Morning Flurry is about how this Architect accomplishes demanding physical tasks outside and inside his house over a long period of time.
As in over years. And in that photo above, he actually had a hired Subcontractor helping him. But for the long haul, how can YOU get things done that you know you can do, but just aren’t up to tackling it psychologically?
Because, yes, not only is hard physical work PHYSICALLY demanding, it also takes a big heap of internal Ummmph, psyching yourself up to STARTING the job at hand.
For instance: the Architect said he’s been moving a pile of rocks. Smooth, large river rocks, each about 10 to 20 pounds, and about 100 of them to be moved about 300 feet and used to improve the appearance of four concrete and stone bases at some paver pedestals near the entranceway to the gates. If anyone tried to do that all at once, say around noon, that would be very demanding, because that’s the hottest time of the day with the least shade, and also other white-collar interior tasks would be competing for control of your body and mind.
So what to do?
For one: do NOT schedule strenuous physical activity at the hottest time of the day, especially during warmer months. Here’s the Architect’s trick: He calls it his MORNING FLURRIES. Which to him means: schedule your most difficult physical tasks for the EARLY morning. Like between 6:30am to perhaps 9am, then call it quits. The Sun itself may not even be touching your person in those early hours. And that’s a good thing. Why? Because your hard work alone will generate a tremendous amount of internal body heat. And you need to be able to vent that heat into the surrounding atmosphere. You can’t do that if the air around you is warmer than your body. You want the outside air to be perhaps around 45 to 50*F. That’s a wonderful outdoor work temperature. So if your body heat is reaching 100*+, you can successfully vent it, often as simply as dressing in layers and taking off your jacket and getting down to your t-shirt when you are working very hard and generating lots of body heat. Just don’t do that very long, or you’ll get a cold. Don’t let that happen.
And you won’t get YOUR hard physical outside work done all at one session. And that’s okay. Don’t try to kill it. Or yourself.
What do we mean by “flurry?” Like snow? No, not really. More like as in a whole lot of activity in a short amount of time. And then call it quits around 9AM or so. Continue your efforts the next day. Go take a shower, then get on with your white collar work at which you earn the funds to allow you to live where you want to do so.
Don’t get exhausted on your morning flurry tomorrow. Do enough to have made a difference of which you can be proud. And then do some more the next day and the next and the next. Before you know it, you will have accomplished many good things.
And that’s the secret. Now go plan your own Morning Flurries.
Notes: no: do NOT lift items too heavy for you, especially if you have a history of back and other issues where doing such things can put you in the hospital. And no: do NOT try to build your whole house. That is NOT what this post is about. Trying to do that can get you dead or maimed. Only hire pros to do the really tough stuff that you know you really are qualified to do. This on-line article is about mainly simple, smaller activities. Do nothing that result in hurting yourself.