I'm in a constant journey into dealing with time ⏱️
Time is an unescapable investment, the most important investment 🙌
As such, it lays the ground of any other endeavour, and result. So I'm always on the lookout for its base components and rules 👇
It doesn't stop
No matter what you do, that second is gone. And another, and another.
As such, any moment must be spent, somehow. No matter if you consciously plan or enjoy what you do.
Wasted time doesn't exist if that time was planned and intentional 👀
Since time goes by anyway, anything that you do is a step forward towards "something". Therefore, even if you fail, there is no such thing as "wasted" time.
"Waste" can only occur if you let time pass without intention 💁🏼♂️
This doesn't mean forcing every second to your will regardless of external circumstances. It means choosing what fills your time, and why.
Decide and go
There are another 2 subtle forms of "wasted" time:
- Time spent planning on taking action.
- Time spent moving in the wrong direction.
These are cunning, since (1) is the prerequisite to avoid (2).
You must plan enough to have a sense of the right direction, but not too much to avoid staying still 🤯
Once again, keep in mind that time does't wait, and skills only improve with action, not planning.
Count in 100
The myth calls for 10'000 hours to become a master in something.
I don't see many people stop and count how much that 10'000 really means 🤔
Let's count. But before that, a couple notes:
- Each hour must be of active work (watching a tutorial doesn't count)
- Each hour must be of focused work (not while listening to a podcast, or sleep deprived)
In this context, "80 hours a week" it's a myth (read the "The 80-hour Myth" from Naval).
More realistically, if you spend all your time on one priority, you may reach 50 hours (general estimate, it's a stretch really):
- 100 hours: 2 weeks (14 days)
- 1000 hours: 20 weeks (140 days or ~5 months)
- 10'000 hours: 200 weeks (1400 days or ~4 years)
In summary: if you spend all your waking time on one and only one activity, it will take you 4 years to reach 10'000 hours (mastery) 🫡
It's A LOT. Better to not focus on the end goal when counting this high, but on each step instead.
Rule of thumb: count progress in intervals of 100 hours.
Below 100 hours there is too much variability (random successes, random failures). Above it, the practice tends to be too unpredictable.
Enjoy the moment, enjoy the memories
Another rule of thumb to live by:
If each second is spent on a meaningful activity, it's worth it, no matter the progress 🤝
Seasons are made of up and downs. As long as the trajectory is correct (and you are the only one who must decide that), then it's all good.
The grind will create memories of what you overcame. It's called confidence (don't quit) 🙂
Last week a new version of fpdart (v1.2.0) 🎉
Waiting for the upcoming major releases, I am brewing a few projects to use (and learn) more about effect. Teach-ready material 👀
See you next 👋