Second Life Log

After some absence, I will make an effort to share thoughts on a book I've been listening to called The Spark and the Grind, Ignite the Power of Disciplined Creativity by Erik Wahl ( https://www.amazon.com/Spark-Grind-Ignite-Disciplined-Creativity/dp/0399564209 ) As a brief intro, I like to listen to audiobooks while walking, and sometimes I come across interesting or insightful thoughts. I am sharing some of these thoughts here today, and hope to continue to do so in the near future. To start with, as a reference, the book refers to an idea or inspiration as "spark", and after the initial spark, the work done on it as the "grind". When you are able to work an idea into something rewarding, it is called a "blaze", as in a fire. The metaphor is that a spark ignites the fire and you grind to work it into a blaze. My interest in this book is to improve my "grind"; I tend to come up with lots of ideas, but then I feel like I abandon them too qui...

I really wanted to share this, because it makes a good point of dividing your potential projects into the categories of "experiments" and "commitments". The idea being if you label something as a "commitment", you commit to finishing the project through thick and thin. If you label it an "experiment", then you can push as far as you like, then abandon the experiment if you feel like you can't derive anything more useful from it. And, of course, if you feel the need to re-label something, you can do that. The point is to make a habit of finishing things when you commit to them. https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2015/04/01/finish-what-you-start/

Follow my lead on this one. Let's say any project, goal, or path is a series of steps. You cannot cheat and skip steps to finish the path, and there are always enough easy steps to finish the path. Now, as you travel along the path, you find a block in your way. You come to the conclusion that the block cannot be bypassed without a large amount of effort. Put another way, it's like attempting to jump over several steps on a stairway. It takes much more effort, and there's a limit on how far you can jump. I would submit that the block itself is part of the path, and the steps to go through the block are there. What may be happening is your mind sees a group of steps as a single step, and refuses to see it as the series of steps it actually is. So, to get through the block, you need to find those steps, and just as before, take them one at a time, until the block is behind you.

This image illustrates what your emotions go through when taking on a project.  Note in the middle is the "Dark swamp of despair", and the bridge over it is "belief / persistence". Once you persist over the swamp, you start to regain your confidence in the project, and can soldier on to a satisfying conclusion. The post I pulled it from is here: https://john.do/inevitable/ .   I should inform you that the graphic is a refactor from a post by the same author in 2016, which was "stolen" (possibly) from "Steal Like An Artist" (2012), which was in turn "stolen" from Maureen McHugh (but the author published the credit in their book). I like the general concept of the really low point during the project, when many many people abandon it. This has happened to me time and time again.

If you feel like you don't have direction,  you may not know of a direction you like.  You can explore new directions,  or make your own direction  and see where it leads you.  

Somewhat related to a previous post of mine, I wanted to do something about a habit of mine where I start a new day and ideas, subjects, and interests of the previous day have faded in my memory, and I have no idea what to do with myself. The quick solution is to have a "Start Here" list, where you can simply look at the list when you are feeling lost or directionless. Here is my first attempt at such a list: Work on "great ideas" that I have , even if I'm the only one who thinks they're great Record audio tracks that are "atmospheric" (note: I was playing with FL Studio recently, which led to this interest) Start a log for when I learn or come up with interesting thoughts that I think others could benefit from Make some lessons for JavaScript / React / React Native in a "You Are Here" style of instruction (note: I feel some lessons get lost in their wandering, I feel like if you remind the student where they are in the process, they c...

I am in the middle of the audio book Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear. The emphasis of this book is on working on the core of your habits, your identity, to help guide yourself to who you want to be. I think this quote typifies the idea the best: "Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become... as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity... The most practical way to change who you are is to change what you do." https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-James-Clear-audiobook/dp/B07RFSSYBH/