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HAVE YOU EVER HAD the experience, during
a power outage or on a vacation, of finally having the time to
really enjoy a conversation or read a good book and find yourself
thinking, “Why don’t I do that more often?”
Why? Because the easy entertainments and
products of our modern world are always enticing, and, of course,
there are always chores that need to be done.
Some famous authors have written their
books while in jail. I’ve often thought what a great opportunity
they had. They lived in circumstances highly conducive to writing
(because there wasn’t much else to do). And here I am, stuck
in civilization with all its temptations. Poor little me.
But there is a way to create some
of the same kinds of experiences without power outages or jail
time. Human beings have been successfully using a simple and
very effective method for thousands of years. It is simply to
forbid things.
Today, for example, I have forbidden TV
for myself. And I’ve already written more today than I have
in the last week. It works. And there’s nothing forced about
it. I don’t feel I have to write. I want to. Once
I take away the nonstop seduction of the television, the most
interesting and fun thing available is writing. Forbidding a
distraction simply opens up the time I have available to do the
things I really want.
Try it. Take the thing you do that wastes
the most time or creates the lowest-quality experience and forbid
it for a day. You don’t have to make it permanent. Simply
forbid it for tomorrow or for the rest of today. I think you’ll
like the result.
Forbid something for the day. |
