Random Observation/Comment #763: First off, do half as much. Second, make those half things you do twice as awesome. Quality over quantity.
Why this List?
I have no shortage of lists, especially “to do” ones. I take pleasure in adding things to them so I can satisfyingly check them off. As I think through all that I can do, I also consider what I don’t want to do. Eliminating the negative is just as useful of an activity. After writing the list, I realized there’s a large chunk that falls under the category “I can probably learn how to do this, but I don’t want to mess it up.” Another category is “I’m going to delegate the wife to do this one.”
- Yard work – I do not enjoy it. I easily get hives and I have a minor fear that I’ll accidentally cut off my toes when mowing.
- House design decisions – I can contribute and have an opinion, but I’m already in acceptance that this is not something I will own.
- Painting / putting up wallpaper – While we’ve done some of this before, I am at a stage in my life where I’ll do more harm than good adding anything to a wall.
- Getting rid of wasp nests – Gross. I’m afraid I’ll piss off a vengeful Freddy Kruger one and it’ll haunt my dreams.
- Fixing the car – Even though my dad and brother are obsessed with cars, I would rather take care of my road bike. I don’t know how to change oils and rotate tires.
- Plumbing – You do not want to mess up a plumbing job. Water damage would be super bad.
- Electrical – Even as an electrical engineer, I can design microchip layouts, but don’t ask me to put up a new ceiling fan.
- Selling things on fb marketplace – I would rather take my fingers and jam them in my eyes. I can’t stand the scams and negotiation on honestly something I just want out the house. Hard pass.
- Detailed cleaning of house – This is why we have weekly cleaning service. I’m not taking a rag to the floor and cleaning the toilet on a regular basis.
- Detailed car cleaning – We just hired these brothers that are still in college and make their own cleaning soaps. Getting a fine detail twice or three times a year seems well worth it.
- Fad diets – Who wouldn’t like losing a few pounds here and there? I think the healthy way is to just eat more veggies and eat less. I’d purposefully stay away from anything overly advertised.
- Going on rollercoasters – I never really got into the pure six flags rollercoaster rides. I barely like laying down on a moving hammock.
- Going to clubs – Maybe just once a year if I’m visiting somewhere like Berlin and need to see a modern bubble party.
- Drinking bad tasting or bad quality beer/wine/liquor – I am not drinking to get drunk anymore. It’s not worth the extra calories for a mediocre drink. We also have money now to spend a little more for higher quality.
- Joining management positions – I don’t mind being a leader or filling out feedback forms (even though these get tedious), but I absolutely have a principal individual contributor mindset. I am less interested in selling and justifying budgets on a regular basis.
- Pulling all nighters for work – If I’m doing an all nighter, I probably didn’t plan well or push back enough to manage timelines and expectations. I did do an all nighter playing Diablo Immortal last week.
- Keeping around toxic people – Sometimes bad influences are just that. If you’re not mutually seeing value then I would be more selective with my time and efforts to maintain a relationship.
- Petty fights – It’s worth the effort to avoid some fights and conflicts. I’m okay caving in on certain things just to keep the peace.
- Speeding / Driving reckless driving – Since driving is probablyt he riskiest and most dangerous thing I do by statistics, I’d rather take my time and avoid accidents/tickets.
- Reckless skiing – I think I was a fast skier because I actually couldn’t see the paths. Now that I have big enough goggles to also wear glasses, I have totally dialed back my speed.
- Hardcore adventure sports – I’m not an adrenaline junkie. I would totally rather play some table tennis and drink some beers. I would try some less usual activities like horseback riding and skydiving, but not water skiing or alligator handling
- Taking care of a dog – It’s an endless cycle of cleaning after poop. We are passed the guinea pig stage and Evie is fully potty trained, so I’m happy to halt on the shit cleaning for a few years.
- Stay at cheap places when traveling – I’m done with this phase of my life. Let’s get a nice airbnb/vrbo/hotel and enjoy the peace and quiet. Why be frugal on these things when we’re probably not going to be able to spend all the money we make anyway.
- Run a marathon – It’s not that I’m not physically fit enough to do it, but I honestly just don’t enjoy running. I’ll do other physical challenges like swimming or lifting instead.
- Heavy lifting – It’s not worth hurting my back trying to move a peloton up a staircase. This is where we just farm out all this.
- Moving houses – I hate the ordeal of moving. It’s just so much work. I’d rather just buy a new house and refurnish it from scratch.
- Gambling – I’m okay with the $5-20 pools for some casual poker games, but I’d rather not make a regular appearance in Vegas.
- Day trading – If I didn’t day trade, my portfolio would be way better off. Day trading just makes you focus too much on the market movements.
- Buying shit coins, shit NFTs, or joining shit daos – Ain’t no one got time for this. There are some genuinely interesting alts for diversity and non scammy projects out there, but I can’t say I’d go on a limb to back more than 50 of these ideas (and 30 or them are probably related to tooling or infrastructure)
- Starting a company – At least not in the next 5 years. Evie is just too much fun and these years of being there for her can’t be replicated. I’ll take more career risks in my 40s.
~See Lemons Do Less
