I’ve been trying to find more time to write each week, but often a full day can seem like it’s already decided for you. It can take it out of you.

Work has to get done. You have to get coffee and squeeze yourself into a speeding bullet. You need to cook something with the slightest bit of nutrition and get some exercise because you don’t at the office.

When the sun goes down, sometimes, I just want to down some Queer Eye from the softest part of my couch.

But I found a bit of fight in Tim Ferriss’ 5 Bullet Friday email last week. It was a line from Chuck Palahnuik’s Lullaby:

“Old George Orwell got it backward. Big Brother isn’t watching. He’s singing and dancing. He’s pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big Brother’s busy holding your attention every moment you’re awake. He’s making sure you’re always distracted. He’s making sure you’re fully absorbed. He’s making sure your imagination withers. Until it’s as useful as your appendix. He’s making sure your attention is always filled. And this being fed, it’s worse than being watched. With the world always filling you, no one has to worry about what’s in your mind. With everyone’s imagination atrophied, no one will ever be a threat to the world.”

You need to fight for your own time. Or else the world will tell you what to do.

Will Stephen’s TEDx talk is a perfect tongue-in-cheek companion of smart-sounding nonsense. Stephen says, “I’d like it to seem like I’m making points, building an argument, inspiring you to change your life, when in reality, this is just me… buying… time.”

P.S. - The joke is on Big Brother because I don’t have an appendix.