Sleeping 8 hours a night has been a revelation for mind stillness and personal productivity. I still face difficulties in getting my daily tasks done, due to the sheer volume of them and the many directions I get pulled on a given day, just like any entrepreneur starting his business.
You dance with what is important, you dance with what is urgent, but you should only go to bed with what is important AND urgent.
Like an Eisenhower matrix.
When solving problems or dealing with multiple daily requests often my mind will get busy, worried and distracted and I lose flow, overthinking about the number of things I have to get done and reacting to the overstimulation of modern life.
I continue to crave more offline time than ever.
I'm beginning to dislike my cell phone, seeing it as a device that is necessary, but also responsible for the many interruptions that happen on a daily basis.
This morning I decided to get back to my daily reading habit, despite the colossal amount of things I have to do. Fortunately, I received a precious message on problem-solving.
“The purpose of studying Buddhism is to study ourselves and to forget ourselves. When we forget ourselves, we actually are the true activity of the big existence, or reality itself. When we realize this fact, there is no problem whatsoever in this world, and we can enjoy our life without feeling any difficulties. The purpose of our practice is to be aware of this fact.”
— Shunruyu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind
A while ago I had coffee with Shane Steele. One of the best pieces of advice she gave me was that in the early days in the Bay Area I should be “defaut to yes".
This weekend I watched this cool fireside chat between Jeff Bezos and his brother. It made me think that I need to venture out a bit more.
Sleeping for 6.5-7.5 hours a day for the past days has been incredible. Better than any productivity hack I have found, I am back to simplicity.
