Slowly, imperceptive in the course of weeks and months, my life is evolving a discipline. It is unintentional but emits from a desire to matter. I suspect that deep down inside of me, and perhaps in every individual, there is a hope for limits and a desire for direction. Discipline is the key to both and stewardship of time is fundamental to discipline. None of us want the day to end without having accomplished something. An old friend of mine, Walt the Banker, advised me to ask myself if I had "earned my hundred dollars" on a daily basis. It was his way of keeping check on his level of effort.
Getting up early is a part of life in rural Alabama. As with Thomas Jefferson, I rise before the sun. The Old Goat and I have breakfast. I, then, head to my land to do battle with the privet. A few hours of genuine work and plenty of perspiration make a real difference on the property's livability.
When the body is exercised and the energy is depleted, I clean up and gather my notes, a few books, and computer and drive to Starbuck's in LaGrange. The coffee shop is my make-shift office. Settled with a medium cup of house coffee, black, I work on the translation of the Federalist Papers. It is still a hobby but yearns to be considered a mission. I tried not to set milestones but I expect myself to put one paper per day into regular English. Some days, it takes a couple of hours to work through a single article; on other days, it takes four or five hours. It all depends on the Paper's author. John Jay wrote in a stand-up style that is fairly easy to put into other words. Alexander Hamilton wrote beautifully and is a touch more challenging to rephrase. James Madison is down-right difficult. His ideas are ornately complex and convincingly elegant.
A paper translated, I head back to Welch. On the way home, I pick up items that might be necessary for dinner. Arriving home, there is usually time for a short nap before preparing supper that is now served at 6 pm.
The time after supper is devoted to reading. That usually lasts for a couple of hours until I begin dozing on the book.
The day is spent. Well, did you earn your hundred buck today? Yes, I did.
I earned $200 today,,, that is enough for you and me. You can take tomorrow off!
ReplyDeleteThis is a life philosophy, regardless of what one is doing, that we all need to "earn my hundred dollars" everyday. At the end of the day, the most satifying one are those that we spent living a purpose, accomplishing something other than being an ameoba that just breathes, drinks, eats, & shits. Far too many ameobas on this planet.
ReplyDeleteBoy