Joseph Grammer's Blog - Posts Tagged "routine"
Daily Routine
Every day I try to do the same things over and over. Stretch, eat an egg quesadilla, exercise, write, work, talk to another human, and meditate. Whether my simple brain will allow this is a mystery, but I'm getting better at overriding that pesky limbic system (or at least managing it more smoothly) and following a structure for self-discipline.
Why do I need order? So I can just do the most basic shit I'm required to accomplish. Normally my attention wanders; I drink too much coffee and start staring at the little dots that flood down in my vision, which are really just clumps of retinal ganglion cells sloughing off like flakes of skin.
Even writing this sentence makes me want to flail like a mako shark with neurofibromatosis, because I hate sitting down long enough to string two coherent thoughts together.
So what do I do? I respond, with huge amounts of Anna's help, by organizing work in a way that's motivating to me. I put items on my to-do list into levels (yeah, like video game), then order those by difficulty.
Level One might include writing down what I'm good at (knowing stuff about Okinawan culture), and Level Two might be finding one organization that relates to that in some way (the Okinawa Kai of Washington, D.C.).
Level Three is writing a draft of a cover letter to send to someone at the Okinawa Kai, and Level Four is editing and sending that letter. In Level Five I write down questions to ask the interviewee, edit the questions for Level Six, and in Number Seven, aka the Boss Fight, I conduct the actual interview. Afterwards, if all goes well, I dance. Poorly.
I used this Level Method (err, the name sucks) to get an actual phone interview with a member of the Okinawa Kai, which will take place tonight. I'm excited to ask the representative some questions that will help my book (which is set in Okinawa), and to find out about the guy's opinions on Okinawa in general.
Maybe the system is juvenile and pathetic (if you're uptight and sneer at people who play video games). Either way, the plan works for me, so I'm more or less pleased with my quasi-routine improvement.
Just for knowledge purposes, I also use Anna's writing app to keep on with my stories, and her task app to actually accomplish stuff like changing headlights, fixing old Kindles, and going the fuck outside. Which gets at another aspect of routines, I guess, which is outside help. Use another human for your self-discipline! Or, like, don't use them as you would an object, but value them as an individual and all that, and just ask for their help in some small and concrete way (e.g., send me a sweet meme every Monday so I can get my ass to the gym).
Memes for all.
Why do I need order? So I can just do the most basic shit I'm required to accomplish. Normally my attention wanders; I drink too much coffee and start staring at the little dots that flood down in my vision, which are really just clumps of retinal ganglion cells sloughing off like flakes of skin.
Even writing this sentence makes me want to flail like a mako shark with neurofibromatosis, because I hate sitting down long enough to string two coherent thoughts together.
So what do I do? I respond, with huge amounts of Anna's help, by organizing work in a way that's motivating to me. I put items on my to-do list into levels (yeah, like video game), then order those by difficulty.
Level One might include writing down what I'm good at (knowing stuff about Okinawan culture), and Level Two might be finding one organization that relates to that in some way (the Okinawa Kai of Washington, D.C.).
Level Three is writing a draft of a cover letter to send to someone at the Okinawa Kai, and Level Four is editing and sending that letter. In Level Five I write down questions to ask the interviewee, edit the questions for Level Six, and in Number Seven, aka the Boss Fight, I conduct the actual interview. Afterwards, if all goes well, I dance. Poorly.
I used this Level Method (err, the name sucks) to get an actual phone interview with a member of the Okinawa Kai, which will take place tonight. I'm excited to ask the representative some questions that will help my book (which is set in Okinawa), and to find out about the guy's opinions on Okinawa in general.
Maybe the system is juvenile and pathetic (if you're uptight and sneer at people who play video games). Either way, the plan works for me, so I'm more or less pleased with my quasi-routine improvement.
Just for knowledge purposes, I also use Anna's writing app to keep on with my stories, and her task app to actually accomplish stuff like changing headlights, fixing old Kindles, and going the fuck outside. Which gets at another aspect of routines, I guess, which is outside help. Use another human for your self-discipline! Or, like, don't use them as you would an object, but value them as an individual and all that, and just ask for their help in some small and concrete way (e.g., send me a sweet meme every Monday so I can get my ass to the gym).
Memes for all.
