Deliberate Living

In this article, I reflect on my experience following the rules laid out in "Tranquility By Tuesday". I found many of the rules valuable and easy to incorporate into my weekly planning, such as planning on Fridays, creating a backup slot, and taking one night for myself. However, there were a couple of rules, like giving myself a bedtime and moving by 3 P.M., that I struggled with and hope to improve on. Overall, I've noticed less stress since I started following these rules and I'm motivated to continue integrating them into my life.

In this article, I explore the concept of "Effortful Before Effortless" from the book "Tranquility By Tuesday". I share my personal journey of how I identified my effortless activities, like playing word games on my phone or reading for pure entertainment, which were consuming my time. By using the principle of "Effortful Before Effortless", I've been able to engage more in meaningful activities without giving up my effortless ones. This has led to a more enriched life. To keep this going, I've made a list of these activities and make sure to engage in one of them before moving to my effortless activities.

In this blog post, I explore the concept of "batching" tasks as a means to improve productivity. The idea, taken from "Tranquility By Tuesday," is to group like tasks together to create efficiencies and reduce wasted time. I share my personal experiences trying to implement this approach, including the challenges I've faced and the ways I've adapted the method to my own context. I also discuss the impact of "little stuff" or small tasks that often take up more time than they should. Ultimately, the goal is to make my life more tranquil and less dominated by unimportant tasks.

In this article, I discuss the importance of taking one night for myself amidst the busy week, a principle I learned from the book "Tranquility By Tuesday". For many years, I've been participating in a choir every Wednesday night - a routine that gives me a refreshing break from my responsibilities. This commitment has not only given me the chance to express myself musically, but also serves as a valuable respite from my intellectually demanding job. I delve into the reasons behind this practice, the challenges I've faced, and how I've managed to stick to it.

In this issue of "Tranquility By Tuesday", I share my newfound philosophy of incorporating adventures into my life. This realization came about from my weekly conversations with my stepfather, where I found that my life had become too routinized, with the days and weeks melding into one. To break this monotony, I decided to embrace the challenge from Tranquility By Tuesday of one big and one little adventure every week. These adventures have made my life feel more meaningful and time pass with more attention.

In this piece, I discuss Rule #5 of Tranquility by Tuesday: Create Backup Slots. Despite planning my week, I often find myself derailed by unexpected changes. To combat this, I've implemented 'backup slots' into my schedule, especially for smaller tasks that significantly impact my quality of life if they are skipped, such as grocery shopping and housework. This approach has reduced my stress and increased my productivity.

Today we talk about the trap of personal development and the misconception that habits must be done every day. Tranquility By Tuesday tells us doing something three times a week is enough to form a habit. We can incorporate this approach into a weekly plan and feel less guilty when unable to do certain activities every day.

The third rule of Tranquility By Tuesday is moving for at least 10 minutes by 3pm. I found simple ways to incorporate movement into my daily routine, such as doing a workout video during lunch or taking a walk around the building. The article emphasizes the ease and benefits of this rule, even for those who may resist regular exercise.