Time Management

I'm still in the relatively early part of what will be a five to six month long transitional period. In theory the way this time will be filled is with me doing some low level job in order to get by, but that is looking gradually less and less likely to pan out. As we all know the job market is down now, and there haven't been any promising leads.

That being said I don't want this time to be wasted, and after about a week of searching fruitlessly I started working on making better use of this time. I sat down and thought about what I would need to do in order to fight depression, and continue personal development. And, in all honesty, I wanted to make sure I had something to point to when it got to be February or March when I would likely have to approach my relatives about the fact that I may end up being a financial burden on them. Somehow "I've spent the last month doing nothing, could you pay for me to do that for another month or two," just sounds bad.

I spent a while thinking about it, and muttering to myself about how this would all be easier if I still had my whiteboard, and I decided I needed a schedule, and some structure. No matter what else happened, I needed to do something on a daily basis. It should be good for me, and ideally it should be free.

This is why I spent four days last week at the gym.

It's working out really well. It gives me somewhere to go, it makes me feel better, it gives me energy which helps motivate me enough to do the other little things I need to do to get things in order, and it has a static fee of $45/month regardless of how often I go, and I've started reading while on the elliptical or bikes, so I'm finally making a dent in the pile of books that I own but haven't yet read. Getting in shape is also something I've been attempting on and off for years now. As a student of psychology and an evangelist of the mind body link I already know how much being in good health can improve the way your mind and brain function. As a fan of fringe knowledge I'm intrigued by the borderline immortality that comes from proper health and diet, which is why I also picked up food rules and am gradually transitioning towards a whole foods diet, which has nothing to do with the store. And of course the psychological motivation that can come from something as simple as a girl cooing in your arms as she runs her hands over your bicep is something that should not be understated.

This reminds me that I need to write out my rant about the salience of measures that are normally viewed as shallow. Another time though.

So recently I'm often asked how the job hunt is going, and the honest answer is terribly. Not a thing, but I'm not saying that with a sense of despondence. It's an odd thought, yes what I am theoretically supposed to be doing isn't working out at all, but I'm feeling pretty good anyway. Let's just hope things seem this rosy in a month.