What's Important Now.

Notre Dame football coach /legend Lou Holtz used to give motivational talks around the theme set out in the title.
It's a catchy slogan: What's Important Now? (The W.I.N. Principle)
This to answer the question 'what should I be doing?', with a question.

As helpful as it may be at times, the question-answer is incomplete.
That's because it does not, nor could it always, provide a solution to the (increasingly frequent for me) conundrum of exactly what one/you/I should be doing at any particular moment.

Let me quickly acknowledge that this is a first world problem - by which I mean a problem afflicting the affluent and well off.
Let me say further, that recently I have been afflicted.

A certain lethargy has been noted.
Maybe it's an age thingy.
Maybe it's cuz a full break is overdue.
Maybe it's just poor personal management.

My recollection is that I have typically answered the question with responses that centered around
office work, or home/shelter tasks, or kids & family, or personal hygiene or sleep - with a dose of fun stuff mixed in.
And these still continue - but candidly, with fewer pressures or deadlines.

About 10 years back I reflected on similar themes, and I hit on an overarching approach.
That was that I should embark on a project, which would cover my retirement years, that emphasized being a good role model for the long now concept. That is encouraging a long term view to all life's questions.

Rosseau was to be my test ground.
Planning and hopefully building a thousand year structure was to be the model project.
This would be a project that had utility, and meaning, consistent with what I understood to be essential principles as articulated by the sages of the ages.

But I seem to have run out of gas.
And just as distressing, I am sensing diminished physical capacities.
The initial formulation of the project now seems out of reach on a bunch of dimensions.

Recently I have been reflecting on alternate paths.
Of course this is troubling, until one settles on a path.
As a matter of common sense, at some stage one has to stop planning, make a commitment, and start doing.
And whenever a possible change of path starts infecting one's thoughts, well, that's when the confusion emerges, and the circling begins.

Oh well...
I will not resolve this at this keyboard session.
It is good to simply note it crudely as I have done.
Fates willling I will return to give further comments in short order,
ideally with a path that I can embrace with greater resolve.

bon soir,
M

Extending Life: Good News

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Yes, you can do things to extend your own life !
So say the science researchers. Apparently the science comes out of the Netherlands, as reported by CBC radio yesterday.

Good news? Well,... maybe.

They say one hour of bike riding adds one hour to your life.
Sounds good to me.  Initially.

Imagine, on hearing this news you decided to set yourself a target,or goal, to extend your life by a fixed amount of time.
Let's say one year.

And given my age, 64, and my own expectations of health going forward, let us also say that this goal should be reached in a 10 year period. That is by the time I reach age 74.

Here's how the numbers crunch.
One further assumption. That is that I would work on this goal, doing the exercise 3 times a week, from now on for a 10 year stretch.

Turns out that every exercise session - say every Monday, Wednesday and Friday - I would hop on my stationary bike and pedal for the required time to meet my target.

It would take just over 7 hours of cycling per session to reach the goal.
That's the same as a full shift of a standard work day.
So, if I gave over my life to this goal, then 3 days a week, I would have to put in a full shift on the bike for the next 10 years to add one year to my life.
Seems like I would have just lost 10 years, instead of gaining one.

Or am I missing something?