Adam’s Peace

[edit: The status of this 30-day trial is: Stopped due to health concerns. I started getting too many headaches towards the end of the 2nd week, so ended it in the middle of the 3rd week. I had good results, but did not foresee the headaches. If not for this problem, I would probably continue to wake early.]

I’m planning on starting a 30 day trial to get up early in the morning and get more accomplished during the day.

Yes, I know, it isn’t nearly as inspired of a topic as managing expectations and starting the fight against the ego… It is, however, a practical exercise in both the objective world around me, as well as a great test of how far I’ve progressed emotionally.

Before

To start, I would like to explain my normal morning ritual. I wake up at 5:30 am, take a shower, get dressed, and check my email while my breakfast is cooking in the microwave. If I notice any new RSS items, I’ll read those as well. I’m usually out the door at 6:30 to enjoy my hour long commute to work.

There is a lot of wasted time in there. Of course, getting clean and dressed is important… but reading emails and catching up on RSS feeds really isn’t that essential, and I can typically wait until later in the day to tackle them. After all, it doesn’t take much imagination to work through email or read someone else’s post, which makes it a perfect evening activity. If something is truly time-sensitive, like an offer that I just can’t refuse, well, I’ll just have to pass it up. (I would normally pass up time sensitive offers anyways, simply because time limited deals are short-lived for a reason.)

During

Instead of having just enough time to get everything accomplished, I would like some time to make progress on certain goals. In the evenings, I’m quite unimaginative… This is especially true considering that my job consists of imagining data and typing out how that data should interact. By the time I’ve gotten home, I’ve used up my imagination quota for the day, and the evening is filled with talking with my wife, debating on online forums, watching an hour of television, and tinkering unimaginatively on the computer.

So, to do this, I would like to wake up at 4:00 am. My first act when waking up would still be to take a shower, since that is the fastest way for me to become alert, followed by dressing for the day. After that, I would fix myself breakfast and coffee (taking time to choose a healthy breakfast, rather than whatever I could microwave as I’ve been doing), then sit at my computer and start programming.

After

By the end of the first month, I have one specific goal. I want to make distinct progress in writing TimeAgent… hopefully getting to the same point I was just before I erased the last version and begin beta testing soon after.

A secondary goal is to develop the site that will host TimeAgent… though that is a distant second, and will not become important until after I am nearing the end of the beta testing and am ready to distribute it.

(For those who don’t know, TimeAgent is the name selected for a piece of personal information management software that I’m writing. Originally named Placebo as an inside joke, it developed into a to-do list management bar, and in November, was ready for testing… until I switched computers, and in the process deleted all of the files. I’m currently back in the planning phases, and despite some false-starts, I haven’t moved out of the planning stage yet. Current goals are to include a robust to-do list manager, an RSS feed reader, email, and perhaps throw in extra modules for other online services, such as managing blogs. The first version will only include the to-do list manager, of course, as I believe in the mantra ‘release early, release often.’ The intended audience would be people who derive at least a portion of their income from working online.)

I recognize that if I wake up early each day and don’t work on a project, I’ll just end up questioning why I even bothered with waking up early in the first place. I can fail to work on a project any evening that I choose to, after all… I certainly don’t have to push myself to wake up early to be lazy.

Link Love:

Steve Pavlina of the eponymous StevePavlina.com, for first introducing me to the concept of 30 day trials. I haven’t visited his site in a long, long time, but I imagine that he is still going strong and still giving useful advice.

This is an automated post to let everybody know that submissions to name Placebo will no longer be accepted.

I will be using this day to review all of the submissions, and I will make a final decision by mid-day on Saturday, after which I will be making my first winner’s announcement. (Hopefully, it will be the last announcement too.)

I will also be announcing the site where I’ll be hosting the newly renamed Placebo when I announce the winner.

Twin pillars, staff, throne, hand raised in blessing, two acolytes.

Like most cards of the Tarot, this card has more than one meaning. On the surface, this card appeals to the masses. Who wouldn’t trust a man of the cloth? The Hierophant sits upon his throne, with two acolytes kneeling before him receiving a blessing. He carries a staff in one hand, the symbol of his office, and dispenses wisdom to those who would hear it.

Unless, of course, you don’t want to listen to him. That is when you see another side of the Hierophant, noticing that his throne is just as ornate as the Emperor’s, and his staff is made of gold. If you have a chance to see his “spartan” living quarters, you’ll see that it is as plush and comfortable as possible, full of art, gold, and symbols of his own power.

This is the second card which matches up to an astrological sign. Appropriately, this sign is Taurus, the Bull. Even with its obvious spiritual front, this card deals greatly with the joys and pleasures of the earthly realm.

I suppose that you’re saying that I’m being blasphemous… and wondering why I associate myself with this card. Well, go ask Buddha if abstinence and hunger brought him enlightenment. It helped, but it wasn’t with an empty stomach that Siddhartha gained enlightenment. Ask Jesus if depriving the body was the way to heaven… He had a feast before he died.

If you look a third time, though, you’ll see a man wearing a hat that is just a bit too large for his head. He is blessing his acolytes, so that they will go out and do the work that he can no longer do, due to his responsibilities. His staff is gold, because it paid for the craftsman’s business, so that he could support a family… yet it is still too heavy for the Hierophant. The Hierophant’s cupboards are full, but going unused waiting for guests to come, so that he could treat them to a feast. The Hierophant sought enlightenment, knowing full well the responsibility of sharing what he learned with those who would listen… and now, he can not leave that responsibility, nor would he want to, because it is his responsibility to bear alone, so that others won’t have to. He’s stubborn, successful, and trapped… yet it is the cage that he built with his own hands, so despite having the keys, he will not leave. He stands between heaven and earth, not to bar the way, but to translate the spiritual into the worldly.

At the point of the story, with the fool having been dazzled by the magician, enlightened by the high priestess, given birth to his project as the empress, and managed the project as the emperor, the fool now feels fear, that perhaps he will lose everything he has worked to build… The Hierophant explains in simple terms that the worst thing he could do is to fear… His choices are to either get rid of everything that he can lose, so that he need not fear, or to honestly accept what he may lose, and recognize that he can never lose it all, for experience can not burn down, nor can it be stolen, and with that experience, he can rebuild everything, even better, if he ever needed to.

If you meet a Hierophant, do a double-take, then look at him again, until you can see the person behind the robes. Some may have their hearts set on personal gain for the point of gaining power, but others will have their hearts set on gain so that they can redistribute, and keep the worldly cycles flowing just as they see the cycles of heaven flowing… By the time a person is in the role of a Hierophant, he is polarized along the lines of fear or love, so by looking at his works, it is easy to tell what his intentions are.

Take a look at me and my works, and please, consider the donation cup on your way out, only if you can, and only if you find me worthy.

Oh yeah, Hierophants have a sense of humor too.

p.s. I’m putting the tarot thread on hold for a little bit, as I’m in the middle of a project. I’ll write the next batch of them as soon as possible.