“Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends, fads and popular opinion.”
— Jack Kerouac
Friday, April 29, 2011
Great things...
“Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends, fads and
popular opinion."
— Jack Kerouac
Good and Bad Procrastination
I'll admit it: I'm a procrastinator. I can try to describe to you how many stupid, little arguments I've gotten into over my procrastination, but we'll save that for later. The point is that I've been a procrastinator for as long as I can remember, and I'll likely continue to be one far into the future. I've accepted who I am, and I'm comfortable with it.
Except that I've always, ALWAYS been told that it's an exceedingly bad thing to do, and that I'm lazy, or worse yet, divisive. And then I read this essay by Paul Graham, and suddenly, I feel like 10,000 pounds of internalized shame has been lifted from my shoulders. Finally, someone understands exactly why I procrastinate, and better yet, has explained it to me! And I'm now proud to say that I'm a "Type-C Procrastinator." You should definitely read the full essay, but here's the meat of it:
There are three variants of procrastination, depending on what you do instead of working on something: you could work on (a) nothing, (b) something less important, or (c) something more important. That last type, I'd argue, is good procrastination.That's the "absent-minded professor," who forgets to shave, or eat, or even perhaps look where he's going while he's thinking about some interesting question. His mind is absent from the everyday world because it's hard at work in another.
That's the sense in which the most impressive people I know are all procrastinators. They're type-C procrastinators: they put off working on small stuff to work on big stuff.
What's "small stuff?" Roughly, work that has zero chance of being mentioned in your obituary. It's hard to say at the time what will turn out to be your best work (will it be your magnum opus on Sumerian temple architecture, or the detective thriller you wrote under a pseudonym?), but there's a whole class of tasks you can safely rule out: shaving, doing your laundry, cleaning the house, writing thank-you notes—anything that might be called an errand.
Good procrastination is avoiding errands to do real work.
So, thank you Paul Graham for showing me that procrastination doesn't have to be bad; in fact, it can be the stuff of legend. That just because I don't want to attend to an errand or chore immediately - or when you want me to - doesn't mean that I don't want to do it. It's just that I just have bigger, better, REAL things on my mind, and the small stuff can definitely wait until later.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Your taste is why your own work disappoints you
via kottke.org
Words of wisdom, indeed. And oh, if you're not listening to 'This American Life', you're really missing out on something special.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Mediocrity
“There is always a heavy demand for fresh mediocrity. In every generation the least cultivated taste has the largest appetite.”
— Paul Gauguin
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Great Minds
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.
— Eleanor Roosevelt
Friday, April 8, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
ADGO???: Pizza Scissors + Spatula
via amazon.com
My mom would love this invention. My mom LOVES every task-specific item ever built. So much so, in fact, that I gave them all a name: ADGO™ - Another Dust Gathering Object. In this case, it's scissors paired to a spatula. Scissors and spatulas are both essential kitchen items, but lock them together, and you've got an ADGO™.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
World's Most Expensive Hot Dog
via complex.com
At Serendipity 3 in NYC. Not sure it's really the "World's Most Expensive Hot Dog" but at $69, it's definitely pricey. It would have to be amazingly tasty to beat a Papaya King hot dog, which is crazy good, and less than $5 for two with a drink.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Mediocrity
“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
— Albert Einstein
Monday, April 4, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
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