Week 2: More time for reading.

“Life is just a series of obstacles preventing you from reading your book”

A friend of mine shared this quote last week, and while it’s meant to be humourous, I thought it summed up the quest I’ve been on for the last couple of years almost perfectly.

The first term that I used to try to describe what I’ve been doing was “Lifestyle Optimization”, but then I googled it. Mainly, the articles that came up seemed to be a list of tips on how to make your work day more efficient and save yourself valuable seconds on various tasks. There was one article that started off describing how the author had rearranged his computer keyboard so that once he re-learned how to type on the new layout it would increase his typing speed by 10%. I cannot imagine a world where I know exactly what I want to say so quickly that I would need to increase my typing speed by any percentage, but good for him.

So what did I actually mean? I’m sure there’s already a name coined for it, but for now I’ll call it Life Energy Valuation. Simply put, I have been reviewing how my time is being spent and trying to figure out ways to eliminate the things that don’t add value so that I have more time for the things that do. It’s an ongoing process of trial and error, but has been super satisfying so far.

I’ll give you an example: At the time I started doing this, I was driving approximately one hour each way to work, 5 days a week. That’s about 10 hours a week! More than a full work day! This time was absolutely not time well spent. It was frustrating and irritating during the trip and it added stress before and after, either from worrying about a future traffic problem that would delay me, or trying to decompress after a particularly annoying journey. Plus it cost money for gas and car expenses, and it was bad for the environment, which made me feel guilty. Not only was this time not adding value to my life, but it was actively decreasing my happiness on a daily basis.

But what were my options? I could take transit and use the commute time for reading, I could listen to podcasts or audiobooks to try to make that time in the car more pleasant, or I could find a new job. I decided that transit was out because it would have meant adding another hour to my daily commute, which I was not willing to do. I tried podcasts and audiobooks for a bit, but I couldn’t concentrate on them enough while dealing with traffic to actually enjoy them. That left finding a new job.

I won’t bore you with details about the process, but the result was that I moved from 5 days a week of 10.5 hour days, to 4 days a week of 11 hour days. My commute was reduced by 30 minutes per day (for one less day a week) and the commute itself, instead of spent wasting away in the car, was 25 min of walking and 20 min of reading on the bus, each way. It was quite glorious. (I say this in past tense because I’ve since moved on to an even better situation.) Most importantly though, I’ve gained a whole extra day each week to focus on things that do add value to my life!

I recognize that not everyone has the option to make a change like this, whether due to their job circumstances or other life responsibilities, this is just the best example of my own LEV process. We all have different things in our lives that we want more or less of, but I think a lot of the time, we don’t really question whether the balance of these things is working well for us. For me, it took being extra dissatisfied with my work situation to push me towards making a change.

What opened my eyes to the possibilities was a book called Early Retirement Extreme. I don’t even remember how I came across it in the first place, but it was the first step towards a great many lifestyle changes. The other two resources that really got me motivated were a book called Your Money or Your Life (this is where the term “Life Energy” comes from), and a blog called Mr. Money Mustache. I’m sure I will end up writing about all of these at some point, but for now, feel free to look them up if you’re interested.

With my newfound free time, what am I adding to my life? Mostly it’s unstructured time to work on projects of my own choosing. I want to do more writing, get back into designing and making stained glass, and just have some ‘me’ time to sit around and read, guilt-free. Potentially I’d also like to do some projects that bring in income, creating room for more flexibility in my schedule as time goes by.

At this point, with over a year and a half of Mondays under my belt, I have pursued all kinds of projects and ideas – some lasted one day, some have come and gone numerous times and some are still percolating, but just having the freedom to explore my interests has been incredibly valuable.  As I mentioned, it’s an ongoing process.

For most of my adult life, I would have agreed with that initial quote above as being sadly true, but at this point, it would be more accurate if it said:

“Life is about removing the obstacles preventing you from reading your book”