I just finished reading A Gentleman in Moscow today and while I plan to write a notes and quotes post about it, I wanted to share this one stand out quote from the book.
I had heard good things about the book and bought it a couple of years ago, but never got around to reading it until I actually saw someone sharing this quote a few weeks ago on Twitter.
I don’t recall who it was, but it jumped out at me, so I picked up the book and dove in.
Quite simply, the Count’s father had believed that while a man should attend closely to life, he should not attend too closely to the clock. A student of both the Stoics and Montaigne, the Count’s father believed that our Creator had set aside the morning hours for industry. That is, if a man woke no later than six, engaged in a light repast, and then applied himself without interruption, by the hour of noon he should have accomplished a full day’s labor.
When the noon bell sounded, the diligent man could take pride in having made good use of the morning and sit down to his lunch with a clear conscience.
In the afternoon, the Count’s father believed that a man should take care not to live by the watch in his waistcoat—marking the minutes as if the events of one’s life were stations on a railway line. Rather, he should spend his afternoon in wise liberty.
That is, he should walk among the willows, read a timeless text, converse with a friend beneath the pergola, or reflect before the fire—engaging in those endeavors that have no appointed hour, and that dictate their own beginnings and ends.”
– Amor Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow
No matter what I change up in my schedule, my diet, my organization system, I continue to find that 2 hours in the early more is worth 4 or more in the afternoon, as far as my productivity goes.
I’ve often thought that I should just plan my days around not working from 1 to 3pm, because when I do I find myself very rarely making significant progress in those two hours. My energy is low and my mind starts to wander. People like to make fun of European work ethic, but I do think there is something a lot more natural about taking a siesta and maintaining your energy levels up for later in the day when your mind becomes clear again.
One of the most exciting things about remote work is the possibility of not only adapting where you work to suit you best, but also how and when you work so you can be the most effective and productive version of yourself.
Finally, what jumps out to me about this passage is the note about how a diligent man can feel when you focus on what is important and get it done early in the day. There is nothing like the feeling of arriving at lunchtime after hours of focused and productive work in the morning. You feel like anything is possible. And then you try to be productive after eating a meal and you feel like it is surprising that you ever get anything done at all.
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