Srini Rao – Word Inventions

Seize the moment…

girl-reaching

So it’s like this.

My friend from NY sent me a quick email telling me a classmate of ours from junior high had passed away…a year ago.

M was always a pretty happy-go-lucky guy and he was the same way as we went facemark-to-facemask in a junior college football game in 1972. And the same way as he served customers at his dad’s fish market and at the restaurant he started in the 80’s.

While I hadn’t seen him for decades, his passing hit me a little harder.

Maybe each succeeding loss of a contemporary does that now…but it was yet another reminder, a tug at my insides, with the familiar message…”What in God’s name are you waiting for? Get out there and make stuff!”

Yeah…it doesn’t have to be good—especially at first. It has to be done, so you have something to build on, a reference point.

And let’s all assume we’re not going to live forever, so it’s time to build some creative momentum.

It doesn’t have to be a leap. Even a step will do. But let’s aim together to be in a different place than we were the day before.

How to Never Miss a Day of Creative Work

Highlights:

“Take the minimal viable action of sitting down at your desk…”
“Reduce the scope, but stick to the schedule.”
“It’s better to lower your standards and actually follow through…”

no-yes

Writers Horoscope December 23: Emptying your head…revisited.

From a favored source of inspiration…

Another rejuvenating tip from Joel at Lifehack:

Do an info-dump so your head is clear enough to create instead of worry.

empty your head

I’ve referred to Julia Cameron’s ‘morning pages’ before, but they are well worth revisiting. Quote from Cameron: “There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages*–
they are not high art. They are not even ‘writing.'”

Srini Rao, in his Why I Write 1000 Words Every Day, advocates this approach as well.
Quote from Rao:
“By getting incoherent thoughts out of your head and onto a blank page, you make room for coherent thoughts and better ideas.”

***

Note: Joel at Lifehack also suggests singing in the shower. I held off on sharing that with you, but that was one serious In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida I recently belted out.

Writers Horoscope September 20: Revamp your start to the day.

gratisography sprinters stance start the day

More and more research is pointing out the drawbacks of diving into email, the Internet, and directionless apps first thing in the morning. You might consider leading off with any combination of reading, writing, a little mindfulness, and some exercise. [Okay, coffee fits in there somewhere.]

But don’t take my word for it.

Srini Rao homes in on the topic with this article in Medium.

Here also is a quote from his Why Only is Better Than Best: “Once you become aware of how you’re spending your time, you’ll be amazed at how much of it you actually have at your disposal to develop better habits.”

image courtesy of gratisography.com

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Dabble Hour [Giving in to attention deficit]

A while back, I explored the possibility of Dabble Hour, a 60-minute foray [well short of a leap] into projects that continue to interest me.

So here’s a quick rundown of today’s Dabble Hour…a list of a few of my sidetracks over the last couple of hours. [Yes, it’s true, I cannot seem to stop at 60 minutes and this session sank beneath projects that interested me.]

The irony of this post is I started my day by reading/tweeting about Srini Rao’s piece about his productivity strategies despite his attention deficit. Before I go on, my favorite takeaway from the article was this–Ask yourself:

“If the only thing I got done today was this, would I be satisfied?”

I could now interject with a ‘Ooh! Squirrel!’, but that’s soooo played. [See Dabble #1.]

Here goes…

Dabble #1: [I liked this one because it sent me into ScreenFlow to do some video editing.]

Dabble #2: Text chat with my friend over the end of the Giants-Dodgers game.

Dabble #3 : Signing up for digitaldeepak.com. Frankly, I was too distracted to take note that it offered what I’m only marginally interested in. {Yep, I think I do have a problem.}

Dabble #4 :Reading the email offer to join LOVE 101 about optimizing my relationship. [Okay, then, I guess I won’t be giving into every distraction thrown my way.]

Time out: back to the text chat…We’re now reveling in the solid performance from a S.F. Giants rookie. Okay, chat complete.

Dabble #5 :Okay, I’ve just been assured in an email that I can make a living from my writing. Cool. I’m impressed that these reassuring people continue to invite me to their webinars. I do have to say–these sessions do offer valuable content. [Pretty sure they would be less than impressed with my ‘Wandering-Wednesday-on-Tuesday’ approach to writing success, however. Then again, maybe they would pay me to be their ‘don’t be like this guy’ guy. Now that’s a distraction I can get behind.]

I did go ahead and sign up for The 3 Most Profitable Ways to Making a Living Writing Today. I know I’ll show up. But will I stay with it? Jeff Goins presents well, is down-to-earth, and offers solid content and guidance. So, yep. I’ll be there for the whole session.

Conclusion: Thank God my boss is understanding about this. He thinks it’s time for lunch. He’s even buying!

Rearranging your sock drawer. It’s actually therapeutic…

I subscribe to Srini Rao’s Unmistakable Media weekly emails.

Today’s topic:

How Making Micro Changes Can Help You Start a New Chapter of Your Life

My apologies to those who previously visited and got a bad link.

This one really resonated with me and I have a feeling may well do the same for some of you.

His main point: “We struggle to change our behavior because our environments are designed to be a constant reminder of who we once were, as opposed to who we want to be.”

clutter