Category: Thoughts

When a break is necessary

by MAÔ, posted in Thoughts

Took some time off from writing, hence the absence of posts over the past week. I’ve mostly been working to catch up on some projects that I’ve let slide, brainstorming, and even helped a friend move.

Breaks are often necessary to recharge drained batteries, to give new perspectives on lingering issues, or just to remind yourself that you are important and valuable. On the one hand, there are aspects of this pandemic that are similar to breaks – not being able to go to many places, working on projects from the comfort of your own home, or just being. The problem is, the act of just being right now is much more stressful than it usually would be. Coupled with social unrest and the looming financial crunch of expiring pandemic aid, it seems that we’re more unsure now of what will happen than we were back in March.

But, I’m back to writing every day now. I’ve established a solid routine and practice, and I have some other exciting possible projects cresting the horizon. While the break could have been so much more restful and relaxing, it was still enough to jolt loose some of the thoughts that have been stirring behind the curtain. It’s good to work. It’s good to create.

At the end of this crisis, it’s going to be whatever we made that we feel represents the zeitgeist of this endeavor, and not the crisis itself, that we return to in order to heal.

Joy

by MAÔ, posted in Thoughts

Joy isn’t necessarily happiness. One can be joyful without being happy all the time.

Happiness is a temporary emotion. “That is because happiness is an emotion in which we experience feelings ranging from contentment and satisfaction to bliss and intense pleasure, whereas joy is a stronger, less common feeling than happiness. We experience joy when we achieve selflessness to the point of personal sacrifice.” (Island Packet)

While this perspective encourages us to self-sacrifice, I contend that joyfulness can be attained without necessarily requiring self-sacrifice. Joy is an understanding of one’s own wants and desires, and knowing how to achieve that which is most important in your life. Joyfully moving through this world is one of the most important things we could do, if we only allowed ourselves to do it.

A brief history of blogs

by MAÔ, posted in Technology

Believed to be the first blog, Justin Hall’s links.net began in 1994. For Hall, it was a chance to combine his love of the internet (then mostly a fledgling technology) and his other interests. His first draft had “links to HTML information, some stuff about [Hall’s] college, a photo of [him] and Oliver North, a sound clip of Jane’s Addiction’s lead singer saying ‘Well I’m on acid too, and I ain’t throwin’ shoes at you,’ and a list of [his] favorite web sites.”

The early adopters called their pages online journals or diaries, personal pages, and similar titles. In 1997, the term “weblog” was coined by Jorn Barger to describe these sites.

Early blogs were mostly for the technologically-savvy, requiring some knowledge of HTML and its requisite coding. Eventually, platforms begin cropping up, allowing ease-of-use for non-technical bloggers.

In 2003, both WordPress (where my site is hosted) and TypePad (who I’m familiar with for Seth Godin‘s using) were founded.

Over the past fifteen years, the prevalence and persistence of blogs has increased. Internet visibility is important not only to companies but also to individuals. Beyond the social media spectrum, where what you produce is comingled with everyone else’s content, your own website allows you the freedom to create what you will, with the security that, should you choose, it will only be your content seen.

Make better choices

by MAÔ, posted in Advice

Most of our days are segments into small chunks of choices. To wake up with the alarm or to hit snooze. To have coffee or tea. Eat breakfast or don’t. Healthy or sugary. A morning workout, or prayer, or meditation.

Not even ten minutes into the day, and already a dozen or more choices assail pout mental processors.

If we consider the ability to make decisions as a commodity – a resource that is finite within the scope of one twenty-four hour period – then it makes sense to spend our decision-making currency os frugally and responsibly as possible.

Budgeting for decision-making isn’t much different than budgeting for personal finance. There are some key differences, however, the primary one being that we may be aware of how much decision-making capital that we will have to allocate for a given day.

This “choice capital” isn’t a constant. It is subject to variations based on mood, day, and numerous other factors. Mental strain, restlessness, outside factors weighing upon our mental faculties, and carried-over excess from previous days can also reduce the quality and quantity of our ability to adequately make decisions.

Something our education system does well is showing us how to stagger our usage of choice capital while we’re children. It’s an excellent primer for how to partition our days into chunks of time to allow us to focus on an individual subject. All of our decision-making and attention in the school system are maintained in one course at a time, usually in a block not exceeding ninety minutes.

Not only are we shown how to set aside time to work on one thing, but we’re also taught that overworking one subject won’t produce better results – only mental strain.

That the modern workday isn’t divided as such shows that, while we were once carefully taught, we’ve abdicated the opportunity to segment our own assignments into a system that prioritizes mental clarity and task optimization.

Another factor in the improvement of spending choice-capital is to factor in routines, thereby limiting the need for daily decision-making in unimportant tasks. For instance, meal planning, scheduling exercise blocks, and setting up a general wardrobe scheme are all examples. Rather than waking up and thinking, “What will I eat?”, already knowing let’s you push your brain into its next steps.

Imagine a whole morning where you:

  1. Wake up
  2. Eat (the same thing as yesterday, and you’ll have the same thing tomorrow)
  3. Do your morning practice (work out, make the bed, meditate, write, etc.)
  4. Put on your clothes (Maybe you’ll have Mon-Fri outfits, or a set weekend go-to. Steve Jobs liked jeans and turtlenecks. President Obama had two suit colors, and would alternate each working day)

And there you have it. Two hours of your morning, and not a single ounce of choice capital expended.

Recent items 10

by MAÔ, posted in Social

Or, X. Had I been using Roman Numerals. X just looks more fun.

  • Revisiting decluttering, and the nearly daily struggle I have with stuff. I’m not alone, and Valerie Peterson’s article on The Lily is just another example.
  • Also, Marie Kondo’s Netflix show, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. I had watched it last year, but revisiting it during the past week has been somewhat cathartic.
  • An interesting video from Molner’s Table, discussing the future of offices.
  • It’s 35 years old: Back to the Future! I’m still amazed when I see Christopher Lloyd show up on television. One of a handful of memorable and exciting trilogies.
  • The first adaptaion of Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel Brave New World to stream on Peacock starting next week. Sure, another streaming service is last on everyone’s list right now. But this may be just the show we need.

Fear

by MAÔ, posted in Thoughts

Fear can be a deciding factor in whether or not we do something.

It can overwhelm a person, making it impossible to act. Or it can be a motivating factor.

While fear itself will not drive discovery, it can cause a person to be more apt to act in some situations.

When fear arises, listen to it. What is it warning you away from? It may be that what scares you is the thing you need most to head towards.

Independence

by MAÔ, posted in Social

What I said yesterday is true, however, I also found myself facing a problem with posting this past weekend. I didn’t know how to address the issues in this country.

I guess I always hope to write something that, if read, might be viewed as inspirational, educational, or at least not a waste of time. (Reminds me of Speech 101…)

But the nation is hurting, and either addressing or ignoring the issue felt so complicated that I wasn’t able to write anything at all for it.

I don’t have an answer. When it comes to race relations, income disparity, social justice reform, unfair policing practices, etc. There is the vast expanse of grey area, and all any of us can do is try to navigate it as safely and equitably as we can.

The past two years for the July 4th weekend, I’d play this reading of the Declaration of Independence on my radio program. I didn’t this year. But I thought I’d share it here.

Recent items 9

by MAÔ, posted in Social

More of the links that I don’t get time to share enough of. One of these weeks I’ll codify (at least somewhat) my method of sharing the things I find online, in the world, and elsewhere. For now…

Refilling the well

by MAÔ, posted in Work

Inspiration isn’t something that can be emptied. Sure, we can feel blocked at times. But in reality, it’s just our own self getting in our way.

There’s no real trick to finding inspiration. One study suggests that focusing on a non-mentally demanding task can free up the subconscious to do its work. It’s why showers often bring good ideas, and thinking of a question before going to sleep can net you an answer upon waking.

Another good practice is to experience the ideas of others. I’m torn by what Seneca says about reading – “Be careful, however, that there is no element of discursiveness and desultoriness about this reading you refer to, this reading of many different authors and books of every description. You should be extending your stay among writers whose genius is unquestionable, deriving constant nourishment from them if you wish to gain anything from your reading that will find a lasting place in your mind. To be everywhere is to be nowhere. People who spend their whole life traveling abroad end up having plenty of places where they can find hospitality but no real friendships. The same must needs be the case with people who never set about acquiring an intimate acquaintanceship with any one great writer, but skip from one to another, paying flying vists to them all.” (italics for my emphasis)

I do see the value of spending time reading one author’s work and digesting it, not just glancing over it. This rumination could be akin to what Cal Newport calls deep work.

However, it’s also good to gain perspectives from many sources, especially when looking to pull from your own source of creativity. Gaining a multitude of ideas is how the well is filled.

That brand of yours

by MAÔ, posted in Work

Building a brand is easy, assuming you have one unified interest. But, what if you’re someone who likes to dabble in many fields, to try new things?

The tech mogul who wants to improve healthcare. The reknowned actress campaigning for social justice. Or the one holding down a job while doing anything creative on the side.

The most important thing is just to stick with it.

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison