December 30, 2014 at 13:13Lark Way 2: At the End of the Rainbow
In May of this year, I described an experiment to switch from a state of “owl” to the “early bird ” mode - to get up at 5 in the morning every day. At the time of publication of the article, the experiment lasted half a month and had the following results and bonuses:
Minuses:
A lot of time has passed since then. I received several times questions on different results channels. Perhaps someone else will be interested. And it will be useful for me to arrange them in my head.
The experiment lasted until the end of September. Not bad, considering that the initial planned duration was a month, and it began in April. Yes, and you can’t say that it ended, because changes in life and routine have occurred significant. They can be divided into two subtopics. They are under the cut. The article contains only a description of personal experience and is a logical conclusion to the previous one.
The main reason for the cancellation of the rise at 5 am was the realization that learning to play the guitar in a computer game is not quite the right way. The game "Rocksmith 2014" is great, but you need to know the base. This thought came to me when I caught myself on the fact that I actually had to relearn after each chord or even one note in the melody. Yes, and my study painfully sounds like training - pulling and clicking on the right places of the guitar according to the corresponding signal from the screen with reinforcement in the form of feelings “I did it”.
The value of basic knowledge in the study of any subject area has finally strengthened in my mind (the first revelation came after six months of aikido classes). I even began to look at instructions for devices before a practical acquaintance.
As a result, in order not to develop the skills from which I will subsequently have to relearn, I postponed the guitar until I took some basic course at least. The vacated morning hour was occupied for some time by a working draft, then when it ended, by watching lectures from coursera.org, but the last variant of pastime by the body was not perceived as essential and gradually came to naught, under the pressure of growing fatigue and the need for a dream.
The second reason, or rather the reason for the aforementioned need for sleep, was that the start of the experiment coincided with the dismissal of my partner at work and, as a result, a significantly increased load. In general, over the past year I had the opportunity to learn, master and develop more skills than the total three years before. It was very interesting, but exhausting, a kind of "pumping on the limits" in terms of MMORPG. By October, I felt devastation and the need for rest, significantly reduced activity and switched to an energy-saving mode. Definitely I can be attributed to sprinters, rather than styers .
Average time to go to bed: 23:30, rise at 6-6: 30. Early rises no longer scare, do not cause negativity. Starting the day earlier, nevertheless, is more productive than dumbing into the monitor for half a night, the six-month experience allows us to say this confidently. Sleep became more stable (in terms of mode and duration), caffeine became less required. The working schedule remained from 8 to 17, which gives more freedom in the after-hours. In particular, it allowed me to complete an English course. Part of the classes fell off due to energy saving and rethinking - aikido in September, guitar in the summer - however, a new direction of self-realization arose. Not everything planned for the year was completed, but in general, the year can be assessed as successful. But more about that in the next subtopic.
In the comments to the first part there were a number of critical remarks on the theme that, having waved too many, so to say, “hobbies” (aikido, guitar, a new field of activity at work, English, psychology), I have every chance not to achieve how much anything meaningful results in anything.
That's right.
As practice has shown, at some point the less significant falls off, saving energy for the more important. Looking back, I can characterize my model of behavior as a way out of the impasse of self-realization and self-development. I will give a simple example. Four and a half years ago, when I was the leader of the system administrators team, I read a number of “managerial” books to develop my managerial and organizational skills - David Allen, Gleb Arkhangelsky, Lister with Demarco, etc. I also came across some inspirational articles on personal growth from Steve Pavlin and someone else (whence ideas about 30-day habits, for example). Since then, the ideas of personal growth, self-development and self-organization have taken hold of my mind. As one of the tools, I defined reading for myself. I obligated myself to occupy them with all the "leaking" free time - in transport, on hold, in long lines, etc. With a flow of even 4 books a month, the question quickly arises of “what to read next?” - familiar authors end up and become boring, as is the case with music. I started asking friends and casual acquaintances for something to recommend, collecting titles and authors of books in social networks and blogs. My ToRead list was fantastically diverse - from Stephen King and Roger Zhelyazna, who I preferred at that time, to History of Culture, various esoterics and Kara-Murza. Even if I didn’t understand something in the story (this concerned non-fiction), but the book didn’t seem senseless or useless to me, I forced myself to read it, just forming neural connections and filling my subconscious with luggage. Gradually non-fixation supplanted fiction. Now psychology makes up more than half the reading, there is a specific goal to go to psychology next year to get a second higher education, there is no need to search and receive recommendations - even if I drop everything now and will only read, I have enough literature for years, and every second book read increases this list.
However, if I were five years ago, instead of focusing on the process “I must read something”, I would try to focus on a specific subject area, it’s far from the fact that I would even know that I am very interested in psychology in general and transactional analysis in particular. It's funny, considering that for a long time I was sure that focusing on the process, not on the goal and result, is either a myth or an imitation of work.
Therefore, when my professional or personal development comes to a standstill, I release a batch of reconnaissance probes - new areas of activity, research and experience.
And besides, knowledge is not superfluous. Over time, you can make sure that even with nothing seemingly unrelated spheres of activity have much in common. For example, the basics of Aikido help in mastering the guitar - the importance of the correct position of the body, the economy of movements, the muscles should be tensed only in those parts of the body that are currently involved, again, concentration. A wealth of IT experience helps in learning foreign languages - we learn not by memorization, but by clarifying the system, general principles and rules. Game theory, specifically the “prisoner's dilemma,” helped to better understand the principle of Storage IO Control . Etc.
On this subject I am drawn to long and thoughtfully keening. There were even thoughts about the career of a personal growth coach, but this profession is so vulgar, and the whole essence of the teaching, if you think about it, can be reduced to one sentence - continue to develop continuously and success will follow. And everything else is coaching fog and everyone’s personal path.
As already said, the goals associated with the guitar and aikido temporarily froze. In English, a significant breakthrough, not fluent, of course, but I can communicate and read books (at the beginning of the year I could only read the technical text). And at the end of the year, as I already wrote, I discovered a new direction of implementation. The fact is that over the past 2 years I attended 6 IT courses (virtualization, storage) and was horrified by the level of teaching in Russia (the only adequate course in terms of knowledge was in EMC, in English, with a teacher invited from Europe ; in all other cases, the most valuable that has been handed down is the manual). And they visited the following ideas: a) I can learn, systematize and share new information, b) I have rich practical experience, c) I like to learn new things and I know that the best way to learn material is to try to convey it to someone. In short, I decided to become an instructor of the courses and make every effort to dilute the level of mediocrity in the teaching environment. This idea ignited me, although I have been an introvert all my life and speaking in public is similar to death for me. However, the last VMware vCloud course at Softline finished me off and tipped the scales in the right direction. It was hard to force myself to conduct trial lessons, I delayed for a long time, but as a result, on January 19, my first course on Windows Server starts. So far in the evening format, since I do not plan to leave the main work. In the future, it will be necessary to take the VMware direction, but the procedure for establishing MCT was more understandable and cheaper than VCI, and there is more experience with Microsoft Core Infrastructure. This idea ignited me, although I have been an introvert all my life and speaking in public is similar to death for me. However, the last VMware vCloud course at Softline finished me off and tipped the scales in the right direction. It was hard to force myself to conduct trial lessons, I delayed for a long time, but as a result, on January 19, my first course on Windows Server starts. So far in the evening format, since I do not plan to leave the main work. In the future, it will be necessary to take the VMware direction, but the procedure for establishing MCT was more understandable and cheaper than VCI, and there is more experience with Microsoft Core Infrastructure. This idea ignited me, although I have been an introvert all my life and speaking in public is similar to death for me. However, the last VMware vCloud course at Softline finished me off and tipped the scales in the right direction. It was hard to force myself to conduct trial lessons, I delayed for a long time, but as a result, on January 19, my first course on Windows Server starts. So far in the evening format, since I do not plan to leave the main work. In the future, it will be necessary to take the VMware direction, but the procedure for establishing MCT was more understandable and cheaper than VCI, and there is more experience with Microsoft Core Infrastructure. but in the end on January 19 my first course on Windows Server starts. So far in the evening format, since I do not plan to leave the main work. In the future, it will be necessary to take the VMware direction, but the procedure for establishing MCT was more understandable and cheaper than VCI, and there is more experience with Microsoft Core Infrastructure. but in the end on January 19 my first course on Windows Server starts. So far in the evening format, since I do not plan to leave the main work. In the future, it will be necessary to take the VMware direction, but the procedure for establishing MCT was more understandable and cheaper than VCI, and there is more experience with Microsoft Core Infrastructure.
Again, I’m not sure that I would have decided on such a psychological breakthrough if I hadn’t, firstly, already received one significant achievement (change in the owl’s schedule), and secondly, had not freed up more free time.
- There was time to practice the guitar (the game "Rocksmith 2014", morning).
- Due to the shift of the work schedule by an hour ago, it became possible to attend previously inaccessible training sessions (from 18:00).
- There was a time for learning English (access to groups from 18:00, morning).
- A more comfortable way to and from work (metro until rush hour).
- Normal breakfasts.
- Subjectively increased the duration of the day
Minuses:
- Computer games have come to naught.
- Less watch a movie. In general, there has been less joint activity on weekdays (although more on weekends)
- 6 hours of sleep, however, is not enough with an active lifestyle, even (or especially) if the main activity is on the brain.
A lot of time has passed since then. I received several times questions on different results channels. Perhaps someone else will be interested. And it will be useful for me to arrange them in my head.
The experiment lasted until the end of September. Not bad, considering that the initial planned duration was a month, and it began in April. Yes, and you can’t say that it ended, because changes in life and routine have occurred significant. They can be divided into two subtopics. They are under the cut. The article contains only a description of personal experience and is a logical conclusion to the previous one.
Mode and early rise
The main reason for the cancellation of the rise at 5 am was the realization that learning to play the guitar in a computer game is not quite the right way. The game "Rocksmith 2014" is great, but you need to know the base. This thought came to me when I caught myself on the fact that I actually had to relearn after each chord or even one note in the melody. Yes, and my study painfully sounds like training - pulling and clicking on the right places of the guitar according to the corresponding signal from the screen with reinforcement in the form of feelings “I did it”.
The value of basic knowledge in the study of any subject area has finally strengthened in my mind (the first revelation came after six months of aikido classes). I even began to look at instructions for devices before a practical acquaintance.
As a result, in order not to develop the skills from which I will subsequently have to relearn, I postponed the guitar until I took some basic course at least. The vacated morning hour was occupied for some time by a working draft, then when it ended, by watching lectures from coursera.org, but the last variant of pastime by the body was not perceived as essential and gradually came to naught, under the pressure of growing fatigue and the need for a dream.
The second reason, or rather the reason for the aforementioned need for sleep, was that the start of the experiment coincided with the dismissal of my partner at work and, as a result, a significantly increased load. In general, over the past year I had the opportunity to learn, master and develop more skills than the total three years before. It was very interesting, but exhausting, a kind of "pumping on the limits" in terms of MMORPG. By October, I felt devastation and the need for rest, significantly reduced activity and switched to an energy-saving mode. Definitely I can be attributed to sprinters, rather than styers .
Summary
Average time to go to bed: 23:30, rise at 6-6: 30. Early rises no longer scare, do not cause negativity. Starting the day earlier, nevertheless, is more productive than dumbing into the monitor for half a night, the six-month experience allows us to say this confidently. Sleep became more stable (in terms of mode and duration), caffeine became less required. The working schedule remained from 8 to 17, which gives more freedom in the after-hours. In particular, it allowed me to complete an English course. Part of the classes fell off due to energy saving and rethinking - aikido in September, guitar in the summer - however, a new direction of self-realization arose. Not everything planned for the year was completed, but in general, the year can be assessed as successful. But more about that in the next subtopic.
Focus on the important
In the comments to the first part there were a number of critical remarks on the theme that, having waved too many, so to say, “hobbies” (aikido, guitar, a new field of activity at work, English, psychology), I have every chance not to achieve how much anything meaningful results in anything.
That's right.
As practice has shown, at some point the less significant falls off, saving energy for the more important. Looking back, I can characterize my model of behavior as a way out of the impasse of self-realization and self-development. I will give a simple example. Four and a half years ago, when I was the leader of the system administrators team, I read a number of “managerial” books to develop my managerial and organizational skills - David Allen, Gleb Arkhangelsky, Lister with Demarco, etc. I also came across some inspirational articles on personal growth from Steve Pavlin and someone else (whence ideas about 30-day habits, for example). Since then, the ideas of personal growth, self-development and self-organization have taken hold of my mind. As one of the tools, I defined reading for myself. I obligated myself to occupy them with all the "leaking" free time - in transport, on hold, in long lines, etc. With a flow of even 4 books a month, the question quickly arises of “what to read next?” - familiar authors end up and become boring, as is the case with music. I started asking friends and casual acquaintances for something to recommend, collecting titles and authors of books in social networks and blogs. My ToRead list was fantastically diverse - from Stephen King and Roger Zhelyazna, who I preferred at that time, to History of Culture, various esoterics and Kara-Murza. Even if I didn’t understand something in the story (this concerned non-fiction), but the book didn’t seem senseless or useless to me, I forced myself to read it, just forming neural connections and filling my subconscious with luggage. Gradually non-fixation supplanted fiction. Now psychology makes up more than half the reading, there is a specific goal to go to psychology next year to get a second higher education, there is no need to search and receive recommendations - even if I drop everything now and will only read, I have enough literature for years, and every second book read increases this list.
However, if I were five years ago, instead of focusing on the process “I must read something”, I would try to focus on a specific subject area, it’s far from the fact that I would even know that I am very interested in psychology in general and transactional analysis in particular. It's funny, considering that for a long time I was sure that focusing on the process, not on the goal and result, is either a myth or an imitation of work.
Therefore, when my professional or personal development comes to a standstill, I release a batch of reconnaissance probes - new areas of activity, research and experience.
And besides, knowledge is not superfluous. Over time, you can make sure that even with nothing seemingly unrelated spheres of activity have much in common. For example, the basics of Aikido help in mastering the guitar - the importance of the correct position of the body, the economy of movements, the muscles should be tensed only in those parts of the body that are currently involved, again, concentration. A wealth of IT experience helps in learning foreign languages - we learn not by memorization, but by clarifying the system, general principles and rules. Game theory, specifically the “prisoner's dilemma,” helped to better understand the principle of Storage IO Control . Etc.
On this subject I am drawn to long and thoughtfully keening. There were even thoughts about the career of a personal growth coach, but this profession is so vulgar, and the whole essence of the teaching, if you think about it, can be reduced to one sentence - continue to develop continuously and success will follow. And everything else is coaching fog and everyone’s personal path.
Summary
As already said, the goals associated with the guitar and aikido temporarily froze. In English, a significant breakthrough, not fluent, of course, but I can communicate and read books (at the beginning of the year I could only read the technical text). And at the end of the year, as I already wrote, I discovered a new direction of implementation. The fact is that over the past 2 years I attended 6 IT courses (virtualization, storage) and was horrified by the level of teaching in Russia (the only adequate course in terms of knowledge was in EMC, in English, with a teacher invited from Europe ; in all other cases, the most valuable that has been handed down is the manual). And they visited the following ideas: a) I can learn, systematize and share new information, b) I have rich practical experience, c) I like to learn new things and I know that the best way to learn material is to try to convey it to someone. In short, I decided to become an instructor of the courses and make every effort to dilute the level of mediocrity in the teaching environment. This idea ignited me, although I have been an introvert all my life and speaking in public is similar to death for me. However, the last VMware vCloud course at Softline finished me off and tipped the scales in the right direction. It was hard to force myself to conduct trial lessons, I delayed for a long time, but as a result, on January 19, my first course on Windows Server starts. So far in the evening format, since I do not plan to leave the main work. In the future, it will be necessary to take the VMware direction, but the procedure for establishing MCT was more understandable and cheaper than VCI, and there is more experience with Microsoft Core Infrastructure. This idea ignited me, although I have been an introvert all my life and speaking in public is similar to death for me. However, the last VMware vCloud course at Softline finished me off and tipped the scales in the right direction. It was hard to force myself to conduct trial lessons, I delayed for a long time, but as a result, on January 19, my first course on Windows Server starts. So far in the evening format, since I do not plan to leave the main work. In the future, it will be necessary to take the VMware direction, but the procedure for establishing MCT was more understandable and cheaper than VCI, and there is more experience with Microsoft Core Infrastructure. This idea ignited me, although I have been an introvert all my life and speaking in public is similar to death for me. However, the last VMware vCloud course at Softline finished me off and tipped the scales in the right direction. It was hard to force myself to conduct trial lessons, I delayed for a long time, but as a result, on January 19, my first course on Windows Server starts. So far in the evening format, since I do not plan to leave the main work. In the future, it will be necessary to take the VMware direction, but the procedure for establishing MCT was more understandable and cheaper than VCI, and there is more experience with Microsoft Core Infrastructure. but in the end on January 19 my first course on Windows Server starts. So far in the evening format, since I do not plan to leave the main work. In the future, it will be necessary to take the VMware direction, but the procedure for establishing MCT was more understandable and cheaper than VCI, and there is more experience with Microsoft Core Infrastructure. but in the end on January 19 my first course on Windows Server starts. So far in the evening format, since I do not plan to leave the main work. In the future, it will be necessary to take the VMware direction, but the procedure for establishing MCT was more understandable and cheaper than VCI, and there is more experience with Microsoft Core Infrastructure.
Again, I’m not sure that I would have decided on such a psychological breakthrough if I hadn’t, firstly, already received one significant achievement (change in the owl’s schedule), and secondly, had not freed up more free time.