Category: Thoughts

1 month

by MAÔ, posted in Writing

That’s it! One month of daily postings. I wasn’t sure that I would have the tenacity to maintain a writing schedule. But, knowing that I had to do one every day made it a little bit easier to write, just about every day.

A friend of mine is a writer, of fiction, screenplays, etc. He says that sometimes his wife will have dinner ready, and he’ll tell her just a minute so that he can finish his thought. But that becomes a paragraph, then a page, and by the time he joins her dinner has gotten cold.

She says she doesn’t mind, because that’s his dream and his work. She can wait for him to eat, and it doesn’t bother her that the food is a little cold. (She won’t eat till he joins her, which I think is incredibly sweet.)

But he says he has to write when he can, because sometimes other work gets in the way. But he commits to writing at least a little every day. Good, bad, doesn’t matter. As long as words get to the page.

Well, on to May!

Video killed the radio star

by MAÔ, posted in Radio

I’ve been doing my radio program on musicals and the arts for about a year now. I think it’ll be a year next month. For it, I’m always playing around with different recording techniques, looking at new equipment such as microphones and audio interface. I’m not optimized for recording.

And yet, I get it done. It may not be perfect, but it’s complete. And every week I ship a new episode – because it’s airing on the radio. So it’s likely been one of the most important teaching tools for creating my art that I’ve been a part of recently.

After the video game broadcasts gets off the ground, my next goal is a podcast with another recording friend of mine. But since I usually lay out my laundry on this blog, I’ve not a clue what we’ll be talking about yet.

Out of balance

by MAÔ, posted in Advice

When the alignment is off, even the smallest misstep can throw the system out of whack. Specifically I’m meaning my back which I tweaked just doing a bend to move something on the floor. But, it applies to all things if you think about it. When the system is working, we tend to ignore it. The car that starts at the turn of the key. The laptop that effortlessly connects to the wi-fi. Everything that flows in seamless connectivity.

But when something is off – a spark plug is dirty, the signal is shoddy – it just takes one moment to shut down the system. Now you’re left diagnosing the problem that, had you tended to some preventative task before hand, may never had occurred. It’s important to know how things work, especially the things that we take for granted.

You don’t need to be an expert, but a general working knowledge (or even regular visits for service at the mechanic’s) and you can save yourself a lot of headaches. And back aches, as it were.

Week’s highlights

by MAÔ, posted in Social, Writing

Inspired by Tim Ferris’s five-bullet Friday, and having a little time at many points during the week to browse and peruse, here are things that I across which you may like:

Be More Chill original cast recording. Check out the animatic version, which rocketed the failing musical to new popularity.

Alex Strohl’s methods for defeating burnout. As a creative and recovering busy-person, I’ve experienced burnout more than a handful of times. Leading a board, raising money, and creating original work all left me feeling spent from time to time. Strohl’s routines may not be for everybody, but I like to take suggestions from those I new face the same challenges I do.

Fundrise. For a minimum deposit of $500, get into the real estate business with this Real Estate Investment Trust. Great dashboard and communication with their DC headquarters makes this an appealing addition to my portfolio.

Japan’s Sea of Trees, Aokigahara. It’s on my list for visiting in 2020, along with other areas of Japan. Following my friend’s wedding in the Philippines, I’m planning on visiting Japan, India, and Thailand.

Seneca on time

by MAÔ, posted in Advice

“Continue to act thus, my dear Lucilius – set yourself free for your own sake; gather and save your time, which till lately has been forced from you, or filched away, or has merely slipped from your hands. Make yourself believe the truth of my words, – that certain moments are torn from us, that some are gently removed, and that others glide beyond our reach.”

Being mindful of our time is the first key to freedom, to success, and to many other attributes we aspire to. It is a component of Zen, of meditation, of prayer, and of business. Being present.

Seneca’s assertion to gather and save your time is the fundamental principle of mindfulness.

“…if you will pay close heed to the problem, you will find that the largest portion of our life passes while we are doing ill, a goodly share while we are doing nothing, and the whole while we are doing that which is not to the purpose. “

He continues on asking Lucilius to pay close heed to the problem of time slippage. Stick to the purpose! Which means knowing the purpose.

And what is your purpose? How can you know if you’re wasting time not chasing it, if you’re not really sure what it is?

Or maybe the problem isn’t that you don’t know your one purpose – rather, your purpose is so complex and multi-faceted that you must proceed down several avenues at once to achieve it. And if that is the case, then your attention to time must be even more strict.

Start with Empathy

by MAÔ, posted in Advice

All human interaction comes down to two fundamental principles: listening and responding. Listening in this case can mean the receiving and interpretation of any stimuli coming from the other person and the environment around you. Responding is any method of reaction (or non-reaction) you have to that situation.

When we argue, we are missing a key component of one (or both) of the two fundamental principles – we are lacking empathy.

  • The empathetic listener understands that we all want to be heard, and believe our opinions to be correct, even if they are merely opinions.
  • The empathetic responder, who will know that sometimes what we say and how we act can be misinterpreted, will carefully select the method in which a response is given.

It isn’t that empathy means neglecting your own viewpoint – it’s only accepting that someone else may have a different one and acknowledging its value.

Consider the email

by MAÔ, posted in Work

Emails are no longer tools of communication. What began as a seemingly efficient way to relay information has become a crutch and a weight, both relied upon and holding us back at the same time. What could be said of medications, alcohol, or other substances that provide temporary relief but not a permanent fix, so do does email simply enable our addictions to instant gratification and-over abundant information stimuli.

One suggestion for taming the email beast is from Joshua Harris, as reported by Money:

Unsubscribe, then just check email once a day.

The first step to managing your inbox is to get rid of any emails you don’t need. Unroll.Me shows you everything you are subscribed to and lets you unsubscribe to anything you don’t want with one click. Then use a batched approach to archive, delete, or respond.

I check email once a day. I do it after lunch so I can complete critical tasks in the morning. Then I turn off auto-fetch on my apps so I don’t get notified when new emails come in. If you have an iPhone, you can request notifications just for important emails so you’re alerted of anything high priority.

Work emergencies or time-sensitive items should be communicated to you through Slack or similar communication software. That will reduce your anxiety and prevent you from checking email compulsively like I used to. —Joshua Harris, founder of Agency Growth Secrets; teaches entrepreneurs how to start, grow, and scale marketing agencies that help businesses grow

Other thoughts about Instagram

by MAÔ, posted in Writing

There’s a certain joy of democratization of photography that Instagram offers. The only problem is Instagram as a platform has been used to further the vanity of our need-obsessed culture, rather than to express the joy of image – a joy which feels to me that perhaps the programmers had originally intended.

Rather than have an annual edition of Time or NatGeo showcasing the year’s best photographs, here’s a platform with real updates of the greatest photos at this time. Only, we fall short because we find the lowest common denominators. Of course it isn’t that the content is limited on Instagram, but it’s designed in such a way to engage our time – and that’s time that could be spent elsewhere.

What if we were right?

by MAÔ, posted in Advice

We often second guess ourselves. The question more often than not is what if I was wrong? Then we replay the scenario, the events leading up to the decision, and the consequences. 

Leaving that job, buying this house, ending the partnership. All of the thinking that drags us down emotionally, and wastes precious decision-making capital on past choices. 

Instead, why not flip the narrative. Ask yourself “What if I was right?” Then all the supporting dialogue can be replaced with forward thinking. Suddenly, it matters more what you do next, rather than what led you to making the decision in the first place.