Since I started my waking up at 5 am experiment, I gained a lot of new time to do the things that I previosuly couldn’t do. For example I can mpw work for 3 straight hours in the morning without any kind of interruption, and I can get more done in those 3 hours than what I would get in 1 week of working in the evenings.
However, a curious thing started to happen. As I gain more time, the things that I was previously considering important are no longer that important. It looks like my brain now knows that I’d rather spend my time doing something of high quality rather than spending 10 minutes here and there doing things that don’t really matter.
I kind of expected this behaviour, although I thought it would have taken more time to come.
I realized that until I started this experiment I could only focus on the small picture. It’s like if I couldn’t see the big picture of what I was doing, so I was spending lots of time doing things like checking email, twitter, or doing
It’s funny because I have drastically reduced my todo list to just the things that are really important for me. Not only that, I have also discarderd all my mini websites that I had built with the intention of making money. The problem was that I had no interest in them, so I didn’t enjoy working on them.
I think this has little to do with waking up early, and more with the fact that I had some time (hours) where I could think. When you complete your todo list and you still have 2 hours ahead of you but can’t spend that time procrastinating, all it’s left is time for thinking. And that’s the most precious time you have.
So I am here today, learning a lesson that I hope I’ll not forget anytime soon, and it’s all about focusing on what’s really important, discarding the rest. But you can’t do that if you don’t have time for thinking, because your brain is too busy focusing on 100 things simultaneously.
If you want to try something new, do yourself a favour and dedicate three hours per week of doing nothing. Sunday mornings are good for this. Note that for doing nothing I don’t mean watching tv or browsing your favourite websites, I really mean nothing, let your brain relax. Do this a few times and you’ll detoxicate from the everyday stress that accumulates during the week, and you’ll also start to reconsider (or reinforce) your priorities.
This is really good advice Oscar, something I know that I should be taking more often. Most of the time I’ll work myself to death until I don’t have any energy to do anything else but watch hulu.
Those times where I’ve managed to release work and sit in quiet contemplation, or just read a book for pleasure are certainly not wasted, they seem to help improve my work as well.
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Hey Kenji, yes I think they are good from a productivity viewpoint.
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Oscar,
I’ve had a similar experience after starting to do nothing for extended periods. When doing absolutely nothing you’ll attract ideas which your thinking mind is too busy looking for to find. When you let go you’re in the flow. That’s why you’re only engaged in things which you’d prefer to be engaged in.
I meditate for 30 – 60 minutes daily. I also spend at least a few hours every week doing nothing except laying in bed watching my thoughts.
When thinking about nothing you give everything a chance to happen.
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That’s great Ryan. I have tried many times laying in bed and just thinking, but the problem is that I’d get to sleep pretty fast. Not sure if this happens to everybody.
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Hey Oscar,
You know, one of the things you point out – doing nothing – is something I’ve been recently experimenting with as well
I too used to try to get everything done and just squeeze everything into every spare moment of the day, back to back appointments, etc. However, lately I’ve been pushing back – focusing on just what’s most important and essential, and also purposely scheduling in time in between for thinking, reflection and free journal writing.
I protect this time just like other appointments, and I’ve found it very valuable for recharging myself, and I think I gain so much focus from it, that the 30 minutes a day (where I am right now) pays off many times over.
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Hey Sid, glad to hear I’m not alone and it’s woking well for you. Thanks for your comment.
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This is an interesting effect Oscar. I suppose that when some of your needs are met, your mind rearranges your priorities and you start needing less. I like this a lot, as too many needs can be a practical and emotional burden, and we could all use taking some weight of our chests.
Cheers,
Eduard
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Hey Edward, yes it was like I couldn’t see the big picture because I was too focused on the pile of tasks I had to do.
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Initially I thought the subject is wrong because the more you run behind the materialistic world, the more you are in need of the same. But post reading this yes you are right on making the point that the more you evacuate your self the more time you have for thinking and the better would be your decisions henceforth. Liked the idea of idle Sunday mornings. All the best Oscar.
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Hey Himanshu, thanks for your feedback. Yes the title was intentionally confusing. Sometimes I like to create some controversy ;)
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Oscar, since I was taking fulltime courses for my MBA and working over 40hours a week. Now I am done with school, my main objective is to focus on my website, and working out. In order for me to workout, i must start 5 am in the morning (for an hour) and start work at 9:30am to 6:30pm or even 9-9pm at night. The only time i can squeeze time for my website is at 7 am, lunch time, and sunday. I am excited to start but at times I get so tired and I do not follow the plan on my free time.
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Hey Renelda. If you can dedicate 1 hour at 7 am I think it’s enough if you just focus on writing. You can actually use your lunch time and evenings for relax, so you have more energies in the morning.
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Congratulations Oscar! :D I guess you’re experiment worked out for the best and you even got some bonus insights along the way! Way to go.
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Hey Mighty, yes this experiment is working out very well!
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This is one of those hit your hand on the head moments! Instead of mindlessly playing something stupid on Facebook at 6 am, I could be sitting on the back porch drinking a cup of tea & just letting thoughts flow. I’ll give it a try & see what happens.
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@Oscar: Great post here. The title caught my attention immediately. This could be said for so many things in life. I noticed one really interesting thing when I decided to experiment with productivity. I set aside two hours for myself to write comments and shut down email and Tweetdeck. Instead of comments I did my commments, wrote 4 blog posts, and edited a few podcasts. I found myself with all this time left.
Abundance is such a great mentality. Money seems to kind of work in the same way.
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Hey Srinivas, amazing what we get done when we shut down unimportant stuff, right?
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by rtmate3: RT @oscardelben The More you Have, the Less you Need http://bit.ly/buoZCU
This is a great post, as for the 3 hours doing nothing i will try to implement it and see how it works.
Thanks
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