Finding footsteps...
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| Sunrise over the Alps enroute to Munich |
Resonates with my soul
An old friend, Asingaporeanson recommended Steve Pavlina's website to me and I came across the following paragraphs which resonate with me.
"When I had a job, I didn’t care so much about optimizing my startup routine for each day. There was a disconnect between my productivity and my results. As an employee I sometimes prided myself on how little real work I got done each day. I didn’t like my boss, especially due to his bad temper and his use of fear tactics to manage people, so perhaps being unproductive was my way of punishing him for being such a jerk.
Without a job, however, being unproductive makes no sense since it’s clear that I’m wasting my precious life. So I’m very motivated to stay sharp and squeeze a lot of juice out of each day. If I don’t keep my standards high, I suffer for it, and there’s no one to blame but myself.
If I ever slack off, I can reboot myself whenever I want. I don’t have to wait till the end of a shift or a weekend. I can set new goals or pivot to a different rhythm whenever I experience one of those golden awareness boosts. If I want to start a new habit trial, I can kick it off as soon as I’m ready. I don’t have to work around my employer’s schedule.
If I feel unmotivated or burnt out, I can take a vacation starting the very next day (or in some cases, the same day). I can stay on vacation for as long as I want. I’ve taken breaks for 30+ days more than once. Taking a full month off can be very restorative, and I usually hit the ground running when I return.
I write when I’m inspired to write, not on some employer-dictated schedule. I don’t arbitrary say to myself, “I have to blog something today.” What draws me to the keyboard is when I’m struck by an idea. I’ve gone as long as seven weeks at a stretch without blogging, and it’s totally fine. It wouldn’t suit me (or my readers) to crank out drivel on a schedule. I’d rather write only when I have something inspired to communicate.
This isn’t the industrial age anymore. Working on a 9-5 schedule isn’t well suited to today’s best opportunities for creative knowledge workers. I feel fortunate that I don’t have anyone imposing such a schedule on me. Discovering my own best rhythms has enabled me to crank out 2 million words for 100 million readers over the years."
Steve Pavlina is a successful entrepreneur and writer who wrote much about personal development. His last job was 25 years ago and has been self employed ever since. He believed in treasuring life and the constant need to improve oneself.
Finding my footing
I am still trying to find my footing in this footloose reality that I have given myself.
It is easy to take things easy and wake up late everyday. Go around to all the places that I would have love to go when I was fully employed. After all, most of my work doesn't start till the late afternoon. But as I have tried, I find it hard to truly relax.
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| Sunrise in Stuttgart, Germany |
The early bird catches the worm
By waking up late, I would have wasted much time to accomplish my many things in the morning. Richard Branson is a role model that I looked up to in managing my business and he has a firm routine in the morning which begins at 5am. He believes in embracing each day from sunrise to sunset.
In all honesty, waking up at 5 am is far too difficult for me and besides, I do not have an island to explore and kite surf. Yet. Haha.Now, I try to wake up at 8am every morning and be out of the house at 9am by sending my baby boy Gerald to infant care. After that, I head straight to my serviced office and start reading and writing.
The alternative was to rent an Uber car in the morning and drive for a few hours exploring Singapore while earning some money. But the downside is that it will rob me of much energy for my other endeavours for the rest of the day.
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| Picture Source: https://s1.cdn.autoevolution.com/images/gallery/MITSUBISHI-Attrage-4865_1.jpg |
Unsustainable Uber
In all honesty, I think trying to make a living via Uber in Singapore is not workable. The income is only slightly better than that of working at Starbucks. I salute those who drive Uber for a living. It is a tough job and pays too little for the amount of risk and work. If you want to drive for a living, being a taxi driver would the main taxi companies in Singapore would be more practical.
I truly hope that Uber would stop promoting its drive for new drivers and concentrate on retaining its existing drivers by giving them their fair dues in proper fares. The fares are simply too low. A passenger gave me a SGD$0.50 fare for a ride the other day. Half the price of taking a public bus.
For several times, I had wanted to throw in the towel but boredom got the better of me and I was back at the helm of a Mitsubishi Attrage in the morning. And hey, due to the stress and fatigue of Uber driving, I lost my appetite. With that, I actually lost 3 kg. Well, guess that is a kind of perk. I guess.
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| Picture Source: http://intraining.com.au/wp-content/uploads/myths2.jpg |
Time for to go running again
Starting from next week or even tomorrow. I will put an running regime in my daily schedule. I have not ran much in 2017 because of a long bout of flu which bogged me in the first two months of 2017, which also contributed to my resignation of my day job. Mileage for this year is very low. I will reverse that trend and depend on running instead of Uber to maintain my weight.
Yes, it is necessary to put exercise as an appointment in the schedule. If not, it will be relegated to one of those things that we will do one day.
Let's do it!
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