The 3-point list

Even though it is still vacation, as a house owner it is important to keep the momentum going with regards to long-term improvements. It is not enough to just deal with the daily upkeep, one also must invest some time in improvement and development of the property. I have a long list of things that I know should be done, because they will bring about many quality-of-life improvements. However, they are not mission critical like moving the lawn, house cleaning or buying groceries. A method I have used to great success is to define three special tasks that deals with development, and make sure that I execute them the next day. It brings about a very good gut feeling when I tick off these three boxes, because they are clear progress towards a larger aim.

HabitsRikard ÖqvistJuly 25, 2024focus, habits, priorities, productivity, vacationComment

To-do lists and vacation

Vacation is rapidly approaching, and there are 10X more things to do compared to available time. The usual approach has been to go for the more boring list and as a house owner there is an endless supply of things to attend. I have things on that list that has been there for five years. But one has to prioritize… Me and my wife just tried a new approach. We wrote both a “chore list” and a “fun list”. Consequently, this shall be our best vacation ever, Inshallah.

DiaryRikard ÖqvistJune 13, 2024scheduling, vacation, planning, habitsComment

Home = Vacation

A common conception regarding vacation is to travel somewhere. To change your everyday environment for something else. I used to think exactly that way for most of my adult life, until we moved to our house. Now, I want to go on vacation to go home, which is the precise anti-thesis to my previous stance. There is no place on Earth I would rather want to be than home. How did that happen?

Diary, ParentingRikard ÖqvistJuly 17, 2023vacation, home, parenting, travelling, road tripComment

Mental bloatware and the remedy

It is a good idea to completely wipe your computer occasionally, because it tends to clog up with all kinds of bloatware with time no matter how good care you take of it. And after a complete format and reinstall, everything feels 10X snappier. I think our mind has some similarities with this principle. I’m not that old yet, but I am starting to see a pattern in my own life history when my mind became so full of “bloatware” that the best way to sort it out was a reinstall of the “operating system”. In the case of the mind, that could mean a long vacation and/or change in environment so that the mental flywheel of the mind can come to a complete stop (it takes a lot of time). Only then can you give it a proper service and grease the bearings.

ParentingRikard ÖqvistJune 21, 2022father, children, dad, parent, kids, vacation

The diarrhea-diaper cycle

Today is the first official vacation day for me, and never before have I felt such an urge to work! But wait a minute, isn’t vacation supposed to be about NOT working? Yes, but there is a difference between work and work. Running on and beyond the cognitive red-line for months on end has consequences and results in cognitive fatigue. No matter how much fun you have at the office. But this summer is unique. I just became a father for the second time and oh boy have I looked forward to all the “work” that follows. However, I would never call it work. Changing diapers on a screaming furious infant is relaxation. Pair it with a dog suffering from diarrhea during the worst thunderstorm I have experienced, and it is like a mental spa-treatment to me. I am now blessed with well-defined problems in abundance, something very different from the cognitively demanding role as an engineer.

ParentingRikard ÖqvistJuly 20, 2021parenting, family, dogs, vacationComment

It’s the small issues that will get you

Yesterday, I was microwaving my son´s lunch and forgot to put the protective cover on, which resulted in me painting the inside of our microwave with baby food. Later in the evening, I was preparing dinner for the boy again while telling my wife about the ordeal and how silly I was to forget the cover and what a mess I had made that I had to clean up. While we are talking, we hear the familiar sound of hot food exploding inside a microwave. I open the oven lid and witness the inside covered in food once again. The protective cover was lying right in front of me all the time, as I was telling the story of its importance. Isn´t it interesting how strange our mind works sometimes?

HabitsRikard ÖqvistJuly 11, 2020simplify, cleaning, stress, rest, vacation, focus, prioritiesComment