A Japanese colloquial term, pronounced "aima wo nuu," its literally translated as to make good use of one's spare moments." That is one of my daily philosophies, and I try to live it as soon as I wake up. I sleep more than the average adult I think, I try to get my 8 hours in, which is a huge luxury to have in the hustle and bustle of today's society. Therefore, I feel like I gotta make up for lost time right off the bat, and that includes getting up quickly, use the restroom quickly, get dressed, and get going. I used to diddle daddle in bed, struggling to wake up, but now it's just a quick "kick out" and go. Plus I've been motivated recently by finding out the stock prices and checking the market, in case I have to make a panic trade or something (Pro tip: never make a panic sell). At night, I dread when the late hours are creeping up, meaning I have to end the day soon when I haven't accomplished everything I want to do (I always feel like I'm budgeting for 20 hours but only get 16). That's really the reason I wake up late and get to work late sometimes, it's not because I'm chronically late, it's because I'm trying to squeeze every last drop of the previous day and bargain with myself to give a little bit of extra time, sacrifice a little sleep, except I often sleep the same amount anyway cuz you know, the body likes sleep, and wake up late as a result.
I do feel, though, that every second of the day, just like every morsel of food left on a plate, is precious. There's no idle moments when you've turned 30 and possibly living your "golden age," I want to be able to enjoy them as much as I can, and in order to do that I have to take care of the mundane tasks quickly, or even multitask. It takes a lot of discipline to stay on task all the time, but making it a daily routine helps. Walking to work can be combined with listening to podcasts or the news, sitting on the bus can be good for checking emails (since you shouldn't look at your phone while walking), driving somewhere can be coupled with making work calls or to friends, during lunch you can walk around and get in some exercise, everything has a purpose, I feel the most anxious when I feel like I'm wasting time, not accomplishing anything. Every action I do has to have a purpose, I must feel like I'm achieving something. It's a little manic, for sure, and it's motivated by the fact that I feel my life passing by sometimes, like one day I'll wake up and I'm 40. (I'm gonna wake up in 2 days and actually be 31, which is a little worrisome). Have I accomplished enough and lived enough relative to my age? Probably, but can I keep it up? I need to use wisely the world's most previous resource, time! Just ask Dr. Strange in the Avengers movie series, but don't spend 2 hours + watching the whole movie because that would be wasting time!
I realize, that not everyone's programmed like I am and can only focus on one task at a time, so I tend to drive other people a little crazy if I impose my standards on others. My philosophy's amplified on vacation to the point of me calling my schedule a "Robert vacation," where in a single day I try to squeeze as many tourist attractions or activities in as possible, not even stopping for lunch and just eating granola bars en route to the next location. Sometimes I get upset if I JUST miss the elevator going down, or JUST miss the train that just left, or get stuck in heavy traffic without any language podcasts to listen to! OMG! lf sometimes and go, "It's OK, Robert, life won't end tomorrow." (actually, it might, there are no guarantees, but its OK sometimes to just sit back and do nothing.) In order to me, you need to be a pretty high energy person, and not everyone is.
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