time – Michael's Musings

Pursuit

October 29, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Mountain

It’s easy to be distracted. To fall off the bandwagon. Because pursuit is hard work.

It’s hard to maintain laser focus. To devote precious time to a specific activity.

We can’t be sure it’ll pan out. Sometimes we jump ship before reaching the goal, just because it’s difficult.

But imagine what finishing would look like. That’s what successful people do. They see it through to fruition.

Yes, sometimes they too will fail. Hard. Public, epic fails that make everyone cringe.

But not completing the pursuit is the only sure way to not succeed. Yes, you may not fail. You just won’t be…

In fact, the true successes are those who have doggedly pursued their interest in spite of failure.

September 9, 2019September 6, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Organization, Writing

It seems that we’re constantly in search for more. More money, more time, more freedom, more happiness.

I’m actually looking for my space on my computer, prompting this post.

And I started thinking about all that I already have. And it’s a lot. I think we accumulate a lot of stuff. Would I like more time? Sure, but I could be using the time I have a little better.

More money. Absolutely! But I don’t need to be spending the money I do have on things that aren’t enriching my life.

We often focus so much on the more, we neglect the why. And if you’re not appreciating what you currently have, then do you really need more of it?

Returning

August 30, 2019August 30, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Writing

The longer you wait to start something back up, the harder it can be to get it going. That’s been the case for my writing. Also some other things – yoga, reading, and decluttering, as examples.

Sometimes you get sidetracked. It happens. And it happens to everyone. No matter what the circumstance, or how long it’s been, just get back in there. Maybe you are out of the flow, and it takes longer to do what you had done before. Or you can’t do as much. But just try and get those muscles moving – those juices flowing. It feels good.

Will this be the push that gets me back in the swing? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But the important thing is to try.

Where’d you go?

July 18, 2019July 18, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Writing

Took a few extra days (false start) after my trip. There was a lot going on, and some things I’ve been thinking about.

For instance, why posting every day is a silly strategy. Now I’m not necessarily using this blog to drive traffic or strum up business, but the thought did occur to me – what am I writing for?

The answer I came up with is I write because I have to. So if no one reads it, or doesn’t follow the latest post, it’s not really a big deal. When I started writing, it was about being accountable. Going to the daily (until the Alaska trip) postings, that was about accountability and productivity.

Getting back into the swing of being productive hasn’t been easy. I realize that everything I say in defense of not writing daily becomes just an excuse. That I could find time to sit and post. I could make time.

The truth is, though, sometimes you need to step back. It’s impossible to just keep moving along, everyday. In The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz writes, “Always do your best… Your best is going to change from moment to moment, it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self judgment, self- abuse, and regret.”

So I can start each morning stating I will do my best.

I can end each night asking Have I done my best?

And that’s all anyone can ever really do.

Expansion

July 7, 2019July 7, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Pathfinding

In my calendar, I try to segment by color what it is I’m doing. Work. Gigs. Side jobs. Health and exercise. I’ve got a calendar header titled Expansion, and it tends to be my most exciting one.

Anything that grows who I am falls under this header. It can be as simple as reading time, or as extensive as travel or getting my SCUBA certification. When the other calendar entries look too heavy, I make time for Expansion. Because if we’re not growing, we’re just dying.

Week’s highlights

July 5, 2019July 5, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Social

Here some things I was looking at this week:

Spider-Man: Far from Home, and the black outfit. I saw the film just a few days ago, and then this article popped up for me. The four-color dot printing process was something I’d been familiar with, but not given much thought in terms of blue vs. black. Enjoyed this piece, and the film (with AC/DC’s Back in Black making the rounds ala the Iron Man films).
Free Nintendo Online for Amazon Prime members. A buddy passed this on to me, and hey, if you have Prime, why not?
Why mosquitoes like my girlfriend more than they like me. Just something interesting.
And what I’ve passed on the most – JOMO. Probably the thing that aggravates people the most about me is that I say no. A lot. But with my time being the only commodity I can really actively control, I just can’t say yes to everything. Really, hardly anything – with many requests coming in for my time, there aren’t enough hours in the day. So I miss out, and happily so. It’s the joy of missing out.

Slow the f*ck down

June 15, 2019June 13, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Self Actualization

Life sure is fast.

I started writing this in January. I think it had something to do with cars speeding to places. Why? Because we’re always going. I’ve wrote a lot about time management, staying busy, etc. But what is the answer?

We work too much, to make just enough money to buy what we don’t need, and pay off the debts that we built up spending more than we had yesterday. We plan for more tomorrow, but don’t expect it to be enough because we’re not satisfied with what we have today, hoping that we’ll be satisfied with what we have tomorrow if only we can work hard enough today to make more than we did yesterday.

It’s f*#!ing exhausting. And we are exhausted. Collectively, we are done. You can tell when you look at us. We escape, rather than inhabit. We tune in, turn off – rather than unplug and be. But it’s coming. The change is coming, when we understand it’s not enough just to keep going – but rather that we must find ways of existing that aren’t so damn fast.

Keeping it going

June 13, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Writing

I am behind. I know, it happens. But it seems that this week, and last, has kept me more busy than I’ve been in several months.

Trying to create time to write, to read, to produce other work, and to sell, has been a juggling act like little I’ve had to do before. So how do I do it?

Writing I am just eking out, one post at a time. Reading, less so. A stack of books is piled by my bed, and other stacks on and around the bookshelf. Other work? Well, that’s another story.

I guess the silver lining is I’m selling well, and should be making enough pay to finance my trip to Alaska next week. Hard to believe it’s less than seven days away. I’m looking forward to writing from there.

Last week

May 25, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Work

Last week was a hard one. It never seemed to coalesce into something resembling free time. It was two days of training, followed by three 11-hour workdays. After a weekend that was filled with more work, volunteering, and an awards banquet, I didn’t have a chance to work on much actual work – the creative stuff.

I’m looking at my spreadsheet, and realizing that I need to be better. But, we all have that week sometimes, when nothing seems to go the way it’s planned. So pick it up, brush it off, and start over. Now is better than later.