Journal // 8th July 2024
On this day I…
So, I started writing a a post yesterday that ended up becoming something more, and longer, than I had expected it to. I seem able to write for the sake of writing these days. Whether or not it’s any good is for you to decide. That post will be published here on Friday 11th.
So, I’m posting this Monday post a day late, and I still have to write and post today. So much work. This is what happens when you have a schedule you like to keep to.
Okay, so I guess yesterday’s post will be about schedules.
Awesome.
I used to have a ‘morning routine’, something that I read in a book or saw in a YouTube video, the ‘billion-dollar morning routine’. This shit gets advertised like if you do it too, you’ll be a billionaire.
This, of course, is bullshit. Usually, it’s the billionaire lifestyle that creates the morning routine, cause and effect. Though YouTube videos would have us believe that it’s Effect and Cause. The glass can’t be broken before it’s dropped.
Unless you're an essentialist, then the glass wanted to be broken and caused its fall.
I created my schedule to make sure that I did certain things each day.
Wake up early.
Read.
Write this blog.
Go outside for a walk.
Writing my book.
etc etc.
The point is that ever since I made the schedule, it’ll gotten shit done. I wake up early and actually prefer it now. I’ve been more consistent with writing this blog (Mon-Wed). Getting outside for a walk with or without a weighted backpack (Rucking). The schedule creates a need to do these things, and the more you do them, the more likely you are to continue doing them. The habit is formed.
I gave up alcohol back in February with the intention that I might go back to it after a few months. It’s been five months. My birthday is coming up, I figured it would be okay if I had a drink. But then I imagined a calendar on my wall with a big red ‘X’ on each of the days I hadn’t had a drink. That’s 148 X’s (as of yesterday). When I saw that image in my mind I didn’t want to break that streak. 148 days sober.
We could argue that I have developed the habit of not drinking. That every time I’m offered a drink, my automatic response now is an emphatic “No”. And where I work (a bar) I’m offered a lot of drinks.
Creating habits takes time. Creating a schedule to get things done takes a few minutes. What do I want to do? When do I want to do it? Play around with the timing and there you go.
It’ll take a week or two before you get it dialled in. But when you do it’s nice to be able to wake up and just get on with it.
Having said all that I’m not a slave to my schedule. The fact is, I'm writing this 30 minutes earlier than I normally would, why?
Because I woke up 30 minutes early. Instead of going back to sleep, I got up and got started. This means that;
I can either spend an extra 30 minutes on one particular thing on the schedule.
Or finish 30 minutes early.
The schedule is a guide, it’s not set in stone. It lets me know what to do and when or in what order I set it up.
If I wake up 30 late, that means I finish 30 minutes late. So what.
This video is set to go live tomorrow at 14:00
I’m a Professional Photographer who dabbles in Writing and Documentary Film Making.
I’ve recently quit my job of three and a half years as a Bartender/Manager. Photography began as a hobby and quickly became a passion.
I’m a Professional Photographer, Filmmaker, Writer/Author and this website is where I’m going to document all of it. The good, the bad and the ugly.
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