that's how I graduated college
The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday
571–580 of 591 posts
Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday
#572I got a government job about 10 years ago by simply showing up to work every day, even though I didn't yet formally work there. It was incredibly awkward, but I'd just find people to have coffee with each day. Many of them would ask, 'So...I'm sorry to ask, but do you work here?' and I would just hit them with brutal honesty: 'No, but I would like to.' After about 5 weeks of this, a department head had a vacancy and I naturally came to mind and was offered the job. I'm not typing this out as life advice for anyone, but more as a case study that supports the argument that showing up can be an extremely effective way of producing results.
Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday
#573That piece reminds me of my doctoral thesis and its creation. It took me quite some time as I had a full-time job during the day, but in the evenings, on the weekends, I worked on my research. It was long, it was tedious, and I had my share of detours and fuck-ups, but I managed to finish it, defend it and graduate.
Please note: this approach is not for the faint of heart - working on one topic for years means that you can never really relax. There is always something to think about. So you should really consider if that's your cup of tea.
Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday
#574Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wrote a novel-shaped object (OK, it was never printed, so "object" is perhaps a bit bold) over about 6 months, by the simple expedient of making sure I spent at least 15 minutes every morning with the NSO editor open. Target was "Minimum one word", but (apart from a long stretch in the middle), more like 500-1500 words per day. The long stretch in the middle was when I had to figure out how to deal with the main ch…
For what it's worth, Isaac Asimov's Foundation series was written this way with the Foundation or the concept of it being an "organization" spanning hundreds of years. It might provide some useful ways to handle this though in general I think his solution was "jump forward 20yrs and introduce a new character while brining up the former's legacy".
Yes, sort of. I think one of the early Foundation books was essentially composed of two or three shorter works and had both a time gap and a change of protagonists.
But having a change of protagonists in "continuous time" actually was not easy to pull off, and I am not sufficiently happy with the result to consider it worth distributing wildly.
Nonetheless, actually keeping at something means it's surprisingly easy to amass results over time.
Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday
#575If you haven't read or listened to this book yet, I highly recommend it: Daily Rituals: How Artists Work[1] It's a collection of daily routines of many famous and prolific artists. The surprising thing about so many of the artists is that they only work 2 or 3 hours per day, then spend the rest of the day walking around, socializing, etc. But they consistently show up and put in the work and it adds up to some amazin…
What's more surprising (I would say, crazy) is that anyone expects more. Nobody works at their top level for more than 2-3 hours a day. Maaaaaybe 3-4 tops. Doesn't mean you can't be productive for many more hours, but you are not gonna be able to work effectively on tasks that are anywhere near the limit of your ability. You just can't and nobody does it....not athletes, not artists, not writers, not philosophers, no…
I agree. I think you cheat this some - depending on the medium - by separating time spent creating with time spent editing. In myself, I've noticed that editing can reinvigorate the creative process, but if I'd been creative earlier, the burst of creativity spurred by editing is short-lived, and I'm often ready for a nap when I'm done.
Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday
#576Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is an absurd comparison, the sleep would be happening regardless
Your brains processes stuff in your sleep. After some time off, I play much better the next day after practice than if I were to play immediately after practice.
I've had the same experience with code. I bang my head against my desk trying to do something, go to bed, and do the thing in the first hour of my day. It's like magic.
Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday
#577Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm doing this right now, and at about Month Four I was happy to find myself "talking" in the new language, although the conversations would probably be cringeworthy to anyone but my teachers. This is without much immersion (due to lockdown then traveling), and the instruction is online, and I've been a lazy bum about additional study. It's made me pretty optimistic about learning new languages in general, and I'm 50…
You probably already know this, but Anki (or other spaced repetition methods) is amazing for retaining what you have learned efficiently.
I haven't used Anki yet but I want to try -- any idea which of the many mobile apps is best?
Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday
#578Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am saying 40 minutes a day is an absolute minimum sufficient for simple maintenance tasks (aka walking, cooking healthy meals, etc) and a far greater amount of time is required to actually accomplish anything meaningful, let alone novel or groundbreaking.
You're just being obtuse
I am just speaking from experience. I can go on about these for days. I do exercises that keep my posture decent despite sitting all day. Takes a minimum of 15 minutes (3 sets of glute briges, 3 sets of planks, 3 sets of stretches, neck stretches, etc). There is NOTHING that "atomic habits" works for.
Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday
#579Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're just being obtuse
I am just speaking from experience. I can go on about these for days. I do exercises that keep my posture decent despite sitting all day. Takes a minimum of 15 minutes (3 sets of glute briges, 3 sets of planks, 3 sets of stretches, neck stretches, etc). There is NOTHING that "atomic habits" works for.
Sorry to break it to you, but just because you decided something doesn't work for you, doesn't mean it doesnt work for ANYTHING for ANYONE
Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday
#580Earlier quoted context omitted.
You probably already know this, but Anki (or other spaced repetition methods) is amazing for retaining what you have learned efficiently.
I haven't used Anki yet but I want to try -- any idea which of the many mobile apps is best?
I just use the desktop app to create/manage the cards, and then on mobile use ankiweb in a browser. That seems to work very well for me.
The best thing is that even if some weeks or even months I do not feel like studying at all, I can just continue with the Anki decks for 5-10 minutes a day to make sure I continue to retain what I had already learned. It has not become my bedtime routine/habit.