In a previous post, I talked about how I’m addicted to making timetables and how I’ve always struggled to find the right balance between rigidity and flexibility in my routine. My solution to the problem was to step away from timetables and go with a loose routine where I plan every morning what I want to do and I try to hit several areas everyday, such as some work, some art, some music etc. But that solution is too loose and too flexible. Especially on days when I have a slow start in the morning. Then it’s pretty hard to get motivated to plan half a day and instead I end up just staying distracted and waiting for the next morning to start fresh again.

Finally, I’ve managed to learn a lesson that must be obvious to most people. That flexibility is not something to be built into a routine, flexibility is in the mind.

The routine should be rigid but the mindset should be flexible.

For me, it has been difficult to have a flexible mindset because of my personality. I have slight obsessive compulsive tendencies and so ‘taking things easy’ or ‘going with the flow’ or ‘being spontaneous’ don’t come naturally to me.

Earlier when I made a routine and let’s say I had set 10am to do something for one hour, I had to start that thing by 10:05, 10:10 latest. If I couldn’t start it till 10:15 then I’d just not do it. I’d wait for 11 to start the next thing.

Why? Well, because if you do something for 45 minutes then you haven’t done an hour of work. You’ve done 0.75 hours of work. And I like to count hours that I’ve worked and counting 0.75 hours rubs my OCD-like tendencies the wrong way. I can still do 0.5 hours but not 0.75 hours. Because if you count 0.75 hours then you also have to count 0.25 hours and give the numbers a chance to become whole again. I know, this sounds crazy, but this is what mattered to me a lot.

Now, it’s no longer a problem. I’ve learned the art of being flexible. I have a rigid routine now but not a day goes by when I don’t have to do some flexible mind gymnastics to make it work and I don’t find it upsetting anymore. No matter when I wake up, from sleep, or from a daydream, I just get back to the routine. I still try to make up for the parts I missed. If not, then I focus on what’s left in the day. I still count hours but now I allow myself to round up. If I work for 45 minutes, I count it as 1 hour. No one knows. (Shhh… don’t tell anyone!)

I’ve been wondering how I was able to make this change? I think this has got to do with my philosophy and the system I’ve theorized about. It was near impossible for me to do something like this and I’ve been trying for 20 years. What has changed now is that I started by first taking care of my sleep.

My sleep is awesome right now. I sleep 8 hours minimum. Sometimes I wake up at night for an hour or two but then I sleep again and wake up later in the morning. And I don’t let it upset me. I do light exposure in the morning after waking up, no matter what time I wake up and also in the evening. I do yellow light only after sunset.

I’ve also quit YouTube. It’s been two months since I binge watched YouTube. I have just stopped going to YouTube at any time during the day. I do watch some videos when I have to learn something or maybe even to listen to a song but even then it’s like 1 video in 3 days or something. Compared to earlier when I would watch anywhere from 20 to 50 videos in one day.

Sometimes I find myself getting stuck on Pinterest on my phone but it’s not as bad as YouTube because Pinterest keeps showing me the same stuff over and over again. Or I get into AI generated imagery and it pisses me off so I stop scrolling. I’ve also restricted watching shows and movies to meal times only. I do watch cricket or F1 at non-meal times but that’s not a daily distraction.

I’ve started working out regularly. I go for runs three times a week and I run close to 5km every day in about 28 minutes so that’s a good pace. I also do pull ups and push ups and stretching at home. I’m trying to add some weights on days when I don’t run.

I think because I’ve taken care of these strands, it has become easier to improve other strands of my life. And being kind to myself and allowing myself to be flexible and not getting negative if I miss something and rounding up when I count hours, all these things have become easier because other areas of my life are under control.

I’m also feeling good about everything since I started using ChatGPT to do philosophy. I’ll write about that soon but it’s awesome just as a bouncing board for your ideas. I haven’t posted here since March but that’s not because I was down. On the contrary, it’s because I’ve been doing so well and I decided to stop posting too many casual posts on the blog. Expect more regular posts from now on.

Cover Photo by 愚木混株 cdd20 on Unsplash