Where Resolve goes to Die

The order of the virtues is purposeful. Maintaining temperance helps keep the mind sharp and aware of what you’re doing. Eating too much, especially sugars in my case, make the mind flabby and prone to indulgence. My resolve dies at the bottom of the whisky glass.

One the first day of this project I outlined 3 edicts to help control my intake:

1. no alcohol on an empty stomach
2. no more than one, measured drink
3. stop eating before feeling full

And this week I have broken those first two edicts numerous times. When I drink too much, I eat too much and when I eat too much, I don’t sleep; when I don’t sleep, I have to determination; when I have no determination, I drink too much.

It’s fitting, too, that this is happening on my week on Resolve. This is the time a per son gives up when before them all they see are broken promises and the renewed power of their bad habits. This is where the easy option is to say “fuck it” and run away from battle.

No, I’m not interested in stopping. It’s easy to fall into bad patterns. That’s what I’m trying to address with this whole project. And I knew it was going to be a struggle. This is the essence of resolve - strength in the face of failure.

Resolve’s earliest form appears as Fortitude in the Greek cardinal virtues. It is alternately defined as fortitude, strength, and endurance. In most cases, it is used as a characteristic feature for martial classes and is heavily intertwined with fearlessness in the face of hurt, harm, or death. Other ethical systems take a similar tack using these virtues as their foundation.

Bushido, for example, lists courage which is defined thus:

“The ability and willingness to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation.”

The Chivalric Code (1) includes martial courage in “Thou shalt not recoil from thine enemies”(2). Confucius had a poetic expression of “resolve” encapsulated by one who maintains their way,

“He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.”

Nearly every other ethical system, religious or otherwise, include courage as a core virtue and while I believe Franklin was intending to skirt the martial aspects of resolve - he was a diplomat and pacifist at heart(4) - you cannot treat resolve like anything other than perseverance in war.

As with any endeavor at self improvement, be it attaining moral perfection or even just not drinking on an empty stomach, it takes courage to change. Change is scary and it’s simpler to fall into old patterns.

Maya Angelou encapsulates the interdependence of any change with the virtue of resolve:

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. “

Resolve is the hardest to keep. The intention of the order of the virtues is that each builds upon the next. Temperance in food and drink keeps the body health and the mind sharp. Silence brings us the clarity needed to find our truth. Resolve keeps us on the path even as trouble mounts.

So. Today is a new day and, though we’ve fallen off the path, it’s just over there. Why not get back on it?

1. Which is super fun to say. ChavALric Coooooode.↩︎

2. What is with Christian edicts starting with “shalt not”? Is being permissive problematic? (3) ↩︎

3. Yes. ↩︎

4. Which is interesting because Puritans were pretty rough and tumble. They were ready to fight during reformation for their principles. In part, I think shows how much more closely Franklin identified with the Quakers and Deists in Pennsylvania. ↩︎

Enneagram Personality

In starting in on research on “resolve” which is harder than I was expecting, likely because the concept is not so well defined, I encountered the Enneagram personality types.  Not sure why I’d never seen it before as a fan of things like Rembrandt and Meyers-Briggs personality types.

Your main type is Type 1 
Your variant stacking is so/sp/sx
Your level of health is average

Your main type is which ever behavior you utilize most and/or prefer. Your variant reflects your scoring profile on all nine types:  so = social variant (compliant, friendly), sx = sexual variant (assertive, intense), sp = self preservation variant (withdrawn, security seeking). For info on the flaws of the Enneagram system click here.

Perfectionist intellectual?  I don’t think anyone is terribly surprised.

A Week on Order

Week 3: Order

He that riseth late, must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night. Poor Richard’s Almanack

When I do not hydrate enough, which I do when I don’t got to the gym and whn I drink too much whisky, especially, late in the evening, I sleep so poorly that it is Herculean to rise at 5am according to my desired scheule. I am not Hercules; I’m probably closer in metaphporical relation to Gregarious of Gyro Wurld(1): minor importance, full of tzatziki.

Little changes in a day can make a difference. For instance, I sleep with Breathe-Rite strips because I have generalized congestion in the evenings. The previous two weeks, I had been using one tpe of strip and sleeping beautifully. This week, I used a different style that didn’t adhere as well and I sleept poorer. waking up at 5 was a chore and, not sleeping as well, racked up sleep deficit that impede each morning further.

I haven’t been able to go to the gym after an injury on Monday. No gym means bad hydration habits - exercise reminds me to drink actual water in an evening. Not gym reduces my mood and not enough water increases my nighttime congestion. So I sleep worse.

Whisky is an diuretic, it flushes water from your system.

You see where I’m going. All of these things compounded into a mediocre week. I didn’t have much energy or willpower to keep my daily or weekly goals in mind.

If we take Frankin’s meaning for Order by his short expression of it:

Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time. I have been pretty good with the former and abysmal with the latter (on two fronts for the latter).

I’m pretty good at keeping an organized house. Alyska takes care of much of the tidying up and I try not to add any disarray by cleaning up after myself in the evenings. Most of my messy activities are confined to the kichen the nights that I cook so this week and the last, I’ve been making special effort to clean up the dishes the same night they’re used.

I mostly kept up with that. We had a few later nights because of errands and other plans(2) so did not clean as much as I intended. I played a little catchup on Wednesday but we were out celebrating Alyska’s birthday on Thursday and didn’t finish. Last night, I caught up with dishes but neglected other stuff about the house.

Ultimately, I think my issues with Order are more an issue with Resolve, which is the focus of next week. I am bad at sticking to a plan becaues of unforseen things happening in a day taking energy away.

Refering back to Franklin’s definition of Order as a productivity tool, when much of your work is generated through other people, keeping productiv control can get messy. I manage both my QA team and part of the R&D team (sort of)but have no real autority over the latter from whom I inherit my core job responsibilities. I can only plan so much of my time so far in advance which is becoming increasingly problematic.

My job presents me with many (good) challenges and, as the company expert in a few areas, I’m regularly pulled into escalations with customers or governmental bodies. I enjoy it but it is stressful and pulls me away from other tasks. I’ve hit a point now where I must drastically reduce my responsibilities in a few areas so I can better manage my team and my ownership areas(3). It’s been a slow realization but I’ve got the ball rolling and I think by February I’ll be better able to own and execute the stuff I need to.

Suffice that it is nearly impossible to maintain Order in your business when you have to address lots of fires in a day. And having to shift between what other people need and what I need saps my will and reduces my effectiveness in everything I’m doing.

This week has made this starkly obvious. On Wednesday,I was starting to think I was just a shitty planner and resolutionary bungler. Today, I’m not so sure. I don’t plan as defensively as I could given what a typical workday resembles like plus the regular need for catchup(5). Attempting to do that plus stuff for Bunny Rope or clean the house or what ever else I am totally going to accomplish when iplan it at 6am is over-zealous.

It’s all a question of balance between resolution and relaxation. Yes, doing the dishes and tidying the house makes me feel good but sometimes I need Alyska and tacos and DVDs in bed.

We can addresss the frugality of that need later.

1. From Hercules the TV show. Herc gets a job at the Gyro Shop. There’s a bunch of bad jokes about the pronunciation of “gyro” which sounds like “hero” the latter of which is Herc’s desired job. Gregarious is the owner (4).↩︎

2. Tuesday night at a cigar bar with friends which ended in a bad night for temperance but a damn fun night for me. From my twitter feed: “I’m as bad at temperance as I am good at whisky.” No truer words tweeted. ↩︎

3. While still leaving space for some other opportunities I see on the horizon. I’ve been working more closely with our company’s Chief Privacy Officer who keeps recommending more to help with more of his responsibilities. ↩︎

4. I could pull off that beard. ↩︎
   

5. Honestly, this is the biggest, brightest, nose-runningest symptom that I am overcommitted; and, rather than looking at it as a personal failing, it is healthier to see it as a chance to adjust priorities and responsibilities and get myself some help. ↩︎

A Week on Order

Week 3: Order

He that riseth late, must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night. Poor Richard’s Almanack

When I do not hydrate enough, which I do when I don’t got to the gym and whn I drink too much whisky, especially, late in the evening, I sleep so poorly that it is Herculean to rise at 5am according to my desired scheule. I am not Hercules; I’m probably closer in metaphporical relation to Gregarious of Gyro Wurld(1): minor importance, full of tzatziki.

Little changes in a day can make a difference. For instance, I sleep with Breathe-Rite strips because I have generalized congestion in the evenings. The previous two weeks, I had been using one tpe of strip and sleeping beautifully. This week, I used a different style that didn’t adhere as well and I sleept poorer. waking up at 5 was a chore and, not sleeping as well, racked up sleep deficit that impede each morning further.

I haven’t been able to go to the gym after an injury on Monday. No gym means bad hydration habits - exercise reminds me to drink actual water in an evening. Not gym reduces my mood and not enough water increases my nighttime congestion. So I sleep worse.

Whisky is an diuretic, it flushes water from your system.

You see where I’m going. All of these things compounded into a mediocre week. I didn’t have much energy or willpower to keep my daily or weekly goals in mind.

If we take Frankin’s meaning for Order by his short expression of it:

Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time. I have been pretty good with the former and abysmal with the latter (on two fronts for the latter).

I’m pretty good at keeping an organized house. Alyska takes care of much of the tidying up and I try not to add any disarray by cleaning up after myself in the evenings. Most of my messy activities are confined to the kichen the nights that I cook so this week and the last, I’ve been making special effort to clean up the dishes the same night they’re used.

I mostly kept up with that. We had a few later nights because of errands and other plans(2) so did not clean as much as I intended. I played a little catchup on Wednesday but we were out celebrating Alyska’s birthday on Thursday and didn’t finish. Last night, I caught up with dishes but neglected other stuff about the house.

Ultimately, I think my issues with Order are more an issue with Resolve, which is the focus of next week. I am bad at sticking to a plan becaues of unforseen things happening in a day taking energy away.

Refering back to Franklin’s definition of Order as a productivity tool, when much of your work is generated through other people, keeping productiv control can get messy. I manage both my QA team and part of the R&D team (sort of)but have no real autority over the latter from whom I inherit my core job responsibilities. I can only plan so much of my time so far in advance which is becoming increasingly problematic.

My job presents me with many (good) challenges and, as the company expert in a few areas, I’m regularly pulled into escalations with customers or governmental bodies. I enjoy it but it is stressful and pulls me away from other tasks. I’ve hit a point now where I must drastically reduce my responsibilities in a few areas so I can better manage my team and my ownership areas(3). It’s been a slow realization but I’ve got the ball rolling and I think by February I’ll be better able to own and execute the stuff I need to.

Suffice that it is nearly impossible to maintain Order in your business when you have to address lots of fires in a day. And having to shift between what other people need and what I need saps my will and reduces my effectiveness in everything I’m doing.

This week has made this starkly obvious. On Wednesday,I was starting to think I was just a shitty planner and resolutionary bungler. Today, I’m not so sure. I don’t plan as defensively as I could given what a typical workday resembles like plus the regular need for catchup(5). Attempting to do that plus stuff for Bunny Rope or clean the house or what ever else I am totally going to accomplish when iplan it at 6am is over-zealous.

It’s all a question of balance between resolution and relaxation. Yes, doing the dishes and tidying the house makes me feel good but sometimes I need Alyska and tacos and DVDs in bed.

We can addresss the frugality of that need later.

1. From Hercules the TV show. Herc gets a job at the Gyro Shop. There’s a bunch of bad jokes about the pronunciation of “gyro” which sounds like “hero” the latter of which is Herc’s desired job. Gregarious is the owner (4).↩︎

2. Tuesday night at a cigar bar with friends which ended in a bad night for temperance but a damn fun night for me. From my twitter feed: “I’m as bad at temperance as I am good at whisky.” No truer words tweeted. ↩︎

3. While still leaving space for some other opportunities I see on the horizon. I’ve been working more closely with our company’s Chief Privacy Officer who keeps recommending more to help with more of his responsibilities. ↩︎

4. I could pull off that beard. ↩︎
   

5. Honestly, this is the biggest, brightest, nose-runningest symptom that I am overcommitted; and, rather than looking at it as a personal failing, it is healthier to see it as a chance to adjust priorities and responsibilities and get myself some help. ↩︎

The Original GTDer

The precept of Order requiring that every part of my business should have its allotted time, one page in my little book contain’d the following scheme of employment for the twenty-four hours of a natural day.
- Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, chapter IX

Benjamin Franklin was probably the first productivity guru. Arguably, his books Poor Richard’s Almanac, a book of proverbs and aphorisms to guide behavior, The Way To Wealth, a booklet intended to teach people how to free themselves from debt, and his autobiography (1) which I have reference frequently were the first productivity guides ever written.

Today, people spend millions of dollars a year on productivity and self-help guides intended to make them more efficient, more profitable, more organized human beings. David Allan’s Getting Things Done, which is one of my favorite productivity books, is #38 on Amazon’s self-help book list. Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is #1. Similar ones by Dale Carnegie rank #1 in Self-help sub categories too (2).

The reductionist summary of these systems, and most productivity tools, is “do things when they need to get done, not later.” There is a right time and place for each task you have and you should seek to do therm at that time. “Right time” is an elusive concept and one we would do well to consider.

There are two extremes to right time - right now and ever later. When you have no time defined for a task, it gets left to “later” until “task” becomes a crisis. Or, worse, you respond immediately to everything that takes your attention and never get to “task”, again, until it becomes a crisis. Half of a proper ordering scheme is defining when you’re going to do your things so that you don’t become either a drone to your tasks or an email worker.

I think Franklin had it right with his routine, referenced earlier, right at the beginning of his day:

Rise, wash, and address Powerful Goodness; contrive day’s business and take the resolution of the day; prosecute the present study; and breakfast.

Planning. Not only planning but setting and keeping to a goal for each day of work. It is impractical to think that you can avoid the constant influx of distraction, Franklin didn’t have to contend with email let alone the other myriad distractions persistent internet connections catalog for us, but taking the time to order our days can do wonders for our productivity.

Covey’s second habit is “Think with the end in mind.” Allan’s planning system suggests starting at the end goal and working backwards when planning your project steps. Though these are more broadly minded than Franklin’s simplistic “contrive say’s business/take resolution”, his is the daily essence of long-term successful goals: work on your goals in a set way, every day.

It’s really about valuing your time and making efforts to control what you’re doing rather than reacting to everything that comes in.

1. Mostly in chapter 9 which is entitled “Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection” in bold, capital letters. Frankling didn’t wilt in the face of large goals but waht’s the next action for attaining Moral Perfection? ↩︎

2. <a href=“http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0671733354/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0671733354&linkCode=as2&tag=porthemanasan-20&linkId=7MY5H4EJJHT24VCL” http:=“” www.amazon.com=“” gp=“” product=“” 0671733354=“” ref=“as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0671733354&linkCode=as2&tag=porthemanasan-20&linkId=7MY5H4EJJHT24VCL”“>How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (affiliate link) is akin to GTD blended with Franklin’s own civic-minded awareness of society in his goal planning. Carnegie has “purer” productivity and leaderhsip books ranked in the top 20s on Amazon’s self-help lists too. ↩︎

Order

Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

With the above quote began the foundation for all organization gurus, books, processes, and books. A place for everything and everything in its place. Which is a good way to measure the cleanliness of your house unless you have too much stuff that itpiles about regularly.

Franklin’s approach was two-fold - one should seek to maintain order over their immeduate space - like their living room or office - and should contain their affairs to a regular structure. Famously, Franklin kept a daily schedule template which I discussed not [two days ago] and I have modeled my own life after it.

Routines are powerful. Routine builds habit which reduces resistence (1) and facilitate you doing a thing. It works with creativity, exercise, eating, or anything else you might want to change. All that matters is you do the thing consistently.

My own adventure this week will include a few things:

1. Cleaning up my spaces after use.

I’m not great at things like doing the dishes or replacing blankets after use. This tends to pile up and rooms at Doomsday Manor get messy. I’ll endeavor to clean up after my own usage.(2)

1. Keep Bunny Rope workspace and processed pieces organized.

I’ve been trying to rework my organizational scheme adn just puchased some storage tools. I started re-organizing everything yesterday but need to finish this week so I can finish the last bits of work before MTKF at the end of the month.

These two should help immensely with my general tranquility and creativity - a clean living and working space keeps me focused. I am, in general, a pretty organized person and keep my spaces clear. Hopefully I’ll have better luck than Franklin did with his own Order.

Order, too, with regard to places for things, papers, etc., I found extreamly difficult to acquire. I had not been early accustomed to it, and, having an exceeding good memory, I was not so sensible of the inconvenience attending want of method. This article, therefore, cost me so much painful attention, and my faults in it vexed me so much, and I made so little progress in amendment, and had such frequent relapses, that I was almost ready to give up the attempt, and content myself with a faulty character in that respect
- Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin,Chapter IX

You just have to keep trying.

1. This is what Stephen Pressfield calls the metaphorical forces/mental blocks that prevent you from doing new or difficult things. If you’ve not read The War of Art (affiliate link), it’s quick and inspiring. ↩︎

2. I have to limit this to myself for now. Alyska uses space to organize her to dos much of the time and needs the visual reminder to do somethings. The dinning room table becomes a producutivty management space for her which I am fine with especially since she is down with knolling. (3) ↩︎

3. Knolling is an organization technique whereby like objects are placed in a space in parallel of each other. It’s pretty and useful. ↩︎