Debi Simons 
I said yesterday that I’d be writing on some additional ideas I’ve gained from Smarter Faster Better, the new book by Charles Duhigg. Duhigg’s strength as a writer is in the stories he tells about real people and situations that illustrate his ideas. His investment of time spent gathering this information, specifically in interviews, must be enormous.
Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). In other words, the concept of a day of rest wasn’t just an arbitrary rule imposed onto the Israelites but something for their good, something that served them, not something for them to serve. But, as I discuss in the “Time and Work” chapter of my Intentional Happiness book (see the sidebar), the concept of a day of rest is tricky, because you have to plan ahead to make it happen. I so often find myself under the gun on Sundays, the day set aside by Christians for worship, a new practice instituted because the resurrection of Jesus was on “the first day of the week.”
Picture two runners in a race. The first one is thinking, “I’m so tired. I’m not going to make it. My heel’s getting a blister. I should have gone to bed earlier last night. I should have drunk more water before the race. Everyone’s passing me. I’m not going to make it.” The second one is thinking, “Okay, not such a good idea to stay up late last night. I need to just pace myself, get to each fencepost. Feeling a little dehydrated. Well, nothing to be done about that now. Focus on the race. Catch up to that guy ahead of me. Plan better next time.
My favorite movie of all time is Amadeus, the 1984 film adaptation of the play by Peter Shaffer. (Not the R-rated “Director’s Cut” version, please, but the PG-rated original release.) It’s not historically accurate in many ways, but so what? It is permeated with the glorious, glorious music of Mozart. And I have to believe that Tom Hulce’s portrayal of the this incredibly gifted but often troubled genius is very close to what the real man was like. So many great scenes.
Smarter Faster Better: The Secret of Being Productive in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg, Random House, 2016. Available in several formats.
I found Duhigg’s ideas in his first book, The Power of Habit, so helpful and so interesting that I quoted from that source in my own book. Now his second book is out, and at first I was very disappointed with it. The thing of it is, he does something in his introduction that no writer or speaker should ever do: he raises an expectation that he never fulfills. (There’s a parallel principle in drama: “If a gun is on the mantle in the first act, it must go off in the third.”)
As I work toward becoming more productive (tomorrow will be a review of Charles Duhigg‘s new book), I find myself doing something rather puzzling: I’m all set to get on with a task or goal, heading straight for it, and then I think, ‘Oh, before I get started I’ll just . . . ‘ and before you know it the momentum has stalled. 45 minutes have passed since I was supposedly going to get started.
I mentioned this idea last month in Don’t Miss Out! It’s hard enough sometimes to concentrate on the wonderful, long-anticipated events in our lives, much less the difficulties. But I heard something just great this morning out of the corner of my ear, as it were, on NPR, in a story about the myth of the so-called “midlife crisis.” There were several interviews with middle-aged people whose lives hadn’t turned out as planned but who were nevertheless happy and productive. Then the reporter said that she had to include a quotation from a woman named Victoria Gallucci (hope I’m spelling that right, Victoria!) who . . .
“I have discovered that there is one main reason why we procrastinate: it rewards us with temporary relief from stress.” Neil Fiore, author of The Now Habit and other books. I quote from him fairly extensively in my own book. (See sidebar for ordering information.) Last week I posted about the mistaken idea that you have to get motivated before you get to work; that you have to feel a certain way first. So did the runner in the picture ask herself if she really felt like running through the snow? If she had, she probably would have stayed by the fire drinking hot chocolate. She would have avoided the stress of the cold . . .
I wrote back in January about my seed order and the amount of hope contained in those little packets. Now the process has actually started, with the first sprouts coming up. This is actually a four o’clock plant from seeds I already had on hand. The plan is for 16 plants to be placed all around our deck. It’s a long process every year, and if I don’t get them going early enough the wonderful flowering display won’t really start until late in the summer. I wasn’t completely sure that the seeds I had were still viable as they’re several years old, but a number of them are coming up. It’s hard to believe that from this tiny beginning a big three-foot bush covered with salmon-pink flowers will emerge. I’ll coddle, coax and water the baby plants, then cross my fingers and plant them out, water, and wait until the flowers emerge, at which time the deadheading phase will begin.