Daily Writing
not the end
As I've become aware of this space, I have followed, supported, and been enthralled by the Center for Humane Technology pioneering the discipline of ethical technology. Naturally, I was pumped about a docu-film on our Social (media) Dilemma directed and informed by CHT contributors, and produced by Netflix. I find the result problematic.
The Social Dilemma attacks our cultural and technological failures from within, pulling ammunition from former creators and exec's in Facebook, Google, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, etc...
Tristan Harris, whom I cannot praise enough for his work reforming Silicon Valley and educating Capitol Hill, leads the charge in calling out what companies do with our personal data, attention, money, and time. We need the CHT approaching the trespasses tech companies make in our lives, but The Social Dilemma goes a step farther.
I've described its tone as "doom and gloom", and "apocalyptic" also seems fitting.
I trust everything reported to be real, dangerous and in need of checks and balances, but the way this information is presented, I predict, generates one of two unhealthy outcomes: First, people shutdown. Attacking something that has been institutionalized as much as social media breeds friction. Natural defense mechanisms arise within us when actions we have contributed to directly are villainized. Look at the current polarization of racial injustice conversations.
Second, it runs the risk of becoming merely a hashtag to hound an institution that bandwagoners have been looking for reason to take shots at for years. I'm not saying hipsters are bad for veritable movement's momentum, but the phasal and 'fizzle out' nature of their support wanes when needing wax.
Maybe this is the only way to approach this subject in our time, and in that, The Social Dilemma gets it right.
Ultimately, I believe the CHT plans to release a second campaign focusing on holistic and redemptive technology, and how we can use tech to grow closer to each other and more aware. I also believe a coalition of so many of these ethically-centric technology companies needs to be created to bring resources to a unified location. With these two things, I can understand and still support the grim scenario The Social Dilemma portrays, and we can all remember that this is not the end of technology's progress in our world.
read // stripped
read // stg 3
read // the cure
the part we create from...
Where does creativity lie?
Historically, creatives have been heralded 1%'ers who terraform our world into something new. Their skills in accessing innovation and out-of-the-box thinking are reportedly unparalleled. Gifted as "outliers", they display the capacity for reaching deeper within themselves to dredge up a masterpiece of originality.
We all know and have heard that this skill is not exclusive. We can all be creatives. From the Zanders in their passionately crafted work, The Art of Possibility:
Suppose for a moment that vital, expressive energy flows everywhere, that is the medium for the existence of life, and that any block to participating in that vitality lies within ourselves.
But there's too much congestion from our jobs, our life, our stress and trauma. We imagine this mars us from ever leading the truly creative life. We see the scars and know we can never be whole, this side of Eden.
But scars are external. They are not the thing we are loved for, not the thing we draw purpose from, not the thing we create from. As Pressfield writes, "The part we create from can't be touched by anything our parents did, or society did (or we did!!). That part is unsullied, uncorrupted." Creativity lies here, beyond our failure and doubt, in a place only the God of the universe knows fully.
So, we can learn this. We can sit in our mess till we find who we really are, deep down. That's where creativity lays its head every night, awaiting our awakening.
previous read // true voice
the 'no' practice
Saying no gets a bad rep. So pick a day, and say no to everything but one effort.
Believe it or not, you can get bad reactions to this idea. The reasoning can sound selfish when said. This implication creates need for apt presentation and justification of your drive.
What meaningful work is life distracting you from? What could you do to create space for that work? Given the space for it, would that meaningful work replace work that distracts from it and matters less?
These were the questions running through my head when I decided to say 'no' every Tuesday and devote the whole day to writing- a passion I wanted to follow unhindered. The things I say 'no' to include, email, meetings, entertainment and other work- writing is my work on Tuesday.
Saying no does not mean I "Tom Sawyer" my work. Saying no means I intentionally plan to say no.
As a student, I am blessed to be able to craft a schedule with one work day devoted to non-obligatory work. I relegate homework to other days as the worthwhile tradeoff for unhindered Tuesday focus.
Ultimately, I want writing to be my career (a fact I'm realizing more and more as I commit to the 'no' practice). This practice enables me to pursue the practice in my life that I want to the most. It could do the same for you...
read // skyscrapers
but, so, i mean, as far as...
We've all been there. Forming sentences is hard. Particularly the start.
It's a struggle for me now and I have the benefit of deep thought, first drafts and revisions. When I overheard this (^title^) attempt from a table to my back, I felt it an appropriate start to examine patience in speech.
Talking is like computing. We, with our hardrives of knowledge, experience and memory, take time to spit out the things we want to say. We have to attempt many combinations of colloquial language codes (sometimes clichés) to get across the right feeling, direction or thought.
We can cmd-alt-dlt 100% of the like, anyway and um's that enter our speech by taking a minute, and finding our footing before jumping into expression.
People are far more impressed by exact speech than rushed stumbling.
Take time. Be precise.
stg 3...
The third stage of cultural evolution came in 1974 when Bill Gates began work on the world's first computer.
The Information Age began, and the digital world was born.
Fast-forward 40 years. One-twelfth of a year's waking and sleeping time is spent browsing. Social media, our fast-food information stop, has now become a larger advertising channel than print.
You would think we would bore ourselves to death with this level of consumption rampant, but instead, online courses and education have become a leading method of learning. "Instant Activism" through online campaigns allow us to research an organization, join their movement, and give our time or money to make a change.
Moore's Law says that computing dramatically increases in power, and decreases in relative cost, at an exponential pace. In 40 years we won't be spending two-twelfths online. Try six-twelfths. Half.
Is that really where we're headed?
Cultural evolution no. 1, drawing, bled into digital form with visual effects, while eloquent no. 2, writing, was aided in reproducibility by word processors. Is "stage 3" the paragon that conforms all others to itself? If we're seeing the height of cultural revolutions that all future ones learn from, we need to be cautious of its control. "...Great responsibility", the old man said...
This shift necessitates organizations like The Center for Human Technology who are pushing Silicon Valley to reintroduce ethics into their software design.
If we are headed for a future where innovation is propelled by those who have the resources to adapt to a digital world, education and moderation are vital. Technology and social media come without "Drug Facts" labels despite having deeper addictive and detrimental effects than most drugs (The CHT created a "Ledger" of sociological effects for public awareness).
It's revealing to discover that we no longer choose companies like Apple or Google to be "crucial" to our lives. They choose us. Or, more accurately, they choose our culture.
For better and worse, we are inundated in an "ecosystem" (a term actually used by technologists to refer to the phones, wearables, and other tech that a company employs to create an echo chamber of self-affirmation for their brand), and our maneuverability out of this system is dependent on our awareness of its existence.
We can play into a system profiting off attention or we can take steps to craft an intentional life.
My core thought is this: can we choose more of the things we bring into our lives instead of having them chosen for us?
The Center for Humane Technology
previous read // lpII review
read // stripped
throw it away
The first hour's work of writing done, I throw away.
I don't mean editing or reworking words results in the "throwing away" of my original work. Nor do I mean the pages (as first drafts are always done on paper at my desk, a practice from writer Sarah Wilson) are merely discarded for future references or citations. I literally throw first drafts of multiple thoughts into the trash, never to be used again.
My reasoning is threefold: First, I need the liberty to make huge literary blunders. When aware of the limited destination of work (the trash), limitless potential activates. Novel ideas and approaches can spur from this practice that allows for mistakes because of relieved social pressure.
Next, failure is a muscle often forgotten. A fledgling writer prepares for the eventual publishing process by a practice of discarding a thousand words or an hour of work each week to build an aegis of endurance for trial.
Finally, this reinforces why I write- to develop and share avant-garde insight.
Avant-garde (adj/n); people or works that are experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society. It is frequently characterized by aesthetic innovation and initial unacceptability.
"...initial unacceptability."
Adam Grant culminated research in his non-fiction work, Originals, on "how non-conformists move the world" and act within it to create massive change and success for their organizations. His thesis within the book is that "the hallmark of originality is rejecting the default and exploring whether a better option exists."
"Originality is an act of creative destruction"
Economist Joseph Schumpeter.
Adam Grant actually threw away 103,000 words (near 90%) of his first book, Give and Take. Most wouldn't write the book anymore. Grant did. A true 'Original', Grant knew he had an idea within his 103,000 words of garbage that could become another book's gold.
The saying is backwards. The two steps back are what propel us three steps forward. Don't forget to take those steps in your work.
Adam Grant, Originals.
James Clear
the minutia of a life make it whole. the little things we do complete the big things. the biblical book of Acts describes a vocation, saying, "The believers had a single purpose and went to the temple every day (2:46)."
2018 revealed to me a niche within Lifestyle and Business learning: Productivity and Habit Change. As a keystone (albeit unconscious- we'll get to that) part of my life, it is inevitable we dig in. James Clear's, Atomic Habits, and Charles Duhigg's, The Power of Habits have brought change within reach by simplifying tenets and methods. Here, we examine Clear...
start small and build
Two principles-
- The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
- Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement.
The journey is long, the skyscraper tall. We can try to take a giant bite, but the elephant won't be eaten unless you take it one bite at a time.
Habits are the tool to parse change. The thesis of Clear's book is this: "Changes that seem small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if you're willing to stick to them for years."
This is the basis of Malcolm Gladwell's, 10k hour rule (the minimum quota to become an expert in something) and a key factor in creating change.
prep your environment
One of the easiest steps in habit change and pursuing a life you really want, altering the space you occupy can be a massive change that rewires your neural pathways (the roadways of our brain that become ingrained with patterns- called habits- that we follow routinely and effortlessly).
Moving your phone charger away from your nightstand (or, dare I say it, out of your room) and leaving a book in its stead can begin a reading habit.
Clear talks about how environment is the "invisible hand that shapes human behavior." He writes, "the most common form of change is not internal, but external: we are changed by the world around us."
2-day rule
Jerry Seinfeld notoriously popularized the practice of marking each day on a calendar with an 'X' to track, and continue, a writing practice. This is an internally motivating way of forcing a habit, and one that works for certain people.
For those habits (or people) that require flexibility, Minimalist filmmaker, Matt D'Avella, simply created a rule of habit that allows a break, misstep, or cheat-day in your rhythms. Requiring that you never miss 2 days in a row creates a sense of urgency and activity for your habit after missing a day. This can be paired with negative reinforcement when missing consecutive days and can lead to great success for those calendar-minded many!
change your mindset
While Clear's following statement is true, another precept stands: "The ultimate form of intrinsic motivation is when a habit becomes part of your identity." Clear refers to outcome-based habits and identity-based habits.
Focusing on what you want to achieve (outcome) will lead to "behavior that is incongruent with the self", while finding who you want to become (identity) will make change that is intrinsic and permanent.
A last note about the indomitably optimistic: we can never discount the power of positive thought in behavioral or organizational change. Expect to fail, and failure comes knocking. See change, and you can create a tidal wave.
James Clear, Atomic Habits.
Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit.
\\pt. 2//...
building skyscrapers
This is not an original or breathtaking idea, but an inspiring one. One I hold close.
Look in the city sky. A tree of man's creation sprouts. Grown from rubble and the din of an emerging city to the height of a snow-capped mountain. Its design is intricate, lacing numerous materials, laws of physics, and sweat equity. Its purpose, to some, is awe. It is a monolith to the prosperity of a nation- a testament to its bravery. Filling a city, it is a finger on a dozen-digit hand that holds safe the hope of millions.
We all have a skyscraper to build. A small seed in our hearts at a young age that is either nurtured or extinguished. You recognize this dream by your fear of failing it. Or you don't know it and need a return to the grassy hills of wonder-years. Fear and blindness prevent us from manifesting our greatest ideas. We are coddled and bullied by our own psyche to stop the Work.
But building a skyscraper is a war. It's constant struggling against the forces of nature. As gravity and winds threaten structural integrity, so self-doubt topples creation.
In the middle of the stormy wind, hold onto this:
The world needs your skyscraper
If you build it, they will come...
restart
Stop thinking of words like 'restart' negatively.
Many of us reach troughs or setbacks with the complete opposite mindset to what those who succeed have. Our culture has reinforced this shame in things like moving back in with your parents to save on rent or making a lateral career move to a company more aligned with your values.
Shame isn't spent only in the big things. Failure in workout regiments, relationships, or spiritual disciplines tend to spiral us to compoundingly negative paradigms.
Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves back up.
Alfred (Batman Begins)
Foster a paradigm that is resiliently compounding positives.
If we see every fall as a chance to rise stronger and smarter, we grow a rare mindset that is self-affirming and independent (two proven qualities that lead to great success in business and in life). Every tech mogul in Silicon Valley circa 1985 working twenty years later had this mindset to carry them through adversity.
Steve Jobs was abruptly thrust into the spotlight, battered out of the company he built, and brought back as a herald of a new revolution. In the 90's, the public saw that, "Jobs does nothing in half measures and so seems to reap his rewards in abject failure and stunning successes."
"Stunning successes" merit "abject failure" at times, and when we don't enter "overcome mode" we can be torn apart, ripped, broken, and chewed up by our own thinking.
Life is hard. Trials come; failure happens.
It's always our response that dictates what happens next.
true voice
How can we be certain that our voice is our own? Not the frequency we speak at or the timbre of our voice, but the way we craft sentences and use language.
As a writer, I have clear evidence of my most recent readings affecting my prose. It's barely conscious in the moment. It doesn't make for terrible writing. But it's not my true voice.
Some spiritual and meditative gurus talk of finding our "true selves" through practices of self-reflection. One of the things that interferes with this discovery is the consumption of inputs created by anyone other than ourselves.
Without a true voice, we are more likely to be swayed by popular action or character. We find it easier to sound like the crowd and shape ourselves to what they say. A writer without his voice becomes a parrot of other works, endlessly regurgitating the same style, words or symmetries
"Eschew all diversion." Seems a bit extreme- necessary at times maybe- but not long-term. This route suggests "dopamine fasts" to cut all connections to stimulating distractions, hence restoring our focus, clarity and ability to sit with ourselves.
The answer to finding our "true voice" lies in our passions. The things we love are the things we cannot be dishonest about. Find that and you've found your voice.
The Overstory
The Pulitzer prize-winning novel by Richard Powers has been described as "a fable". Fable means truth. From the Latin, "that which is told", and Webster, "a narrative intended to enforce a useful truth."
A useful truth says we need to stop. Stop and consider. Stop and consider and protect.
Powers intertwines the lives of eight human's in his narrative, telling their stories over a span of decades of connecting branches. This alone would be a triumph endowed, but in this homo sapien overstory there are swelling roots and towering trunks of a tale of arborescence supporting humanity's grasp at life.
A literary sentinel stands to secure circulation of a message that has dire need of delivery and, more importantly, action. The reason for Powers' message:
The world had 6 trillion trees, when people showed up. Half remain. Half again will disappear, in a hundred years.
The effects of the maltreatment of our planet do not have distant ramifications. We see collapse in our ecosystems now in Puerto Rico, California, the Arctics. You can't be enraged for these crimes without seeing the damage and understanding the root sin in man's actions.
Still.
The Overstory plants a seed that goes;
a seed that knows.
One that can bring us home,
and restore this world's broken bone's.
weekly keystone
Habit is a long-term game. We can be habitual till the weekend, maybe make it past that, but eventually, we forget why our habit exists in the first place.
In order to play a long-term game, we need long-term practices. Every week is a new chance to fail and forget or to act and progress.
Michael Hyatt has greatly popularized (among many other things) the idea of The Ideal Week, a weekly system to plan a perfect week physically, socially, vocationally, and recreationally.
Seeing the big picture can push you to live out your intentions for a week:
- Remind yourself of quarterly goals and project's progress.
- Reread an inspirational piece that has galvanized action in the past.
- Budget your time and money each week in accordance with your core values.
You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.
James Clear, Atomic Habits
I've begun rereading Steven Pressfield's, The War of Art, at the beginning of each week in sections to remember the reason why I have taken on some of the challenges in my life. Reflection can incite advancement in ways that keeping our heads down on the grind never can.
daily keystone
We have to walk before we can run.
I once had an English professor who began every class forcing a paper and pen into our hands with a prompt and orders not to let the pen leave the paper. For 10 to 15 minutes, 3 days a week, with our coach hovering past tables with encouragement and admonishment, we wrote 500-800 words.
He believed if you can do a thing, everyday, consistently well, at the start of your day, you can do any other thing.
This is the guiding principle behind keystone habits.
I've decided to write everyday (Monday-Friday) for the foreseeable future to prove to myself that I have this muscle and can sustain the practice for a long period. My eventual hope is to have a body of work that I can enjoy, gain insights from, and develop a compelling narrative around.
Small steps are how mountains are climbed. Incremental revision is how change is made. Daily habits are how lifestyles are built.
Find the mountain you want to climb, encourage the change you want made. Then build.
bandwidth
What can I do as a college student?
Short answer: anything.
The current generation of college students (namely Millennials wrapping up graduate programs and Gen Z'ers entering them) is one that desires purpose and fulfillment from what they do. Career assessments, personality tests, the Enneagram- The resurgence of meditation and mindfulness as disciplines in our culture scream of a craving for inner quiet and deeper connections. A generation of "trend-breakers" seeks to level the playing field for all and support their communities and the world at large in big ways.
Good news for them- they are currently in the easiest position they will ever be in to make changes like this. With a third of parents saying they will pay for their children to attend college and two thirds receiving scholarships or grants to aid the cost, college becomes a place with overhead covered and finances beginning to be freed.
Most college students will joke about being broke, but this can actually lead to flexibility beyond belief.
I have friends who are creating businesses, buying out storefronts, freelancing, or, like me, writing everyday. They choose to do these things because they are driven to do purposeful work and they have bandwidth.
What can you do?
time to stop
Class 8:00-9:45. Email respondents 9:55-10:30. Haircut 11:00-12:00. Lunch with Riley 12:15-12:59. Arrive at work 1:00-...
"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana." -Groucho Marx
Do we lose a surplus of this valuable resource by tracking it so religiously?
In 1972, a game-changing piece of technology came into play that shifted the paradigm. Hamilton Watch Company presented the first iteration of Pulsar digital watches to a market that had worn only traditional (analog) clock faces. Before digital, we operated on a "flexible" system that incorporated time measurements like half-past five or quarter-to four rounding minutia. More laid-back business and social expectations characterized a western culture that was not yet defined by attitudes of the hustle, burn-out or "the rat race".
A speaker I once heard challenged his audience to hold their phones, set their timers to one minute, and close their eyes when they started the timer. He asked us to try and preempt the timer going off by the lowest possible amount- using our internal clocks to get as close to 59.99 seconds as we could.
Nearly every person had undershot the minute by 15-25 seconds, believing a minute to be 20-35% shorter than it actually is.
When we track time, we lose it. When we live life, we gain it.
First, We Make the Beast Beautiful
I think we can all use a little of this right now.
I recently read Sarah Wilson's enlightening book covering "a new journey through anxiety." Her premise, aside from giving us a look into an anxiety-brimming mind and life, is based on an old Chinese proverb:
Before you can conquer a beast, you first must make it beautiful.
While practical treatment with medicine and professional treatment should always be considered first in cases of anxiety, depression and bipolar* (a place to call for those working through these struggles is here at government mental health departments), deep introspection and mindset shifts are what Wilson ultimately introduces to fight her battles.
*I retooled her premise with the perspective of mindsets and paradigms that I believe about myself. This is the direction I lead my writing...
What are the things we repeat to ourselves daily- The job market is too competitive to get hired, my work doesn't compare to what they're doing, I couldn't mean enough to them.
What is the thing (emotion, belief, trauma) that "mantra" is rooted in? Fear of failure, self-loathing, self-defeating woe.
This is where Wilson steps in and says, "Yes, I've got these conditions (mindsets)... But they are also my superpowers." She writes about the joy she gets writing letters to her brain, asking it questions about why it does what it does and why it thinks it can control so many of her actions. She befriends the "beast" and walks with it, not against it, to live a more healthy, less panicky life.
There is a meta-purpose to the battles we fight everyday against our minds's pernicious games. We can conquer the beast and, behind its lies, find beauty. Make that a mantra.
Sarah Wilson, First We Make the Beast Beautiful.
more webbing
The Marvel Cinematic Universe, Lost, those cork-board, crime-solving, mind maps. Some people are obsessed with making everything fit together in a seamlessly holistic universe of multiplicative connections.
I am one of those people.
As long as I have thought about writing on a consistent basis, the idea of writing to create a spider's web of interconnected thoughts and projects has been central to my planning and drive (CliftonStrengths assessment terms this proclivity, Ideation).
Spiders create a framework for their circular webbed pattern to be laid upon in the same way that builders construct scaffolding to shadow a house being built before any walls go up.
Initially, I wrote long-form, research posts that covered, in-depth, topics to my scheming. With new inspiration (see, a body of work), I have planted the seed of shorter writings that take only a day to fruit.
Using both approaches, I will build a trellis of ideas that can spread and take root.
I want to create something that lasts; something that is a foundation for growth to occur; something that unfurls for a lifetime and reaches parts unknown.
writer's manifesto
Pulitzer Prize winning author, Junot Díaz, once spoke of "becoming the person you need to become to write" the book you want to write. A step further:
Become the book you want to write.
Writing keeps us honest in a way that speaking or other forms of expression can't replicate. We examine our lives with ink-sized scrutiny. We reveal what we know and don't know about a subject. We show how well we can draw truth from a thing.
... but only if we let it.
Writing can be the tool we use to make personal, societal, global change. We all have something to give to the world, but are we honest enough, committed enough, loving enough to draw it out of ourselves?
"Writing is the supreme way of blotting out your ignorance on a subject... It's a confessional; it will reveal everything about you while you imagine you are revealing someone else." Bertoldo di Giovani, Florentine Artist
not writer's block
Today, I wanted to write about Disc Golf and The Phantom of the Opera. What I didn't realize (until thirty minutes in) was how different these two things were.
You heard me- "different". Shocker, right?
Yes, I, and potentially thousands of other poor souls like myself, suffer from something I call "acute extrapolatory ideation".
On occasion, I feel obligated, sometimes even empowered, to create the most tenuous links between things that I see in order to drive home a real truth.
Disc Golf and opera, killer whales and meditation, Space Jam and the top-hat, monocole-wearing peanut man (actually, that one works). The problem is, at times, the inexplicable connections created cloud that truth.
This is the antithesis of writer's block.
The solution (for those of you curious for your own sake):
Draw out your stipulations to the farthest possible point. 1 in 32 times, you strike tungsten (valued at one, one-thousandth of gold- I can't promise gold here! Who do you think I am? Seth Godin?). If your link between Lu Lu Lemon's marketing strategy and a biblical truth really is flimsier than a crowbar at 2800° F, then that's one less "rabbit trail" to hop down.
Or maybe, like me you'll find a story beneath your story that contains more truth for yourself than for your reader.
no fail readings
In No Fail Meetings, Michael Hyatt writes that, "a good meeting should impact your calendar at least three times":
- Before: preparation (for the meeting)
- During: the meeting itself
- After: the followup meeting
Substitute meeting for reading.
To approach a book without knowing the author and work you are to spend copious amounts of time with is not only foolish, but inefficient. In meetings, we know our client's work history, preferences, and intentions to a degree.
Substitute client for author.
During a meeting, we take notes, ask questions we prepared, and ponder future implications of the discussion.
After a meeting, we review highlights and action items, see if we need to return to what was discussed, and determine what, if any, change is needed.
***Note: After reading some incredible, medieval sci-fi in Pierce Brown's Red Rising saga, I would recommend to no one that they prepare themselves in any way but emotionally for this kind of reading. This does not apply to most fiction.***
I would proffer that the due diligence we put into meetings is also applicable to the time we invest into books. Authors spend years preparing their work to have something to say to us- why shouldn't we listen closely?