Time freedom is something I’ve pursued for a long time. Though some people don’t like the sensation of work “hanging over their heads,” I much prefer waking up with a particular thing to accomplish, knowing that I can knock it out after my workout or put in some time before the shower without having to ask permission for deviating from an irrelevant schedule.
I realized in my last endeavor that time freedom without attention freedom ain’t worth a hill of beans.
The assignment – a nightmare – was cutting text from one formatted document and pasting it into a template. In an application that carries with it all sorts of invisible code and byzantine formatting rules. (You know the one.) I could do the work at any time of day, sitting comfortably in my home.
The trouble was, there was no way to manage my attention to minimize the unpleasant parts. I could not, say, stage six paragraphs I needed to write, and then go take a break. Or write paragraphs and tackle clever headers later. Instead, I had to concentrate on one bug or breakdown after another for hours on end.
The whole concept made me reconsider the concept of time freedom and what I use it for … I concluded that I actually wouldn’t have much trouble with a regular schedule – provided there are mental ebbs and flows that are under my control.
What about you?
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