When it comes to Post-FIRE living, you must establish some kind of structure.
You enter it thinking you have all the time in the world.
And in one sense you do, but only if you forget the natural ebb and flow of how life unfolds.
Yesterday, I compared three simple methods for daily planning:
the Rule of Three, the 1-3-5 Method, and the Ivy Lee Method.
These are ways to give some structure to your infinite free time.
My hope is that they do so in a way that doesn’t drain you, burn you out, or keep you burned out if you are recovering from your time working for a paycheck.
Today, I want to do a finer comparison of Oliver Burkeman’s 3-3-3 Method from his book 4,000 Weeks, as compared to the 1-3-5 Method, which I decided was my favorite of the three reviewed yesterday. It fits my current situation best.
For some reason, I got it in my head back in March of this year that I could simply add a new habit each month.
At the end of the 12-month period, I would have 12 things that I naturally do.
They would have become so habitual that I would just easily flow into doing them.
You may recall, I hit a wall in August and backed off from this plan.
In a way, I had set myself up for failure by implementing two massive goals that take, on average, five hours per day to complete.
And then feathering in everything else I had in the works, too. I had basically created an 8–10-hour minimum work schedule.
Huh? I thought you were no longer working for a paycheck.
Exactly.
It took me a bit, but I finally realized that I needed a simpler method.
I have great hopes for the 1-3-5 Method, but I want to compare it to the 3-3-3 Method a bit more before fully embracing it.
Let’s start with the centerpiece of both: Your One Thing.
Both of these methods assume that you have one task that requires some form of consistent and intensive focus to complete.
The 3-3-3 Method gives you three to no more than four hours per day to work on it.
The 1-3-5 Method asks you to complete something related to it each day.
My One Thing for this year is to produce and post a blog article every day for one full year.
Could I change this?
Yes, but for better or worse, I am committed to seeing this goal through.
If I were using the 3-3-3 Method, I would give myself three to four hours per day to work on this goal or project.
More than likely, I would be able to complete two article drafts in this time.
I could very likely also edit and post one of these two drafts in that time, too.
Alternatively, I could reframe my goal to be something like, “I spend three to four hours per day creating artifacts.”
There’s probably a better word than artifacts, but what I mean is that in that three- to four-hour period, I might write two blog article drafts, and/or I might write and record one or two new song demos.
There is certainly merit to this, but right now it feels too heavy.
My goal of one article posted per day for a full year is heavy enough already.
And I am really not in need of creating new songs.
I have over fifty (50) that I played live at open mics this summer and that were received well by audiences.
These have not been re-recorded from their original scratch demos.
That is a huge project in and of itself.
Perhaps that is something I will add, but not for now.
The 1-3-5 Method works exceptionally well for my current One Thing.
It is more interested in results versus effort.
With the 3-3-3 Method, I could draft articles for three to four hours per day and never post a single one of them, if I don’t want to.
And that is what I have done with songwriting. I have written nearly 1,300 scratch demos.
Unlike a blog article, which is lower stakes, in my opinion, I can’t imagine writing and posting a scratch song recording each day.
Writing good songs is a bit like writing a good book, I suppose.
If every song represents a chapter, you have to write something like 50 to 100 chapters of material to get twelve (12) good ones to make up a book.
Posting an article to the blog every day for a year is a fundamentally different endeavor.
It is much more about consistency over quality or quantity.
Sure, I can pre-draft, edit, and schedule a posting, but at the end of the day, the only metric that matters is:
“Did the article get published?”
Yes or no?
However, that is not why I am doing it.
Which is a great question.
Why is this my One Thing?
Or even better, what did I hope to accomplish by pursuing this goal?
I will be danged if I really know.
I heard two guys on two different podcasts talk about how life-transforming it was when they did it.
Plus, I wanted to spend more time on the other half of my encore career besides music.
I want to help people find and get on their own personal Highway to Yeah.
What I am learning is that I am not sure myself how to do this.
Oh, I have some ideas, and I have had some success in doing so.
However, I am not a guru, nor do I really even want to be one.
And that is One of the Big dilemmas of finding and getting on your own Highway to Yeah.
You have to know what you want.
I’m still searching, I guess.
Perhaps at the end of this year, i will be pointing in the rigth direction.
We will see.
Tomorrow, I will be back with a discussion and comparison of the three items that make up the middle three in the 3-3-3 and 1-3-5 Methods.