Zen to Done: First Weekend Day
Since I’m Collecting everything (Habit 1) via Jott and working on Early Rising (not a ZTD habit something I need more of), some apprehension preceded the the weekend’s arrival. (What’s ZTD? Click here to view more details)
Challenges of Weekend ZTD
First, most of my list items focus on work. That meant I’d have to shift my list management to look for loose ends from the work week that could be tied up from home and on items to do at home and errands.
Second, while I might have given myself the weekend off from early rising, I decided that longer weekend days could be more emotionally valuable, even, than long work days. (Disagree?) But how would I spend the time between 5:30 a.m. (my weekend early rising time) and 9:30 (my old weekend rising time)?
How it Went
When my cell phone’s alarm clock fired off Journey’s “Any Way You Want It” at 5:30, I responded. In my view, that’s critical to establishing discipline and developing habits. Using the snooze button leads to procrastination and sloth.
From 5:30 until 7:30, I worked on a new book idea. When I write, I try to write large sections to perfection rather than stream of consciousness that requires heavy editing on the back end. In this way, I’m like Dean Koontz, who works one page until it’s ready for the printer.
After 7:30, I putzed around the internet, cleaned up the kitchen a bit, and drank coffee. This is what I’d normally do on a Saturday, but I’d normally do it from 9:30 until 11:30 when it was too late to really think about “project” work. The difference today is that when I sloughed off, I’d already ready 1,200 works of a potention 20,000 work book. And I was still 2 hours ahead of schedule.
At 9:00, I went to Bed Bath and Beyond for some items to make the house more livable. After that, I did more cleaning for a couple of hours. By 11:00–the time when I usually decided it was too late to start anything, I’d accomplished several Big Rocks.
Impressions of ZTD
Right now, I absolutely love the system. Leo Babauta recommends making our habit development public knowledge, and I agree. First, it gives extra incentive. If I have to write about my progress, I want to show progress, not excuses. Second, it journals my progress. As I move onto later habits, this progress should yield more tangible results making my posts more interesting. We’ll see.
UPDATE: I should add that I also crossed off 14 items from @Home and @Errands lists today.
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