The Essential

So I’ve adjusted my routine a bit and have been working out in the mornings before I write. Yesterday I managed to get a run in before the house woke up, and today I worked out for an hour, or tried to, as the girls were in the living room fighting over pillows. It was a bit annoying but while I was out cutting the grass they decided to have a contest, and when I came back in they needed me to judge the singing and dancing contests. Super cute.

I realize I haven’t really written anything substantial since leaving for Miami. These updates have become rather trivial and inconsequential. I think it’s mainly due to my sense of little accomplishment lately. I’m ploughing through housework and other mundane tasks, doing coding challenges on Exercism, and haven’t really sat down to work on anything that would be useful to others. I’m probably just adjusting to this vacation that I’m on.

I’ve been reading three books before bed, Deep Work, Essentialism, and Ryan Holiday’s The Obstacle is the Way. I think they’re getting my head in the right place, and I feel a bit mellowed out not having to deal with my old job. I guess I’m still in the honeymoon stage. The thing I fear the most is having to cash money out of the reFIREment fund. I think I’m going to start paring down some of my losing altcoin positions first, then try to take some of the other farming rewards where I can take them. VSP didn’t pan out, unfortunately, so I’m going to have to get a bit more risky in the short term if I’m going to keep my stack up. It might be a long summer if the market doesn’t pick back up.

Back to the books I mentioned, the three of them combined make a great combo. Essentialism is helping me cut out a lot of the crap that doesn’t matter, Deep Work is giving me the skill set I need to get things done, and TOISTW will help me deal with any setbacks and challenges that might spring up. Most of it basically boils down to constantly asking myself what is the most important thing I should be doing right now? There’s a lot of good stuff in them, and I’m tempted to start taking a highlighter to them or a pen and start making notes.

I also want to start instilling some of the strategies in the girls. I’m taking screens and music away from them today because Younger had a big meltdown yesterday. She played hard with her friends — I watched the neighbors for a couple hours as D. needed to pick his wife up from the airport — and was acting up most of the day, and really lost it when it was time for bed. Cutting off her melatonin may have something to do with it also, but I need to wean her off of that. And she really needs to start sleeping in her own bed — she’ll be turning five in a few weeks and she needs to start sleeping in her own bed.

My point here is that I think they’re watching too much TV and I want them to be bored. I just don’t know what’s appropriate for them. I would think that Elder is old enough to hear some of the stuff in these books, but I don’t think she’s ready to listen.