Eric Tapley

I don’t think life rules can be effective unless you’re reminded of them frequently. I’ve posted these at home and at work so I should see (and thus think and act) on them every day. These will be the first thing I read in the morning, when I return from my lunch break, and one of the last things I see before going to bed.

I have a tendency to stop engaging with something after I know what it says so I may have to mix these up a bit. Maybe I’ll create a ritual like “read the rules while brushing teeth.” Wait… that could be another rule… and now my rules have rituals!?!

Fight trend toward complexity.

Must. Keep. It. Simple.

Simple systems - those that can be broken down into a few easy to follow rules - seem to work best for people and nature. They’re certainly easier to follow than complicated, nested, conditional and dependent sets of rules. So in the spirit of my earlier post of producing more here are nine daily rules I’m going to follow in the hope of discovering more pleasant and productive time each day. I expect an immediate and visible impact in terms of my work, health, and happiness.

1. Produce + create every day.
2. Exercise every day.
3. Read before bedtime.
4. To bed by 11:00p; to rise by 7:00a.
5. Don’t eat after 7:00p.
6. Watch less television.
7. Play more games.
8. Set reasonable personal expectations.
9. Try to save 10% at home and work.

We’ll see how these go. I might add “Drink more water” to the list sometime.

I didn’t add broad things like “More family time,” or “Engage in leisure activities,” because I think both will come from watching less television and playing more games.

Do you have a list of simple daily rules?

It occurred to me today that, sometime ago, I made a shift away from being primarily a producer to a consumer. I’m not sure when this happened, or even how, but I think that most of my time is now spent consuming services and products (or, at work, selecting those for others to produce) rather than directly producing them myself.

This really bothers me. It doesn’t feel like the right balance at all.

I feel better when I’m producing. There’s an aspect of creation which helps lift my spirits and self-esteem. It’s easy to be proud of something great you’ve crafted, but pretty hard (and probably delusional, irrational, and immature) to be proud of something you’ve consumed. Especially if it’s too many cookies!

Although I don’t tell her this enough, I’m immensely proud of my wife for being a producer. She takes time almost every day to write. Sometimes she can only find a few minutes while the baby is napping, sometimes it’s great stretches of productivity, but every day she has that same focus: I will try to write today. And this is on top of taking care of our family and holding down a job. Amazing.

So I’m giving it a shot. Every day I’m consciously going to consider what I’m producing and focus at least some time on doing so. My definition is fairly broad - writing, blogging, working with photos, designing sites, crafting insights and strategies for clients, etc. - but something that contributes.

Maybe this means I’ll blog more.