Being 63 helps a lot! My main "tasks" are done, and I am lucky in being in good,health. Very satisfactory (and lucky)state of affairs.
On Wed, Nov 8, 2017 at 3:42 PM, Cory Doctorow <[email protected]> wrote: > I think there's an obvious but not very useful way to address this, > which is to simply advise that one should preserve some empty space in > one's diary each day and then see what comes up to fill it. > > The reality is that such a space is virtually impossible to maintain and > is, at the least, very antagonistic toward the process by which one > prioritizes those things that pay the most dividends across the most > domains in one's life. > > That's because, inevitably, there are more things than can be done than > there is time to do. If all the things that are left undone are things > that advance multiple projects in meaningful ways, it's always going to > be hard-to-impossible to choose to leave those undone while an empty > slot sits in one's diary against some speculative gain that may arise > from leaving it there. > > Cory > > On 11/08/2017 03:45 AM, Udhay Shankar N wrote: > > Interesting article by Cory. This is something I've been thinking about > as > > well: the need to engineer some some *slack* into everyting you do, as > > over-optimising (which is usually optimising the wrong variable, or > > possibly prematurely optimising the right one) can have various adverse > > effects in various domains: > > > > - Financial: e.g not leaving any cash in the bank account as it is all in > > various investments can be bothersome when you have sudden need. Today > is a > > particularly interesting date to be talking about such a situation, for > > folks in India at least. :) > > > > - "Productivity" e.g filling your day with busy work or even "important" > > work back to back. > > > > - "Leisure" e.g feeling the need to fill every minute of your weekend or > > holiday > > > > - Childraising e.g "classes" tuitions, camps &c &c > > > > All of which is another way of restating one of my favourite phrases: > What > > are you optimising for? > > > > Thoughts? > > > > Udhay > > > > http://locusmag.com/2017/11/cory-doctorow-how-to-do- > everything-lifehacking-considered-harmful/ > > > > Cory Doctorow: How to Do Everything (Lifehacking Considered Harmful) > > November 6, 2017 > > > > I was there when “lifehacking” was born. It was the 11th of February, > 2004, > > at the O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, held in a giant > conference > > hotel in San Diego. I was on the committee for ETech (as we called it) > and > > I had lobbied hard for the inclusion of a talk called “Life Hacks: Tech > > Secrets of Overprolific Alpha Geeks” by Danny O’Brien, a technology > > columnist and former standup comedian who is also a good friend (I am now > > godfather to his daughter, Ada). I’d watched Danny compiling his research > > for the talk and I knew it would be a great one. > > > > I liveblogged his presentation, because this was before lifehacking, but > > after liveblogging (if only barely). Danny described a research project > in > > which he interviewed “overprolific” tech workers who had a reputation for > > doing a lot of things at once, and reported on their commonalities. My > > notes on the talk are still live at <www.craphound.com/ > lifehacksetcon04.txt>, > > but the long and short of them was that all of these super-nerds were > > really good at one or two flexible tools (ranging from Excel > spreadsheets > > to the programming language Python), and they used those tools to > automate > > many of the processes in their life. They also all used some kind of > > master, monster to-do list and file-of-useful-pasted-snippets. > > > > I recognized some of my own working habits in the description, and, more > > importantly, acquired some useful tips. After all, I was one of those > > really techie people who did a lot of different things at the same time: > > writing novels, working for an activist group, editing a blog, sometimes > > even having a life. One intriguing takeaway from the talk was a > > recommendation to read David Allen’s 2001 book Getting Things Done, an > > instant classic in the “personal productivity” genre (this was after the > > productivity genre, but still before lifehacking). > > > > Allen’s book is a fantastic and inspiring read. The core of his > philosophy > > is to recognize that there are more things in the world that you want to > do > > than you could do, and that, in the absence of a deliberate approach to > > this conundrum, you are likely to default to doing things that are easy > to > > scratch off your to-do list, which are also the most trivial. After a > > lifetime of this, you’ll have accomplished a lot of very little. > > > > Allen counsels deliberate, mindful prioritization of this list, > jettisoning > > things on the basis that they are less satisfying or important than the > > other things you’d like to do – even if those other things are harder, > more > > time consuming and less likely to result in a satisfying chance to > scratch > > an item off the list. > > > > This resonated with me and, by 2004, I’d bought and given away half a > dozen > > copies of Getting Things Done and put its method in place. I even had a > > chance to sit down with Allen in 2007 and talk about how the web fit into > > his method. > > > > It’s been more than a decade since I took up Allen’s method and started > > lifehacking (as the kids say), and I have a report from the field. > > > > The past 14 years have regularly featured junctures where I had to get > rid > > of something I liked doing so I could do something I liked doing more. > Some > > of that was low-hanging fruit (I haven’t watched TV regularly in more > than > > a decade), but after getting rid of the empty calories in my activity > diet, > > I had to start making hard choices. > > > > In retrospect, I observe that the biggest predictor of whether an > activity > > surviving winnowing is whether it paid off in two or more of the aspects > of > > my life and career. If something made me a better blogger – but not a > > better novelist and activist – it went. The more parts of my life were > > implicated in an activity, the more likely I was to keep the activity in > my > > daily round. > > > > Some of these choices were tough. I have all but given up on re-reading > > books, despite the undeniable pleasure and value to understanding the > > authors’ craft, which is easier to unpick on subsequent readings. But I > > have more than 20 linear feet of books I’ve promised to read for blurbs > and > > reviews, and reading those books also teaches me something about the > craft, > > also brings me pleasure, also makes me a better reviewer, and also makes > me > > a better citizen of science fiction, who contributes to the success of > > worthy new books. > > > > Some social media tools – like Facebook – make for fun (if problematic) > > socializing, and all social media pays some dividend to authors who are > > hoping to sell books and activists who are hoping to win support, but > > Twitter also teaches me to be a better writer by making me think about > > brevity and sentence structure in very rigorous ways (and from an > activist > > perspective, Twitter is a better choice because it, unlike Facebook, > > doesn’t want the web to die and be replaced by its walled garden) – so > > Twitter is in, and Facebook is out. > > > > There are some unexpected outcomes from this process, albeit ones that > are > > obvious in hindsight. > > > > The first is that it has gotten progressively harder to tease apart the > > different kinds of work I do. People often ask, “How much of your day do > > you spend writing, and how much being an activist, and how much on > > journalism?” The answer has always been that it’s hard to cleanly > separate > > these activities, because they overlap – writing a blog post is a way to > > think through and track an idea that might show up in a story, and also a > > way to raise alarm at a political affair. > > > > But today, thanks to a vicious Darwinian winnowing process, the only > > activities left in my day serve double- and triple-duty. There is > virtually > > no moment in my working day that can cleanly be billed to only one > ledger. > > > > The corollary of this is that it gets much, much harder to winnow out > > activities over time. Anything I remove from the Jenga stack of my day > > disturbs the whole tower. > > > > And that means that undertaking new things, speculative things that have > no > > proven value to any of the domains where I work (let alone all of them) > has > > gotten progressively harder, even as I’ve grown more productive. > > Optimization is a form of calcification. > > > > That presents a paradox: if the purpose of lifehacking is to mindfully > > choose your priorities, what can you do when that process leads you to a > > position where no more choices are possible? > > > > I’ll let you know if I figure it out. In the meantime, let this be a > > warning to anyone who wants to do it all. > > > > Cory Doctorow is the author of Walkaway, Little Brother, and Information > > Doesn’t Want to Be Free (among many others); he is the co-owner of Boing > > Boing, a special consultant to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a > > visiting professor of Computer Science at the Open University and an MIT > > Media Lab Research Affiliate. > > > > This review and more like it in the November 2017 issue of Locus. > > > > > -- > > FOR PUBLIC SAFETY REASONS, THIS EMAIL HAS BEEN INTERCEPTED BY YOUR > GOVERNMENT AND WILL BE RETAINED FOR FUTURE ANALYSIS > > -- > > Cory Doctorow > [email protected] > Wickr: doctorow > > For avoidance of doubt: This email does not constitute permission to add > me to your mailing list. > > blog: boingboing.net > upcoming appearances: craphound.com/?page_id=4667 > books (novels, collections graphic novels, essay collections): > craphound.com > latest novel: Walkaway > latest nonfiction: Information Doesn't Want to Be Free > latest graphic novel: In Real Life > podcast: feeds.feedburner.com/doctorow_podcast > latest YA novel: Homeland craphound.com/homeland > latest short story collection: Expanded Overclocked > > Join my mailing list and find out about upcoming books, stories, > articles and appearances: > > http://www.ctyme.com/mailman/listinfo/doctorow > > READ CAREFULLY. By reading this email, you agree, on behalf of your > employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from > any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, > shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, > non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have > entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and > assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and > privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release > me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer. > > As is the case with every email you've ever received, this email has not > been scanned for all known viruses. > > Duh. > >
