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Today I reread The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi, one of the world’s foremost treatises on the way of the warrior. More than three and a half centuries after his death, Musashi is still known as one of the greatest swordsmen of all time. He was also a master painter and calligrapher.

What strikes me most about the book is the depth of Musashi’s commitment to his own craft: killing in combat. He believed very strongly that, in the way of the warrior, the only thing worth focusing on is killing. The warrior does not show off, try to impress others, try to win fame, or engage in mock battles. All he does is kill, as effectively as possible. For Musashi there should be nothing else in the mind.

I am personally no warrior, though I have spent time in the military. But I continue to believe Musashi’s book holds lessons for us all.

Because Musashi does not elevate the way of the sword above other ways of being. In fact, he acknowledges that each person has his own way, and each person has his own reasons for choosing it. He chastises those who would criticize paths different from their own. But he also emphasizes the importance of absolute, unwavering commitment to one’s chosen road. In fact, to him the act of commitment almost seems more important than that which is being committed to.

So the core lesson of the book is simple: find your own way, and commit wholeheartedly to it. This is not easy to do. We live in a highly mercantile society, and unless one is careful it is very easy to adopt mercantile values for oneself. Mercantile values — which measure the worth of people and things in terms of dollars, status and connections — might be good to have if you yourself are a merchant, but they are no good at all if you are an artist (unless you happen to be a commercial artist). And yet I have known writers and artists who criticize themselves because they do not think their work to be commercially viable. This is unwise. If yours is the artist’s path, place your focus on making art, and value yourself accordingly. Do not envy the businessman. And if your path is that of the merchant, place your focus on making money, and do not envy the artist. That is what commitment means.

Do not judge others for the paths they have chosen, and do not judge them for having chosen to focus on disciplines which differ from yours. I have met people from all walks of life — martial artists, businessmen, dancers — who look down on others for whom their own disciplines do not mean everything in life. This is again unwise. There are also those who seek to make all others conform to their own ideas of how people should behave, who seek to compel others to obey their own codes of etiquette and custom. In the words of the Chinese sage Laozi: “The person who values etiquette behaves accordingly, and when he finds others not doing the same thing he rolls up his sleeves and forces them to.” These people are self-righteous moralists; in Laozi’s eyes they are the real troublemakers, the fountainhead of disorder. Avoid them for as long as you can, and follow your own way. They will come to you soon enough, since such people are incapable of minding their own business. Simply be ready to deal with them when you do encounter them, and take heart: if you meet them along the way you are probably doing something right.

And what if you cannot decide which path to follow? What if you cannot decide what you want to live for? Here is my answer: live for yourself, working to make yourself the best person you can be according to your own standards. Commit to yourself, and your path will make itself known to you. Strive for perfection; it is an impossible ideal, and thus one worth reaching for. The results of such a quest are always worth it.

You know the stereotype of the overweight, sloppy, working-from-home nerd sitting in front of the computer all day in his underwear?

Yeah, I know. It’s not a pretty picture. You can stop visualizing it now. It makes my flesh crawl.

Some people actually think that this is a dream lifestyle. Personally, though, I think it’s a terrible lifestyle.

So here are my top reasons why you should get your sorry ass out of the house before no one ever hears from you again.

1) Distractions galore

Home is where your stuff is.

Home is the fabled lost city of distraction. There’s always some shiny bauble to catch your eye; if nothing else, you could spend days obsessively rearranging your bookshelves.

And there are always chores. Ever heard of Parkinson’s Law? It’s basically the idea that work expands to fill all the time available.

So if you don’t take steps to minimize the amount of time available for chores — by, perhaps, you know, not actually being at home — monsters like laundry will somehow expand to fill the better part of a day. And no matter how much time you spend dealing with them, they’ll always come back.

These are monsters that will eat you alive. Watch out.

2) The Internet

Internet access is increasingly available in many places, but if you have any access at all you’ll almost definitely find it at home.

The internet is a portal into strange lands. In particular, it is the gateway to weird regions with names such as Facebook or Youtube or Wikipedia or TVTropes or Cracked, and if you wander in without adequate preparation you may never come out. Away from home there are certain failsafes to drag you back, but at home there is nothing to pull you back from the abyss. No laptop battery perishing from overuse. No coffee shop attendant giving you the death glare for having sat six hours in one spot with one drink. No co-workers to smack you upside the head and get you back to work.

Make no mistake: if you wander in from home with no-one around to keep an eye on you, you may be lost forever.

3) Dealing with other people like a human being

Humans are social creatures.

We were designed to get out there and hang out with other humans. I KNOW the internet can act as a medium for communication — I’m talking to you over the internet right now, after all — but it’s Just Not The Same.

Because the vast bulk of all human communication is nonverbal. Most of what we communicate has to do with something other than the words we use. And I’m not just talking body language here. There are other human things, such as dressing and grooming and style and manners. I don’t care how many people you “communicate” with online — you’ll still be picking your nose in front of the computer if you think no one can see you. (Ewww.)

Your voice will also atrophy from disuse, so that you go “garblbleaghhh” when you want to say “Hi” and everybody you actually meet in real life runs away from you.

Also: being free from the influence of everybody else’s stares takes away one major motivation to exercise.

Being overweight, ugly and sitting in front of your computer screen in your underwear is NOT a Good Thing. Really. It’s not. If you think it is you need to stop hanging out online and go meet some actual people for a while.

4) Inspiration

If you’re in a creative profession — and many work-from-home types are — you owe it to yourself to keep on drawing inspiration from the world around you.

Inspiration is found on the street. Really. If you see nothing apart from the inside of your house day after day your thoughts are also going to go in circles. Nothing new is really going to pop up.

If allowed to build up, the psychic entropy accumulated at home is going to kill your career stone dead. And then you’ll have to trudge back to work and start all over again.

Not fun.

5) Getting more done (or feeling like you have)

One thing I’ve found over the years is that the more varied the locations I visit over the course of the day, the more I feel I’ve accomplished with my time.

I could visit the university library, the shopping mall, the gym, the beach. I find the farther afield I go (and the more places I go), the greater a sense of achievement I have when I look back on my day.

Would it be possible to accomplish more by just staying in one place? Yes. But the likelihood of your getting it all done decreases significantly the longer you stay in that same place (remember Parkinson’s Law).

Visiting different neighbourhoods, on the other hand, limits the time available to each task and gives you fresh boosts of mental stimulation.

It’s much better than simply hanging out in your own room. Really.

And now I’m off to the gym (the fourth place I’ll be visiting today), having just finished up a nice snack of cut fruit in a food court in town. Talk soon!

There’s a great article in this month’s Harvard Business Review called “The Power of Small Wins”, by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer. The article is targeted at managers and shows them how to give their teams positive inner work lives, so as to maximize productivity.

What it really is about, however, is simply this: How to have a good day at work.

Today’s entry is targeted at ordinary people, not at managers. Managers can simply read the original article. Instead I’m going to talk about how we can use the authors’ findings to create good days for ourselves at work.

Let’s get down to it.

Progress, meaning, catalysts, and nourishers

According to Amabile and Kramer, three things are key to feeling like you had a good day at work. These three are progress, catalysts, and nourishers.

The single most important of these is progress. Progress is the opposite of setbacks and frustrations; more setbacks than progress can ruin your day. And it has to be progress in meaningful work. You have to feel like you accomplished something, like you got closer to a goal, like you made a difference somehow. This is different from simply getting things done: if you got a lot done but feel that all the work is going to go to waste because the plug’s going to be pulled on your project, you’re not going to feel like you had a good day. Nobody likes feeling like they had their time and energy wasted.

The good news is that even small wins and tiny achievements can go a long way towards making you feel like you had a satisfying day. Even the tiniest of breakthroughs can have a big positive effect on your mood.

Second most important are catalysts. Catalysts are things that support your work, such as autonomy, clear goals, having sufficient resources and time, and so on. The opposite of catalysts are inhibitors: things which get in the way of your work, such as not getting the resources you need or having to deal with managerial interference. Once again, it’s important to have more catalysts than inhibitors in your workday. You have enough to worry about without stuff getting in your way.

The third key, according to Amabile and Kramer, consists of nourishers. Nourishers are things which support you emotionally, such as respect, recognition, and encouragement. Their opposite are toxins, which hurt you emotionally: disrespect, discouragement, and interpersonal conflict.

So for a good day, you will need:

• Progress made in meaningful work;
• Significant levels of work-supporting catalysts;
• Significant levels of emotionally supportive nourishers;
• Few, if any, frustrations and setbacks;
• Few, if any, encounters with work-blocking inhibitors;
• Few, if any, encounters with emotionally draining toxins.

How to create good days for yourself

To create good days, deliberately try to maximize your catalysts and nourishers, while at the same time setting aside time for progress in meaningful work. Here’s what you can do:

1. Set aside dedicated blocks of time for making progress towards specific goals. I like setting aside an hour and a half, first thing in the morning, then supplementing it with further 90-minute chunks throughout the day.
2. Stay aware of how each piece of work you do fits into the big scheme of things. Sometimes it’s easy to miss the forest for the trees, and we need to make conscious efforts to remember how our work makes a difference.
3. Set yourself up for success. Know what you want to achieve for the day, deliberately set aside more time than you think you’ll need, reflect on previous difficulties and successes, secure the resources you’ll need ahead of schedule, arrange to get help if you need it. Arrange with bosses and managers to keep certain key blocks of time free and uninterrupted so you can work. Deal with today’s email tomorrow, or if you absolutely have to tackle it today do it after lunch. It’s a good idea to spend the last hour of your day preparing everything you’ll need for tomorrow.
4. Surround yourself with cheerleaders – people who encourage you, give you love, believe in you, recognize the value of your work. If these people aren’t there in your immediate environment, make the effort to reach out to and stay in touch with someone who believes in you.
5. Get rid of toxic people who bring you down, undercut you, disrespect you, or belittle your achievements. Keep such people as far away from you as possible, and minimize your interactions with them wherever you can.

Good days keep us going and give us the momentum we need to really excel. Make as many of them as you can for yourself.

Those of you who read my other blog, rainy blue dawn, know that I’ve been experimenting with polyphasic sleep since the end of last year. The idea behind polyphasic sleep is that taking several short naps a day at regular intervals decreases the amount of sleep you need at night, giving you more waking hours in a day. I wanted to see if it really worked. So I tried it for three weeks. Although there do seem to be some limitations, by and large it was quite an effective experiment. In other words: I did manage to get more waking hours into a day, with only minimal decreases in alertness.

The nature of sleep

Our sleep can be divided into 4 stages. The first is known as REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. This is when we dream, and when our minds sort out what we’ve seen and experienced throughout the day. We get about 2 (yes, only 2) hours of this a night.

The other 3 stages are collectively known as NREM (non rapid eye movement) sleep. We don’t know much about them, though the hypothesis is that they are somehow physically restorative.

When we sleep, we go through each of these 4 stages in cycles lasting about 90 minutes each. So each sleep cycle is roughly about 1.5 hours long. We take about 5 of these on a normal night, resulting in our usual 7-8 hours of nightly sleep. (When you oversleep, you tend to take 6 or 7 of these cycles — so then you sleep about 9 hours, or about 10.5 hours.)

The theory

Polyphasic sleep simply means sleeping several times during both day and night, instead of sleeping in one long uninterrupted stretch at night (monophasic sleep).

Here’s the thing. If we get enough (2 hours or more) of REM sleep in a 24-hour period, we feel rested and able to carry on. And this can be done efficiently by taking multiple short 20-minute naps during the day to supplement a shortened amount of core (nightly) sleep.

For example, a single 20-minute nap in the afternoon can shorten your nightly sleep requirement to 4 sleep cycles (meaning 6 hours of sleep). My own mother does exactly this.

Two 20-minute naps can cut your core sleep time to 3 cycles (4.5 hours).

Three naps can cut core sleep to 2 cycles (3 hours).

And so on. During my experimentation, I generally took 4-5 naps and slept between 1.5 and 3 hours a night (meaning 1-2 sleep cycles).

I noticed slightly decreased alertness (akin to life without coffee) and, after two weeks, declines in immune function and ability to cope with stress. Those problems went away after I increased sleep to 4.5 hours a night, switched to a high-protein/high-carbohydrate diet, and started taking occasional full nights of sleep (after exercise or alcohol). I recommend always having a full, solid breakfast at the same time each day; it aids waking, and enhances mood.

Based on this, I’ve designed a schedule for regular people to leverage polyphasic sleep to their own benefit. This system creates waking time during the week, when you need it most, and allows for targeted recovery periods in midweek and weekend. Result: a sustainable cycle that delivers additional waking time when you need it without leaving you feeling tired.

The system

Here’s how a week looks, based around a wake time of 7:30 a.m.:

Sunday

Take a lazy 20-minute Sunday afternoon nap, and sleep 6 hours at night (4 cycles, making bedtime 1:30 a.m.) Total sleep: 6 hours 20 minutes. The additional late-night hours can be used to plan for the week ahead.

Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday

Option A: Take a 20-minute nap at lunchtime and one more in the evening. Sleep 4.5 hours at night (3 cycles, making bedtime 3 a.m.). Total sleep: 5 hours 10 minutes.

Option B: Take a nap at lunchtime, one more in the evening, and one more around midnight. Sleep 3 hours at night (2 cycles, making bedtime 4.30 a.m.). Total sleep: 4 hours.

Option C (not recommended): If under severe deadline pressure, take four or five naps and sleep 1.5 hours at night (1 cycle, making bedtime 6 a.m.). Total sleep: from 2 hours 50 minutes to 3 hours 10 minutes. Don’t do this for more that a couple of days in a row — I noticed significant impairment beginning after about ten days of this.

Wednesday

Midweek recovery time. Take a lunchtime or dinnertime nap and sleep 6 hours at night (4 cycles, making bedtime 1:30 a.m.) or take a full 7.5 hours of core sleep (5 cycles, making bedtime at 12:00 a.m.). Wednesday might be a good day to get some solid exercise.

Friday

Weekend recovery time. No naps. Take a full 7.5 hours of sleep at night, and allow yourself to oversleep if you want to (6 or 7 cycles, meaning 9-10.5 hours of sleep). This appears to help with physical recovery. Happy Friday night partying!

Saturday

No naps. Get a full 7.5 hours of sleep at night. Enjoy all of Saturday — it’s the weekend!

Your turn

So that’s the system, based on my own experience. Ready to give it a go? Let me know.

Shimona: Well when I came back, in spite of having a culture shock I fell right into the Singaporeanness of having goals and being an overachiever (laughs). My first month back I was like, “I need gigs, I gotta get gigs, I have to earn money!” Straight back into the Singaporean mindset. But God had other plans and He said, nope, no gigs for you.

So it took me a while to actually get going with the gigging and all that, because the scene here has changed a lot. But basically I spent the first 1.5 months or so being very free. So during my free time, instead of sitting around and sulking that I had no bread and butter, I actively tried my hardest to prepare for when I did have gigs. Because from my prior experience when it gets busy it gets frickin’ busy. It gets so, so busy. So I knew that that would happen, and so I started learning a lot of songs, upgrading my repertoire.

I did my own website from scratch, because prior to coming back I didn’t have a website. So I got my website going, I got some press kits going, basically anything I could think of that people might need later on from me that I might not have time to do, I tried to do first. And it turned out to be a good move, and it paid off especially when I started gigging in different places. Different repertoire is needed in different places. I’m trying to be an all-rounded entertainer, because in addition to my default stuff—which is a pop/folk/acoustic kind of thing—some venues require you to play more upbeat stuff, they want Lady Gaga, like okay. And at the same time I try not to neglect my originals. So I just keep listening to music, discovering what is new, what is old, what is music. There’s so much music out there.

And also meeting people, going out, catching up with friends. Because honestly that is an investment for me. I never take relationships for granted. Singapore’s a little more difficult—in Bangkok I used to be able to call someone and immediately I’d have a lunch date within a few hours. In Singapore it’s all “It’s a weekday, I have to work tomorrow morning! How about the weekend?” That was a bit of a difficult thing to get around at first. But now you know what? By hook or by crook I’ll find a way. Like one month later, fine! So I made an effort to get in touch with a lot of my school friends, church friends who I haven’t seen in a long time. 6 years is a long time to be away, and people don’t remember that you’re back. I refused to sit around and be isolated and be like “Oh no, no one remembers me!” I’d rather just go and call people, or make new friends.

I also believe that as a creative freelancer you have to make sure that you plan your work and play, because you don’t have proper hours.

L: How do you do that?

S: It changes as the season changes, like I said. Now it’s the busy period and I don’t really have a social life apart from Facebook! My friends kind of get the idea that when I’m busy I’m really really busy, and sometimes they come to my gigs, we keep up through messaging. But I’m looking forward to January when I’m going to be a bit less busy, and I’ve been telling some of my friends okay, in Jan. When January rolls around social appointments will be coming back. That’s the part of me I feel I’m keeping from Bangkok, the idea of balancing your play and work.

I refuse to believe that if I want to be a successful artist I have to gig 6 nights a week. That is first of all not productive in the long run. What’s your goal in the first place? There’s no point in gigging so much if it doesn’t serve a purpose. To me I just need to gig enough for whatever I need to get by, and to have a strong enough presence in the music scene. And then the rest of my time I need to do my homework, I need to grow musically. I don’t claim to be the best vocalist or guitarist, I still need to learn, I still need to practice. Every song you hear performed I practice at home many more times. A lot of people think “You have it easy, you only work at night!” That’s nonsense. I spend a lot of time with the homework of it.

Imagine when you went to school and were preparing for your school choir’s one song. How many practices did you have? It’s the same for a musician when we get involved in bands and events especially. You’ve got to do your homework, you can’t just sit there and not know your stuff. That’s not professional. If you’re a freelancer, if there’s something you’re lacking you need to correct it. That’s part of your work as well.

That’s the tricky area, that’s what I mean by you have to plan your play and work. Because, especially if this is what you love to do, you can spend all your time when you’re not on the job at home just doing work in terms of listening and playing and practicing, and if you don’t really think about it you’re still working. It’s not a bad thing if you can keep that up, but honestly speaking humanly you’re going to come to a saturation point, and musically speaking, creatively speaking, if you are so immersed in something you’ll get to a point where you just don’t want it any more. It’s too much, you burn out.

That’s kind of what happened to me the previous time. I was gigging 6 nights a week and then I ran out of voice—every night my voice would be hoarse, things like that. Now I work very preventively. I limit myself. I told myself, 4 gigs a week would be the max for me. Even though that means I might not have a super amount of income, I get enough rest, I get time with my family, and I get time to be creative. Because if you’re too busy and too tired it’s very hard to be creative. That’s when happened when I was recording one of the songs on the EP, I was too physically tired to even jam with myself.

So I sectioned time off: today I’m going to settle the admin work, tomorrow I’m going to rest, and the third day I’m going to be creative. I understand my own body and I know how it works. If I have to meet a certain deadline and it clashes with my creativity, then something’s got to give, I’ve got to reschedule either/or. During the admin time period, if there are certain things I have to do, fine, I do it now, I rest for a bit, then after resting I can be creative. And it worked, it totally worked. It was so wonderful. I really learnt a lesson in creativity there, that you need to section off time for creativity. In the past I was very undisciplined about it. But now if I have a gig I prepare a bit before time, I check the day before if I need to learn new songs, I actually actively try to learn new songs every week, stuff like that. For a person who doesn’t have a fixed office schedule, it’s important for you to actually set your own schedule.

Certain things can be a bit difficult sometimes if your job is so fluctuating. Like right now, December is very busy so I can’t make a schedule now. It’ll be totally different in January. But what I do is, I have different so called rituals or habits that I do before and after gigs, or when I wake up, or whatever. Humans need routine. Routine comforts you and routine helps you to maintain creativity as well. So finding certain things that fill a routine actually helps you when you don’t have a 9-5 job per se. If you work from home you feel that you are alone all the time or whatever, but taking time alone when you’re not doing anything else, that’s something very needed. Taking time with friends, with family. To me it’s my philosophy of life which translates to how I freelance. I try to keep it as balanced as I can, how I do my work. As a person I know it needs to be fun. So I add whatever fun I can into it. I add social elements into my work, I team up with people I like to work on music, things like that.

And having a positive mindset is very important. Many times, if you already think you’re going to fail, you’re going to fail. If you’re a creative person and you’re not able to emanate that positive energy then you need to stop and centre, just rebuild who you are. It goes back to the question “Who are you?”, which is so fundamental.

Shimona sings regularly at Hood Bar and Cafe (among other places), and has just released her new EP Christmas Lights (click here to listen or buy!). Catch up with her at her website (www.shimonakee.com) or her Facebook page (www.facebook.com/shimonakee).

Shimona Kee sings for a living as a musician in Singapore. Today we talk about Shimona’s personal journey, and on Monday we’ll hear from her again about the freelancing life.

Leonard: When did you first start freelancing?

Shimona: Probably somewhere around 2001. I sang in pubs and restaurants, all that.

L: And what were you doing before that?

S: Studying. Poly. It kind of overlapped. Towards the end I started getting involved in music outside of poly. I used to do a few of the poly roadshows, I took part in this competition called The Big Break, started singing in pubs—especially this one at Somerset, called Swing. At Cuppage. It was very well known back then for jamming. Around midnight, 1 a.m., it got very packed with a lot of musicians, because musicians have a very strange social life. By the time you finish work it’s what time already, so you go to a lot of each others’ gigs, hang out. I did that for three years, but back then I was just fresh out of school and just happy to do what I liked. I didn’t really make a very good living out of it. Then towards the end of those three years I kind of got fed up with the whole thing—it’s not easy, it’s much harder than most people think it is to be a musician in Singapore. I didn’t see myself going anywhere and thought that I should be a bit more normal. (Laughs)

L: So what did you do when you decided to become “a bit more normal”?

S: Went back to school. I was thinking of studying religion and/or music. Eventually I ended up studying in Thailand because I found a college there that teaches the same thing, but cheaper. Mission College, it’s known as Asia-Pacific International University now. I started doing religion, switched to psychology and education. So I got my degree in psychology and education and I minored in religion and music. That took 4 years. After 4 years my brother passed away, so I actually came back to be with my parents for a while, and I asked my school to let me come back and do my internship here. So the last part of my studies was completed in Singapore.

Then I got a job offer from my ex-professor who was actually heading an international school in Bangkok. So I moved there. The first year I was form teacher of a Grade Three class and also doing part-time counselling. Then I saw that the school had the need for a real counselling department, so I pushed for it and proposed one and they gave me the job of full-time counsellor. So my second year there I actually set up the counselling department and got things going.

At the same time music had been ongoing, in the six years I was away in Thailand it’s not like I neglected music. I started out just me and my guitar, but when I did my music minor I actually focused on voice and piano, polished up some of my classical skills, got to conduct a choir, stuff like that. Then when I was in Bangkok I got involved with one of my friends’ charities, what happened was that—I strongly believe God gave you talent to use, and not everyone has the talent or time to volunteer their services to help with the needy. I did try, but I couldn’t make the time to always do it. And my friend said, you have a specific talent that God gave you and you should make use of that. So I started singing for charity.

L: Which charity was this?

S: It’s called In Search of Sanuk. Me and the guys who started it, we started up this kind of party thing and I basically sang for free. People would come and talk to them, we raised money. It was this which started me again public performing, and everything fell together. Because initially when I gave up music it was because I felt tired and jaded and all that, and I actually made a promise to God that I would never make a living from music again unless I was given a sign that showed me I was supposed to sing for Him. That doesn’t necessarily mean in a Christian context, more like using my talent in the way that He sees fit. So after this fundraising thing it started coming together, and I started being able to write again.

When I went away, because of the whole bitterness about how things didn’t go well I stopped writing for a while, for quite a few years actually. And I felt, well, I guess I can’t write anymore. But I started writing again very slowly, little by little, and in Bangkok there were several things that happened. First I got back my ability to write. They just started coming again, the songs. I’m not one of those songwriters who can, on demand, go write a song. So the songs started coming. This happened just a few months after moving to Bangkok. Writing songs, fund-raising, then performing more, then the opportunities. I didn’t expect to be able to sing for a living again in Bangkok. In Bangkok, right, the scene is very different, and it happened very accidentally that I managed to get a gig there. So everything just sort of fell into place.

And at the same time I got this strong sense that I should go home. I’m not the kind of person who will miss home, I don’t get homesick easily, but I started dreaming about Singapore and thinking about coming back. And when I said that, my parents’ obvious reaction was “What are you going to do when you come back?” And I said to them, “I’m going to do music.” And they were like, “How?”, and I said “It’ll work itself out.” It’s one of those things. Maybe it’s my personality, or maybe it’s my faith. When God pushes you in a certain direction you don’t need to worry, God will provide. And people would ask me, how are you going to do music? Do you have a label already, do you have an album planned? And I’m like nope, nope. If it’s going to happen it will—I don’t know how, but it will. And when I came back of course there was a lot of doubt—it was not easy, it really was not easy coming back to your own culture and discovering that you’ve changed. When I was away, and especially when I was in Bangkok, the way I approach life and see people changed a lot. So when I came back to Singapore I got a bit of a culture shock.

L: How so?

S: The whole lifestyle is very different, for one. Singaporeans are very goal-oriented, efficient, there’s work time and there’s play time. But play time must be after work when we have achieved certain goals and earned certain money. And there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just a different lifestyle, because it is stable, it is secure. But when I was in Thailand, it was the complete opposite. Work and play are together, you know, and any day of the week would be a party night—like you’d go out, and meet friends for dinner and stay out, chat, stuff like that, and I got into a very open mindset as well. Because Bangkok is a place where a lot of people pass through, and people—especially the expatriates—end up being very open to new relationships, new friendships. You can make a friend in one day, go back to that person’s house, chill out. The next day you’re good friends, go out for a movie, it’s as if you knew the person forever. One week later that person’s gone. And then the same thing happens again and again. When I came back to Singapore I now had this habit of being open, and also this attitude of Okay, don’t worry about the work, play first! And it kind of freaked me out a little bit when I didn’t get good responses from people who think I’m a bit too friendly, and they look at me like “What’s wrong with this girl?” (Laughs) It took me a while to realize that it’s not that Singaporeans are unfriendly, it’s just that it’s a different lifestyle here.

L: So would you recommend that anyone who’s planning on a creative career ought to, you know, maybe get out of town for a while?

S: Well, everyone has a different path. And coming back also I talked to some of my friends who’ve been in this thing the entire time—meaning while I was away they were still doing it. And their flame is still going strong. They’re still passionate about it, and they’re still successful, moving on with their successes. So it really depends on each person. For me, I cannot do anything unless I am utterly and totally in love and motivated to do it. On the other hand, coming back I now have a whole different outlook which I feel is a bit wiser. Because back then I approached freelancing as “Yah, I’ll just do what I love”, full stop. Now freelancing is “running my own business, which is what I love”. It’s completely different. Back then I was still very sheltered by my parents, and for me it took living by myself and having to fend for myself—when I was able to do that, and now I’ve come back, I’m not reliant on my family any more although I choose to share my life with them, live back with them.

So after a few years abroad, “doing my passion for a living” is a living. In the past I was “It’s my passion first, I don’t care if I make money!” which is a completely childish way of looking at things. So if I had any advice to give creative freelancers, I would say it really depends what type of person you are, and if you don’t know what personality you are you need to go and find yourself, honestly speaking. There are a lot of people trying to figure out what to do without figuring out who they are, and that’s the big problem, you know, because then you will lose yourself in what you’re doing and end up not happy. So the first and foremost thing would be to figure out who you are, and not in a contrived manner.

L: So what advice would you give to those people who are trying to figure out who they are?

S: Chill out, relax. It takes time, you can’t force yourself to figure out who you are in like 5 days. Some people just want to grow up too fast. You can’t say, I’m 15, I wanna know who I am. You’re 15, you’re not gonna know who you are! And there’s nothing wrong with that. A lot of people think there’s something “wrong” if they don’t know who they are. You can’t force it, don’t beat yourself up about it. Give yourself time and space. Be easier on yourself. But don’t stop trying. Explore, explore. I really enjoyed living overseas, exploring other cultures, seeing the world through a different country’s eyes. After this experience, coming back, I think every person should experience life in another culture as part of their personal enrichment. If you’re able to go out, go out.

Shimona sings regularly at Hood Bar and Cafe (among other places), and has just released her new EP Christmas Lights (click here to listen or buy!). Catch up with her at her website (www.shimonakee.com) or her Facebook page (www.facebook.com/shimonakee).

I spent a good deal of last week (and of the last few weeks, come to think of it) dancing.

And on Saturday I took part in my first-ever salsa performance on stage. Reasonably challenging and interesting choreography, too!

This was a major milestone for me, because never in my life have I been a decent dancer… until perhaps now. (I’m still not brilliant, but I am good enough to go on stage without embarrassing the heck out of my teachers.)

It took hours and hours of training, both on and off the studio floor. For the past month or so my life has revolved around two things: work and dance. Not much time for anything else, not even hanging out with friends (except to dance some more!). That’s how much commitment it took.

Was it all worth it? Absolutely yes. I’m so much better than I was before I started training. Many people are still better than I am, and will probably always be. I’m a slow learner where dance is concerned; I’ve seen other people learn as much in five months as I have in two years. But I got there in the end nevertheless.

So what’s the message? Whatever it is, if you really love it, put in the hours. Give it everything you’ve got. Show up. Practice. You might be slower than others, less capable than others. Some people might take five hours to accomplish a task. You might take fifty. But you’ll get there. Spend your time on the practice floor. It’s worth it.

From the very beginning, this site has been about following your dreams; about finding a way of living which will allow you to do exactly what I’ve just done. How much do you want to find a way out? How much are your dreams worth to you? Put in the hours. Try. Fail. Try again. You’ll get there.

It doesn’t take talent. It does take time, and energy, and effort, and commitment.

How much are you willing to give yourself?

When we’re kids we all love learning.

(I’m not just talking about the classroom here; many kids who would otherwise be avid learners are bored out of their minds in classroom settings. Sad but true.)

Kids love to learn. New games, new jokes, new dirty words. Sports, places to go, how to fiddle with new toys.

And we don’t lose that tendency after we grow up. We’re a thinking, learning species. The desire to learn is hardwired into our DNA.

So when we stop learning, or feel like we’re not making progress, we can get very discouraged.

Boredom

We live in a world which promises quick fixes. Few of them really deliver.

Whenever we start learning a new skill, it’s hard. There’s always a learning curve, which can be very steep indeed. But at least it’s still a curve: we feel inept for a while, but then we find ourselves making progress, and eventually we find that we do have a clue about whatever it is we’re doing.

That feels great. It’s like we’ve overcome our first major hurdle. It’s a high, a rush. But if we’re really serious about what we’re doing, this is where the real challenge begins.

Because, once you’ve mastered the basics, learning tends to take place in short, joyous bursts with long periods of time in between where it feels as if you’re not making any progress at all.

This is extremely demoralizing. You feel as if you’ve stopped learning. Different people react in different ways: some beat themselves up for not learning as fast as they used to. Others decide to go off and learn something else, pursuing novelty, a new field, a new high. But this is a very frustrating time for us all.

George Leonard, in his book on Aikido called Mastery, calls this the plateau. And he makes the point that, if we want to get anywhere close to mastery, we’ll have to endure the plateaus. And there will be many of them.

The quick fix would be to quit and look for something else, or try to hack the system somehow. But sooner or later, you’ll have to put in the long, undifferentiated hours.

Now as a freelancer, chances are you’re pretty good at what it is you do. The challenge is to get even better, instead of simply coasting. That’s the difficult bit. You want to become a master. Marketing is half the battle, but it’s still only half the battle.

This can be exceptionally dull.

Burnout

What we experience as boredom can arise for a different reason: burnout. This happens when we’ve been overworked, overstretched, and have cut everything but work out of our lives. We feel listless, unable to concentrate, easily distracted, unproductive. And then we feel guilty for not having gotten anything done.

Once this happens, we sometimes try to punish ourselves. We feel as though we should somehow be able to suck it up and continue. We feel that we should be putting in 8 to 14 first-class hours a day, not our current 0 to 2. So we go out even less, try to avoid distractions, and end up obsessively procrastinating about our work.

The truth is that you can only redline an engine for so long before it starts to break down. And—though this can be hard to accept—we can only keep ourselves running at maximum performance for so long before our own lives and bodies start to malfunction.

Listless, chronic fatigue is your body’s way of telling you to stop whatever it is that you’re doing, power down, and get some maintenance work done.

But there are deadlines looming!

That, unfortunately, is true. There are always deadlines, and they’re always frighteningly close.

So you’ll need to find ways to survive just long enough to hit the deadlines, then take a break before your freelancing lifestyle kills you just as surely as your previous job would have. (Delegate work to others, if you can. You need to work less or die trying.)

Strategies to cope

If you’re on a plateau, you need to keep on going until you make your next burst of progress. Trying to rush things doesn’t work; that can lead to burnout and do you more harm than good. You need to find a way to hang in there and keep on doggedly going.

And if you’re burnt out, you need to get the hell away from your work before it does you any more damage. If you’re feeling chronically stressed and unproductive, you’re already damaged; you need to stop, or at least to survive until you can stop.

So try these things:

Treat what you’re doing as a religious activity. If you’re not religious, think of it as working meditation, your very own Way, akin to karate training or one of the zen arts (like the tea ceremony). Do what you do calmly, bringing your whole self into the moment; it might take a few minutes before you’re warmed up enough, but you’ll get there eventually. If you believe in a God (or gods), treat your work as an offering to whichever god you worship. The Jesuits did this with their motto Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam—For the Greater Glory of God. It’s worked for them for centuries. It can work for you too.

Alternatively, try visualizing the outcome that you’re hoping for (more on visualization in a later post). Imagine yourself triumphant, having achieved your goals: how does it make you feel? What will you do to celebrate? Now visualize the moments before that outcome has been reached. Then the moment before that, and so on backwards until you’ve visualized a whole chain of things to do which connects where you are now with your desired outcome. Now take every step along that road, one after another.

A tandem, more painful visualization involves visualizing yourself as having failed to accomplish what you’ve set out to do. How does that make you feel? See your defeat in all its vicious, shameful detail, and all the horrible consequences that will result. This might work better for some of us.

If an immediate energy boost is what you need, do what you can to get some energy flowing in your immediate environment. Switch on all the lights for a while, especially warm, bright ones. Throw the windows open. Put some light music on (but not the kind that will lull you to sleep!).

One thing I do for energy is a game I picked up as a theatre warm-up. Basically it involves starting from a standing position and then moving your body and limbs as you please, crossing the room if you have to, using very slow, tai-chi like movements. (Of course if you know tai-chi you could do that instead…) The key is slowness: the slower and more fluidly you move, the better. Do this until your movements naturally reach a close and you’re in a natural, neutral standing position once again. Try this in private so people don’t think you’re crazy. It’s a wonderful focus and energy generator.

Be sure to eat well; ensure you get enough protein—you need the amino acids in protein to help your body manufacture neurotransmitters, which help keep you motivated. Get some exercise, if you aren’t already doing it; physical activity has a corresponding effect on the mind, and helps with our sense of well-being. Just don’t tire yourself out too much. Hang out with friends every now and again—properly hang out, not on Facebook or social media; devote your full attention to simply socializing and being with other people. Friends—especially positive, cheery, uplifting people—are a great source of energy. And if you haven’t been sleeping, get some sleep. (If the problem is that you’ve been sleeping too much, try spending the night without a blanket; this simple move is surprisingly effective.)

What do you do when you feel bored or burnt out? Share your own tips below!

Today I’m talking about two different kinds of people: institutionalists and individualists.

Institutionalists

Institutionalists believe that collective action is the best way to get anything done. They believe in the value of large organizations and have a strong preference for face-to-face meetings, so that there can be a “human element” to organizational life. These are the people most likely to go in to the office even if they don’t have to, just to connect and hang out with colleagues. They tend to be seen as “team players”. They see the collective as more important than any individual person; they are willing to make sacrifices so that collective goals can be achieved, and expect others to do the same. They tend to see society as more important than the individual, and tend to regard any social change as a change for the worse. In other words, they are conservatives.

These people form the bulk of any large organization or enterprise. They tend not to be the people at the top or the bottom; rather, they make up the vast central portion of the hierarchy. They tend to be followers, not leaders; they closest they come to leadership takes the form of the positions of manager or project head. They have a deep respect for hierarchy and rules: they are likely to follow the rules simply because “the rules are the rules”. They like being given clear instructions and tasks which are clearly delineated.

There are downsides to being an institutionalist. The institutionalist’s liking for clear instructions and rules to be followed can lead to a kind of bureaucratic stupidity: the institutionalist expects things to be done a certain way simply because “that’s the way it’s always been done”, and feels that other ways of doing things are “not right” even if they allow things to be done more effectively. They tend to see things in terms of silos and departments: if something isn’t their job, they’ll try to pass it on to someone else. Institutionalists tend to be averse to innovation and risk; to them, change should come from the top down, not the bottom up. This is because top-down change has the backing of the hierarchy, and because that way they themselves won’t be liable if anything goes wrong. This is also known, less charitably, as “ass covering”.

At worst, this belief in hierarchy and rules—combined with the institutionalist’s focus on the “human element”—can devolve into full-blown politicking. Rogue institutionalists may make friends and secure power bases within the context of an organization, trying to advance their own standing (and those of their friends) at the expense of others they don’t like. They don’t want to make decisions—that would mean having to take responsibility for them—but they do want enough power to block or veto any decisions they don’t like. Rogue institutionalists—especially those higher up in the hierarchy—will try to take as much credit as possible for the achievements of their departments, while pushing as much blame as possible to others (often those beneath them in the pecking order). Their influential network of friends can also make them very hard to fire. Such people, if allowed to thrive, can make it extremely difficult for an organization to do anything other than what it’s always done.

Individualists

Now let’s talk about individualists. Individualists tend to focus on themselves and their own personal life goals; they believe individual action to be more flexible, nimbler and swifter than that of lumbering corporate organizations. They tend to see other people as getting in the way of what they want to accomplish, and detest having to jump through bureaucratic hoops. If part of a corporation or other large organization, they will either be at the very top (so that the organization’s goals will be in line with their own) or at the very bottom (and leaving very fast). They are far more likely to interact with large organizations as external consultants or independent contractors.

Individualists tend to be specialists, mavericks, and rule-breakers. If they can find a better way to get something done, they’ll take it. They’re free spirits and often prefer to go solo; they like being able to set their own schedules and to take on their own projects. If they work in teams at all, they prefer teams where everyone has a specialized role to play (as in filmmaking). To them society is nothing more than an association of individuals, and if a rule is harming or hindering (instead of helping) the people it was meant to serve, they’ll break it. In other words, they are progressives.

There are downsides to being an individualist as well. Income, for an individualist, can be less predictable (with high-level serial CEOs being an exception). Too chaotic or disorganized a life, for the individualist, may also lead to inefficiency or unreliability. They may try to do too much (leading to burnout) or be too lazy to do much (leading to unproductivity). At worst they may have difficulties with interpersonal communication or with getting along with others.

Institutionalists and individualists can overlap. As we’ve already seen, some individualists—if given enough free rein—can operate quite happily as maverick specialists within larger organizations; they also tend to become CEOs by starting their own companies. Some institutionalists—especially those truly focused on meeting organizational needs—may also be ready to break the rules, or to manoeuvre for the sake of increased efficiency. But these situations do seem to be the exception rather than the rule.

Which are you?

So the question is: which are you? Are you an institutionalist or an individualist? If you’re an institutionalist, chances are you’ll hate the potentially lonely, unpredictable life of a freelancer or CEO. If you’re an individualist, the grinding wheels of organizational bureaucracy might not be your thing. Choose where you fit and where you want to be, figure out what matters to you and what doesn’t. Your decision should be based on what works best for you, on what allows you to do your best work. And once there, you’ll have to operate creatively in order to avoid the pitfalls of either path. (Be careful not to let yourself be overpowered be a sense of “duty” or “responsibility”; if you “responsibly” choose to do something you’re crap at, you’re not doing anyone any favours.)

So think about it. Make your choice. Where do you belong?