Let's face it - There's a reason they make hats and t-shirts that say "Trimming Sucks". Any experienced grower that takes pride in ever so lovingly hand-trimming their finished product can relate to the hours lost and sore back, neck and hands that can come with a bountiful harvest. The bigger the crop, the more time you will be spending dealing with all that tasty sugar shake.
If you're at all like me and growing in every way is your thing, there's only so many movies you can watch in a day before your eyeballs start to burn and your brain begins to feel like mush. Music is great but again, 8-12 hours of staring at buds and listening to music can become pretty monotonous.
Stimulate The Mind
I have found that increasing mental stimulation during this labor intensive and time consuming portion of cannabis production has many positive effects including, but not limited to;
- Time passes more quickly
We all know how it goes, if your mind is busy and occupied - time flies, if you are bored and focused on achieving a volume-based task within a time frame - time can drag. - It Increases physical and mental endurance
If your mind is focused on something other than how small the pile you've trimmed is and how many plants still haven't been touched, you're more likely to keep plugging away a little longer. We've all had the "well, I won't finish tonight anyway" thought. This goes for physical fatigue, discomfort and pain as well. If you are engaged in something stimulating, pushing yourself until whatever you've focused your attention on is finished (such as a documentary or chapter in an e-book) is a great way to accomplish that much more than you would have. - Profoundly increasing your knowledge base and awareness of any topic
Think about this: If you were to enroll in a class that was 2 hours per class, 3 days per week for 4 months that would be 96 hours of class time. I typically spend 30-40 hours on any given harvest and depending what happens I may come down every month or two. This puts me at par with university level course intensity with several advantages, the most important being that I am able to acquire my knowledge from an eclectic group of sources rather than from one source established as some sort of authority on the topic.
Methods Of Information
There are many ways to engage the mind in receiving new information that will allow you to stay focused on the task at hand and absorb the massive amounts of information your hungry brain requires. My top two favorites are;
- Video lectures with high quality slide presentations
The reason this is my favorite is that although the information is audibly based, the video interaction makes the information more engaging. Many presenters who have provided a video of their presentation will provide excellent screen shots of their slideshow presentation which hold the slides up for a time. This allows you to take in visual aids while being able to look down at your work intermittently. - Audio books
Audio books are fantastic and are encompassing volumes of written literature at an amazing rate. Many organizations are converting important works on paper to audio on a volunteer and donation basis. Audio books are great while performing tasks that you would prefer not to have to look away from.
My third choice is the documentary film. Although very informative, documentaries are produced in a format that is meant to be highly engaging and entertaining. This can prove to be distracting from your work. Due to the fact that documentaries are visually based, your work can also distract you from much of the benefit of the film.
Might I Suggest...
For those of you who are open to some suggestions that may take you to new directions of research I will recommend the following;
- The work of Max Igan
- The work of Mark Passio This is his podcast page, starting with number 1 all they way at the bottom of the page. The podcasts have images that you can scroll through and view at your leisure, which is great while working.
Whatever topics you decide to educate yourself on, don't put yourself in box. Here are some other great topics;
- Health & Nutrition
- Natural Law
- Quantum Physics
- Metaphysics
- Sacred Geometry
- Theology
- Philosophy
- The Occult
- Psychology
- Symbolism
Don't believe any one source. The resources at our finger tips are limitless! All in all, the important thing is that we keep growing!
