In 2010, across 15 days, I rode the length of New Zealand. That trip remains the longest I’ve been offline since the 1990s.
After two weeks, I had 1500 emails waiting and I realized something needed to change.
I started applying Inbox Zero techniques to all areas of my life:
Delete / Unsubscribe / Nice No Thanks
Schedule
Do It Now
Last week, I had five days offline. I came back and cleared all emails & notifications during a 75-minute indoor ride.1
A 20-fold improvement from 2010.
Progress, but the challenge remains…
How to allocate time?
How Much To (Re)Allocate
The desire to schedule a cyber retreat came from opening my phone one morning and seeing the last viewed page was my average screen time (6 hours).
Our family operates an “open phone policy” meaning we can look at each other’s phones, anytime, no questions asked.
So I’m not sure who was checking on me but it was a useful bit of info.
2000 Annual Hours
The good people at Apple show me my allocation but I didn’t need the detail. I knew that no matter how I was allocating that time, I could do it better.
I started my retreat with the question…
Where best to apply 1000 hours in 2024?
When I’m unsure about a change, I have two approaches.
Go Half Way.
Go-Half-Way comes from the finance maxim to “sell to the sleeping point.” Meaning, if something is keeping us up-at-night then reduce it far enough so we can sleep soundly.
Personally, I’m ruthless with sleep disruptions. Anything that causes me to lose sleep is eliminated.
Settling Internal Noise
I spent most of the week in Mexico.
The first couple days offline are about decompressing.
We don’t realize how much of our thoughts arise from our inputs (music, news, social, email, tv, podcasts).
Personally, I didn’t notice their absence until I was flying home from Mexico. Direct TV on United was lit up around me and I saw the news that I’d been missing. Thoughts began reappearing.
A couple days later, while riding, I listened to music. After the ride, I noticed the music kept playing in my head. By then I’d gained some clarity on where I want to focus.
Getting To Print
It took me five years, and fifteen days, to write my first book.
The 15 days were the key bit.
In August 2002, I raced Ironman Canada and went to visit my grandmother. Each morning, I’d have breakfast with Nana then walk down to the local Starbucks.
There was a single item on my To Do List…
Write One Chapter.
It didn’t take many days until I had a rough draft of my book.
From that experience, I learned that 12 chapters is enough for a first edition. I’ve written that many sections in 2023.
If you have a book idea…
20+ years ago, I built a habit of publishing articles on questions that kept re-appearing in my life.
Over the last two years, I’ve built a habit of two unscheduled days every single week. I created the space before I “needed” it.
The main person you need to convince is yourself. It’s possible to bypass the publishers.2
Combine the above.
One day a week, with a single item on my To Do List…
Write One Chapter.
150 hour allocation with a large, annuity-like return.3
The book project is a re-allocation example.
I have the time…
I am already doing the work…
I need to re-focus my work.
It’s a motivation challenge.
Carve out a 15 days and make it happen.
For an incentive, I’ve promised myself a trip to French Polynesia when the rough draft is complete.
The drafts of my first book were proofed on TransPacific flights. I’d like to recreate a fond memory.
Work Over Time
The book is an example of high return-per-hour reallocation.
Other goals require a greater time commitment.
Some goals require a far greater time commitment.
The most important goals are not about money.
Another realization I had when all the noise was removed…
My functional losses from 40 to 55 years old are negligible.
Don’t get me wrong. I am WAY slower than I was in my early 40s.
However, my day-to-day physical experience is identical and I feel great.
Why is that?
Across my 30s, I built a massive Functional Reserve.
Endurance - Metabolic Fitness
Strength - Lean Body Mass & Work Capacity
Agility / Balance / Skill - Applied Endurance & Strength
Mobility - Range of Motion & (P)rehabilitation
Thinking further back, the simple changes I made in my late-20s (drink less, move more)… set up what happened in my 30s.
20s => 30s => 40s => 50s and Beyond…
The allocation in each stage of our lives has downstream effects. Allocations towards building Functional Reserve have had the greatest impact on my life experience.
Increases in Financial Wealth have the greatest impact on my consumption and spending.
Increases in Functional Capacity broaden my world and improve my life experience.
My status quo tends to push me towards consumption and spending. It’s also where I end up when I’m too busy, or stressed.
The change I’m looking to make in 2024 is an extra 5 hours per week, mostly cycling. I’ll touch on my long-term goals in a future article.
Incremental Change
Radical Change is rarely required, or sustainable. Incremental change is where the action’s at.
I’ve outlined two changes for 2024.
One Day A Week: create a chapter draft
Five Days A Week: train one extra hour
Together they add up to 400 annual hours.
400 hours is less than half of my 1000 reallocation goal. I know I can achieve it.
I’ve proven they are worthwhile changes.4
I’ve given myself social pressure by telling you.
I’ve offered an incentive for completion.
What one thing, if it happened, would change everything?
Make It Happen.
With email, most issues resolve themselves. With social, the flow of information is so noisy, there there are no issues to resolve. It’s like talking to a river. All reach, no stickiness. Writing is different.
More on the economics to come. I’ve written for free, and for money, since the late-1990s. Most of the money I made from writing came indirectly.
Reach doesn’t generate income. “High-quality products that help people” generate income. Quality products, with no expiry dates, generate income over time.
Proven to myself. Our lives need only make sense to ourselves. We each need to decide our own life path.