Eric Grey

I could study Chinese medicine all day, every day, and never get bored. It's just like - there's always something completely fascinating to pore over. Oh! And learn Chinese! Oh! And this or that text! Oh and something new was unearthed! Oh! A new patient with new problems and a whole new history to examine and re-examine. It's just bottomless, and wonderful, and I love it.

So, part of my whole YODA thing, and part of my efforts in lifestyle design are simply about freeing up as much time as possible to dive as deeply as I can into this medicine. Learn Chinese? Yes! Spend hours and hours working up my patient's cases? Yes! Read the same dusty old tomes over and over again? Yes!

Some people have hobbies, I know. Some people spend time watching television, or painting model boats (do people still do that?) or reading fiction, or scrapbooking. That's great. I have had hobbies in my life, and I do enjoy watching some basketball from time to time. I do hang out with friends and family, watching movies and cooking and such. But when it gets right down to it, when it comes to time on my own, "relaxing?" Give me an herb, a formula, a passage from a text, a few flashcards or an idea and a ramble out in the Gorge - and I'm golden.

It's weird, because part of me just wants to do nothing - to chill and not give myself a hard time about anything. Another part of me realizes that my system is only as good as these times. If I can't sail smoothly through these choppy (if wonderful) waters, then I don't really have a system. I have a toy.

This goes for all of my systems, business and personal, organizational and financial. I create these systems and maintain them so that I can go through wacky times without dropping anything major. I know that there will always be spans of time where my ability to work is compromised. I want to pass through those moments without any stress or trauma, to emerge on the other side no worse for wear. So, this is a test of that - and we'll see how it goes.

All I know is that I was so happy to be present for the birth, and I love this new little kid just way too much.

So, I have an iPhone 4 and I love it. Let's just get that out of the way.

One of the things I have always been uncomfortable with is constantly relying on my subjective interpretation of things to make decisions. I know that seems counter-intuitive to some of you. I mean, in general, I rely on my intuition a great deal. I don't even have to believe in a higher power or anything mysterious to do that. The brain is mysterious enough, really, and the way it absorbs, analyzes and interprets material without much consciousness on my part is really quite awesome. But, there are problems. Time goes by, I get distracted, and looking back on my day I'm wondering where it went. Thinking back through, I tend to think that what took up most of my time really didn't. Maybe my memory just isn't good enough to remember the flow of the day accurately. But, I'm not the only one.

Thusly, I periodically reach for data. I want to know "objectively" what went on with my day. So, with my cherished phone, I've been using a time tracking app called Eternity. I've demoed about twenty time tracking apps - both on my Mac and on my phone. I've also tried the good old fashioned analog version of writing things in a notebook. So far, Eternity is the best method I've used. It's simple, elegant, and works. It does the math for me, gives me pretty graphs based on what I'm doing, and generallly just performs as advertised.

You might think that constantly looking at my phone to determine what I'm doing and what I'm done doing would decrease my efficiency. I'm not finding that to be the case at all. In fact, I think it's made me more intentional about my actions, more likely to stick to one task before moving on to another, and generally a calmer person. Why? Because I cannot track two things at once. My commitment to tracking my time means that when I say I'm doing something, I do it, and making the switch is an intentional act earmarked by entering it into Eternity (the app, not the timeframe). I am finding it very interesting to see what I spend my time doing. A few early observations? I actually spend way more time with my friends and family than I feared. I spend more time dealing with administrative and medicinary issues than just seeing patients (time to hire someone). I spend a reasonable amount of time on self-care. It's interesting stuff.