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