Productivity

Sometime over the last year I stopped paying attention to Twitter. Between the political cacophony of 2016 and a growing list of people I was following, the noise ratio was just too poor to hold my interest. Twitter had become like LinkedIn to me, a service I used to have a professional presence, but not one that inspired or taught me anything. I had given up. A friend recently challenged me to find the interesting in Twitter again. He suggested declaring bankruptcy and starting over. While I liked his suggestion, I decided to apply another minimalist principle to my feed. Instead, I’ve been scrutinizing the people I follow looking for the “spark of joy” in what they post, things that make me grin, things that inspire me, or things that challenge me in some way. Anything that’s disingenuous, caustic (for no reason), or just consistently unintelligent can go. ...

I had a realization last week: How can it be more me? If I’m not in it, can I get into it? I’m an idea guy. It’s why I love designing software, both in terms of system design and user experience. I love designing and developing products too. It’s something that can get me fired up, keep me from sleeping, and keep me motivated through even the darkest, rainiest days. ...

As designers, software developers, and business geeks we thrive on a few things. We seek inspiration. We obsess over details. We work long hours. And we need focus. Computers and software have evolved to the point where nearly anything is possible. It’s an amazing threshold, as we are rarely limited by the hardware, OS, and languages. We’re mostly limited by our own ability to produce. We are the weakest link in our productivity. ...

Friction works against you. It exceeds your ability to progress. It deflates you, stripping your motivation. It’s the hill you see before starting a difficult project. It’s the gravity that pulls you away when interest wanes. I’m starting a small project for a client today. It’s a simple set of improvements to something I built for them last year, using a toolkit I wouldn’t normally use (but one that fit their uses well enough). I had forgotten a lot about the toolkit when quoting on the work, and by the time I remember it’s clear that there are challenges ahead of me. ...

You start the day finding consciousness. Slowly or quickly, it doesn’t matter … you become aware of the world incrementally. Maybe you hit the snooze button once? Twice? Or maybe you wish you did. If you’re like me, you’ll find some caffeine and make the trek to work. And if you’re lucky you will find yourself in your office quickly, alert, and ready to go. You work your way down your list of tasks until your customers, coworkers, or biology interrupt you. It may be minutes. It may be hours. The question is, what do you do when you’re interrupted? ...