This week has been long and the number of meetings I have had to attend was very long. A really long list of pre and post work was generated by all these meetings. In the beginning of the week I understood it was going to be a challenge getting to Friday. Now we are here. Tired. But I made it and I have a strong feeling that I did good and performed way above the expectation.
So. What did I do?
I decided to focus on every task a infront of me. One by one. When I was preparing a meeting that was the only thing in my world. Worked hard, with focus. Did my absolut best. I am tired. But also happy and proud of my accomplishment. And that is the most important thing here. What I think and feel of it.
It is really nice to start the weekend like this. And tomorrow we'll be going to the SPA. Drinking Prosecco and enjoying really good company.
I love write.as. It's a great platform. I use it to develop some of my private thoughts. Develop it while writing. I also love to read other users writings. But since write.as doesn't have any feedback features built in it is hard to show you appreciation to individual authors.
Thus this appreciation post as a token of my gratitude to these authors. Thank you!
Overwhelm – Just Emile
A deep dive into hoe Emile is dealing with overwhelm. I could deeply relate.
Jan. 25 2021 Dear Karen – letters from jarred
A hilarious letter to an imaginary(?) penpal from Thomson Illinois. Must read.
Onderschat – Ronald Steegstra
A verse in Dutch. I don't know dutch. But sounds so much fun while reading it and trying to understand it as a Swedish speaker.
Not a jerk after all – A blog of yet another quirky guy out there
This is a post about an important realisation. We all have our battles. They are not always visible. Great blog to follow to find a journey to find a way to handle negativity. I enjoy this one a lot.
I run into this new trend of minimalism. It is a life style with the goal to have as little possessions as necessary. The lack of stuff and clutter in your life should provide you with a freedom. A freedom from the burden that all of this puts on you. I have looked at this from a far for a while but never really investigated the phenomenon.
I am a hoarder. I have stuff, a lot of stuff. But in the same time I am not afraid of throwing things away or sell them. I seldom have a strong emotional connection to stuff. You've probably been asked what the one thing you could safe from a fire would be. I wouldn't risk it. I would stay outside and watch it all burn. Yes, of course, there are some things inherited that I would miss since they are, in a way, the only connection to that lost kin. And maybe some clothes and memories from when the kids where small. But everything else can be replaced.
Lately I have started to question myself; why? Why do I continue buying stuff. The next shiny toy is always on the horizon. If I order it before noon, it will arrive already tomorrow. By noon the day after it will have lost most of its shine. All this stuff doesn't make me happier. I have some fun with it. But it doesn't make me more happy. It gives me guilt. Guilt because I'm spending money on unnecessary toys. Toys that doesn't give any real lasting value. Guilt because my behaviour is destroying the planet for my own and future generations.
Would I be able to become a minimalist. Probably not. I have a to comfortable life. But I could probably be more minimalistic. But how would I do that? And what can I loose? What if I'd need the things in the future? There are so many questions and so few good answers. One way to go could be to simply stop buying more stuff. No, not a thing. Just the normal day-to-day things. Grocery. Consumables.
What about virtual things. I hoard there too. I have tons of services that I use on somewhat regular basis. I buy new apps. Is minimalism only for physical stuff. Would my life be easier and more happy if I'm only becoming a physical minimalist. Can you even be a digital minimalist today?
A questions brings so many questions. But a lot of it boils down to they why. Why would I want to be minimalist? What would be the reason? And for me that would be that it would provide freedom and happiness. But what if it doesn't work?
I started to journal here a few years ago but I fell of the wagon fairly quickly. Done some writings more or less inconsistently using the IOS app Day One. It is a really beautiful app with great features to add images and the “on this day” feature is also super cool. The drawback is it is pretty expensive and you are stuck writing on your Ipad/Iphone or Mac.
I decided to try a trial account. This was not possible back in the days and I think it is a really good thing to be able to test out all the features.
It is such a great fun to read the public blogs. Some of the authors that was writing here back the last time I was here are still writing. Sometimes multiple times a day. Yes, tmo, I am thinking of you! Keep up the good work.
It is a bit nervous tonight. I will, for the first time in a while, hold a training course tomorrow. It's not only quite some time since my last course, it is also the first time I will do i virtual. So a bunch of butterflies in the stomach. The fall has been really slow when it comes to people wantning to get training. Thanks Covid. I really hope this mess will go away soon so that life as we knew it can come back.
The warm winds from Africa is coming our way and in the upcoming days we will have degrees over 40C during the days. This will be though. We will be active during the morning and evenings the day we will keep calm inside. That is perfect since I have quite some things I need to sort out. Maybe not what you wish for during vacation but if it needs to be done, it needs to be done.
This has been a vacation week so I didn't spend enough time on my “system”. I am an avid Getting Things Done, GTD, user. But this afternoon I was able to spend some time on my system and do a weekly review. The good thing with this is that it gives clarity. I now know what commitments I have and I know what I need to know.
This is something that quickly deteriorates and thus you need to do the review weekly – and that's why it's called the weekly review. I have previously not been doing a daily review. This is something I will try to get into my daily habit. We will see how that goes.
Tomorrow I will finally meet my spouse again – we have been separated a few days. The first day always feels good. The “alone time” is fantastic. But after around 24h I always start to miss her. And after 48h I can't wait to see her again. Tomorrow, finally!
I struggle with the definition of work. What does work really mean?
The Cambridge Dictionary defines the word “work” as:
an activity, such as a job, that a person uses physical or mental effort to do, usually for money
In my life work is most often about mental effort. I rarely get sweaty pressing the keys on the computer. But there is also a pretty big scope for what could be defined as work.
Some time ago I went to a conference. It was not a big thing. A couple of hundred people with the same interests got together and speakers discussed to topic in grave detail. This conference where in between my professional part of life and my private life. But still this would be considered work since I used a great deal of mental effort to absorb the content.
I also thought a lot lately about how to prioritize different things in my life. I have started to realize that I don't have to do or fulfill all dreams I believe I should do or think other people expects me to do. I need to find the tools and strategies to do this differently. In a way where I am in control.
Weekend is coming quickly now – only one more day of activities where physical or mental effort is needed.
Today is the day of freedom. Now a few more days of hard work and then I should be able to start relaxing more.
Traveling again. This time alone and for my on purpose this time. At a conference that I booked and paid with my own dime. Will enjoy this time thoroughly.
Really tired now after a long day and I still need to “fix” some stuff. More to come...
Traveled back from the south with the kids today. Was pretty okay – the kids fought a lot though. That is apparently what kids do when they are bored and need to sit still for a couple of hours. But I should not complain. They are tired though so hopefully they will go to sleep early tonight.
On the way back I wanted to get to the car as fast as possible. And in the mass of people the oldest kid disapeard. The panic was instantaneous and I had to group up the other kids with grandma that had to look over them and our baggage when I started to search for the missing one. A good thing is that he is pretty smart. He just stepped out of the male stream of people and waited. Dad will come and find me eventually. Which I also did. But that was 10 hectic minutes. This is probably one of the nightmares a parent has while out traveling.
I have unpacked my bag and tomorrow I will go off for a conference. I hope it will be interesting and give me some inside and thoughts for what I can do in the future. I have been looking forward for this conference for almost half a year.