I am not working a job these days. But I still work on personal projects in a multitude of hues and a number of disciplines. I have set myself a full day’s work of 8-9 hours with an hour of walking included (in it). I have also allowed myself 15*3=45 minutes for lunch and tea (twice). The schedule allows for a power nap too, if required.
But all days are not created equal.
Some days, for whichever reason, I can get ready only by 4 PM. So I can work for just (9.5-4=) 5.5 hours.
(I have decided 9:30 PM to be the end of my workday. If I allowed the whole 24 hours as workable, it would not be a pleasant experience for me. One can work till 12 midnight, but the next day will be affected due to the ensuing lethargy. Also, around after 9:30-10 PM, my productivity drops as well as my will to do good things. My mind/body wishes to rest even during work hours, hence, it quite expectedly wants to run away from toiling after the clock ticks for the precious chutti. {whether the allotted work for the day has been completed or not})
Let us come back to the 5.5 hours. It is less than the 8-9 (hours) I intended, but it is not nothing. If made to work wisely, it can be more efficient than the full 9 hours’ labor. But my mind searches for an excuse and latches on to each chance of giving up and despairing. It feels the day has been lost, and so it loses its hope and vitality, giving up on the prospects of the remaining hours of the workday.
But simple math will tell you 5.5 hours are still more than 0. Even a 2 hours’ block of effort is more than so.
Today, a Sunday, I woke up at 9 AM, but stayed in bed till 11 (due to some tiredness). Yet I felt ready; a full day was waiting for me.
But just as I got up to leave the bed, I felt a bit dizzy. I laid down again in a sleeping position, face-left. As I turned to the other side, my head went in a complete tailspin (I only learnt the next day that I had had a bout of vertigo). I sat up and felt pukish. Then I vomited.
Most people (I suppose) know how it feels after vomiting. For some time before puking, it feels like the end of the world, and we just want the ordeal to be over, whatever it takes. After vomiting the body feels a bit relaxed. By the end of it, we are drained of all energy.
So I got sick. Is it an off day, then?
It doesn’t have to be an off day; a slow day, perhaps. There are many benefits of slow days- half days or quarter days. As I have established, 2 is more than 0, so are 3, 4, 5, and 6. I shouldn’t despair for losing a chance to fulfill a full day’s work. The whole day’s slog is the goal, not the law. It was not mentioned in Mao’s Red Book, neither in the bible was it written.
All days are not created equal. All days are not perfect. They don’t have to be.
So today, after the ‘ulti’, I spent some time faithfully watching youtube. I was sick. It was an off day surely. Or was it?
I have already proved to myself and showcased the possibility that even a day with the Corona virus can be an efficient 9 hour reading day. It was not the most productive day of my life, but it still was adequately decent. At least it was not a wasteful media-filled daytime.
In working slowly (but surely), I didn’t collect garbage in my head, lose the sense of reality, or feel fake satisfaction induced by the dopamine hormone, all byproducts of excessive media gorging. I told/showed my mind I could do 9 hours even while sick. So I could do anything on a good day. I set a fine example (for myself), and also got some work wrapped up. It was quite impressive.
Continuing today’s tale……
I was feeling tired, so I took some rest. I relaxed for most of the day, sorting a bundle of videos. Excellent. I had a great excuse, an indefensible alibi- of illness. Not feeling well- bed rest most of the day. I slept at one point, reading Lord of the Rings. The kindle fell on my face a couple of times when I realized it was time to sleep.
I don’t know when and how long I slept, but after I woke and had a cup of tea, it was already 7 PM. Right. The day had gone tata byebye. I just needed to wear away the rest of it and prepare for a full day’s work tomorrow.
The full day which seldom comes, and is a promise more than anything else. But it is a high bar on some days.
Because all days are created different.
So I thought OK, its 7, I can work till 9:30 PM. 2.5>0. Come to think of it, I am well rested, physically and mentally. I have slept my full, and my mind is stress free and refreshed. Hence the day doesn’t need to end at 9:30; it can end at 12 midnight.
By 7-8:50 PM I had written one 700 words piece, enough for a few days of rewriting-editing. This amount of work pays for itself, as a good writing day provides the most bang for the buck. It is so intensive, educational and rewarding, this much writing could be declared just enough toil for the day.
8:50 mother brought dosa. I switched to watching an Adam Savage video for the duration of my dinner. 9:30 I went back to writing. Eating did make a difference; my mind, body and senses felt heavier and oilier. I had planned to write till 12, but right now it seems a stretch. I am at 850 words. If I retire, it would not be a shabby day at all.
But I have some more to write.
(This piece has turned into a-day-in-the-life-of a lazy person.)
The day was successful even as it stood. Just 2 hours of writing salvaged the day. Good. It is a lesson that a positive mind and a good idea can condense 9 hours’ worth of work to a 2 hour concentrated labor. (It should be kept in mind that a 9 hours reading exercise can never be finished in 2 hours. It’s an exception applicable only in the writing discipline, which is extremely dependent on intensity and inspiration.)
Do I call it a day at 10 or 12? Should I go or should I stay? We will have to see…
But I could retire with a clean conscience right now, at 10 o’clock. But there is another thing to write about, and I have made it a non-negotiable rule to write down the raw ideas and inspirations, even if they are scribbled shabbily or cursorily.
Lately I have been devoting more time to editing and finalizing the pieces I have already written. This process takes me 10x more time than just jotting down raw ideas. Due to this, the act of penning new content has slowed down.
But the stories will not write themselves…..
Fin.
(I ended up with 2000 words in all- in give or take 4 hours including a heavy masala dosa dinner and 2 videos. I didn’t need to write till 12, and packed up around 11. As good a full day as any wink wink.)
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