Some practical, shmactical advice
[Note: I wrote this pretty late and haven't proofread it yet. So it might be a little shaky, a little scattered. If so, just call it impressionistic and wait for me to update.]
I.
I have now been doing what might be considered 'real' work sort of full time for almost a month. Obviously, I am hugely qualified to disseminate advise concerning life in this hard world across the whole internet, for all to read and be enlightened. So, here's what I've learned:
1) Eight hours is a really long time. Better take a long lunch break, or, in my case, an hour long class smack in the middle of each day.
2) Surprisingly, the time goes faster if you don't concentrate too hard on what you're doing and instead you let your mind wander.
3) The same rule goes for effort. If you're doing something really taxing, like carrying loads of bricks up the side of a tower using only a pair of bathroom plungers and a backpack, or, even worse, pulling ivy out of your neighbor's woods, then five minutes will seem like forever. These tasks will pass more quickly if you don't try so hard.
In conclusion, to achieve one's highest quality of workday time, one must pursue the path most likely to get one fired for incompetence. Though I realize that this is a far from universal recipe for success, it may yet work for some.
II.
Noticing, as above, that work is oodles more pleasant when done mindlessly, and combining this with observations I have made in the area of workday mind-wandering, I have devised a simple task for the betterment of whomever wishes to take it up. The task is this:
Find someone you know who needs something mindless and time consuming done. Painting a house, weeding a garden, sandwichboarding for a mattress store, anything that will take at least a full day to complete. Just not pulling ivy from your neighbor's woods. Hoo boy. Next, schedule a day for you and you alone to do this task. Don't schedule anything else during this day, and don't spread the task over more than one day. When that day comes, go out and do whatever good deed it is that you've gotten yourself into. Simple, huh? But here's the fun part - let your mind wander aimlessly while you're doing your work, and check in with yourself about once every hour to chronicle these wanderings. You might be surprised at what your mind will do if you leave it alone for a while.
For my part, I have found that I can quite comfortably think about a single song for about half of an hour, even if I only heard it on the radio once and I only remember one line and that line is actually kind of obnoxious. In fact, I've pretty much concluded that there's ablsolutely no correlation between how much I like a song and how interesting my mind finds it to mull over. Other than songs, I have often found myself repeating conversations that I have had recently over and over to myself. That may be unique to me, though. Rob talks to himself.
Finally, I have decided that there is absolutely no better mechanism for absorbing one's thoughts than watching a movie the night before one will be working. For example, I have spent nearly an entire day pondering the plot of the latter half of "Mission: Impossible", and nearly as long on far less perplexing movies. I don't know why, but movies are very absorbing after one's watched them.
So go forth and do some work and tell me what you think you think.
Music of the moment: "The Boy Who Stopped The World" by Aaron Sprinkle (You can download this one and many other excellent songs for free from grassrootsmusic.com; I highly reccommend it.)
I.
I have now been doing what might be considered 'real' work sort of full time for almost a month. Obviously, I am hugely qualified to disseminate advise concerning life in this hard world across the whole internet, for all to read and be enlightened. So, here's what I've learned:
1) Eight hours is a really long time. Better take a long lunch break, or, in my case, an hour long class smack in the middle of each day.
2) Surprisingly, the time goes faster if you don't concentrate too hard on what you're doing and instead you let your mind wander.
3) The same rule goes for effort. If you're doing something really taxing, like carrying loads of bricks up the side of a tower using only a pair of bathroom plungers and a backpack, or, even worse, pulling ivy out of your neighbor's woods, then five minutes will seem like forever. These tasks will pass more quickly if you don't try so hard.
In conclusion, to achieve one's highest quality of workday time, one must pursue the path most likely to get one fired for incompetence. Though I realize that this is a far from universal recipe for success, it may yet work for some.
II.
Noticing, as above, that work is oodles more pleasant when done mindlessly, and combining this with observations I have made in the area of workday mind-wandering, I have devised a simple task for the betterment of whomever wishes to take it up. The task is this:
Find someone you know who needs something mindless and time consuming done. Painting a house, weeding a garden, sandwichboarding for a mattress store, anything that will take at least a full day to complete. Just not pulling ivy from your neighbor's woods. Hoo boy. Next, schedule a day for you and you alone to do this task. Don't schedule anything else during this day, and don't spread the task over more than one day. When that day comes, go out and do whatever good deed it is that you've gotten yourself into. Simple, huh? But here's the fun part - let your mind wander aimlessly while you're doing your work, and check in with yourself about once every hour to chronicle these wanderings. You might be surprised at what your mind will do if you leave it alone for a while.
For my part, I have found that I can quite comfortably think about a single song for about half of an hour, even if I only heard it on the radio once and I only remember one line and that line is actually kind of obnoxious. In fact, I've pretty much concluded that there's ablsolutely no correlation between how much I like a song and how interesting my mind finds it to mull over. Other than songs, I have often found myself repeating conversations that I have had recently over and over to myself. That may be unique to me, though. Rob talks to himself.
Finally, I have decided that there is absolutely no better mechanism for absorbing one's thoughts than watching a movie the night before one will be working. For example, I have spent nearly an entire day pondering the plot of the latter half of "Mission: Impossible", and nearly as long on far less perplexing movies. I don't know why, but movies are very absorbing after one's watched them.
So go forth and do some work and tell me what you think you think.
Music of the moment: "The Boy Who Stopped The World" by Aaron Sprinkle (You can download this one and many other excellent songs for free from grassrootsmusic.com; I highly reccommend it.)
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