Notes: Your Blog is a Barometer

Thom Chambers writes about using your publishing platform to detect when your personal growth is stalling:

Your blog is something of a barometer. If you're overflowing with ideas, news, and observations, then the chances are good that you're doing interesting things beyond that blog. You're learning, you're doing exciting work, you're on an adventure.

Whenever you get stuck for a blog post, then, take it as a sign of a bigger malaise.

If you can't find anything interesting to say about what you’re doing, maybe it's because you need to do more interesting stuff.

Another way to get stuck is by fear. You could also think of fear of failure as a barometer for success. Sometimes we just need to get over ourselves and recognize that failure really isn't so bad. Let go of fear and just be.

I think it's also important to note on the flip side that if you can't find anything interesting to say, that's not always a bad thing. Sometimes it's okay to say less.

Notes: Thought is born of frustration

I recently reviewed my task management process and in doing so I read an ebook by Kourosh Dini called Creating Flow with OmniFocus (OmniFocus is the name of the task management program that I've been using for a few years now; if you use a Mac, I highly recommend it).

What I really liked about this ebook was how Kourosh interspersed scientific knowledge throughout it. Several parts even teetered on philosophical. In one section he talks about how our brains process stuff:

One psychoanalyst, Wilfred Bion, suggests that thought itself is born of frustration. Thought, in this definition, is essentially any movement or creation of mind be it emotion, intellect, movement, or otherwise.

Similarly, plans are born of frustration. They come about because we are not already at our goals. Were we there already, it would not even occur to us to create a goal. And, as we are not already there, there are more than likely unknown tasks and concepts that have yet to occur simply because we have not started the journey there.

While projects can get messy, it is the continual refining, redefining, and re-working of the tasks and projects that eventually create the end results.

As one goes through contexts, there are any number of times where one will come across a task that seems redundant, poorly prioritized, in the wrong context or otherwise. We are not, after all, automatons. If there is something nagging us from the back of our minds, there is definitely reason to re-think how the tasks are presented.

Where is the time going?

As of late, life has felt like the pages of a book in the hands of a speed-reader -- a speed-reader with only 10% comprehension. I've been focusing solely on my changing duties at work while trying to maintain a daily workout routine and get a healthy amount of sleep. It feels as though I have neither the time nor the energy (and maybe not even the motivation) for anything else.

I've been making it a goal to get away from the computer as much as possible on the weekends to fill my love for the outdoors and relax. During the week, the three hour daily commute to and from work seems to suck away any available time I might otherwise have for writing and learning new things. To fulfill one of my goals for 2009, I've also been trying to set aside time after work for light socializing. Still, I feel like I'm missing the entire day; like time is moving on without me while I'm stuck in a pool of molasses wondering why.