Recharging batteries - at low or no cost

A few days ago I had a post about maintenance. In my maintenenace plan I have music as an important part; I try to grab the moment and get 10 minutes to myself every day to listen to a song or a piece of music. Just me, the headphones and music - that is truly refreshing for mind and soul!

One of the places I shop for music is iTunes. Another one is my local record store. But, increasingly often I find myself turning to Jamendo for music. Jamendo is a web page where you can upload and share the music you create. Anyone can download music from Jamendo, for free. If you'd like to, you could donate to the artists. There is lots of quality stuff, in all kinds of categories (not just indy stuff). Recommended!

Regular maintenance - necessary for a well-functioning machine

All technical people know that maintenenace is important for any machinery. Your vehicle's motor needs oil to run. Your computer needs cleaning up now and then. This is also necessary for human beings to function well. A good maintenence plan should include: 

• time for work-outs
• quality time with friends and family
• time for reflection and intellectual build-up
• healthy diet
• time to relax

Today being a Saturday, it is a perfect day to think about these things. If you have (at least one) full-time job, family and still a friend or two, its hard to allocate time for all of these elements into your busy schedule. But if you think about it, why is it so hard? I think it all comes down to goal-setting. Put down reasonable goals that you can be happy with for maintenance too. If work-out means a brisk walk to work or just climbing the stairs instead of taking the elevator, that's a start. Of course, real work-outs are better for you, but there is only so much time to allocate, right?

Don't be over-ambitious, but set goals that work for you and make you feel well. Try to be systmatic to make sure your "maintenance plan" doesn't get neglected. Maybe you could even track some numbers (KPI's) to make sure you are behaving according to the plan? Many people do this with diet and workouts, but I think for many of us it would be just as useful to track the number of good books you read, activities with friends and family and the number of hours you sleep per day. If your schedule is packed, thinking systematically about these things is more important than for people with more "free time". Think of relaxing as an activity; then you don't feel the urge to do things all the time! Enjoy your weekend!