Why I Have a Productivity System
When I look around at friends and family who don’t seem to be accomplishing that which they want to, I notice a trend. They’re smart. They even know what they want, if vaguely. But they don’t have a way of breaking down those goals into actionable steps. Now, you can try to break down your […]
You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake
It’s late evening. I really need to write more articles for Your Online Life. But I don’t want to, and if history is any indication I won’t do any more work tonight. I’m used to winding down in the evenings. However. My new mantra is “Evolve. And let the chips fall where they may.” (from […]
Reflections on Not Working
Long, good day. Finished copying some BBC Radio productions from old audio cassettes to MP3. Wonderful to have technology that does all this quickly and easily. Of course, that’s ignoring the hours I spent setting up that technology. It’s odd. I’m still without a full-time job, and I feel none of the gnawing dread I […]
Revelations
Last night, after watching a bunch of videos from TED, I had two revelations: One: I need to cut my active creative projects down to two (one primary, one alternate). Two: I need to play every day.
Paradox
Paradox: We need to get off our butts and realize our dreams. To take our ideas and goals, and make them real. Take the first class, write the first word, pick out the instrument. We need to not be so hard on ourselves. We rush from work to a store to home, barely acknowledge our […]
Change
Oh boy, the world’s in trouble. I am far more than it can handle. Today was my last day at RC/STS. (Again.) (For now.) The head of engineering is still trying to define a job for me, which actually looks pretty solid; he wants me, and his boss wants me. They just need to figure […]
What is Within
Eric Hoffer: Our greatest pretenses are built up not to hide the evil and the ugly in us, but our emptiness. The hardest thing to hide is something that is not there. So true, isn’t it? We spend so much time posturing.
Inner Adventure
No outdoor adventure this week. Instead, an inner adventure. I’m two days into The Five-Day Course in Thinking, a book Edward De Bono wrote forty years ago. Isaac Asimov wrote the Foreword. It’s a malnourished paperback, barely a hundred pages long. The edge of the pages are that odd dusty Martian red that seemed so […]
26 Nov 07
Maybe I’ve been consuming too many Japanese works lately, but I’ve been thinking about the importance of discipline. I mean little daily disciplines. Exercise. Getting to bed on time. “Little” things. They don’t even really add up over time, the way that other habits can. Practice karate every day, and you’ll build an amazing set […]
6 Nov 07
Writing is difficult, which is strange, because writing is easy. Typing is easy. Putting words on a page or a screen is easy. It’s keeping at it that’s hard. There are numerous potholes on the road to a complete story, and many psychological Jersey barriers. I write a few hundred words, then feel a strong […]