Overview of Tranquility By Tuesday

Sometimes the right book comes along at the right time. I was lucky enough to have Tranquility By Tuesday* by Laura Vanderkam come into my notice at the end of 2023, when I was trying to find ways to make more meaning in my life. Today’s article will kick off a series of articles where I talk about how I have applied these principles in my life, as well as the results.

How I Bumped Into the Book…Again

I had heard about the book Tranquility By Tuesday* when it came out in 2022. And I had dismissed it, having decided after listening to a couple of podcast interviews with the author that it was not for me. But my podcast player resurrected one of the interview in late 2023, and I was a bit annoyed, because I had already listened to these episodes. It wasn’t that the episode had been rereleased, either. My software glitched.

As luck would have it I was unable to switch away from the episode because my phone was with my computer bag in the trunk and my radio controls refused to let me skip through it (more annoyance). I resigned myself to listening. And I am very glad I did.

What Caught My Attention

The thing that caught my attention was that this wasn’t a book about squeezing more time out of an already busy life. It didn’t contain any reheated advice about giving up apps and television or doing things in the small gaps of time.

This book was focusing on building a meaningful life, which the author claims will make time seem to pass slower as well as give meaning to the things I was doing.

After listening to the interview (again) I bought the book and read it.

Treading Water

I’m at a point in my life where I am really looking at things. I feel like I have been treading water since the pandemic and I want to rethink what I am doing and what I am reaching for.

It’s a smaller version of what happened in 2015, where I left my career in technology to teach high school math for a year. But I am still looking for the meaning in what I do.

It isn’t that I feel I’m not making meaning. I have a great job for a great client, where I get to see the impact of my work on people who are customers. I get to help people become more solid in their financial lives.

I have volunteer commitments that are meaningful as well. I serve three organizations as a volunteer, and I know my efforts are crucial to the function of all three.

But in the time since the pandemic, I haven’t really tried to accomplish more than maintaining the status quo. And I realized in late 2023 that it wasn’t enough anymore. Right around the time the book came back into my life.

Why I Decided To Read This Book

The first thing that caught my attention about this book was that the ideas had been tested. This wasn’t just some random spouting by the author (not that she has ever doe that), but the ideas had been tested on a large group of people over a nine week course. The results were compiled, and the comments used in the book.

I like the thought that the ideas are tested out on people from all walks of life as well as times of life. One of my main frustrations with many systems is that people assume that their system will work well for everyone, and if it doesn’t, it’s because the individual isn’t trying hard enough.

So the focus group was the reason I decided to give this a try.

The Ideas In Tranquility By Tuesday

There are nine main ideas in this book:

Give yourself a bedtime. This is to establish a regular schedule, as well as get you adequate rest.
Plan on Fridays. This is to allow you to see the coming week as a whole.
Move by 3 PM. Getting physical movement into our days is important, and if we leave it too long it won’t get done.
Three times a week is a habit. We all say we have daily habits, but are they really?
Create a back up slot. Life happens and will disrupt the most carefully planned day. Creating backup slots allows us to stay on target without the stress.
One big adventure, one little adventure per week. Making time for activities that will make your week memorable, instead of dissolving into the same ol’ same ol’.
Take one night for you. This is to help you pursue your own interests without being interrupted.
Batch the little things. Make a time to deal with the similar little things in order to increase efficiency.
Effortful before effortless. Taking a few minutes to do activities that you want to that may require a little bit of effort before vegetating can add up.