Alex J Darby

Well, this is the new site. I don't want to spend very long nudging pixels around the screen. There was nothing wrong whatsoever with the old site, I just wanted something new that I had built from scratch and have complete control over. Feel comfortable updating etc. etc.

So here we are, I hope it changes often. It will if I'm in a tinkering mood. The site consists mostly of a Flask backend which renders the existing markdown files. Not perfectly I must add, some of the older technical posts are not 100% rendering correctly. WIP. I'm using a classless CSS framework I quite like called Sakura with some custom styling here and there. I wanted something very simple with a little flare and personality, but not a distraction from a more photography-focussed future.

I think thats what I'm hoping for in general, a more photography-focussed future.

As long as you can see this its good enough. I've been shooting more so I'm hoping to get everything posted here instead of just on socials.

Cheers,

Alex.

I've failed to update this site so many times over the last few months. This post has been renamed many times with various intended posting dates. I have no idea why.

I've rediscovered Cal Newport recently. By which I mean I have been enjoying 'Slow Productivity'. Its a very realistic approach to getting things done and something of an antidote to the cult of productivity. It reminds me of Oliver Burkeman's excellent 'Four Thousand Weeks'. It doesn't treat the reader like a machine.

Newport describes something which really resonated with me to do with working on less but caring more about quality. In the windows where I do feel 'productive' -- few and far between though they are -- I am often flitting ineffectually between tasks and projects and not actually delivering much of anything. There is definitely something to be said for practicing concentration and having a mindset of finishing quality projects. I wish I had a keener eye for detail in this regard.

Cultivating discipline is something I often hear in the pages of the professionally successful. I'm loathed to admit that when I have been able to be firm with my petulant, reactionary brain and force it to do something it knows is good for it, I have noticed positive results. When I have managed to go for a regular run, walk to new places, or be more sociable. These are all things that help keep The Overthinking Machine at bay.

In the spirit of this shift in focus from doing a lot of things with low quality and erratic results I'm going to try and focus on getting just one good piece of work done per day. To have that thing be done to a decent standard, to not get distracted by something more attractive, and to have something finished at the end. doing five good pieces of work per week sounds like a very respectable rate. Its something to try at least.

I'm still really enjoying using Go for web projects at the moment. Its a very pleasant and productive language to use with good documentation. Its nice to make things, especially if they are very specific to you.

In the interests of getting something out I'm going to stop there.

Thats all for now.

Alex

I've failed to update this site so many times over the last few months. This post has been renamed many times with various intended posting dates. I have no idea why.

I've rediscovered Cal Newport recently. By which I mean I have been enjoying 'Slow Productivity'. Its a very realistic approach to getting things done and something of an antidote to the cult of productivity. It reminds me of Oliver Burkeman's excellent 'Four Thousand Weeks'. It doesn't treat the reader like a machine.

Newport describes something which really resonated with me to do with working on less but caring more about quality. In the windows where I do feel 'productive' -- few and far between though they are -- I am often flitting ineffectually between tasks and projects and not actually delivering much of anything. There is definitely something to be said for practicing concentration and having a mindset of finishing quality projects. I wish I had a keener eye for detail in this regard.

Cultivating discipline is something I often hear in the pages of the professionally successful. I'm loathed to admit that when I have been able to be firm with my petulant, reactionary brain and force it to do something it knows is good for it, I have noticed positive results. When I have managed to go for a regular run, walk to new places, or be more sociable. These are all things that help keep The Overthinking Machine at bay.

In the spirit of this shift in focus from doing a lot of things with low quality and erratic results I'm going to try and focus on getting just one good piece of work done per day. To have that thing be done to a decent standard, to not get distracted by something more attractive, and to have something finished at the end. doing five good pieces of work per week sounds like a very respectable rate. Its something to try at least.

I'm still really enjoying using Go for web projects at the moment. Its a very pleasant and productive language to use with good documentation. Its nice to make things, especially if they are very specific to you.

In the interests of getting something out I'm going to stop there.

Thats all for now.

Alex