Tag: productivity
-
Writing all the time
Some of us ”sweat the night into words,” the poet Bernard Spencer wrote in his poem “Night-Time: Starting to Write.” Morning or night, day time or lunchtime, it really doesn’t matter when you write. A note, a recording, a scribble — we write it down to remember it now and for later. Early morning, lunch…
-
Visualizing the practice
Visualize the practice, not the result. Actions have goals built into them, giving you a better chance at achieving what you want. Success happens to the idea, not at the force of aim. Because it’s all about the sustained head work and heart work it takes to get there. “Don’t aim at success-the more you…
-
The best music to help you focus
This post contains affiliate links. Please see the disclosure for more info. Music is a performance-enhancement drug. There’s a reason athletes listen to songs on repeat to pump them up before games. But music’s effect on studying, writing, or doing office work is equally profound. Music is known to increase your productivity by sharpening your focus and putting…
-
On making life’s biggest decisions
When it comes to decision-making, first you decide, then you deduce. Of course, life’s biggest decisions such as marriage or a career change are some of the hardest decisions to make because the fear is that they won’t work out. The bigger the risk, the greater the hesitation. ‘This might not work.’ People like to play…
-
Thinking about questions
The more absurd questions, the better. It’s as if people hold back their inquisitiveness to avoid the pedestal of ridicule. Shying away from raising your hand backlashes over time. Playing it safe merely postpones fear, submerging us into a habit of permanent hesitation that flinches instead of flourishes. The infinitely curious never left school as…
-
Thinking without thinking 🤔
Work is the practice of gathering string. But it is the empty mind that weaves experience, knowledge, and ideas altogether. The apple may have hit Newton’s head, but his insights into gravity were brewing all along. There is no such thing as Eureka, just the gradual harmonization of distilled moments that become apparent when we least expect…
-
Seth Godin on writer’s block
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see the disclosure for more info. Writer’s block is a myth created by people who are afraid to do the work. There are various reasons writers let the blank page get the best of their emotions. Trying to be too perfect Procrastinating en route to excuses that usually include the…
-
Essential writing advice from Anne Lamott
TED distilled fourteen writing tips from an interview conducted with novelist Anne Lamott. Her 1995 book Bird by Bird (Amazon) has become an essential guide for aspiring artists of all types. My favorite snippet from the interview appears when she’s asked to give her younger self some writing advice: “I’d teach my younger self to stare off…
-
The music in our heads
The brain is an unfettered motor. One of the best ways to quiet the monkey mind is by listening to music. Music helps people get out of their own heads. When listening to music, people not only relax, but they feel obliged to take more risks. Music galvanizes humans into an unconscious zone of action.…
-
Why you should take little bets
Little bets are a way to explore and develop new possibilities. Specifically, a little bet is a low-risk action taken to discover, develop, and test an idea. Peter Sims, Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries All believing is betting. But the only way to know if something sticks is to throw it…
-
Hokusai’s great wave: a lesson in persistence
Can we improve our craft over time? The Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) seemed to think so. “Until the age of 70, nothing I drew was worthy of notice. At 110, every dot and every stroke will be as though alive.” He only lived until 89, but he proved his theory of incremental improvement. He finished his most famous work,…
-
Famous artists and their recipes for good luck
Creatives obsess with how other successful creators do their work. Witness the 2013 bestseller Daily Rituals by Mason Currey. But instead of focusing on the productive habits of successful artists, author Ellen Weinstein highlights their oddities. Her book Recipes for Good Luck: The Superstitions, Rituals, and Practices of Extraordinary People contains some fascinating and funny habits.…