Bright Lines

The term 'bright lines' comes from a 2017 book entitled "Bright Line Eating: The Science of Living Happy, Thin, and Free". The book focuses on setting 'bright lines' or clear boundaries that we do not cross under any circumstances. The book focuses these boundaries around eating and diet. However, I believe the concept can be applied to a plethora of areas outside of diet. Below, I've listed a few of the 'bright lines' that I've adopted to date. I'll revise the list as I adopt new ones or revise old ones.

1. One book at a time; only permitted to buy a new book after finishing another one.
   
   In the past, I've found that I tend to pick up a new book, read through it voraciously for a few days, then slow my pace to a crawl to hang on every word. Once the pace slows to a certain point, another book will catch my eye. Eventually, after the original book sits idle for a few weeks, my wife ends up shelving it. This is highly unproductive and stems from shiny object syndrome.
   
   
2. One task at a time; always drive a task to completion or a road block before moving on to the next task.
   
   Similar in principle to the last bright line, it's very easy to look at your laundry list of things to do and try to focus on all tasks at once. But if you work on everything at once, you won't be able to move the needle on any one task.
   
   We are serial beings and, as much as we'd like to think we can, multitasking is not a skillset anyone excels at. So why make minute progress on a handful of tasks when you can make true progress on a couple of items?
   
   
3. Only consume one caffeinated beverage each day
   
   This one is unbelievably hard, but I believe it's the right thing to do. Everything in life is best done in moderation, and caffeine consumption is no different. Every coffee drinker can vividly remember the last time they consumed too much. You were jittery, sweaty, and maybe a little bit irritable. Some is good, too much yield adverse effects.