Be Less Sam…
Week 32 of 1660, Sam struggled with 3 jobs & 2 certain incomes. 364 years later, I have twice the jobs but half the income…
To see how Sam Pepys spent this week 364 years ago, follow this link.
It’s five months on from my commitment to reduce the amount I expect from myself, to see if this benefits my productivity. Since then, some major overdue projects have been completed – a massive win for Tim Hartford’s ‘Day of Happiness’ advice.
Nevertheless, as I helped Sam write his online diary for this week, I couldn’t help compare the number of jobs and incomes we each have. Despite Sam’s concerns for his workaholism, I think I surpass him on the job front.
Alas, I’m still a ways off even matching him on the income front.
What brought this home was the fact that, this week, every one of those jobs had a moment of significance – mostly of the kind Sam would describe as “vexing”…
Job 1: The One That Pays the Bills
My ‘day job’ with Immersive Experiences has slowed a bit for summer, especially since Bossman Zee recently elected to take responsibility of the STEM activities from me so I could concentrate more on the storytelling and publishing.
On Thursday, though, Zee badly twisted his ankle, taking him out the game for an event he was both managing and delivering over the weekend.
With Zee in hospital, I was suddenly responsible for bringing together a capable team to run an event I knew nothing about. Cue manic reading of past correspondence, negotiations with potential workers, and logistical planning that required hourly reworking due to further calamities such as vehicles breaking, keys going missing, and financing delays caused by, oh yeah, the guy controlling the finances being in hospital…
From all reports, though, the event was successful. If you attended the Dino Day at Newmarket Racecourse last Sunday, please let me know if that matches your experience…?
Job 2: The One I Love…
…and which, like Sam’s Navy job, may result in great rewards one day – especially if it keeps bringing weeks like this.
For starters, I received a commission to deliver online teacher training for the BookTrust charity. I turned down a fee so they could instead put the money towards gifting copies of All the Better to Read You With to the first 80 schools who sign up.
Then, 20min later, I was chatting with Katie Sipp-Hurley, a reporter for The Evening Standard, discussing the benefits to young people of reading for pleasure. When Katie’s article runs in September, hopefully many London travellers will benefit from the free advice – and maybe I will benefit from the exposure…
That’s how most writing careers begin, y’see: heaps of effort that may or may not be rewarded, however many others benefit along the way.
That’s why ya gotta love it… $;-)
Job 3: The One I Can’t Talk About…
…‘coz it stems from my law degree, and so relates to matters that are strictly confidential. I’ve a couple of these at the mo’, and both took significantly positive steps this week – though both also took more of my time to get there…
This one’s also a labour of love – though love for those involved more than the labour.
Job 4: The One for Fun…
…or at least, that’s what community theatre’s supposed to be. And so far, that’s what 80% of Cambridge Drama Festival rehearsals have been: pure fun.
But we had a panic this week. We learned our performance’s slot in the Festival was capped at 25min. Our readthrough alone had taken 30min. The playwright called it 40min – but somehow ‘25min’ had been written on the title page, hence the Festival’s time allowance.
After an entire evening spent trimming the play to fit, though, another performance company dropped out – allowing us some extra time.
Only for the play, though. We sadly couldn’t get the evening back… $:-/
Job 5: The One We Pay For
Yup. Remember: Pepys House isn’t just a tenancy for us, it’s a job – the biggest of which is the garden. More caterpillars surfaced this week, plus I had to spray 300m² of gravel with weedkiller.
Tip for anyone doing similar: wear gloves. That’s the advice I gave myself Saturday – after neglecting it Friday. Some weed spray must’ve seeped onto my hand, ‘coz that afternoon my ring finger looked to be turning into a beetroot…
Luckily, the pain had gone by that evening. The colour restored by mid-Sunday…
Job 6: The Political One
On Sunday, we hosted the local Green Party’s AGM in our garden. This wasn’t officially a job, though, until 20min in. That was when I agreed to become our area’s Party Secretary.
Because, y’know, I don’t have much on…
This, though, is about helping to make our area a kinder, safer, more sustainable place to live. The camaraderie and optimism that followed the AGM attracted others from the local community too – including disgruntled voters from the left-most and right-most wings of politics.
People don’t just feel hope – they bring it.
After all that, though, my productivity score (what I achieved compared to what I hoped to achieve) was 10% lower than the week before.
I really need to be a little more Tim Hartford, and a little less Sam Pepys…
Weekly Productivity Score: 64%
Quarterly Best: 74%
Annual Best: 74%
In return for the smiles these words gave you, please forward them to a friend!
You’ll then get two bonus smiles: one for bringing joy to your friend, and one for my mahoosive gratitude. $:-D