David William
David William is a collector of stories, projects, and life experiences, and he loves to rebuild things, especially vintage motorcycles. David lives in Chicago, Illinois.
What is your morning routine?
Before I’m even completely awake I’ll take the dogs for a walk.
We recently adopted an old arthritic dog who is hard of hearing and missing an eyeball. With him bumping and stumbling into every obstacle and me without coffee, we make for a sad team.
Eventually we make it back home and my sweetheart always has coffee and fresh green juice waiting for me.
How has your morning routine changed over recent years?
I tend to take life in chapters.
The previous chapter of my life was fun, exciting, and worry free, based on long travels around the world. The current chapter is set in Chicago, with a boring and less thrilling, simple lifestyle centered around domestic pursuits of work and grown up concerns like job satisfaction and purpose.
Fortunately I work from home so at least my commute is pleasant.
What time do you go to sleep?
My partner is a teacher, which means her days are spent wrangling twenty-seven little five year olds.
She is often early to bed, so I usually stay up and read, but I tend to be asleep around midnight. I’m hoping the next chapter of my life breaks back into the excitement, but until then I’ll get a lot of reading in.
Do you use an alarm to wake you up in the morning, and if so do you ever hit the snooze button?
No alarm clocks for me. Our modern era is already filled with enough beeps, bells, jingles, alarms, and sirens. I’m doing my part in promoting the silence, every morning, in an act of peaceful quiet protest.
Besides, the morning will come with or without an alarm clock.
Do you answer email first thing in the morning or leave it until later in the day?
There is nothing exciting or important enough in my life to warrant answering emails first thing in the morning.
One day I hope to be important enough to wake up stressed and overwhelmed, needing to hammer out emails, and send critical replies to Tokyo or London. Until then, I usually check my phone/email as I’m getting out of bed to make sure the world hasn’t ended or the city hasn’t burned down, but I won’t respond to anything right away.
I still believe in the art of thoughtful correspondence, and I keep a clean and simple inbox. But we’ve put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be available to everyone, all the time. Email is a passive engagement and I’d like to keep it that way.
On days you’re not settled in your home, are you able to adapt your routine to fit in with a different environment?
Routine is a slow death, so disruption can be refreshing. I’m boring when I’ve settled into a routine anyhow.
Our recommended book this week is The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin. We only recommend three things a week that we believe will be of interest to our readers. Please take a moment to check it out.
