14 days I work for money, but usually only up to 4 hours.)
Short story - it's great. Now that I've had my annual vacation, am caught up on my sleep, and kicked caffeine again, I find that 4 hours leaves me lots of time and energy to do other things. Work is no longer ruling my life. Some people may hate this, but I love never knowing what day of the week it is. It makes me feel like I'm already retired. Every day is almost the same - lots of freedom and lots of time to get things done, plus a little income generated.
On Tuesday and Thursday this week I actually spent 4 hours each day working on my writing business. My goal was initially 1 hour a day, but that is way too little now.
What helps a lot is that DH has the same type of schedule where traditional weekends don't matter at all. He could be working any day of the week. So, we can go play tennis or see a movie when other people are stuck at jobs.
This week has been especially good, because DH is doing night shifts, so how it works out is that I write all morning (my most productive time) while he's sleeping, then in the afternoon we hang out, exercise, relax or get other stuff done. Then when he goes to work at 5pm, I get most of my paid work done from 5-9pm, when the servers are quicker since no one else in my department is working and I am even more productive at that job as well.
Of course night shifts suck for him, so I wouldn't want him to do them all the time, and hopefully he'll retire from that job in 10 years, but since it is the current reality, it's good I can make the most of it.
Anyway, off to my writing business. Thanks for reading.
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