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Updated 4 months ago,January 1, 2025
Why does one day matter?
Why does what you do today matter in the scheme of your whole life?
Because our life is made up of days.
Leandro Crespi
The poet Heraclitus said that one day is equal to every day.
Some are easier than others, but each one matters.
Do A Kindness
The poet Heraclitus said that one day is equal to every day.
Earlier this year, I published 12 Questions That Will Change Your Life.
As Nietzsche would later say: It is only ideas gained from walking that have any worth.
Experience the quiet of the world around you.
If youre too busy, multitask: Take a walking meeting.
Do your phone call on the move around the parking lot.
Get out of doors and move.
Do The Deep Work
So much of our day is spent at the surface.
Skimming this and that.
Vaguely paying attention to this conversation or that one.
This is not what we were put here for.
You must make timepreferably an hour or more a dayfor what Cal Newport calls the deep work.
Elite work takes deep work.
The amount of deep work you get done is on you.
If you dont make time for thisif its not a box you check every dayit wont happen.
The Boy Scouts motto was to do a good turn every day.
Seneca wrote that Wherever there is a human being, we have an opportunity for kindness.
Yes, even rude people.
Even people youre in competition with.
As well as the people you love and are connected to.
Your co-workers are a chance for kindness.
Your spouse is a chance for kindness.
The mailman is a chance for kindness.
It will make you feel better to take advantage of that chance.
It will make your day better if you do.
It will make the world better if you do.
Only a saint or a sage can fully meet every opportunity and every encounter with kindness.
So dont whip yourself if you cant muster that.
Practice one kindness every day.
Pick up a book every day.
Even for just a few pages.
How could you not expose yourself to this?
And yes, you do have time!
Read a few pages, read a whole book, but make a real and unending commitment to reading.
Because there is so much out there that you’re free to benefit from: Biographies.
Even marketing and business books.
I dont have my phone.
Just calmness and peace.
Ask yourself: How often am I unreachable?
The answer is: Not often enough.
Build some of this time into your daily practice.
Youll be better for it.
And the world will not notice, I promise.
We need itfar more than you think.
Dont put it off.
Be in shape and be healthy.
And what I personally find is that it is important to have goals with your exercise.
You improved your mile time, you swam three more laps than usual, you squatted a new weight.
Think About Death
Shakespeare said that every third thought should be of our grave.
Perhaps thats too much.
One thought per day is plenty.
The point isnt to be morbid, but to remember that you are mortal.
How much time do we waste on things that dont matter?
Because we think we can afford it!
Live while you could.
Live your life as if you have died and come back and all of this is extra.
Death doesnt make life pointless but rather purposeful.
And fortunately, we dont have to nearly die to tap into this.
Seize the Alive Time
What does every day seem to be comprised of?
Too much dicking around.
People are just killing time (remember Raymond Chandlers line and it dies hard.)
We get to where we were going and walk into the lobby and check our watch.
It says were a few minutes early, so we reach into our pocket to grab our phones.
Is this act not the expression of so much of whats wrong with modern life?
The resignation of it.
How much better we would be and the world would be if we never did this again.
If we chose alive time over dead time.
Theres so much you could do in those few minutes.
Reach out and connect with someone.
Do something youve been putting off.
Expose ourselves to sunlight and nature.
Be still and empty.
Prepare for what lies ahead.
Or just live because who knows how much time we have left.
Say thanks to a rude person.
Say thanks to a bungled project.
Say thanks to a delayed package.
Epictetus has said that every situation has two handles: Which are you going to decide to hold onto?
The anger or the appreciation?
The one of resentment or of thanks?
The best way to improve is to review.
So, each evening you should, like Seneca did, examine your day and your actions.
The question should be: Did I follow my plans for the day?
Was I prepared enough?
What could I do better?
What have I learned that will help me tomorrow?
We shouldnt wait for our annual vacation to get this kind of relief and perspective.
We need to get it every single day.
The Stoics had an exercise for doing this.
Try that tonight or early in the morning and take a stab at make it a daily practice.
But you’re able to find this connection from many sources: A poem.
A view from the top floor.
A barefoot walk across the grass.
A few minutes in a church pew.
Just find something bigger than yourself and get in touch with it every single day.
Get Eight Hours of Sleep
Sleep when youre dead, we say.
Like its some badge of honor how little time we allot to it.
The body needs its rest.
Schopenhauer said that sleep is the interest we pay on the loan of life.
Be glad to pay it.
Its what keeps us alive.
Guard your sleep carefully, its an obligation.
