2024s
I’m currently listening to The Now Habit audiobook by Dr Neil Fiore. 📚
It’s about beating procrastination. My main takeaway so far is the idea of replacing ‘I have to’ do [task] with ‘I choose to’ do [task].
If there’s something to do, and I’ve agreed to do it, then that was a decision I made instead of facing the alternative. So just do it and stop whining, or make the decision not to, deal with the consequences and move on to the next thing.
Dr Fiore highlights that productive people are able to reduce the agitated energy of a huge pending task by focusing on what can be done now. No matter how small the step.
Perfectionism is another big cause of procrastination. It’s something I’m certainly guilty of. Dr Fiore emphasised the importance of accepting you’re human and that it’s normal to make mistakes and for things not to go perfectly. He suggests not giving yourself big expectations as this can stop you from doing the things you need to do.
Sounds quite simple when you write it down like that, but it’s much more difficult to put into action when you risk something going wrong.
For me the ongoing energy, mood and consequences of procrastination are worse than almost anything. It’s something to fix.
Good listen so far, will keep going.
Em dashes (—), en dashes (–) and hyphens (-)
I’m currently rereading Dreyer’s English to brush up on some American grammar and enjoy the excellent prose of a man so in love with the craft of writing.
While chatting about this book on a call with somebody this morning, the conversation turned to hyphens and dashes.
Lots of people don’t give much thought to the fact that em dashes (—), en dashes (–) and hyphens (-) all have different lengths and should be used for different purposes.
Hands up if you’re guilty of reaching too quickly for the hyphen.
This paddle boarder had the right idea. Need to get myself one of those for days when the sea is as beautiful as this.
Watched: Noam Chomsky’s ‘Independent Thinking and Media’s Invisible Powers’ course on MasterClass. 🎥
Well worth the time. Being sceptical of the information we get is perhaps more important than ever. About two billion people are voting this year in a world where AI makes it easy to facilitate misinformation and disinformation on a massive scale.
Finished reading: Chokepoint Capitalism by Rebecca Giblin and Cory Doctorow 📚