We had so much fun watching Wonka today. Loved the music and the colourful narration. The story, though predictable, was delightful, too. Plus, it made us eat scoopful of chocolate later. In times of gory, violent movies, this one was a welcome change.
I am planning to shut down Scribe. I don’t think anyone uses it (I have no way of knowing, but I have the feeling), and it is a cost that I can very well save. Fun while it lasted.
I have recently been getting rid of all the distractions - side projects, hobbies etc. - that I have no time for.
I am planning to shut down Scribe. I donβt think anyone uses it (I have no way of knowing, but I have the feeling), and it is a cost that I can very well save. Fun while it lasted.
I have recently been getting rid of all the distractions - side projects, hobbies etc. - that I have no time for.
Every morning for the past few days, I plan to sit and jot down my thoughts sometime during the day. As the evening dawns and I sign off from my work without #writing anything, the weight of unpublished thoughts pulls me down. I console myself that there’s still night to come. I would be surrounded by silence and calmness. No distractions with everyone deep asleep. The perfect conditions for me to write.
Even though, I know very well that waiting for such perfect conditions is futile. The fact that I haven’t written anything these past few days proves the point again. I can never expect to get into the flow of writing if I wait for the conditions to be exactly right.
Seth Godin has succinctly captured this thought in his book The Practice.
We do the work, whether we feel like it or not, and then, without warning, flow can arise. Flow is a symptom of the work we’re doing, not the cause of it.
I write when I sit down and write. Not when I am thinking about writing. I have identified a process that works for me. I need to stick to it.
But should I write even if I don’t feel like writing? Hadn’t I read someone recommend never to write when I am tired? What if I am tired right now? You know what? The lazy in me loves to listen to others when it suits him. I need to shut him down. I need not overcomplicate things.
I love writing. I need to write. If it means, at times, I need to force myself to stare at a blank editor with a blinking cursor, so be it. Word will flow.
Plus it stops me from feeling like shit.
On Routines
As much as I love my routines, I have recently struggled to keep one. Although there are some that I regularly follow, I lack a daily routine of any sort, whether in the mornings, evenings or through the day.
I know the routines are essential, mainly to free up some mental space for the creative work. It makes sense that “regular work processes allows workers to spend less cognitive energy on recurring tasks, which can support focus and creativity for more complex tasks.” I then find it surprising that I have a complicated relationship with my routines.
I wake up, sleep at fixed times, and have a chain of habits associated with the time after and before. But nothing else sticks.
I don’t have a time blocked for focused work. Or for my hobby projects like writing. I then wind down every day feeling frustrated not having achieved what I thought I would at the start of the day.
While ruminating over these struggles in my journal, I stumbled upon a realization. I cannot follow a daily routine because I lack a work-life balance. But unlike the pre-pandemic period, it is tilted much towards #life. Because I am always working from home, I surround myself with distractions while working.
My family, my pet and their stories. The apps on my iPad and my books. My home. All pry for my attention. And I am not strong enough to fight any of that for long.
When I visited the office, I had a clear separation of what I did and worked on while at the office. At home, that separation is difficult to attain. It’s funny that this separation of space was considered important during the pandemic’s early days. The only difference is that for others, it was not to get drained by work and leave some time for life. It is not to let my home life muddle in my work life.
This has had a predominant effect on my writing. I tell myself I can do it anytime, so I don’t do it at any time. Why do I need a creative block marked in my calendar when I can read, write and think any time I want?
Unfortunately, given how lazy and prone to procrastinate I am, I do.
I have a printer, and it has moods. It decides if it wants to print what I want it to print. It doesn't when it doesn't want to. Today it was in the mood to print one page well and then had a swing to screw up all others.
And I am not strong enough to fight the mood swings of my printer.
Here's a crazy theory - OpenAI achieved Artificial General Intelligence that went on to spread chaos all around by stitching a ploy to fire the only person who can understand and cap it.
It almost succeeded, but it hadn't mastered the art of concealing happiness yet. Like the humans do π
Sam Altman to return as OpenAI CEO β
The move would appear to bring resolution to a roller coaster drama that began Friday when OpenAI announced that its non-profit board had voted to remove Altman.
So much drama in just five days. I am sure many secret meetings were convened, and scenarios explored.
I read 200 pages in a day yesterday, a record for me. One trigger is that I got rid of all the video streaming apps from my phone. Yes, even YouTube.
Lone on the road #stories
