For many ambitious people, taking a day off is more stressful than working a triple shift.

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_{This is my new daily Steem Blog, now in beta mode!}

INTRO

My goal in life is to start a new genre. To inspire and invoke a new form of art into the world, sending ripples of creativity out into the universe for generations to come.

Right now I'm grinding out the early stages, working two jobs, starting an anarchist art collective, and recording + rehearsing a ton of new music. This daily Steem blog brings you the most useful lessons and ideas that I'm able to extract from each day of my crazy life.

It's kind of like a motivational blog, but with a lot more angst and confusion. Call me the anti-Tony Robbins. Lets do this:

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May 15, 2019 - 9:00am - Home

At least a big work day becomes stressful for a reason. “I’m working towards my dreams, and I got big dreams. It can’t be easy!”

On a rest day, when we get stressed out (oftentimes because we think about all the productive things we could be doing), it feels foolish. There’s no good reason to stress out about resting, yet it happens and we feel dumb.

I designed my morning routine as one counterbalance to all the work I do. I spend a lot of time “warming up” for my day: walk around the block, meditate for 20 mins, shower, eat a tasty low-carb breakfast. After an hour or two of self-care time in the morning, I am usually in a good enough state.

This helps me get away from trying to rest for an entire day, by building it into part of my daily routine.

11:30am - Hillsborough St.

Now it’s 11:30, with a mostly free day ahead of me. I have a short evening music venue shift starting at 19:45, and I’d like to work on some music later - but mostly I want to relax and get some rest.

I leave the house by foot with a sense of trepidation. How does one relax? Historically, I would waste days like this through faux-productive (i.e. pointless) internet “work” tasks, a bad habit I am desperately trying to break.

Walking down Hillsborough street in the direction of NC State College, I am in a daze. What does it mean to relax? How can I possibly take a day off, when there is so much to do? Do I even enjoy relaxation? In my best life, maybe I would just work 18 hours a day, and be grateful for the opportunity to do so.

I remind myself that I am a regular human, not some kind of enlightened creature, and try to put the philosophical quibbles out of my mind.

Real satisfaction and entertainment are often on the other side of boredom — at least, that’s what I am telling myself as I happily munch on a large hot bowl of lobster bisque at the Morgan St. Food Hall. I had no idea this place existed, and it has a few delicious low-carb options. Hence, bisque.

I’ve walked up and down HIllsborough St. 100s of times, yet never noticed this food hall before. That’s Raleigh for you.

My co-star horoscope recently read: “Boredom enhancing Transcendence” — a perfect summary of my low-phone-diet experience so far. Getting rid of the phone doesn’t automatically make you happy, all it does is make you bored. The boredom is a gift- it is the seed of new awareness, of new curiosity. Boredom is a waypost on the path to transcendence.

I’m eating this lobster bisque, browsing thru my digital copy of Tim Ferriss’s 4 Hour Work Week on my laptop*, thinking about life and feeling content. This is not ultimate relaxation, but it’s a step in the right direction.

_{*I really shouldn’t even be reading this kind of stuff on a day off but idk}

That’s right: Even relaxation takes practice.

8:30pm - Kings

It’s a very easy shift working the door for Game of Thrones trivia night. They scheduled me by mistake — pretty sure they intended to just have the show manager keep an eye on the door.

I’m scrolling through all the new posts on the “mindset” tag of steemit.com, reading and leaving comments on every one. This is the core of my promotional strategy - create good content, then be generous with my time by reading & leaving relevant comments on as much other content as I can. I never link back to my own posts or ask people to follow me - that’s a classic beginner’s mistake - I just contribute a little good energy and move on.

If you do this on 20-30 posts a day, you’ll start gaining a few new followers per day.

With a job that includes a lot of downtime, such as working the door for a low-capacity music venue, it’s the perfect opportunity to double down and get more work done. If I’m working, I want to get the most out of it, and this is a great way to do so.

Trivia night goes well, cleanup is uneventful, and pretty soon I am heading home. It was a good day. A restful day.

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BITE-SIZED FUN STUFF

none today :-(

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