Melding the End and the Beginning
My weekly meals
If you're like the majority of the United States, you either spent the better half of Sunday afternoon watching football while drinking beer and/or dreading the Monday ahead. Whatever you did, I'm willing to bet you were generally a lazy bastard.
I know I was. (But more on that in a minute.)
The bottom line: most people relax on Sunday then get back to business on Monday. And there's nothing inherently wrong with that. (Hell, I'm known to take two hour naps in the middle of the day.)
Problem is, most people are terrible at "relaxing" and even more terrible at "getting back to business."
Let's explore each one real quickly:
In my opinion, complete relaxation can only be reached by having all of your priorities in order, taking care of trivial matters, and living in the moment as much as possible.
How do you expect to relax and "do nothing" when you're thinking about paying your bills, making it to make it to the gym, preparing all of your meals, going to the grocery store, putting the finishing touches on your presentation, and giving that cute red-head a call? (Do it too early and you seem eager; too late and you're just a dick.)
Even more important is how do you expect to "get back to business" on Monday with that much shit floating through your head?
It's enough to make you anxious and not want to do anything at all, isn't it? And that's exactly what most people do.
They have an internal freak out (or, worse, they become indifferent), decide they can't do a damn thing, sit on the couch, crack open a beer, and watch TV or surf the 'Net with a vague sense of guilt and helplessness.
But not me. Not any more, at least. So what do I do?
I relax every Sunday. How?
I. Get. My. Shit. Done.
Here's what my last Sunday looked like:
11:30 AM - Wake and breakfast
12:30-2:30 - Ride long board on park trails with Chelle
3:30 - 2 slices of pepperoni pizza, Pabst Blue Ribbon and e-mail check
4:30 - Grocery shopping
5:30 - Massive Cooking (wild rice, pineapple chicken, beef bombs, and buffalo burgers)
7:00 - Dinner and a nice glass of Pinot Noir
8:00 - 9:30 - Yerba Mate tea and weekly planning (set up interviews, set deadlines for articles, brainstorm blog entries, errands to run, etc.)
10:30 - Read (currently reading Special Topics in Calamity Physics)
11:30 - Bed
So not only did I wake up very late in the day (I was out with Chelle and a bunch of friends the night before), I spent a good couple of hours long-boarding, had some pizza and beer, and spent an hour reading fiction.
Oh, and I also planned my entire work week, my training schedule, had a delicious and healthy dinner, and made about eight "quick meals".
I knew I could relax earlier in the day because I knew I'd be taking care of important things and staving off that dreaded "Monday to-do list".
Is my way perfect? Absolutely not. But it works for me.
It may work for you, too.
Cheers,
Nate
Comments for This Entry
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I cook all of my meals on Sunday, too. I bought John Berardi's Precision Nutrition a while back and it's been a life saver. If it wasn't for that book or my girlfriend I'd eat nothing but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chicken.
I also like the idea of planning my week out.
Right now it looks like this:
Monday - Cry
Tuesday- Cry
Wednesday - Cry
And so on.
But I'm working to change that!
Jared -
I dread the thought of time passing by unused, and have found that I'll actually develop pretty bad insomnia if I'm unproductive during the day. I won't be able to sleep at night because I can't stop thinking of all the things I've left undone.
I remedy this with a similar method. I have one or two main cooking and shopping days per week and maintain a to-do list of every little thing I could possibly have to do over at least the next month. Each day I tick a few things off the list and make sure that at least one of those things is something that really matters. For example, today I set up quickbooks and the billing system for my business.
I also make an effort to cut clutter out of my life. Anything that goes unused for very long like clothes, phone numbers, or just about any material possession gets taken to goodwill. It's initially difficult to part with a lot of the crap that one accumulates over time, but I've never found myself missing any of it. Having things organized around my place helps me to feel organized and I can focus better.
After doing this for a while, I've realized that one doesn't really need to spend the entire day fretting over projects. The list comes down to one major thing each day like writing an article or a month's worth of workouts, and then maybe a few little things like grocery shopping or paying bills. Often, that only equals four or five hours per day of actual work and I have the rest of the day to myself. It's great to be able to sit in a chair and read all afternoon or go wakeboarding most of the day at the lake and not feel guilty about it. -
I've started something similar to what Craig is doing: I have a running word document that sits in my dock (Mac fanboy, here) that has all of my clients, coding projects, personal to-dos, leads, and general stuff in bulleted lists. I keep notes on everything I'm doing, and it's really helped me feel like I'm in control of my workload.
Also, at Nate's constant urging, I've started cooking meals a week out. Aside from freeing up a lot of time, I've also dropped 20 pounds by having healthy food ready to eat. So, you know, that's good. :)
-Jason -
@ Jason:
20 pounds is awesome! Congrats on that.
I really like this entry, Nate. It's kind of like that saying:
"Failing to plan is like planning to fail."
GT -
GREAT post Nate!!!
love it... what the hell is a beef bomb though my good man?
Paul from the UK
+++++
Thanks for the comment Paul! A beef bomb is something I picked up from the book "Muscle Chow" by Greg Avedon.
It's a bell pepper stuffed with beef, corn, onion, spices, and some tomato sauce.
Good stuff.
-Nate -
@paulmortuk:
I'll second that: what the hell is a beef bomb?
The name puts me on edge, though; it's been my experience that anything with "bomb" in the name generally results in tears and plumbing problems.
Jeff
++++++
See above for an explanation.
And that's just nasty, man.
:)
Nate -
Beef bomb. Oh the thoughts that are screaming in my head.
Anyway...I'm making this tomorrow. Maybe it will immediately begin the "melting away" process of the extra few pounds that I have welcomed back into my life since my last Nate training. I had no idea the world would collapse around me so quickly. But, no worries...as long as everything is going well for you my friend. That's all that matters. Really, it is. To hell with the rest of us mortal men.
Next week after I return from LA I'm starting the "quick meal" in advance thing again...it worked before, I just forgot. Funny how that happens when you're all on your own.
You are missed! No really, you are. I'm back in WF in a couple weeks....breakfast at Coffee Traders?
Mike
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J. Hope 3:59pm Sep 8, 2008