Notes on a framework for not wasting your time, getting the required things done, all while avoiding becoming a boring worker bee.

Sorry, it's gonna be a thread. I'm mostly writing this to myself because Twitter is more reliable than cloud/local storage:

Sidenote: This is in reaction to having wasted a significant amount of time recently. "Wasting time" to me: Spending more than, say, 10 minutes on Reddit/Google News/Twitter in a day.

Sidenote part deux: This is also in reaction to my seemingly unshakable habit of taking on too many projects.

The "required things" we all have could be put into two boxes:

1) obligations that add no value besides not going to jail or destroying your credit.
2) obligations that add no value besides keeping your job or business afloat. (no contribution to growth)

For me, sometimes I don't do the "required things" on time because I need fear to kick in before I do them. I'm a 43-year-old baby, I admit.

Other times I need continual rewards to do the "required things".

An example: If I'm cleaning up after dinner, it's very likely that I'm going to continually snack while doing so.

It's not a strategy, it's a barely conscious habit I've taken on some time ago.

alias RQs="required things"

So basically I either need someone yelling at me, threatening me, or continually rewarding me in order to do these RQs.

I'm embarrassed to be telling you this. I guess the other reason I'm writing this publicly is that I want to add some pain/fear to my equation.

A little more about RQs before we get to actual value-added things (VATs):

I think one reason I've gravitated towards minimalism is my difficulty with RQs. It's also steered me towards using virtual assistants.

Neither minimalism nor VAs are complete solutions, though:

With minimalism, you could end up underexposing yourself to opportunity because "I don't live anywhere for more than a few months", "I don't eat at restaurants", etc.

With VAs, speaking personally they give me a sense of "okay, the RQs are squared away" even when this may not be 100% the case.

The most important RQs are the ones you're least likely to be able to delegate to a VA because a) they require large payments and b) they require the most context.

Or maybe I just suck at hiring and delegating to VAs. (maybe I just suck in general? totally possible)

So how do unfulfilled RQs impact me?

They sneak up on me when I'm trying to go to sleep.
Late fees and penalties.
People being mad.
Fuzzy, distracted brain when trying to do VATs.

My first idea for how to motivate myself to do/delegate RQs is to come up with a reward scheme.

I have no problem pursuing VATs -- even detail-oriented, bang-head-on-wall things like web development -- so long as something nice will come out of it.

"Something nice" can be money, but it's usually the product itself.

In other words, my VATs are their own reward, but my RQs are not, and therefore maybe I need to tether a reward to them.

Let's get a little wild in imagining the reward because "a nice pastry down at the shop" is probably not going to cut it for me:

1) a small but not insignificant amount of money (crypto/fiat) every day my RQs are "in order".

(echoes of @balajis's current ideas)

2) an always-on screen in a central part of the house which displays a visual metaphor for the state of my RQS (or maybe a combo of RQS and VATs).

Nice and sparkly if things are solid; a little wrinkly and jaundiced if things are out of sync/late; repellent if it's out of hand.

3) a trusted VA/bot which reports to a trusted enforcer in my life (spouse, BFF) whether things are in hand. They hold the keys to whether I can have a reward I've (they've?) pre-defined.

for me this would be some weekly outing: a film at the theater, a jam session...

4) same-day, randomly scheduled rewards that come somewhat as a surprise.

e.g. an app which is powering all the above has access to your location, and a person/drone brings you (pleasant) surprises if your RQS are in order.

e.g. my favorite singer livecasts to me for 3 minutes

sidenote: I might just be writing speculative fiction now, but I'm actually serious.

sidenote: If you became dependent on this system and then it disappeared, what would happen to your motivation?

reminder: I'm a 43-year-old baby.

I guess if your VAT-related project is exciting enough, maybe clearing RQs out of the way in order to work on it is its own reward.

But that requires growing up. How to grow up?

Do all these machinations _prevent_ growing up? Or can they be crutches while you grow?

A few more primitives for this navel gaze:

"tokens of interest"
"false sense of 'handled'"

ooh, TOIs and FSH (pronounced 'toys' and 'fish')

What could a minimum viable RQs reward scheme be? Just to not get lost in the weeds and actually implement something now?

Okay, spouse agrees: every Sunday for a three-hour stretch I'm going to get uninterrupted time for music-making or seeing a film in the theater.

IF all RQs are "in order".

"in order":

Nothing is overdue.
Things which are due in the coming week are already done.

I'll come back to this thread once the RQs are enumerated somewhere and a Sunday has passed, win or lose.