More, better, faster — productivity gimmicks and self-improvement

I’m the kind of guy who will order the self-help DVDs off the television at 5 a.m. Not all of the time–maybe once a year I buy into some new idea or method, possibly more often if we’re talking web trends. I’m not compulsive about the decision–I do the research. But, if I like it and it’s not snake oil, cult or pyramid scheme, I dive in headfirst. Then the diet/workout/productivity/spiritual growth/mental health package arrives in the mail. I follow the instructions. I alter my habits. I see the changes. Everything starts to come together. Then after a while I let it slip. A few months after the peak, I’m back on the couch staring at the TV in the pre-dawn gloom, stuffing potato chips into my maw, eyes bleary with caffeine overload, watching someone sell me some better version of myself. Someone with more self control, more skill. A faster, sleeker me. A me that is vacationing in the Amazon. I wonder if I’m really Walter Mitty after all and I shout, “No! I am not. I may not be a beautiful and unique snowflake, but I’m not only a guy who eats chips in the middle of the night. I’m the guy with the drive and the ambition that gets it together and wins!” And it starts all over again.

I’m no slouch. I’m still young but I’ve had a couple of careers. I’m in a happy marriage. Own a home I could live in the rest of my life without grumbling much. But like millions of people (billions?) I know I’m nowhere near my potential. Or at least I believe I’m nowhere near it. Could be this is it. But I don’t think so. Not at all, really. Today, that’s what More Better Faster! is about. It’s a chronicle of this process. A place to track all of the stuff I’m using and doing, to think about why, to examine it, break it down. Do Google Notebooks really improve my life? Or is is just more clutter on the desktop? What tricks actually get me to do my reading on the recumbent bike? Do I really need the ice cream? Can I change the way my brain works in middle age the way I could when I was 20? Maybe this will be useful. Maybe whoever winds up reading this will get something out of it, or have something to share back that will click. In the end, I expect to work. But I want to love my work, and I want to lessen the amount of drudgery. Work less, earn more. Trade up. Spend more time with the family. Spend more time helping my community. Make more art.