A Great Book!!!

Sometimes a book comes along that’s worthy of it’s own Blog post. And that book is Someday is Today by Matthew Dicks. Most good books I read just go in my Books I Love section with a little review. I review them for myself and these are my own notes and takeaways.

But not Someday is Today. This book deserves much better.

My main takeaway is that my entire life I’ve run from my quirks, rituals, habits, and systems (even tho I still do many in secret) but Someday is Today made me feel not so alone.  I run a stopwatch on how long it takes me to shower. I know how long my Get-Ready-Quick Routine is (8 minutes from the moment I decide to shower and get dressed and leave the house) versus my Full-Ready-For-the-Day Routine (14 minutes).  I can mow my front yard in 23 minutes (28 with full edging). My backyard in 30 minutes, flat. I can make a bed in 4-minutes. Shaving is 4-6 minutes depending on how much growth (shaving is part of my night time bedtime routing and not my morning get-ready-for-the-day routines). Making a cup of coffee in my Aeropress is about 5 minutes (but I need to run the stopwatch on that, soon).

The list goes on and on.

someday is Today has given me the courage to say …I need more tracking and efficiencies in my life. And now I know why I need these efficiencies …because I need to fill that “saved time” with productive things like writing, Blogging, exercise (even if just a short burst), or little chores.

At work, the same. “Sales people” often wear their 60-hour work week as badges of honor but I never see anyone that really puts in a 60-hour week. I often think, “if you’re sending Emails at 10 p.m. or 1 a.m., to me, it just means you’re working too slowly during the day or you’re not working at maximum capacity and efficiency during your 9 to 5 (or 8:30 to 5:30 if we’re being more modern). I’ve said for years …show me a job and tell me it’s a 40-hour-a-week job, and I’ll figure out how to do that job in 30-hours-a-week and then I’ll add 10 more hours worth of work to my week, which in a 52-week year, I’ll do 520 hours more work. Tell me the average seller puts out 5 presentations in a week and I’m going to figure out how to double that. Years ago when I heard about things like “paperless work environment” and “Inbox Zero” for Email, I embraced it. Not for more leisure time, but instead because I immediately saw how much time could be saved by not printing things, filing things, and faxing things (and receiving faxes). Not to mention the annual “clearing out files” or “the shredding company is coming” work that came with all that paper.

My commute to my old job was 22-minutes if I left my house before 7:40 a.m., which allowed me to avoid drop-off at two schools that I have to drive by on my way. If I leave at 8:00 a.m., with the increased amount of cars on the road and both schools full of car poolers and busses, that 22-minute commute is 35-minutes.

My stopwatch is always on my wrist. And on my phone. And my fancy car has a “Trip” feature that times and measures every trip.

Efficiency. Efficiency. Efficiency. That’s the name of the game. Get more done in less time.

Matthew Dicks and Someday is Today was a good bit of self-help, but I see it as more of a challenge. Matthew showers in 100-seconds. Crap. I’m at 150-seconds. Gotta work on that.

If you have a dream of writing a book …get this book. If you have a dream of creating something as a side hustle? Get this book? If you’ve ever gotten to the end of a long day and feel exhausted and ask yourself, “oh my gosh, it’s 10:15 …where does the time go?”  GET THIS BOOK.

Matthew Dicks writes to inspire the “creatives”, but I would get this for a doctor, a teacher, or any business person (especially those in “sales” because that’s a bit of a creative endeavor and does come with things that must be done early, or during lunch, or after hours, or on weekends, etc).

Mostly, it made me think of my Mom, my Uncle, and my friend Matt …who died a little over 5 years ago at the age of 47. All of them went too soon and suddenly and never had the time to do whatever it was they still wanted to do (hold grandchildren, trips, or watch his daughters grow up). And so if I ever say the words, “I just don’t have time” or “there’s just not enough time”, I should punch myself in the face.

If you want to be better with your time …this is your book.