The "M" word...

“The Maintenance Manifesto: Thriving, Not Just Surviving”

Entropy:

As time passes, entropy increases. Imagine entropy as the chaos or randomness within a system. When things become more disordered (hot drinks cool off, bridge cables rust, and your body gets weaker), entropy increases. You must add energy to the system to prevent entropy from completing its work.

Maintenance:

Maintenance is the way we inject extra energy back into the system, whether it’s reheating a drink, painting to fight rust, or working out to stay strong. We downplay the importance of maintenance in our thinking. The phrase “routine maintenance” captures the flavor of how we see it. A necessary evil. That’s the wrong perspective.

A Maintenance Manifesto:

Rule 1. Without regular careful maintenance, EVERYTHING deteriorates.

Maintenance is the work required to KEEP what we’ve already got.

Keep maintenance top of mind. Think of our progress since the beginning of time, from agriculture, indoor plumbing, and sanitation to modern genetically engineered vaccines, science, AI, and quantum computing.

Every, Single, Thing, needs maintenance. Institutions like laws, money, and even democracy itself need regular, careful maintenance and repair. Infrastructure degrades over time. Technology becomes obsolete.

“Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build, and nobody wants to do maintenance.” — Kurt Vonnegut

Rule 2. Make maintenance an important and integral part of everything you do.

It’s natural for us to strive for the next new thing. By all means, keep your eyes on the prize but remember that the surface you stand on can fall out from under you if you haven’t done the maintenance.

Pro Tip: Put maintenance on the calendar as your second block of time every day. Productivity books recommend doing your hardest/most important task first every day while you are at your best energy level. That’s a great approach… Then attend to the important but not urgent - maintenance. Here are some examples:

• At work:

  • Improve your workflow.

  • Make sure you’ve kept your commitments.

  • Clear the inbox.

  • Find ways to streamline the bureaucracy.

• At home:

  • Pay the bills.

  • Declutter.

  • Finish repairs.

  • Exercise.

• In the community:

  • Stay informed and vote.

  • Maintain your network of friends.

“Only floss the teeth you want to keep.” - Marine Corps Training Film circa 1971

Body/Mind

Your body and mind BOTH need exercise, nutrition, and sleep. Think of them like a building code (the absolute minimum requirements you can get away with without the building falling or some other major safety hazard). They are not a luxury add-on, but the minimum. Without food and exercise, you can’t build muscle or learn. Without sleep your body can’t repair itself or create long-term memories.

Rule 3: Make maintenance into a ritual:

“Make Your Bed” — Admiral William H. McRaven

Use care while doing the small things, like making your bed, flossing your teeth, cleaning the food prep area, doing repairs, etc. Create a set of routines that become rituals and then, habits. Morning routines are usually the same every day, but your Wednesday routine might add vacuuming. Getting your hair cut might be a Thursday’s add-on every few weeks. Treating each with the care of a ritual helps to focus you for the day and make certain you come home to a well-made bed and clean house. This positions you better for every following day.

You can find real joy and meaning in the everyday work needed just to keep going.

“Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. - Zen saying

That’s my perspective.