Why Routines Are Important: They Defend Against Chaos & Whim
In this age of endless distraction, the best offense is a great defense.
If you don’t have a daily schedule in place that carves out time for your most important work, an endless dribble of emails and interruptions and “little requests” can easily suck up all of your time. In her book The Writing Life, Annie Dillard speaks about the importance of a schedule for living a fuller life:
“What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time. A schedule is a mock-up of reason and order—willed, faked, and so brought into being; it is a peace and a haven set into the wreck of time; it is a lifeboat on which you find yourself, decades later, still living. Each day is the same, so you remember the series afterward as a blurred and powerful pattern.”
Have you heard the parable of the cracked pot?
An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.
One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.
Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do..
After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream.
I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.’
The old woman smiled, ‘Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side?’
‘That’s because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them.’
For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.’
Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it’s the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding..
You’ve just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.
SO, to all of my cracked pot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path! If you loved th sentiment share it 🙂
If you don’t have a tough constraint, make one up.
Internet entrepreneur and co-founder of Twitter and Medium Ev Williams had few constraints to deal with as he works on his latest project. He realized that this freedom came with a price — how could he ensure his team didn’t create something overly complex? How could he ensure they kept shipping, just like a small startup would? Williams writes:
Historically, I’ve been constrained by engineering resources and money. These are good forcing functions to drive simplicity. It’s caused me no end of angst that I couldn’t make our products as great as I wanted to in the past.
With Medium, we have an engineering team that can build anything, matched with large ambitions, and plenty of capital. How do we ensure we don’t create something overly complex and/or fail to ship at all? By picking a date.
Nothing clarifies focus like a date.
If you don’t have a tough constraint, make one up.
The 90/20 Rule of Working: How biological cadences can make you more effective.
Have you ever noticed how some hours you’re absolutely cranking out work, whereas during other parts of the day you have to summon all your will just to focus for five measly minutes?
Bestselling author Tony Schwartz suggests making use of our ultradian rhythms, natural cycles in our days. He works in 90-minute intervals, and then takes 20-minute breaks. Schwartz explains why in a Harvard Business Review article:
“I typically get more work done during those 90 minutes, and feel more satisfied with my output, than I do for any comparable period of time the rest of the day. It can be tough on some days to fully focus for 90 minutes, but I always have a clear stopping time, which makes it easier.
I launched this practice because I long ago discovered that my energy, my will, and my capacity for intense focus diminish as the day wears on. Anything really challenging that I put off tends not to get done, and it’s the most difficult work that tends to generate the greatest enduring value.”
Schwartz’s advice boils down to a simple principle: go with the natural rhythm of your body by doing focused work in spurts. He also reminds us of a second piece of wisdom, which is to get the important stuff done as early into the day as possible.
The minute I heard my first love story,
I started looking for you,
not knowing how blind that was.
For though my search for destiny –
dependable propelling love –
dealt me bitter blows
and lay me cross the mortal plains,
bedewed, bedimmed, morose…
I know now that lovers don’t
finally meet somewhere.
They’re in each other all along.
-Rumi, The Illuminated Rumi
One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.
A very wise old teacher once said: “I consider a day’s teaching wasted if we do not all have one hearty laugh.” So here is to our teachers and the children who tyrannize them:-)
_______________________________
TEACHER: Maria, go to the map and find North America.
MARIA: Here it is.
TEACHER: Correct. Now class, who discovered America?
CLASS: Maria.
_______________________________
TEACHER: John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor?
JOHN: You told me to do it without using the tables.
_______________________________
TEACHER: Glenn, how do you spell ‘crocodile?’
GLENN: K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L’
TEACHER: No, that’s wrong
GLENN: Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it.
_______________________________
TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?
DONALD: H I J K L M N O.
TEACHER: What are you talking about?
DONALD: Yesterday you said it’s H to O.
_______________________________
TEACHER: Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn’t have ten years ago.
WINNIE: Me!
_______________________________
TEACHER: Glen, why do you always get so dirty?
GLEN: Well, I’m a lot closer to the ground than you are.
_______________________________
TEACHER: Millie, give me a sentence starting with ‘I’
MILLIE: I is…
TEACHER: No, Millie…… always say, ‘I am.’
MILLIE: All right… ‘I am the ninth letter of the alphabet’
_______________________________
TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father’s cherry tree, but also admitted it. Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn’t punish him?
LOUIS: Because George still had the axe in his hand……
_______________________________
TEACHER: Now, Simon , tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?
SIMON: No sir, I don’t have to, my Mom is a good cook.
______________________________
TEACHER: Clyde , your composition on ‘My Dog’ is exactly the same as your brother’s. Did you copy his?
CLYDE : No sir, It’s the same dog.
____________________________
TEACHER: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?
HAROLD: A teacher
_______________________________
PASS IT AROUND AND MAKE SOMEONE LAUGH!
LAUGHTER IS THE SOUL’S MEDICINE!!….
For teachers especially hahaha;)
“How can I make life better?” -Jeff Bezos
When you are 80 years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made. In the end, we are our choices.
Build yourself a great story. – Jeff Bezos
You will be newbie forever. Get good at the beginner mode.
Writer and entrepreneur Kevin Kelly details the skills needed to handle the influx of 21st century technology. Some of my favorites:
You will be newbie forever. Get good at the beginner mode.
What do you give up? This one has taken me a long time to learn. The only way to take up a new technology is to reduce an old one in my life already. Twitter must come at the expense of something else I was doing — even if it just daydreaming.
Quality is not always related to price. Sometimes expensive gear is better, sometimes the least expensive is best for you. Evaluating specs and reviews should be the norm.
For every expert opinion you find online seek an equal but opposite expert opinion somewhere else. Your decisions must be made with the full set of opinions.
Understanding how a technology works is not necessary to use it well. We don’t understand how biology works, but we still use wood well.
Take sabbaticals. Once a week let go of your tools.
Every new technology will bite back.
Read his entire list here.
When you’ve come to the edge of all the light that you know and are about to step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of 2 things will happen – there will be something solid to stand on or you will be taught to fly.
Countless kisses sent far and wide
to all beating hearts, to the you inside
be your own Valentine, your own true love then close your eyes and feel those countless kisses return
-Positivelypositive.com
On Valentine’s Day, I think about
the people who are dear,
People who add to life’s delight
whether they’re far or near.
Family, friends and others, too,
who in my life have shined
the warmth of love or a spark of light
that makes me think of them;
I think of people who have
cheered and encouraged me,
who go out of their way to be kind and caring,
who have enriched my life just by being themselves.
Each one is a luminous gem, who gleams and glows in my memory, bringing special pleasures.
That’s why this Valentine is for you: my darling sparkling treasures!