Mr Elf

 from Art of Manliness Podcast episode with guest Marc Zao-Sanders who writes on Time-Boxing.  What are regular healthy things to do to fill up your day?

I’ve got a mnemonic, which might be helpful to listeners, Brett, which is Mr. Elf. So Mr. Elf stands for meditation, reading, exercise, learning, and friends or family. So the idea here is that if you’re at a loose end, so either because you’re planning your day at the start, then… And you don’t know, okay, what am I gonna do 10 to 11? What would be healthy for me? What would be a good use of time that I won’t regret later? Think of that mnemonic, Mr. Elf, and it might help you out.

It’s also very helpful I find when sometimes an expansive time just opens up before you. So I know someone… You’re gonna have dinner with someone, you had to get there and then you’re gonna come back. So all in all, it was gonna be three or four hours, but they cancel on you. All of a sudden, you’ve got three or four hours. Now it’s very easy to then get into, well, just stream from Netflix or go to social media. And I’m not judgmental about that. I do some of that myself. But what I’m encouraging people to do more of is in that moment when you realize, okay, dinner is not gonna happen, let’s think about how I’m gonna spend my time and choose the right thing. So with Mr. Elf and these five activities, it’s just very easy to remember.