Insanity vs Sanity

Dan Corbiani
Aug 31, 2018 · 4 min read

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, yet we all require some type of routine to perform at our peak. I believe the trick is determining which parts of our life need to change to allow us to reach our peak performance. A useful method for evaluation might be the Pareto principle. What 20 percent of your life is providing 80 percent of your stability and excitement?

“man running on the mountain” by asoggetti on Unsplash

If we think about the course of a day, I will call the 20 percent 3 hours (assuming 8 hours of sleep). For me it’s easy to pick out the three hours of a day that are providing the excitement for life and that are pushing me in the direction of success. If you can’t identify the three hours in your life that are helping you move in the right direction, it’s probably time to make some drastic changes.

I can say with certainty that the hour and a half in the morning spent on the Miracle Morning is moving me in the right direction. It’s inward focused and sets my mindset for the day. Knowing I should be spending three hours a day moving forward also helps me justify other things that are higher risk / higher reward. Making a phone call to a new contact, looking for exciting new opportunities, learning about new options for notes or cloud computing. This exercise has helped me realize I’m not taking full advantage of those three hours.

The converse is also true with the Pareto principle. There are three hours keeping me grounded in mediocrity and keeping me away from my goals. I can’t name a full three hours of every day in this category but there are some obvious drains.

One area where I’ve been able to improve is when I would research different items that we need for around the house. I hate spending money on things that don’t provide value, so I spend a significant amount of time learning about different alternatives so I can justify a purchase. On the surface, there is nothing wrong with that but I would spend time researching, wait a while, and research again. This was a counterproductive action that is a both a time sink and a mental drain. In the time between research sessions, I would still be mulling over the decision and that would take me away from the task at hand. The solution was simple but challenging. I now only do research when I am in a position to make a decision.

As a simple example, we just bought a new car that needs floor mats. It may take some time for me to comparison shop for the floor mats that are going to be right for the car, and frankly, I don’t get a ton of joy from floor mats in a car so I’m not excited for the purchase. My actions in the past might have been to research the floor mats, get 95% of the way to making the purchase and then stop because I really wasn’t excited to make the purchase. The next time I started the process, I would probably start the purchase process all over again. Now, I will find the floor mats and make the purchase all within the same time window. Essentially, the goal of the time has changed from “let’s find the best floor mats” to “get floor mats shipped to the door”. One goal has a conclusion of being a mental drain, the other solves a real problem.

I can’t exactly say what other actions are filling the three hours of wasted time but I have a plan to figure it out. I have started keeping track of everything I do during my waking hours in 30 minute increments. This will allow me to categorize all of the time so I can find the counterproductive activities and shun them from my schedule.

My chief concern with these types of exercise is that life is not intended to be an optimization problem. We are not drones. That is where routine and balance are key. I go through periods where I keep a close eye on my day at those 30 minute increments, but my mindset moves in the wrong direction after a few weeks of the exercise. I’ve learned from experience that I cannot include sunday on the week because I need a day of rest. An untracked day to spend lazily socializing with family and friends can be rejuvenating.

In the end, today will be a bit different from yesterday. I now realize I have three hours that I need to spend moving myself in the right direction. That is a tangible amount of time that must be used if I’m going to achieve my desires. Whenever I feel like there isn’t enough time to do those things I can identify that thought as a limiting excuse and realize there are three hours of my day that are holding me back. I just need to identify this wasted time and cut those activities out of my life.

A brief note about W2 jobs… some things aren’t optional in the short term. I get that, but the long term is always negotiable.

Dan Corbiani

Exploring in the intersection between philosophy, science, and behavior. Trying to be a better person.

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