Four hour work week

For some the economy is so dire that they will be lucky to work at all during this recession. However, for me The Four Hour Work Week is a rather inspirational book and website. The idea behind both is to do what it is you want to (which of course might be continuing to do what you are doing but if not...) and to have the income to allow you to do it. What I find particularly interesting are the author's ideas for streamlining your work life. So, for me, it has meant reducing the number of times I check my emails for a start. Each time you check email, it takes almost a minute to get back on track to what you were doing beforehand. Now I check twice a day and have an automated message that lets people know and encourages them to phone if their is an emergency.

I have also started to re-evaluate the role I have recently taken on, as department head for Modern Language at my school. (It is somewhat ironic that I found the website and book because of my interest in finding a more efficient way of teaching and/or learning a language.) I am now going to out source jobs to other members of the department, which should be theirs anyway. At my school, the administration always looks to the department head to make sure that everyone does their appointed task. I don't get paid enough to do this. If they don't do it they can explain that to the admin team. I've also decided that all meetings will be 20 minutes long. I will send the relevant information and I will just take questions at the meeting. All 'other business' must be submitted in advance or it will not discuss it. I probably won't be able to keep to 20 minutes but I will! I don't know how long I will last at this job but for the moment someone has to do it and no one else is up to it. And some could be quite dangerous.

Well, and now back to the books!

As I was saying a few posts ago, I came across two books during my week off, one called Finding Sanctuary and the other, the Four Hour Work Week. I said that there were similarities between them which might seem odd since one is about monastic steps for everyday life, and the other about escaping the 9-5 world. However, both have in common a philosophy for simplifying our lifestyles in order to decrease stress and get greater satisfaction from our lives.

When Cliff and I first went to Othona it was to get away from it all with a vague nod to spirituality. We were both very stressed out. It was very easy to blame it on our jobs and the lifestyle here in southern England but in Finding Sanctuary, Abbot Jamison asks the question, 'Why have you allowed yourself to get into this state.' It's very easy to dismiss that question. How could it be me? I don't want to live like this. Then again, I do and did have choices and I can find another way to live and yes, I suppose after much denial, I have to admit that I got in this mess all by myself!

(To be continued!)

Two Books that have prompted me to changes

I suppose that it is rare that a book changes your life. It is more likely that you were ready for the change and the book just gave you a little push. In the last two weeks, I have had two pushes from books I have read. In a way the two books are similar. The first I discovered at Othona during our 5 day visit this week. I was in the library trying to avoid writing, when my attention was caught by Finding Sanctuary: monastic steps for everyday life by Abbot Christopher Jamison. A few years ago there was TV series in the UK which followed 5 men who entered Worth Abbey for 40 days and 40 nights of living the monastic life. I never watched it but I heard good things about it and I have always been interested to know more. Worth Abbey is Benedictine and about three years ago I followed a bible study book about the rule of St. Benedict. So, I imagine that I was predisposed to be interested in this book. I won't go into the details today of how it affected me but I will say that it has given me pause to reflect on the stresses of life and how to obtain real sanctuary from them.
The second book is called 'The Four Hour Work Week' by Timothy Ferriss. If you had the chance to look at the YouTube video of the interview with a banker (from the Southbank Show) in a previous post, you might also have followed the link to the blog where I found it. Timothy Ferriss is the author of this blog which I initially looked at because he had some interesting things to say about learning language. As it turns out, he has interesting things to say about a lot of other subjects as well.
What do these two books have in common for me? Ah well, more of that tomorrow!