A few days ago, I realised I worked better when I wrote down the tasks I wanted to get done that day in a notebook and ticking them off from there than directly referring to them in Omnifocus. This lead me to buy a softcover moleskine with which I fell in love with. At the same time, I happened to open an old notebook where I had written a few passages from a book I was reading then and towards the end, added my thoughts on those passages. I didn’t even remember I had done this. But, it was so good to see the author’s thought and mine side by side, that I wished I had written more. From there started a desire to add more notebooks to my workflow. This raised a problem, albeit a first world one. I just didn’t want my highlights, quotes I collect, thoughts I write in different places. I wanted one solution, preferably. I could not decide if my workflow should be digital or analogous. I was debating both the sides. I started making points.
Curating your Life
As a kid, I saw a movie where a family is brutally murdered before their child who helplessly watches the crime but is unable to do anything because of his age and limitations. The child, of course, then grows up to avenge his family’s murder, just like countless other movies that come out every year. But, the scene of the helpless child had a profound impact on me. Would I be able to save my family, if something happened to them? The answer was frustratingly ‘no’.
Succeeding at Resolutions
When it comes to new year resolutions, we all either want to start a new habit or get rid of an old one. Everyone loves the new year time. ‘Optimism’ is in the air. All of us look forward to ‘change’, sometimes even expecting/hoping things to change magically over night. We list down a few changes we want to bring about in our lives and start working on them, only to abandon most of them two months down the lane. Once optimism and euphoria of the new year subsides, reality sets in. We fall back into out rhythms, our comfort zones of how we do/handle things. New year resolutions, or for that matter any behavioural change requires great deal of patience and discipline on our part. Not, just limited to new year resolutions, I found the below two strategies help me in building new habits and letting go of old ones.
Enough to Say
One of the advices you get from ‘pro’ bloggers when you are about to start a new blog is to be on every social network conceivable and engage the crowds on those platforms. But, being on every platform is not just limited to bloggers. I personally know many folks who are on every social network I know, tweeting 4 to 6 times a day, posting pictures on Facebook & Instagram, pinning posts in Pinterest and god only knows what Google+ is now, but have presence there too. I have my personal account/blog page on Facebook, blog accounts on Twitter & Google+ and ’use Buffer to cross post. But, whenever I cross post, I feel guilty. Questions swarm my mind, Am I adding value? Am I spreading myself too thin? Am I repeating myself? Do I need to say this? Or am I doing this only to play to the gallery? Do I have enough, valuable, unique things to say/do in every social network? And, recently a funny thing happened. I joined Instagram. Why?
Regaining Focus
Over the last one month I did not accomplish anything, other than binge reading comics and clearing my Instapaper queue, I did not write, ’did not complete reading books, ’did not work on the many pending tasks Omnifocus so kindly reminds me everyday. Why? ’Cause with too many hobbies to concentrate on, too many projects to work on, too much politics to be aware of and too many responsibilities to handle, I turned numb from inaction.
What should I’ve done? Manage time or narrow down focus?