The word recreation means "activity done for enjoyment when not working" but I prefer to think of recreation in another way by deconstructing the word itself: re-creation can be seen as activities that we use to re-create ourselves. Taken this way, recreation is when we stop the action, taking ourselves apart, throw out the things we no longer need or that are no longer serving us, and put ourselves back together again using only the parts we want to keep.

Without recreation, there's no opportunity for sub-performing thoughts, frameworks, strategies, or relationships to get off the bus, so they just hang-on and continue bringing us down. Recreation is like spring cleaning for our mind, body and soul. Without it, our minds-eye view

Time Management Hacks Vol. 1

Two weeks ago I had a call with Ben Rubin, an adviser and friend who has been helping us through the fundraising process at Kindara. We talked about time management and then I had a long-ass Friday where it seemed like I didn't get much done. The next Monday morning I decided to start tracking what I was spending my time on in minute detail. I made a google spreadsheet and added in each block of time and what I was doing during that block. This has proved extremely valuable. It has allowed me to:

See how many hours per week I was working (around 55 which is too much),
See why certain things are not moving as fast as I'd like them to be moving at Kindara, and
Become very aware of what I was spending my time on, thus improving my choice of activities and productivity at those activities.
Develop a mental map of which activities I enjoy (making spreadsheets!) and which activities I hate (damn you email!), and
Correlate my overall sense of well-being and happiness to what I spend my time doing, or in other words, answer the question: what should I do right now to feel a sense of accomplishment today, next week and next year?

Super valuable stuff. Here are my results breakdown from Week 1...