Twenty Two Ways to a Better Flight Path

Excuse me while I have a laugh about a recent article at Flying Solo. It outlines the 22 things you MUST do every day – many that I really would NOT do, not even if you paid me. Let me explain…

This is the Flying Solo recipe for bliss and prosperity. Noel has managed to squeeze all the most important aspects of time management into a list of twenty-two:

1. Be sure to get eight hours sleep every night.

Eight hours every twenty four hours works better for me. I’d hate to hear someone saying, “Well, it’s now night, I’m going to sleep, although the boss is paying me to spot-weld this car together!“

2. Eat five serves of vegetables and two serves of fruit.

Hmmm. I need to work on this one. (Written whilst eating a punnet of fresh strawberries.)

3. Drink three litres of water every day.

And have easy access to the bathrooms. Three litres can be done, but about two litres should do it. Unless you work on a cattle-station.

4. Dress for success! Make yourself presentable before starting work.

While I totally agree with this, it’s the level of presentable clothing that matters. My day-job is 98% in a cubicle doing a lot of monkey-work. In the beginning I used to wear ties, spotless shoes, and top of the range Italian clothing. Over the last few years I’ve resorted to soft slip-on shoes, comfortable slacks, and no ties unless absolutely necessary.

Sometimes the best you need to wear is a jacket and shirt … and with a pair of good denim jeans, this is professional enough. If you work in computers, nobody expects you to wear a pin-striped suit to work. Dress comfortably according to the job you are paid to do.

5. Make your own lunch every day rather than buying it.

Oh, yes, totally true. I’ve done the calculations: It’s so easy to spend $100 a week on lunches. That’s $20 a day. Which means $6,260 per year (based on actual working days). That could buy me a lot of great photographic equipment!

6. Take a nap in the afternoon to re-energise.

Zzzz… wait, what do you say?

7. Do at least half an hour of exercise every day.

I walk to work from the train station, then back again. NEXT!

8. Don’t skip lunch – get out of the office to eat your sandwich.

Well, I’d say just eating at lunch-time is a good idea, no matter where you eat it. But I do agree – getting out of the office to eat or exercise is a damn good idea.

9. Have dinner as a family – it’s important bonding time.

And it’s an ideal time to eat something good for you. Company coffee and chocolate treats really don’t count as a meal.

10. Spend 20 minutes planning tomorrow with a detailed to-do list.

Ok, so I don’t do this all that often. I know I should. When I have, it’s made a difference. Like a life-plan and time-profit-exercise, writing down the schematics for a project, day, or hour of work does make a difference.

11. Do one thing every day that scares you.

I am married. Answered. NEXT!

12. Make some quality time for your partner.

Doing it, every day, every moment, I am thinking of better ways to be with the love my life.

13. Make sure you get some ‘me‘ time.

My wife says I get too much, but I give up everything to be with her. Go figure.

14. Read industry magazines to stay on top of trends.

Money I don’t have nor want to spend. Nope…. NEXT!!

15. Slow down – take time out to smell the roses.

Definitely. And then photograph them with a macro-lens.

16. Those of us with bills to pay will be required to spend some of the day doing actual work.

Please, please don’t remind us.

17. Some of us have dirty plates, carpets, kids, desks, bills and/or family members to clean up.

We do? Oh, yes, we do!

18. Read the sport and gossip section of the newspaper in-depth.

No thanks! Trivial humdrum is of no consequence to my life-style. NEXT!

19. Go and buy a coffee and whinge for a while about how busy work is.

My version of this statement is “Buy a Coffee, Sit Down Quietly and Dwell on Everything You Didn’t Enjoy This Morning at Work. Then Let it Go and get back to the grindstone. Nothing is so important it can’t be forgotten at the door.“

20. Discuss what you did last weekend with whoever will listen.

It’d be easier to obtain world peace and solve the global-warming issue. Because this would mean finding and knowing like-minded individuals who spent their weekend photographing flowers and insects or landscapes. .

21. Make arrangements for next weekend.

I spend my weekends organising SFA and taking it easy. But Noel is right. Time needs to be organised, even if only to negotiate window-shopping with the female partner. Which reminds me…

22. Check Facebook…

Eeek! You are kidding right?! Not all of us are addicted to Facebook or LinkedIn or any other social network. As much as it might be the in-thing this year, Online-Social-Networking hasn’t changed since MSN nor IRC. It all seems to remind me of Geocities and MySpace, a large mass of entwined tentacles all reaching into a black molasses depth of nothingness. Ok, so I sound a little cynical on the whole thing … but I’m not convinced being ‘poked‘ on Facebook is good for anyone’s cranial-health.

---

For most of the twenty-two you can see I concur entirely. Only a few had a negative view. What are your thoughts?