---
title: "How to Spend Time"
date: 2023-04-29T23:36:25-04:00
draft: false
references:
- title: "What Do You Want to Make Real in the World? — Anna Havron"
  url: https://www.annahavron.com/blog/what-do-you-want-to-make-real-in-the-world
  date: 2023-04-30T03:38:36Z
  file: www-annahavron-com-34fw9w.txt
- title: "Sunday Firesides: To-Dos, the Rent We Pay For Living | The Art of Manliness"
  url: https://www.artofmanliness.com/character/advice/sunday-firesides-to-dos-the-rent-we-pay-for-living/
  date: 2023-04-30T03:43:27Z
  file: www-artofmanliness-com-6lxmwc.txt
- title: "How to Slow Down Time | Valet."
  url: https://www.valetmag.com/the-handbook/living/how-to-slow-down-time.php
  date: 2023-07-05T16:08:47Z
  file: www-valetmag-com-b1tpcf.txt
- title: "Spend Exactly None Of Your Time Killing Time"
  url: https://deadspin.com/spend-exactly-none-of-your-time-killing-time-1831777904
  date: 2023-04-30T03:40:23Z
  file: deadspin-com-cjpmjw.txt
---

Broadly, three categories of productive activities:

* **Chores** -- things you have to do to maintain stasis.
  * [Sunday Firesides: To-Dos, the Rent We Pay For Living | The Art of Manliness][1]
* **Improving the world** -- not in some grand sense necessarily, but activities that create lasting improvement: building things, fixing things, getting rid of things.
  * [What Do You Want to Make Real in the World? — Anna Havron][2]
* **Improving yourself** -- things you do to make you better at doing other things.

> Book smarts, street smarts. Learning by study, learning by doing.
> Read about it, apply it, see it in action, take that practical experience
> back to your reading, deepen your understanding, take that deeper
> understanding back to your activity ... it's a never-ending cycle, each
> aspect of learning feeding the other.
>
> -- [_The Slight Edge_][3] ([p. 180][4])

> Information becomes _knowledge_ -- personal, embodied, verified -- only when we put it to use ...
> Creating new things is not only one of the most deeply fulfilling things we can do, it can also have a positive impact on others -- by inspiring, entertaining, or educating them.
>
> -- [_Building a Second Brain_][5] ([p. 48-49][6])

[1]: https://www.artofmanliness.com/character/advice/sunday-firesides-to-dos-the-rent-we-pay-for-living/
[2]: https://www.annahavron.com/blog/what-do-you-want-to-make-real-in-the-world
[3]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL2777748W/The_Slight_Edge?edition=key%3A/books/OL9820911M
[4]: slight_edge_180.pdf
[5]: https://bookshop.org/p/books/building-a-second-brain-a-proven-method-to-organize-your-digital-life-and-unlock-your-creative-potential-tiago-forte/18265370
[6]: second_brain_48.pdf

{{<dither graph1.png "500x">}}Yellow-highlighted graph where time invested in ‘Improve yourself’ curves skyward, ‘Improve the world’ climbs steadily, and ‘Chores’ stays flat.{{</dither>}}

_(This would imply that "improving yourself" is the most valuable use of time, but I actually think it's something like the opposite.)_

---

Experiences:

* Routine
* Novel
  * ["How to Slow Down Time | Valet."][7]

[7]: https://www.valetmag.com/the-handbook/living/how-to-slow-down-time.php

Leisure:

* Most of my hobbies are hard (satisfying but somewhat stressful)
* I don't really have leisure activities besides reading fiction
* I spend a lot of time mindlessly scrolling my phone
* What do I love to do that is relaxing & that I don't feel a constant need to improve at?
* [Spend Exactly None Of Your Time Killing Time][8]
* _Rapt_, p. 108

[8]: https://deadspin.com/spend-exactly-none-of-your-time-killing-time-1831777904

Sleep:

* Getting 7+ hours is important. It can feel like a waste of time when it's 11:30 and you're on a roll, but an extra hour of sleep can mean the difference between a good day and a bad one.
* If you're tired mid-day, just take a nap.

> Napping makes you smarter. Seriously. Lots of studies show napping improves alertness and cognitive performance in the af noon. As usual, we've tested the science ourselves.
>
> You don’t even have to fall asleep. Just lying down and resting for ten to twenty minutes can be a great way to recharge.
>
> -- [_Make Time_][9] ([p. 232-233][10])

[9]: https://bookshop.org/p/books/make-time-how-to-focus-on-what-matters-every-day-jake-knapp/12094196?ean=9780525572428
[10]: make_time_232.pdf