I had a lot less time than I thought [WRAP 229]

Dang Reader, I just realized that it's been over a month since the last WRAP. That's my longest break since well maybe since I started writing it?!

A bunch of you know I haven't been quiet though. The 5 Day Analog Challenge drew over 1,500 people. Nearly 100 joined the Analog 30 Challenge. The Analog Action midweek newsletter has been going out. But the WRAP just fell through the cracks for a few weeks.

​If you want to get on the waitlist for the next 5 day challenge, click here​

This demonstrates something I was talking to Analog 30 members about in our live call last week. There's a difference between maintenance tasks and momentum tasks. I've talked about this a couple times recently but since the members had a bunch of questions about it I wanted to share with yall too.

Maintenance Tasks ♻️

These are tasks that you need to do every day or every week because they're a part of your job, home life, volunteering, whatever. Problem is that most people underestimate the amount of time maintenance tasks eat up. That's why it's so common to reach the end of the day or week and think "what did I really do today?"

Momentum Tasks 🚀

These are tasks that you have to do on your own initiative. For me, the past month it's been the Analog 30 Challenge, including 12 new videos about topics I don't cover as much on YouTube or Instagram. It could be a project at work no one asked you to do but you know it could have a big impact on your career. Or it could be redecorating a room in the house (though my wife has told me that's maintenance, but I digress).

Point is, whenever I try to add something new to the week that wasn't previously there, I need to measure how much time I actually have in the week.

Because even though I work 40 hours, I don't have 40 hours available every week. The maintenance tasks of client work, admin, and posting leaves me between 10-15 hours for momentum tasks—and the past month that's mostly been eaten by Analog 30.

We went through all this in a lot more detail in the Analog 30 Challenge live calls, but if you want the short version check out the YouTube video I did a couple months ago.

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📚 What I'm reading this month

To prep for the hopeful release of the 7th and final Red Rising book next year (still unannounced, you didn't miss anything), I re-read the first book and made it through Iron Gold, book 4. These books have some of the best action writing I've ever read, up there with the Stormlight Archive.

The best description I can come up with, if you haven't read yet, is it's Hunger Games in space with more violence (very masculine energy).

I also just finished A Trade of Blood, the latest Ana and Din mystery from Robert Jackson Bennett. An excellent crime thriller and worth your time!

🎵 What I'm listening to

I've been listening to movie soundtracks while I work, and my favorite channel for this is Cinematic Focus. The channel just released a best of Christopher Nolan mix including music from The Odyssey, Dark Knight Trilogy, Interstellar, Inception, and Oppenheimer.

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I've also been listening to Chance Peña and Sam Barber, great young Americana/Country artists. Give 'em a listen!

Ok that's all for this week's WRAP! Hope you found something helpful, and if you did write back and let me know, ok?

Have a great weekend,

Matt Ragland