I realize we're dancing around the same topic, kind of complementary?
Loved this advice, it's freeing, and so on-point. Giving yourself permission to live, and then that informing your creations is very wise (and kind of a meta-loop that you found it while being distracted / living). The moment I removed guilt from reading while sipping coffee at 10am on a weekday just because I could, and wanted to, I became instantly happier, and hadn't noticed that it in turn informed what I created.
That's the first step. And, have you developed any strategies to know when there's *too much* dancing with distractions or just playing it by ear?
(I also realize you might be in your "D" period, since all the words in both titles of your essays start with a D)
Reading while sipping coffee in the morning should never make one feel guilty, but I have totally been there too. Removing guilt from so many things can be difficult! So necessary, though. I wonder what it took to allow yourself to do that?
That's a great question. I think, like with everything, I'm still learning. But I also think we know deep down when we're screwing around too much and it's taking away from what we want.
D period 😂 That's hilarious. I was definitely having a D moment!
You're right, it's something you feel deep down and have to be able to listen to it. My answer to your question would be something along the same lines: when I confronted the guilt, why I was feeling, and realizing it was both self and, indirectly, society imposed, was when I was able to let the guilt go away. In the end it was something I knew all along, just had to really listen and act on it.
I agree with all of this, and so feel the need of dilly-dallying and just being a person, exploring, living richly. But at the same time to try and make a living as an entrepreneur seems to require a tremendous amount of focus, productivity, and direction. I wonder if I am making this up, and if I'm just making entrepreneurial life hard when it could be easier. So in the meantime I flip-flop back and forth between bearing down on focused work and opening my attention to the passing whimsies of life. I like both modes for different reasons, but sometimes its hard to know which one to "focus" on.
"I wonder if I am making this up, and if I'm just making entrepreneurial life hard when it could be easier."
Goodness, I feel that way about a lot of things, Rick. That cuts deep.
I also feel like there's some truth in what you said. I mean, it DOES take tremendous amounts of head-down focus, and also, we probably do have more ease available to us, as an option, than maybe we can see.
Flip-flopping between modes is the best I can do right now. Let me know if you ever figure out a better approach 😅
Hey Sandra, this happened to hit me on a good day. I find myself in flow today, riding the wave of things feeling effortless and easy, and reflecting on how things get that way when I start trusting what I most care about and just keep speaking to it and sharing it. Things get hard when I keep doubting that inner compass based on external results. There is a lot of room actually to dilly-dally, play and have fun, and still be generally focused on an aim or intention for service. But in an hour I could be back underwater, wondering where the fun and flow went. Making a go of being a self-employed communicator and creator is not for the faint of hear I tell ya!
First, I love your title. Second, I love your observation here that distractions are necessary for creative work. I’m resonating with how you dilly and dally and you’ve inspired me to rethink distractions in the creative process. And finally, I just love this whole essay.
“In our hyper-distracted world, I think it only gets harder and harder to see what’s worth tending to…We’re drowning in the advice and noise of the loudest voices who don’t actually know what we need.” This is soo true. I feel like so many people turn to productivity hacks to work more and work through blocks. But working more doesn’t help, it sometimes makes the whole process worse and over time one can grow to resent that creative process.
“Clearly, we live in a time where what’s most important is most easily neglected and forgotten. Friends. Family. Fun. Health.” Thank you for promoting a reflection. I need to fill my soul up with all these things you mention so I can create more colorful work. And since I prioritized all these things in my sabbatical, I find that my creative work has just gotten so much more enjoyable, and I’ve been able to create much more meaningful work!
I like what you brought up about productivity hacks and working harder on the thing to get through blocks--I agree. I think adding more friction when there's already enough of it is probably often a lethal move, blocks or no blocks. Channeling that energy to something else, whatever it is, whether that's play or another creative thing, generally helps, at least for me.
I think there's an element of identity to this, too, which I didn't bring up. But, we have to remember the other parts of our identity that make us who we are. I think in forgetting we have more than one, we lose ourselves completely, and deprive ourselves of enjoyment and fulfillment.
I've always found that my best writing (according to me alone ha) is rooted in the details of my ordinary life. I'm trying to take a more "contemplative" approach to it--to life and writing generally--which seems to require that you take the time to linger on the "distractions." This can be hard to do in our modern, frantically-paced digital environment; there's certainly a feeling of FOMO when you decide to trot in the slow lane. But take the invitation seriously and you might find something that you didn't see before, maybe even a different way of living and being. I'm taking inspiration from Annie Dilliard's "Living Like Weasels."
I'm 100% with you on this. Also, the FOMO is so real. From what I've read, your approach is working out just fine! lol
This!!!:
"The weasel lives in necessity and we live in choice, hating necessity and dying at the last ignobly in its talons. I would like to live as I should, as the weasel lives as he should. And I suspect that for me the way is like the weasel's: open to time and death painlessly, noticing everything, remembering nothing, choosing the given with a fierce and pointed will."
I do feel that writing from the ordinary life can often lead to some of the most honest, poignant, and resonate writing. The ordinary life is the life most lived. It's worth honoring.
I love the concept of distractions that intensify. But you are right its hard to know what to tend to.
For me personally, I find low-bar monthly cadence discipline works better than other types. For example, I have a goal to get at least 200K steps every month. Its a super low goal and I have been crushing it every month. On the work side, I started the year with a 100 billable hr / month goal (very low in past years I crushed that easily). This year, I've found myself underperforming I am close to 80-90 / month, but a lot of other time spent on creative things, some work related, others just for creativity sake. So I've now iterated to at least 100 high quality work hours rather billable hours.
I think every one is different. Its worth spending the time so each of us can calibrate discipline with our natural rhythms.
"I think every one is different. Its worth spending the time so each of us can calibrate discipline with our natural rhythms."
This is how I feel too. I like what you said about a low-bar monthly cadence discipline. I look at my natural rhythms in a very seasonal way. But I think what constitutes a season also changes for me. I do feel like it's a process of constant calibrating and recalibrating.
And I love that pivot from billable hours to high quality work hours. It sounds like you're finding a way to make things work for you. I don't know if you struggle with feeling guilty or "bad" when underperforming, but how do you feel switching that approach has helped you psychologically, if at all?
Thank you Sandra for this amazing piece! It's like you have given me the permission to cut myself some slack. I often feel unproductive and lazy everytime I'm doing something other than 'sharpening my skills' or studying. It takes a toll on me as I tend to feel less of myself.
And it is true that we find inspiration for our craft in other activities...
I realize we're dancing around the same topic, kind of complementary?
Loved this advice, it's freeing, and so on-point. Giving yourself permission to live, and then that informing your creations is very wise (and kind of a meta-loop that you found it while being distracted / living). The moment I removed guilt from reading while sipping coffee at 10am on a weekday just because I could, and wanted to, I became instantly happier, and hadn't noticed that it in turn informed what I created.
That's the first step. And, have you developed any strategies to know when there's *too much* dancing with distractions or just playing it by ear?
(I also realize you might be in your "D" period, since all the words in both titles of your essays start with a D)
Reading while sipping coffee in the morning should never make one feel guilty, but I have totally been there too. Removing guilt from so many things can be difficult! So necessary, though. I wonder what it took to allow yourself to do that?
That's a great question. I think, like with everything, I'm still learning. But I also think we know deep down when we're screwing around too much and it's taking away from what we want.
D period 😂 That's hilarious. I was definitely having a D moment!
You're right, it's something you feel deep down and have to be able to listen to it. My answer to your question would be something along the same lines: when I confronted the guilt, why I was feeling, and realizing it was both self and, indirectly, society imposed, was when I was able to let the guilt go away. In the end it was something I knew all along, just had to really listen and act on it.
And long live the D period!
I agree with all of this, and so feel the need of dilly-dallying and just being a person, exploring, living richly. But at the same time to try and make a living as an entrepreneur seems to require a tremendous amount of focus, productivity, and direction. I wonder if I am making this up, and if I'm just making entrepreneurial life hard when it could be easier. So in the meantime I flip-flop back and forth between bearing down on focused work and opening my attention to the passing whimsies of life. I like both modes for different reasons, but sometimes its hard to know which one to "focus" on.
"I wonder if I am making this up, and if I'm just making entrepreneurial life hard when it could be easier."
Goodness, I feel that way about a lot of things, Rick. That cuts deep.
I also feel like there's some truth in what you said. I mean, it DOES take tremendous amounts of head-down focus, and also, we probably do have more ease available to us, as an option, than maybe we can see.
Flip-flopping between modes is the best I can do right now. Let me know if you ever figure out a better approach 😅
Hey Sandra, this happened to hit me on a good day. I find myself in flow today, riding the wave of things feeling effortless and easy, and reflecting on how things get that way when I start trusting what I most care about and just keep speaking to it and sharing it. Things get hard when I keep doubting that inner compass based on external results. There is a lot of room actually to dilly-dally, play and have fun, and still be generally focused on an aim or intention for service. But in an hour I could be back underwater, wondering where the fun and flow went. Making a go of being a self-employed communicator and creator is not for the faint of hear I tell ya!
So happy for your flow!! Go Rick!
I think you bring up a really good point about the EXTERNAL aspect. That's a slippery slope.
I really appreciate you sharing this up and down experience you face, especially as someone trying to figure out a similar path.
Rooting for you!
Mutual cheerleadering goin on
First, I love your title. Second, I love your observation here that distractions are necessary for creative work. I’m resonating with how you dilly and dally and you’ve inspired me to rethink distractions in the creative process. And finally, I just love this whole essay.
“In our hyper-distracted world, I think it only gets harder and harder to see what’s worth tending to…We’re drowning in the advice and noise of the loudest voices who don’t actually know what we need.” This is soo true. I feel like so many people turn to productivity hacks to work more and work through blocks. But working more doesn’t help, it sometimes makes the whole process worse and over time one can grow to resent that creative process.
“Clearly, we live in a time where what’s most important is most easily neglected and forgotten. Friends. Family. Fun. Health.” Thank you for promoting a reflection. I need to fill my soul up with all these things you mention so I can create more colorful work. And since I prioritized all these things in my sabbatical, I find that my creative work has just gotten so much more enjoyable, and I’ve been able to create much more meaningful work!
BTW where can I find these Van Gogh letters?
I like what you brought up about productivity hacks and working harder on the thing to get through blocks--I agree. I think adding more friction when there's already enough of it is probably often a lethal move, blocks or no blocks. Channeling that energy to something else, whatever it is, whether that's play or another creative thing, generally helps, at least for me.
I think there's an element of identity to this, too, which I didn't bring up. But, we have to remember the other parts of our identity that make us who we are. I think in forgetting we have more than one, we lose ourselves completely, and deprive ourselves of enjoyment and fulfillment.
There's a book! Or literally anywhere online. https://vangoghletters.org/vg/
What a great reason to subscribe to your newsletter 🤣
lol Chao, are you saying Sunday Candy is a DISTRACTION? 🫠
Only so I can intensify my own health, strength and life a little 🤣
I've always found that my best writing (according to me alone ha) is rooted in the details of my ordinary life. I'm trying to take a more "contemplative" approach to it--to life and writing generally--which seems to require that you take the time to linger on the "distractions." This can be hard to do in our modern, frantically-paced digital environment; there's certainly a feeling of FOMO when you decide to trot in the slow lane. But take the invitation seriously and you might find something that you didn't see before, maybe even a different way of living and being. I'm taking inspiration from Annie Dilliard's "Living Like Weasels."
https://public.wsu.edu/~hughesc/dillard_weasel.htm
I'm 100% with you on this. Also, the FOMO is so real. From what I've read, your approach is working out just fine! lol
This!!!:
"The weasel lives in necessity and we live in choice, hating necessity and dying at the last ignobly in its talons. I would like to live as I should, as the weasel lives as he should. And I suspect that for me the way is like the weasel's: open to time and death painlessly, noticing everything, remembering nothing, choosing the given with a fierce and pointed will."
I do feel that writing from the ordinary life can often lead to some of the most honest, poignant, and resonate writing. The ordinary life is the life most lived. It's worth honoring.
This is awesome. What a gem that letter!
I love the concept of distractions that intensify. But you are right its hard to know what to tend to.
For me personally, I find low-bar monthly cadence discipline works better than other types. For example, I have a goal to get at least 200K steps every month. Its a super low goal and I have been crushing it every month. On the work side, I started the year with a 100 billable hr / month goal (very low in past years I crushed that easily). This year, I've found myself underperforming I am close to 80-90 / month, but a lot of other time spent on creative things, some work related, others just for creativity sake. So I've now iterated to at least 100 high quality work hours rather billable hours.
I think every one is different. Its worth spending the time so each of us can calibrate discipline with our natural rhythms.
"I think every one is different. Its worth spending the time so each of us can calibrate discipline with our natural rhythms."
This is how I feel too. I like what you said about a low-bar monthly cadence discipline. I look at my natural rhythms in a very seasonal way. But I think what constitutes a season also changes for me. I do feel like it's a process of constant calibrating and recalibrating.
And I love that pivot from billable hours to high quality work hours. It sounds like you're finding a way to make things work for you. I don't know if you struggle with feeling guilty or "bad" when underperforming, but how do you feel switching that approach has helped you psychologically, if at all?
Also, congrats on crushing your 200k steps!!
Thank you Sandra for this amazing piece! It's like you have given me the permission to cut myself some slack. I often feel unproductive and lazy everytime I'm doing something other than 'sharpening my skills' or studying. It takes a toll on me as I tend to feel less of myself.
And it is true that we find inspiration for our craft in other activities...
Cheers to being a living person
Jesugbemi!! You definitely don't need anyone's permission for that.
I hope you do cut yourself some slack!
"It takes a toll on me as I tend to feel less of myself." That's such good self-awareness.
Having self-compassion in those moments where that's recognized is so hard.
Cheers back at ya!! And thank you for reading and letting me know what resonated :)