Reforged Life – an easy way to get a lot of extra time in your life

When I talk to people about things that I do in my life and try to encourage them to change their lives, I often hear the very same answer: “I would like to have time for such activities, but unfortunately I don’t have one.” or “I don’t have the magical power to extend the day, so because of that I have enough time for everything.”

I think, in fact, it is true that some people may have such a busy schedule that there is simply no space for anything new. But when you take a closer look at the average schedule of the day, you’ll see that some things consume so much of your time that’s pure madness.

For me of the most important thing in my life is my free time. When I don’t have enough time for myself, I feel unhappy. That’s why I hate wasting my time when I don’t have to. Therefore, I followed some rules that allowed me not to waste too much time on meaningless activities. On this post I would like to share few tips, that can give you a lot of additional free time.

First and the most important rule is to choose activities that are close to your home.
Yes, it’s really that simple. This single rule can save you many hours monthly.
One of the most time-consuming tasks is getting to work and returning home from work. In some cases, this task may take 2 to 4 hours a day!
This task has two main factors:

  • The distance from your home to the workplace – just pick the workplace that is as close to your home as possible. The ideal situation is when you can walk or drive to your job in less that 10 min. If you can’t change the job, maybe you can change the home?
  • The way you get to your job – is the way you chose to get to work is the fastest possible way? The same distance can be covered very quickly or very slowly, depending on the chosen means of communication. So, if you are stuck in your car in traffic everyday, maybe is good idea to go with subway or some electrical vehicle?

But of course this is not just about work. It is the same case with all everyday activities you do. Just make a fast calculation and you will see that small changes can give you a lot additional free time.

Get a car
I know it is obvious, but I will write it anyway. Car is one of this special things which can change money for time! It will help you save so much of your time that you can’t even imagine.

Get a electrical vehicle
If you live in a big city, I definitely recommend buying an electric vehicle. It is also a very strong time saver. Plus, many models will also give you a lot of driving pleasure.

To sum up I would like to show you quick calculation I made, so you can see some numbers:

Far away from homeTimes a dayMinutesTimes per weekTotal min per activity
Work2605600
Training2305300
Studies (weekends)2402160
Weekly17,67
Monthly70,67
 
Close to homeTimes a dayMinutesTimes per weekTotal min per activity
Work2105100
Training2105100
Studies (weekends)220280
Weekly4,67
Monthly18,67
Difference52,00

As you can see with only 3 main activities the difference is huge +50 hours monthly. And the savings will be the greater the more activity in the month you have. Take some time and make your own calculation and you will see how much extra time you can get for yourself.

Do yourself a favor, make a change and enjoy the many extra hours of free time!

Inmotion V10 is a great vehicle, but it is not suitable for everyone. Think twice before you buy it.

I was looking on the electric vehicles market from the beginning (yes I’m that old :)) and I was waiting until the bateries will be more powerful and the specs I want will be affordable for me.
So this time has finally come and I decided to buy one for me. I wanted to have something that could help me to move around the city without a car. My main activities are no too far away from my house, so driving a car two or three streets does not make much sense.

I was looking for vehicle who has this three things:

  • Big wheel, so it will be dealing nice with different surfaces
  • Long range, so I can go deep in the city and back
  • Speed around 30km so I can move fast and have some fun

All additional features were of course welcome but not so important for me as those three.

So after quick research I found that there is something I was looking for. Inmotion V10 electric monocycle. I used the black friday sale and I got my first electric vehicle 🙂

But this post will not be a standard review when the owner pointing out why he loves his new gadget. I would like to tell you very important thing that I think you should know about this device.
Inmotion V10 is really great monocycle! But it’s definitely not for everyone. If you are not careful, it can catapult your face into the pavement so quickly that you won’t even notice.
I think that is should be quite obvious for everyone that a monocycle which can go 40 km/h may be dangerous. Specially with unexperienced rider. Unfortunately I didn’t find even one video on YouTube about it, so I decided to make my comment on this.

Issue 1 – Learning curve
The learning curve is really steep. It means that you have to put a lot of time and effort just to learn the basics like: getting on, moving forward, braking, turning, keeping the balance. And learning this will not take you an hour, it’s gonna be much, much more.

Then, when you finally will be able to get on the monocycle easily, you’ll acess to it’s all capabilities. And to use them safely you have to master riding techniques and this task will definitely be a difficult process. It will require a lot of time, effort and mindfulness to do this right. I think that this may be too much for most people. And if you simply would not be eager to learn the technique you will propably end up injured quite badly.

Issue 2 – Riding on one wheel it’s hard
Maybe this is obvious but I still want to say this – riding on one wheel vehicles is hard and unintuitive. Although when Inmotion V10 it’s turned on it will keep the tension in the motor, so when you stand on it, it will not flipp backwards or forward but it still can easily fall off on side.

Another thing is that when you stand on the wheel you will work like a little sail. Every stronger side wind can affect the wheel behavior. The wind can push you and your wheel off the track. Also a sudden gust that occurs, for example, when you leave from behind a cover or building may cause the wheel to wobble and when it happens it’s very hard to take control back and it probably will lead you to a fall.

Issue 3 – Power
With great power comes great responsibility. This famous sentence from Spiderman movie is quite well known. But I’m not so sure if people really see the message. People often underestimate the power of vehicles and at the same time overestimate their skills. The perfect prescription for an accident.
You should know that Inmotion V10 has the power that can deliver fast acceleration and max speed aroud 40 km/h. Everything will be ok., when the speed you ride will always meet you skills level. But I don’t believe that avarage rider will use it this way. So, if you are not patient enough and you cannot dose the power right, you can seriously hurt yourself.
You should also understand that good and safe riding at 20 km/h is something really different than good and safe riding at 35-40 km/h.

Isseu 4 – Weight
Despite the fact that Inmotion V10 is able to ride well on many surfaces, it climbs well uphill and even doing very well offroad, there still will be some situations when you will have to pull it up and carry with you for some time. Just remeber that this wheel weighs 20.6 kg. It’s good to make a small test and try to pull up 20kg with one hand and walk few steps with it.

Summary
I don’t want you to misunderstand me. I really think that Inmotion V10 is amazing, well designed vehicle and the performance it can deliver is top notch. I can guarantee that if you take the time and effort to do it right, you won’t regret it and I will have a lot of fun riding it.

But I just want to tell you that riding on Inmotion V10 it is not easy. If you are a person who does not like challenges and does not like to spend a lot of time and effort to acquire the right skills, this vehicle is simply not for you and riding it can end up with serious injuries.
So, please take your time and think twice if this kind of electric vehicle is right for you.

Burnout – the best thing that happened to me in my professional life

When in comes to working life I think I was really lucky. I always knew what I want to in my life. Thanks to that I have never felt lost in my professional life. Well, at least until burnout.

I started working soon after the high school. My first serious job was a waiter job. This job was really nice for me that time. The job itself is quite easy, there is a free food, sometimes also free alcohol, the schedule is very flexible, you have 15 days off each month, and the money you can earn are very nice.

First, I was working in of the more famous and prestigious restaurants in Warsaw as a waiter’s helper. The work there was super hard and the atmosfere was really, really bad. But the service standards was super high, so, I learned quite a lot there. Unfortunately I was only able to last there for two months.

The second job I got was in another restaurant in Warsaw. I worked there for about two years and after that for another four years on special corporate events with couple of restaurant from the group. The job, specially the special events was really hard physical work, but I really like it. This was really amazing time for me. I was young, I earned a decent money, I had 15 days off each month, so I had the time to spend the money. It was like a never ending party. So if you are wondering which first job to choose, consider working as a waiter – its really nice job for the start.

In the meantime I started my master’s degree in psychology with specialization in social psychology. I have chosen psychology because I wanted to use is in my life – to better understand myself and the world around me and in my target job, which was to be a job at an advertising agency.

I wanted the job that is interesting. The job that gives you an oportunities to do many different things and you don’t have to do the same things every day. That is why I have chosen working in the advertising agency.
When it comes to the position, the matter was simple – I always loved to organize and manage projects, so the Project Manager was ideal position for me. With that criteria I started to looking for my first office job.

My first office job was in the biggest (that time) advertising agency in Poland. The brands we were working for were the biggest ones in the industry. The team I was part of was very nice, people were friendly and the work standards were really top notch, so everything was looking very good. I really liked this job and learned a lot there. I worked there for almost a year (this “almost” caused me quite some problems later), but unfortunately I was reduced as part of mass layoffs. That way I became unemployed overnight.

After that I had a really big problem finding another job. This “almost” year was very bad for me, because I was not a Junior anymore but still not a Project Manager, so I didn’t fit either on Junior Project Manager or Project Manager Position. Because of that and because I was not interested in anything else than working in advertising agency I was looking for my next job for almost a year. It was not fun.

Finally I get the job in another advertising agency where I met very interesting girl (my boss at that time) and when she proposed me to move on to her newly created agency I didn’t hesitate even 5 min. That way I joined the company which was the most important one in my whole career.
The company was indeed two companys in one. Advertising agency and a software house (with my girl boss partner as a boss). This was great because I could make and learn many things from two different areas.

Before I get to the details how the process of burnout started and ended I have to say few words about me and my approach to work.
I think the crucial thing is that I was raised by my grandmother. I owe her a classic old school values like: to keep one’s word, iron moral backbone, a passion for honesty, truthfulness and commitment to the job. Also I really engage emotionally in everything I do. I hate fails, so I always try my best and work that way, so I can avoid as much fails I can. For me, working well is not a duty performed for my boss, it is a matter of honor.

So I worked really hard and was giving all the time and effort to make things right. I made a lot of overtime not because I had to, but because I believed that this will take me to the place I want to be. The place where the time I invested will be returned to me and I will claim all the benefits from my hard work.
Because of how I worked I was able to get my bosses attention really quick. Thanks to that I had a oportunity to do many interesting things that were far away from my job description. I really like that.
When we gained our mutual trust we started talking about the plans for the future. We were talking a lot about the future and how we want to get there. I felt quite special and felt that I am an important part of a grand plan. I really believed in this plan and this gave me the energy to work even harder.

But time went by and unfortunately I began to notice that what we were talking about was not implemented. The promises made were not kept. Something else was always more important. So we did everything but our promised plan. Work has become repetitive and boring. Clients were dissatisfied all the time because we didn’t meet the deadlines. So my work turned into constant apologizing to clients and chasing unrealistic deadlines. Overtime didn’t change anything and there were a lot of them every day. I remember I felt really hopeless that time.

In the meantime, we were looking for an employee who was to work with me in the team. We managed to find a very interesting person. We managed to get along very fast. We had a similar approach to many matters and understood each other very well.
We noticed some things that we could change to improve the situation in the company. We wrote all our ideas down and full of energy and hope we went to present them to our boss. I remember this conversation very vividly. He listened to us carefully and then criticized all our ideas. That single event was crucial for me. That day I realized that there is a very small change that anything will change.
So my job was still constant apologizing to clients and chasing unrealistic deadlines and making meaninless overtime. At least now my boss knew what we were thinking about the situation.

Soon I started to feel very bad. Constant pressure made me nervous, restless and stressed. I often felt that I wasn’t myself. I had frequent abdominal pain and chest stinging. I felt hopeless and I thought that I’m waisting my best years on a meaningless job that is simply not worth all the time and effort. On Sundays afternoons, I had a standard stomach aches because I knew I’m going to work on Monday. I couldn’t fully relax even on holidays, and on some of them I even experienced a panic attacks.
I could not stand that long and soon I gave my notice. We had a long conversation with my boss and he convinced me to take 3 months unpaid leave before the final decision. This 3 months didn’t change anything for me, so I decided to change the job.

When I was looking for a next job I decided to give an advertising agency one more chance. It was because recently I was doing mostly IT projects, so I wanted to switch not only a company but also the type of the projects. I sent some CV’s and soon I get the job in one of the Warsaw advertising agency.
I worked there almost two years. After a year and half I started to feel the same symptoms, only much stronger. I remember that one day when I was coming home I experienced such a strong pain in the chest that I had to stop the car for a while.
That was the last warning for me. I knew that if I did nothing I would get a stroke, a heart attack or both.

So I made the fisrt step. I quit my job and started to make changes in my life. Already in the first month I received a little present from the Universe. I achieved massive sale in my guitar shop which I started two years before. I will never forget this day, the day I felt really, really good with my decision.

It’s been almost two years since I left my the standard working life and everyday I’m greatful that this burnout happened to me so quicky. I’m only 35 years old now and I have all the time and energy to build a different live for me and my family.

I take my time to do all the things I always wanted to do but I never had the time and energy for it. I changed the way I eat, the way I work, the way I rest. I returned to my big passion which is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I feel free and I feel I can do everything I dream of.

Do I regret all these years of working like that? Definately no. I learned many important things. I gained a lot of professional skills and I was working on many interesting projects. All this experience I gained is very useful for creating and managing my own projects.
But the most important thing I got from all this years is knowing who I don’t want to be. I had to experience it, but now I know exactly how my life should look like. Maybe for you this kind of event would be a disaster but for me this burnout was simply a liberation.

To everyone who struggles at work every day I can say one thing:
I’m on the other side of the fence now and you know what? The grass here is indeed much greener.