Your thoughts on rational uses of free time?

[kwurtee]

What is the rational use of free time? I love working Monday through Friday, but find spending a weekend playing "family guy" and "doing nothing" to be fairly depressing, and I can't wait to get back to work on Monday.

Am I a workaholic, or simply using my weekends in the wrong way? What's a rational use of free time besides kicking back and relaxing?

[iouswuoibev]

I find reading to be an excellent method of "kicking back and relaxing". I don't think recreational activities should be just a means of "killing time". I don't think the concept of killing time is valid, since time can never be regained and should always be spent in the best way possible, even when you are at rest. Ayn Rand did stamp collecting, as is written about here. See if reading that gives you any ideas.

[Al Kufr]

What is the rational use of free time?  I love working Monday through Friday, but find spending a weekend playing "family guy" and "doing nothing" to be fairly depressing, and I can't wait to get back to work on Monday.

Am I a workaholic, or simply using my weekends in the wrong way?  What's a rational use of free time besides kicking back and relaxing?

This is a good questionnaire to find out if youre a "workaholic" or not

All you have to do is answer yes or no to the following questions.

Do you find yourself constantly preoccupied with your work?

Do your family and friends complain that they hardly get to see you?

Do you take your work with you when you go home?

Do you find it increasingly difficult to get time to relax and have fun?

Do you find it difficult to have food at the correct times?

http://www.trans4mind.com/timemanagement.pdf

Ideally all your answersd should be no.

[BurgessLau]

What is the rational use of free time?  I love working Monday through Friday, but find spending a weekend playing "family guy" and "doing nothing" to be fairly depressing, and I can't wait to get back to work on Monday.

Am I a workaholic, or simply using my weekends in the wrong way?  What's a rational use of free time besides kicking back and relaxing?

What are your highest personal values? I have three:

1. My work -- which I love to do, but cannot do all the time because then I become unproductive.

2. My friends -- whom I enjoy very much, but only in limited amounts, not all the time.

3. My favorite leisure activities (walking and biking; reading fiction) -- which are literally re-creational, that is, they help restore me after I have become exhausted from working too much.

(There is a fourth category in my life -- and on my to-do list -- and that is necessities, which means all those things that I need to do but aren't values in themselves. An example is doing posture exercises every day.)

I find that by monitoring my mind I become aware of when I need to switch from one to another for maximum productivity and pleasure. After reading fiction for awhile, for example, I get restless and want to get back to work. The fiction did its job: restoration.

For anyone who doesn't have a natural balance of work, friends, leisure, and necessities, I would ask: Why not? Have you found close friends? Have you found your favorite leisure activities? Do you do the things you know you need to do to increase the length and quality of your life, or do you evade that necessity?

Howard Roark is my ideal for a balanced life: Passionate for his work, intensely social with well-chosen friends (including his love, Dominique), focused on refreshing leisure activities (such as swimming), and attentive to the necessities (like paying the rent on time, when he could).

[Iakeo]

What is the rational use of free time?  I love working Monday through Friday, but find spending a weekend playing "family guy" and "doing nothing" to be fairly depressing, and I can't wait to get back to work on Monday.

Am I a workaholic, or simply using my weekends in the wrong way?  What's a rational use of free time besides kicking back and relaxing?

The only rational use of time is in the aquisition of value to yourself.

You have to define what "value" means to you. Then find ways to acquire those

valued "things". (Hopefully those values will be rational.)

Then, if you still have ANY "free time", you'll know you've done the "define and

find ways to get value" part wrong, and repeat the process for another interation.

And NO,.. you're NOT a workaholic, as you still have ANY freetime at all.

And YES,.. you are obviously using your weekends wrongly (irrationally).

-Iakeo

Edited March 14, 2005 by Iakeo

[TomL]

What is the rational use of free time?  I love working Monday through Friday, but find spending a weekend playing "family guy" and "doing nothing" to be fairly depressing, and I can't wait to get back to work on Monday.

Am I a workaholic, or simply using my weekends in the wrong way?  What's a rational use of free time besides kicking back and relaxing?

You have a conflict, or if you will -- a contradiction in your values. You see a need to value doing both, but they conflict with each other. Your emotional response is a red flag which really means that you need to check your premises which lead you to each conclusion.

Ask yourself (introspect) what it is that makes you want to both. You should have a list of premises that leads you to each of the two values. Examine these lists carefully. If they do not consist of premises that are directly perceptual, you may have to continue to regress on each of those premises, back through your hierarchy of knowledge. But somewhere along the way, you will find one premise that is false. Delete it and re-integrate your premises back into conclusions. If your two values still conflict with each other, repeat until all the wrong premises are eradicated.

If you are having a hard time figuring it out, a cognitive therapist such as Dr. Hurd is highly qualified to assist.

[plaintext]

This is a good questionnaire to find out if youre a "workaholic" or not

... ... ...

... ... ...

Ideally all your answersd should be no.

Was that humor? or serious?

How would Roark and Rearden score on this quiz?

[Elle]

This is a good questionnaire to find out if youre a "workaholic" or not

http://www.trans4mind.com/timemanagement.pdf

Ideally all your answersd should be no.

I challenge your statement that ideally all answers should be no. What is ideal about that, and isn't this questionairre dropping the context of the particular individuals goals? I answered yes to every single question, but I don't consider that any kind of red-flag because right now my work is my top value. In fact, I think I would be proud to be considered a workaholic if that is what my answers to this questionairre suggest.

Additionally, "workaholic" has the same kind of connotation as "Alcoholic" which I would imagine suggests escaping reality through some detrimental and (maybe even) addictive behavoir. Should rational individuals who are dedicated to their work to the extreme, maybe even obsessed with it, be lumped in with those who actually work simply to escape the reality of having a purposeful life? According to who's standards is it bad to be "obsessed" or a "workaholic", I just don't get it.

Edited March 15, 2005 by Elle

[Richard Roark]

I agree with Elle, I am obsessed with my writing. Is this a bad thing, I don't think so and some might say that since I don't physically write everyday, that I am not a writer. Yet, mentally there is nothing else that I think about, I am always trying to work out story ideas and themes and thinking about my writing.

[Bryan]

Additionally, "workaholic" has the same kind of connotation as "Alcoholic" which I would imagine suggests escaping reality through some detrimental and (maybe even) addictive behavoir.  Should rational individuals who are dedicated to their work to the extreme, maybe even obsessed with it, be lumped in with those who actually work simply to escape the reality of having a purposeful life?  According to who's standards is it bad to be "obsessed" or a "workaholic", I just don't get it.

This is a textbook example of an anti-concept, attempting to destroy the value of dedication to your work. Thanks for pointing that out Elle .

[Iakeo]

I agree with Elle,  I am obsessed with my writing. Is this a bad thing, I don't think so and some might say that since I don't physically write everyday, that I am not a writer. Yet, mentally there is nothing else that I think about, I am always trying to work out story ideas and themes and thinking about my writing.

Hear hear..!! I'm with Rich here.

In reality, anyone with ANY "free time", as "free time" is typically defined, is doing

something wrong.

There simply IS NOT ENOUGH actual time in life (in a lifetime) to accomplish what

you would want to accomplish if you actually knew what was of value to you and

you were striving for it.

I personally think that one reason people who's "life's work" is known to them

tend to live so damned long, is because they simply REFUSE to die because

they "don't have time for it."

Am I one of those people? Unfortunately not. I still have that evil known as "free

time", which means I'm definately doing several things wrong. I freely admit that.

But,.. as the peasant said to the inquisitor after spouting out, "She turned me into

a newt!", I must say,.. it's getting better..!

(( He actually said, "Got better!", but I think he was lying. ))

-Iakeo

Edited March 15, 2005 by Iakeo

[Richard Roark]

Well do I have free time that should probably be better spent? Well Yes, I am an avid video game player and some may say that I can use this time better spent doing something else, such as writing. Yet, as I stated above I am always working out my ideas and stories. Since as of right now I don't have anything really concrete to write about, just still working out ideas, I think it would be a bigger waste of time to sit down and try to write something when I don't even know what the hell it is I am going to write not even to mention that not knowing where it will be going. I am also an avid reader, but I don't think any one on this site will say that is not time well spent. Another point about my writing is that it was at first difficult for me to get going. I have figured out recently that this was due to my motivations for writing. What I mean by this is I had to ask myself, was I motivated by good reasons, or was I motivated by anger and a need to write propaganda. Well, not wanting to be Michael Moore, I have had to go through a reexamination process as far as my writing goes.

Edited for all sorts of reasons

Edited March 15, 2005 by Richard Roark

[Cole]

kwurtee, I don't see a distinction between what you're refering to as your "free time" and the rest of your time. All of your time should be spent pursuing your values. You've apparently made the decision to spend most of the week working for an employer, but this is a decision that you made in accordance with the hierarchy of your values. This same hierarchy of values should guide you in all of the other uses of your time, too. Some of the things you do will have a more direct reward (such as spending time and effort at your job in exchange for a paycheck) and some will have a more indirect reward (such as BurgessLau pointed out- leisurely activites which allow you to be restored so that you can continue to pursue your greater values).

[BurgessLau]

Yet, as I stated above I am always working out my ideas and stories. Since as of right now I don't have anything really concrete to write about, just still working out ideas, I think it would be a bigger waste of time to sit down and try to write something when I don't even know what the hell it is I am going to write not even to mention that not knowing where it will be going.

What methods do you use to prepare before writing a first-draft of a story?

Typically what is the sequence of steps that you go through?

I am also an avid reader, but I don't think any one on this site will say that is not time well spent.

Doesn't that depend on what you are reading -- and why?

Edited March 15, 2005 by BurgessLau

[TomL]

What is the rational use of free time?  I love working Monday through Friday, but find spending a weekend playing "family guy" and "doing nothing" to be fairly depressing, and I can't wait to get back to work on Monday.

Let me concretize the process I outlined a little, I think it is lost in the other replies completely.

First, I would start by asking myself "why does playing family guy make me depressed?" Depression is a negative emotion, telling you that you're doing something wrong. What is it about that particular activity that you think is wrong?

For examples sake only, let's say that answer is "because its not productive." That's not directly perceptual (you can't see with your eyes that its not productive). So then you ask "why is playing family guy not productive?" Here is where you might find an error. If you do think its productive in some way, then you have to look for the differences between the work productiveness and the family guy productiveness. There must be some difference between the two...

[Richard Roark]

What methods do you use to prepare before writing a first-draft of a story?

Typically what is the sequence of steps that you go through?

Well as I said in the above, figuring I am still working through ideas and since recently I have had to scrap every Idea i have been working on for the last few years for my own reasons, I am still in the process of trying to find the diamond from the trash so to speak. As far as how I prepare before writing a first draft. Well usually I will sit back and think, then think some more, and think some more. Get as many of the details of the story, or artcile, I wish to write about in my head before I sit down to write it. Draft a quick outline and then sit down to write. Since I don't have anything to concretely write about, such as an actual plot, doesn't make much sense to sit down at a keyboard and write just for the sake of writing.

My post wasn't a post for advice nor am I asking or seeking it, which is what your questions seems to apply. I have read all the Writing books done by Rand.

Edited for clarification reasons.

Edited March 15, 2005 by Richard Roark

[BurgessLau]

[...]

As far as how I prepare before writing a first draft. Well usually I will sit back and think, then think some more, and think some more. Get as many of the details of the story, or artcile, I wish to write about in my head before I sit down to write it. Draft a quick outline and then sit down to write. Since I don't have anything to concretely write about, such as an actual plot, doesn't make much sense to sit down at a keyboard and write just for the sake of writing.

My post wasn't a post for advice nor am I asking or seeking it, which is what your questions seems to apply.

I wasn't implying that at all. What I was doing was trying to gather some information before asking my next question, which applies directly to the topic of this thread: How do you use your "free time" in relation to your fiction-writing time?

Do you work on a regular schedule? If so, about how much time can you work on fiction writing without getting burned out? Do you give yourself assignments that are objectives on the way toward completing a story? If so, do you take a break after reaching each objective in turn?

In other words, what role does "free time" (time for leisure and friendships) have in your work schedule when you are developing a story idea and then when you are actually writing or editing it?

[Richard Roark]

Sorry, didn't mean to get really defensive there. No, i don't have that type of structure yet. But It was something I was planning on applying soon, the whole goal thing. What I mean by this that when I finally find a decent theme with a good plot, then I will set up something along the lines you suggest. I will at the end of each day keep a log recording what I accomplished that day, what I didn't and why, then set the goals for the next day and work from there. Hell, what I am saying, I should be doing this now. :doh: As far as my free time goes, this is usually time after work and on the weekends. I have the few activities I do, obviously sitting here at the board, reading, and playing my video games. Add in movie watching here and there and that is it. I don't go out all that much, can't afford to really and in all honesty I don't really have a good time anyway. So in many ways, I guess you can conclude first I need to have a better structure on how I approach matters, and I just recently realized this. The other problem lies in actually creating good plots, I can come up with a dozen themes in a like no time, but constructing a good plot around a theme is what I am struggling with. So as you can see I am still working on many aspects pertaining to my writing. Many of these are internal struggles. Thankfully a phone call from someone I hold in high regard boosted my spirits recently, dealing with a Mother who is out of work for over a year and going through legal proceedings then being the sole support for two people while working a meager job can put a strain on a person. Also finding this board with like minded people has also been helpful.

Edited March 16, 2005 by Richard Roark