Saturday, April 22, 2017

Getting the rhythm

I've often wondered what my natural patterns would be if I took away all external influences.  No alarm clock, no appointments, nothing but going to bed when I'm tired, waking up when I'm rested.  For the last 5 months I've had that, more or less. Now the report from the front lines.  I know this sounds boring but stay with me here.  I like to go to sleep between 10pm and 11pm, and left to my own devices (with no cat or dog intervention) I wake up at about 7am.  Basically my whole working career I've had what I call "ass in the seat" jobs.  Meaning show up on time, put your ass in a seat, work til lunch, eat, work til quitting time, go home, repeat. As I am entering an entrepreneurial business I need to find out what my natural work rhythms are.  For some things I'll be going back to the alarm clock.  For instance if I need to shoot some video on the road the best light is first thing in the morning, meaning pre-dawn departure.  My goal is to be doing what I am best at, when I am best at it. When I have a difficult problem I've discovered letting my subconscious work on it while I sleep usually has good results.  Same with this blog.  I woke up this morning with a pretty good idea what I wanted to say today.  So creative stuff 7am til 10am or so.  When I had my ass-in-the-seat job I would eat lunch at my desk and spend my half hour lunch walking in the parking lot.  Exciting right?  I think this helped my get passed the post lunch grogginess. So maybe chores from 10am to 11:30 followed by lunch and a walk.  The afternoon will be a good time to do the nuts and bolts of video production, downloading raw video, rough edits, location scouting, camera and motorcycle maintenance.  I also think there is some value in being bored.  I find if I put down my phone, turn off the TV and disconnect for awhile my mind seems sharper.  My focus improves and I actually feel better.  The longer I remain disconnected the more I can see projects, how they will work, what the snags are, and ideas for getting around them.  So maybe another creative period in the evening. Rest, repeat. Every day we are getting closer to our departure, and I'm looking forward to finding the rhythm of the road.

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