If it’s 10:00pm and my screen doesn’t look something like this, send paramedics.
What a Bidentastic idea.
Andy Polaine recently emailed, noting a work habit I wasn’t familiar with:
Some of my Swiss colleagues even take the train somewhere for a couple of hours just to use it as an office. They have lunch in their destination city and then come back again, work done. There’s an interesting aspect to this — they all have a General Abonnement, which is like a season ticket.More on this on his site:
In Switzerland you can buy a season ticket called a General Abonnement. It seems that almost everyone who lives in Switzerland has one. The 2nd class adult one is CHF 3,100 per year (about £1,850 or US$3,050). So it’s not cheap, but it’s a one-off outlay. When you talk to people about their train usage, one if the things they say is that love taking the train because because it’s free (that and the trains in Switzerland are punctual and pleasant). This sense of it being ‘free’ means people are much more spontaneous with their train travel because they no longer think about the cost or hassle of buying tickets. Even if you don’t think of it as free, the effect is like an all-you-can-eat buffet — people have spent the money, so they try and get the most out of it, which encourages the use of public transport.I certainly get more work done on public transport. A friend and I theorize it’s not only because there are fewer distractions, but because the physical workspace itself is moving forward. Making progress on two dimensions. Constraints are also of value. All my essays, for instance, are written on the train between home and the office. When my stop comes, it must be done. With the cost perception removed (and a bit of Swiss scenery), I might choose an office in motion more often.
Why I would make a great Pope:
- Dress the same every day
- Don’t listen to other people
- Believe stupid paranormal bullshit
- Look good in a hat
- Aspire to supervillainy
if only I didn’t respect women, this would be a done deal.
Busy is fun, but you gotta take breaks to write.
Scott Berkun on “the cult of busy,” that by always seeming to have something to do, we assume you must be important or successful:
[P]eople who are always busy are time poor. They have a time shortage. They have time debt. They are either trying to do too much, or they aren’t doing what they’re doing very well. They are failing to either a) be effective with their time b) don’t know what they’re trying to effect, so they scramble away at trying to optimize for everything, which leads to optimizing nothing.Contrary to what we might think:
Some of the best thinkers throughout history had some of their best thoughts while going for walks, playing cards with friends, little things things that generally would not be considered the hallmarks of busy people. It’s the ability to pause, to reflect, and relax, to let the mind wander, that’s perhaps the true sign of time mastery, for when the mind returns it’s often sharper and more efficient, but most important perhaps, happier than it was before.See also:
Strike “busy” in A ban on busyI recently said a flat “no” to an interesting project. The person replied, “I get it, you don’t have the time.” I had the time, yet taking the time to do it would take me away from other things I care about — running a program, consulting, writing. What I didn’t mention to this person was that I need idle time in equal proportion to planned time; leaving time for the unplanned, and making sure there’s enough time for a bit of nothing. It’s this space that makes the planned more worthwhile.
