Sleeping brain
Last night, I finished building the new LEGO World Map set. With over 11,000 pieces, it took me around 12 hours to complete. Some of that time was while holding my 3 month-old or building with my 4 year-old. Still, it was a lot of time to simply shut my brain down and build. It reminded me of how important it is to give your brain a break every once in a while.
It’s incredible how many problems are solved by going to bed and taking a shower the next morning. I’ve had countless lightbulb moments while showering, taking the trash out to the road, building LEGO, etc.
As a programmer, I’ve done a lot to make sure I take care of my hands and wrists—good chair, mouse, keyboard, and desk. But, I’ve realized I need to do more to take care of my mind. We equate sitting at the computer as working. More and more though it seems that the more time I spend away from my computer, the better and quicker my work is done when I am at my computer. A refreshed mind is the best productivity tool I know of. Want to get more done? Work less.
Drawing of Steal Like an Artist
I have long believed that I have never and will never come up with an original idea. Nothing is truly original. Every ideas has been had before. In Steal Like an Artist, Austin Kleon talks about how everything new builds on what has come before it. New ideas take bits and pieces from other ideas and combine them into something new. If we steal many good things from a variety of people, we are able to combine them into something worthy of being stolen by someone else; We create our own voice.
If nothing is original, what’s the point? I’ve been having trouble figuring this one out. Klein included a quote from André Gide:
Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.
I love this perspective. As the father of a four year-old, this hit close to home. So, what’s the point? There is someone who has not heard what you have to say. Even if they have heard it before, they may not have been listening the first time. If they are going to hear it now, why not let it be from you?
While talking about how we are able to learn by surrounding ourselves with people more talent, Kleon said “if you ever find that you’re the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.” While I get what he’s saying, it’s too selfish of an attitude for me. A better question than which room can I move to, is how can help those in this room become more talented. I think a lot can be gained from changing your perspective from “what can I take?” to “what can I give?”
I’ll end with my favorite quote included in the book from Jessica Hische, an incredibly talented designer:
The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life.
This makes me look off into the mid-distance and think for a few minutes every time I read it.
Steal Like an Artist is a quick, worthwhile read. I give it a thumbs up. Thanks for reading, and as Klein recommends, I’m going to go and enjoy and use my obscurity.
When I need to get down to business and get some serious programming done, I put on the TRON: Legacy soundtrack.
That is all. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Like I said in Wrapping Up the Year of Groundwork, after 2020, I don’t feel like I have much gas left in the tank. That’s why I’ve decided to make 2021 the Year of Momentum. I want to keep going on the good things I started in 2020. I’m still figuring out what that means exactly, but here’s where I’m currently at:
In short, it’s going to take a lot for me to barely make it through this winter, hence the Season of Survival. The next few months are going to be about managing stress and anxiety. So unless I think it will be helpful, I’m not going to start anything new. Focuses will probably be on the back burner until Spring (though there are a couple bug fixes I should probably get out soon 🤔.) I might even need to pull back on the amount of time I’ve been freelancing. There’s a lot that needs to be done, and I need to figure out how to get it all done without collapsing on myself like a dying star.
So 2021, keep going and try not to crash.
2020 has been a hard year for everyone. But I have been very fortunate. I was already working from home, my company does well in good and bad economic times, my D&D group was online already, and my daughter is not in school yet. So I know I have had it a whole lot easier than most people. In all honesty, I feel like 2020 has been one of my better years. If it wasn’t for the stress of building a house during a pandemic and living with my in-laws, I would feel pretty great right now. Not having to go to places like church or work events has reduced my base-level of anxiety quite a bit.
My theme for 2020 was the year of groundwork. I wanted to do things that would help me open doors in the future. A couple things I had in mind were release an iOS app and start freelancing a bit.
I think I did well in both of those areas. Though, at times I did feel like I was overextending myself at times.
My plan had been to release Focuses and then start doing some freelance work. Focuses took more of my energy than I was expecting. But in the late Summer, I set up an LLC as a first step. Right after I did that, a former coworker called me up and asked if I was interested in taking over some side-work of his. I was very lucky.
Focuses is probably my biggest personal success of 2020. It made me stretch and I learned a lot doing it. I’m proud of it. I feel like it was worth the effort I put into it, which was a lot—nearly 200 hours in 2020.
In addition to freelancing and Focuses, I also did a decent job of waking up early to work on side-projects, I read a lot of books (for me), and I exercised a few times a week. So in 2021, I’d like to keep going on the good habits I developed during 2020. But honestly, I don’t feel like I have much gas left in the tank. I need to be careful in 2021 to not completely burn myself out.
Using my phone less has been on my mind for quite a while now. For no good reason, I’m 100% addicted to Twitter. I always have my phone on me, just in case there’s a text I need to reply to immediately, or some fact needs to be Googled, or to waste time when I’m bored. I enjoyed Deep Work by Cal Newport, so I thought I would give Digital Minimalism a shot.
My summary is this: make it easier for yourself to make deliberate choices about how and when to use your phone and other technology. So much of my current phone use is just a reflex, and I want to change that.
I don’t think there is anything revolutionary in this book. But it was full of good, timeless advice and ideas, sort of like talking to your friend who listens to a lot of podcasts. It made me think and reflect. Who knew books could do that.
I didn’t feel like going through the 30 day purge like Newport suggests. But I took some time to evaluate what I could do anyway. Here’s what I came up with:
I’m also experimenting with a pocket notebook. So far I’ve been using it to plan my weeks and sometimes days. I also use it to record ideas and other thoughts. I’m still figuring out how exactly I want to use this, but it has already reduced my dependence on my phone.
There are two main things that cause me to pickup my phone often—podcasts and time tracking. I suppose I could use the Toggl website instead of using Timery, but the Timery widget just makes it so easy. I’ve also experimented with listening to podcasts on my Apple Watch. I actually like using my watch quite a bit—I don’t need to pick up my phone when I go somewhere else in the house. But it is not always reliable. The podcast I want to listen to is not always on my watch when I want to listen, so I often still use my phone. I use Overcast—because of it’s superior Smart Speed® and Voice Boost®—but maybe I should look into other options.
Anyway, I feel like all this is making a difference. I don’t feel the need to always have my phone on me. I feel more engaged when I’m just hanging out with the family. Overall, I’m on board with the idea of using your phone less. I’ll take another look in a couple months and see what I need to adjust and tweak, maybe to do the whole 30 day purge that he suggests. Perhaps, Phase 2 will be when I switch to a rotary landline for all communication—buttons would make it too easy to call people.
As my daughter says, I'm just a tired dad, with a tired name, Sam Warnick. I'm a software developer in Beaufort, SC.