Just Go Play

It’s Monday again. Yay!

…I wish I had felt that way when I woke up this morning.

Because honestly?
It felt like a Monday.

And I’m FIRE… what the what?

For the past few days—maybe a week—I’ve been waking up tired, a little unmotivated, with this low-grade sense of heaviness. Energy’s down. Things feel… off.

What is up with that?

There’s an artist I like—Feral The Earthworm. His album Vanarchy has been a favorite in my rotation for a while.

The second track is Do What I Love. And in it, there’s this sample of some music industry business guy giving advice on how to “make it”:

“Just go play live. Just go play live.”

Now… the self-interested nature of that advice aside (sure, Mr. Industry Guy, tell the artists to go generate your revenue for you… got it)… there is something in there worth paying attention to.

Not the “live” part.

The first part.

Just go play.

April’s been a good month. I’ve done a lot. I’m making real progress on projects and goals.

For example, I’ve now posted a blog article like this every day for over a month. I’m well on my way to hitting my goal of a full year of daily posts.

That’s not nothing.

But…

I haven’t really been playing.

I’ve been structured. Focused. Productive.

Also? A little rigid. A little tight.

Even when I’ve tried to “recreate,” it’s felt… scheduled.

That might be the issue.

I was talking with Lee (of The Leavers) this past week, and I brought up something I’ve been wrestling with:

How many “core” activities can I realistically do in a day?

By that I mean the big rocks—the things that actually move life forward.

I know I can do one.
I’m pretty sure I can do two.
Three? I start to feel it.

And if I’m being honest, there’s probably a natural ceiling somewhere around five or six—but that depends on how long each thing takes.

Because let’s do the math.

Most meaningful things take at least an hour. A lot take two.

Stack six two-hour blocks together… that’s 12 hours.

Out of, what, 14–16 waking hours?

And somewhere in there you’re supposed to eat, exist, maybe shower… be a human.

So yeah. There’s a limit.

There’s an author, Craig Ballantyne, who talks about designing a “perfect week.”

His method is simple: take a sheet of paper, divide it into 42 blocks (6 rows, 7 columns), and assign each block to your most important activities ahead of time.

Then follow the plan.

He’s big on discipline.

And I actually like the idea.

It just… doesn’t work for me.

So I’m trying something different this week.

A little game.

Think of it like blackjack—21.

Instead of filling an entire week with structured blocks, I’m focusing on one day at a time.

And instead of six slots… I’m picking three.

Three things per day.

That’s it.

But here’s the rule:
They have to excite me.
They have to energize me.

Stack seven days of that?

You get 21.

You win.

So I started yesterday.

And sure enough, I hit my three:

First—I ate the rest of the questionable food in my house and fully leaned into a lazy day.

Strategic? Debatable.
Necessary? Absolutely.

Now I can reset and actually dial in my calorie intake (as discussed yesterday). And honestly, I just needed a day off.

Second—I made real progress on summer travel plans. Dates, locations, movement. That felt good.

Third—I wrote and posted my daily blog.

That one’s starting to feel automatic now—and I love that.

Today, I’m going to be a little more intentional with my three:

One—this post. Which, ironically(?), I am enjoying writing.

Two—music rehearsal. But I’m changing the approach.

Instead of grinding through 15 songs in a row (which has started to feel like… work), I’m going to take 5 songs and play them three times each.

Same total effort. Completely different feel.

That alone makes me more excited to do it.

Three—map out my calorie intake for the rest of the month.

Yes, I know how that sounds.

But to me, that’s a puzzle. And I like puzzles.

You do you. I’ll do me.

And somewhere in there, I’ll also start thinking about tomorrow’s three.

That’s the game.

What about you?

What are three things you could do today—or tomorrow—that would actually lift your energy?

Not what you should do.

What you’d want to do.

I’ll report back on how this experiment goes later this week.

But for now…

Have some fun.

Go play.

And I’ll see you out on the Highway to Yeah.