Day 6

Remember, my "days" are a count of consecutive days living in a way that I think is excellent. Good wake-up this morning, worked at about %92 at work, browsed Le Monde for 20 minutes, sorted out my address change with a whole host of companies to whom that information is relevant, picked up a recycling bin from the city, worked on my novel for an hour (current title is Upright In The Field of Tyranny), cooked a lovely dinner, studied php and fumbled around with ssh for 1/2 an hour, studied my French, worked on my essay for 1/2 an hour, and now I'm getting ready for bed. I might get in 15 minutes of Crime and Punishment.
Two major issues were brought to my attention today. One is stress. Stressing out, or becoming anxious, is usually useless and a big waste of energy. I need to practice my Marcus Aurelius shit. Seriously. If I can just focus on what I have influence over and be stoic about everything else, then I'd have a lot more energy and thus a lot more influence. I don't want to get into this too much because I want to read. The second issue is giving each task enough time. I can allot 1 and a 1/2 hours for dinner, but I've found that to actually make something nice, plus a salad and maybe some bread, eat and have a real conversation, and clean takes at least 2 hours. Maybe I could do it in 1 and a 1/2, but I'd be rushing, and rushing usually makes me anxious, which drains energy, etc. etc. Basically, I need to experiment with tasks and determine the time that they require for completion comfortably. If I work at a reasonable pace I'll be the champion, because I'll be consistent, every day will be an excellent day, and even though I won't get as much done in one single day than I would if I were sprinting and trying to have the world all at once, I will have accomplished more at the end of the week by consistency than the alternative would after having burnt out after a day or two. I like my new approach and the outcome so far. Each day so far has been a 4 or a 5 in the old system. Yeah, if it's a "day", it's a 4 or a 5.