it’s absurd to which the degree i go to optimize my life, and then try to accomplish and maintain so many endeavors in so many completely different areas of life – i like it, it’s a challenge, sometimes it’s frustrating and makes me lose my vision and clouds how fun the things i work on are to me, how fulfilling they can be when i reflect about them – that part stinks, but there’s something that draws me to all these different things, some necessity of life, some desire, some curiosity, some stubborn “i will not give in” ness, some deep seeded pull to be better and accomplish things.
i don’t want one thing, or there’s not really a singular desire that stands out, i think a lot of people struggle with that.
there are so many paths to take, its easier to not pick anything and just see what happens or comes along, or to pick everything but not go very far.
how can you go far and on many roads? it takes a lot of vision, a lot of optimizing, a lot of saying no to some things, yes to other things, a lot of hard work, a lot of goal setting.
celebrating the small wins and every inch is really important, because sometimes that’s all you have, for months, or maybe longer, before you can celebrate a big win, and that’s fine. it’s incredibly hard, and where i probably trip up and get depressed the most along the way.
don’t compare your path to another, that’s no way to find success and feel fulfilled.
i don’t think i’m doing more than anyone ever has, i’m sure there is somewhere out there juggling more. there always is.
there’s certainly others that have it worse, most of my challenges are out of abundance, blessing, and my own creation, not survival. that is important to remember.
thank you God for that, keep me a good steward of what i have and generous with everything.
let me barrage list you my current activities/projects… and also take stock and reflection as i write
in short, i want to do as my creator instructs, a home that’s exactly how i want it that makes family living great, easy, and enjoyable, a healthy and fit body, to be an available and consistent father, to provide a financially secure future and being able to provide for my children and extended family’s future, professional accomplishment [corporately and independently], fulfillment through trying new things, learning and adventuring in this fantastic world and to be better at everything than my best friend brandon.
too much? of course it is, that’s kinda the point of this post. i’m guilty, i want it all. not always, but most of the time.
here’s what’s going on right now in life…
- home – if you have one, you get it
- building dog shower, staining it, has castors!
- front flower bed creation, dirt removal, shaping, sawzaw stumps
- overseeding the property
- maintaining a 50×5 garden
- redoing laundry room, floor to ceiling, new linoleum, shelves, painting, floor is already down
- day job – it director
- a 4 year old doberman, man she has a lot of energy!
- i have a new employee, he is a wunderkind – which is awesome but keeps me so busy, he should have my job…
- massive implementations around box.com, new phone systems, security also because we have a contract with the DOS
- my LLC, IT Arsenal continues to be anything i want it to be, the more I push into trying to grow, the more there is
- have 3 webinars scheduled
- 8 ongoing monthly clients with various pending work
- an internal contractor, need to get content out and try to delegate or hire more cause i’m maxed…so business either falls back to minmal nothing…or it can grow…i jsut dont have time
- bookkeeping for my church
- fatherhood, year 2 – needs it’s own unending list there but all fun, caring, and management related, so exciting to see a little one grow up
- running, biking, fitness goals – i signed up for a 10 mile run and 50k bike ride for the fall…so training for those
- then i have hobbies…media center, hosting a video game server for terraria, trying to learn app development still…bla bla
- reading three books, playing 3 video games, all great content and good stories to be enjoyed!
all this either makes me feel either incredibly fulfilled, or a prisoner in a prison of my own making, i get to choose which each morning though
and sure, sometimes i think, what’s wrong with you rob?!?! make it all simpler, live in a cabin, enter your mind and just be at peace with the world. then i wake up and realize that’s not me, and life is so rich [not moneywise] in pursuit of it all, of what this world has to offer, in reflection of what meaning i give it, in praise of what is, was, and will be.
some of the ways i optimize to do it all, aka how i live my life
i’ve found, big surprise, there’s no set of optimizations or tricks that work for everyone, so here’s what works for me, not a complete list, but a sit and what comes to the top of mind list
okay, contrary to what i just said, these work for everyone
- work in timed blocks
- put on non distracting, focus building music
- systems
- rest
alright now what i’ve set up that helps me accomplish so much…
automations, semi automations & outsourcing
- robot vacuum
- timed sprinklers & hoses
- automated text completion, and file functions on my computer
- hire cleaners, home improvement people, workers for anything that can be easily explained and standardized. if it can’t DO NOT hire people.
- entertainment media and educational media – auto download your tv shows and make them as easy to get as possible, skip all commercials automatically, same with news and industry reading, use an rss reader
- automatedly share socially – buffer
- amazon subscriptions for any recurring product in your life
- food shopping, online, reorder from last order, tweak, deliver
- automate payments to everything that requires it, check monthly
- use paper regularly for something? make it easy, accessible, pre-filled out, example, daughter’s day care daily form, scanned, prefilled, printed
- auto lock your doors and turn off ac/heat when you leave
- batch as much as you can that you repeatedly do. batch cook, batch social media, batch hanging out with friends, batch communications with people
systems / reference
- use a super simple database tool or spreadsheet for anything you need to reference often and move forward – account information, home improvement projects, tools you share, i have one for video games i want to play – https://airtable.com is great for this.
- scan any paper that you think you might need, make searching for it easy, throw it all away. this does not require complex filing system, i have everything in one folder, name it well, search later.
- i balance no check book, and spend 15 minutes a week checking/adding notes transactions for me, my wife, and my business. mint.com is where it all turns into a big list, organized, and then exported for an accountant
- business invoicing is done entirely through a form tool on my website, nothing else
- templates, templates, templates
- get things out of email, don’t manage from email. move to another system that allows you to act, like a calendar. don’t check often unless you must.
practices
- get up early, it just works
- check into your day, make a plan
- use a calendar, really really use it
- be silent, meditate, mindfulness, whatever you want to call it, could just be spending time NOT thinking about what you need to do in the shower, but this is important
- asking myself what accomplishment would make today great every morning makes a difference
- check out of your day, and clear the path for tomorrow
- do as many things as close to your home as possible, avoid traveling, unless it’s to experience something. aka, food shopping, going to work, trying on shoes are all a waste of time. i try to argue visiting friends and going out to eat isn’t very useful either, but i’m wrong, those have value, i just don’t naturally think they do.
- take a vacation and turn it all off, escape for 12-24 hours a week. life isn’t something to keep balanced, go out of balance, get things done, and then come back to balance. work, work hard, go all out, then stop, and really stop.
- keep asking myself, is this important? would it make today great?
- always keep life organized. i over do it, sure, but knowing where your _______ insert blank, files, keys, phone, drillbit, charger, etc. is and is always going to be cause you always put it there allows you to do more with your life. boring, but true.