Musings by Curio

The below rules are a combination of items that have been scrounged from various walks of life, books, methods, and even a few are of my design. One must be careful about how we address such structures for planning our lives because (as humans) we can become easily entangled in the method instead of the experience! Life’s meaning is found in experiential living and not in dogmatic efforts to be perfect!

I have every intention of incorporating each of these rules in my everyday life, but I will never be bound by them so strongly that I find them unbearable or too constraining! Freedom is often found in a set of parametric rules that outline the boundaries of that freedom! A board game is fun because it has a set of rules to outline the parameters of gameplay: if not for those rules, there would be no structure, and with no structure, no game to play.

Without further ado, here are my top ten rules that I do my best to incorporate into my daily life and habits!

1. The Pareto Principle

This well-known but little used axiom tells us that 20% of the input typically produces 80% of the output! This can be found in various walks of life, and although, there can be slight deviation in exact percentage points, the rule remains widely respected. It can be found in design, workflows, financial, and even in religion.

2. Most Important Task (MIT)

Determine the most important task of the day, likely the task that if not done will make your day fail. Chunk and break that task down into smaller chunks until it becomes manageable and begin. Your MIT becomes the priority for the day, if you get nothing else done, you got the most significant thing done.

3. Take-5 Rule

Take a 5-minute break at least every 60-90 minutes. Specifically, if you are stuck on a problem or working with something that is very taxing on the brain or the body! Your brain will appreciate your effort to preserve it!

4. Five 'S' Organization Method

I learned this method when I worked in the Biological Production/Manufacturing industry. This method simply outlines the bare basics of organizing any workspace for optimal efficiency!

• Sort—Prioritize items in order of importance, use case, color, or number.
• Straighten—I see the first step (sort) as the mental work of deciding and measuring where things, items, or tools are to appear in an order. I think the straighten step is the actual work of putting your workspace in order. Do this every time your workspace is used, and you can always come back to a clean and clear workspace: ready to take on the next task!
• Sweep—This step is simple: clean your workspace! A clean workspace will often make for a healthier body and brain and allow for creative expression to flow. Although, do not become bothered by cleaning while working, this can be distracting and interrupt your flow.
• Standardize—What works for you? Whatever order you have sorted, whatever patterns, blocks, methods, or rules work for you, make that your default. Be flexible because things change, and you want to make sure you are always being as productive as possible. Time is life!
• Sustain—Keep doing it! Discipline is doing what is right when you don’t feel like it! Be aggressive about discipline. Win against your procrastinating and evil side by being aggressive against any excuses you know you might encounter.

5. Ecclesiastes 3:1-9

“There is a time” for everything: Be mindful of doing those things which it isn't time for yet.

6. The J.D.I. Rule

Just-Do-It! Just get in there and start learning, cleaning, doing, writing, creating, and working. Determine the excuses I will have in the future and work on eliminating them as aggressively as necessary. Treat procrastination as the plague! If a task can be competed in less than five minutes: Just-Do-It!

7. Prioritization Rule

Remember the priority of what is most important to you! For me, my priorities are explained thus:

• God (1st)—God’s Laws, Eternal Principles, Ethos, Values, my own spiritual state, and God’s Mission for me must be first place; otherwise, everything else breaks down!
• Relationships (2nd)—Family, friends, and people that are relying on me to do whatever it is that must rightly be done.
• Myself (3rd)—My health and my coveted personal time.
• Assets (4th)—Things, property, cars, and anything with tangible or sometimes intangible assets that provide real value for my life and the legacy I can leave behind.
• Money (5th)—Money is another word for currency. Money is what many have come to think of as value and assets, but in reality REAL money is nothing more than a transaction of time and energy invested into an exchange of goods that we desire or need. We can grow our personal monetary wallet by doing something that someone else finds valuable; that is how fortunes are made and comfort is earned.

8. My “8 By 3” Rule

We only have 24 hours in a day! This splits nicely into three segments:

• 8 hours of RE-Fueling: sleep and relaxation.
• 8 hours of Production: revenue stream earning and general productivity.
• 8 hours of Investment: conversations, relationship building, education, hobbies, etc.

9. Remember the Purpose of Time

The purpose of time is the temporal delay of eternity to allow more people, more opportunity for Salvation.

10. Remember the Evolution of a Plan of Attack

Treat every sizable project and task with the following steps:

1. Aggregation of Information—find and locate relevant information. Beware of information overload and overthinking a specific scenario. Break the information acquired into various projects, tasks, and points.

2. Assignment Detailing and Creation—Delegate tasks to someone else or to yourself and create the timelines.

3. Execution of Assignments—Doing the work!

4. Evaluation of Post-Execution Results—Reflect and evaluate the work done. What worked? What didn’t? What went right? What went wrong? What could be changed?

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About Me I am a life-long student who happens to be a freelancer, hobbyist writer and coder! I love writing, thinking, and tinkering with anything Open-Source! I am passionate about privacy and security online, and protecting people proactively and reactively online using Open-Source Intelligence! You can contact me via my Proton Mail here: me@jacobpeabody.com

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