12:28 AM (of Sunday, August 25th 2024)
Today is Saturday, August 24th 2024. I felt extremely good throughout the day today. In the morning, I signed up for a productivity course on Udemy. Yeah, I was already taking a productivity course earlier, and I wrote about how I was already taking one, but I found this one to be better.
I basically just watched a few minutes of it, maybe 10 minutes of the course, but the ideas I listened to were pretty life changing and so accurate. What I learned is that there are three myths to productivity: progress, perfection, and pace. I think the course creator intentionally made them all start with the letter P, I think "direction" is better used than pace for the third myth, and I'll explain why. For progress, he says progress doesn't matter, what matters is completion.
I agree with him on his take on progress. He cites an example where a woman works on something every day, and is asked on her progress on it every day, but she never finishes. Whether in a month, or a year, or a lifetime, she never finishes whatever she's working on. He argues that not finishing, is basically the same as not starting at all.
I think, progress is still important. You can't finish without progress. So I'm not sure what I would call Myth 1, but it's not progress, because progress is needed. So maybe "Myth #1: Working on" is a better replacement, except it doesn't start with a P and has two words.
The next myth he talks about is Perfection. This is basically one we all already know, that it's better to submit something and have it be imperfect, than not submit anything at all. For example, grades, if you submit a terrible paper, you might still get a 60% on it (an F), which won't bring your grade down as much as not turning it in at all (0%).
He uses Steve Jobs as an example, where the developers protested releasing the Macintosh because "it wasn't ready yet" but Steve Jobs rebutted with "real artists ship," which means real artists submit their work instead of work on it indefinitely. Depending on the work, like an online game let's say, can make updates and fixes to it after submitting it. Same with a book, a second edition can be published, and so on.
The last myth he talked about is Pace, and I think this was a terrible name pick, he definitely just picked it because it started with a P. Basically it's about direction. He talks about how people can work on something, but if it doesn't align with their goals, if it doesn't align with what they want, then it's not something they should be working on at all.
He brings up inbox management as an example. Someone can spend hours managing their inbox, but is it actually an activity they should be doing? I think it could be, yeah. I've spent hours managing my inbox before, and it was a productive use of time. I think a better example might be taking notes while watching the show Futurama, when their goal is to graduate college. Is taking notes on this TV show something they should be doing? No. Anyway, I think Direction is a better name for it.
I think learning these three myths is a very good foundation to being productive. After learning them, I went outside and walked for around an hour, taking 8k steps.
When I came back home, I could have continued the course, but I opened up a new tab on Firefox instead, and those suggested articles would come up. I read one of theem, the title is "Why Simply Hustling Harder Won’t Help You With the Big Problems in Life," and maybe I picked up bad advice from it, maybe. After reading this article, I stopped being productive, so that's why I think it might have offered bad advice. I mean I think it offers good advice and ideas, but learning of those things worsened my productivity, so that's why I'm saying it might not have been a benefit.
Basically the article is about a phd in History, I think specifically Christian history, and at 35 she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. This was in 2015, I think she put it into remission, and she is still alive today. Prior to her cancer diagnosis, she was a very hustle-and-bustle kind of woman, working hard, making goals, working all the time, doing all that. After her diagnosis, she basically found out there was nothing she could do about this, and what does the hustle-and-bustle all mean and amount to in the end anyway? I'm simplifying the article, it definitely goes into a lot more detail than that, but that's the gist of it.
I do understand what she says. Working hard and working on to-do's isn't the only thing that life is about. Sometimes we are hit with something we can do nothing about, and it can totally flip upside down and toss about everything in our lives. So learning those ideas, I became more carefree. Throughout the day, I don't recall doing much else. I didn't work, I didn't read much, I put on some Futurama and did some brain training, which I didn't complete until night time.
At around 5 PM, my parents and I went out shopping. We went to Big Lots and then Wal-Mart, buying some vegan foods. At home, I just completed my brain training, while having Futurama in the background. I didn't go to the gym today. I could have, but I felt a little sore and felt like maybe I should recover first. Instead I overate, I ate like 4000 calories today. I don't even know why I did that.
It was very late into the night that I finished my brain training. I made it a rule that I can't access social media until I finish my brain training exercises, so I didn't get on X to do some vegan activism until like 10 PM. I couldn't reply to people on any social media until like 10 PM. I replied to Ferth, since I'm having a small debate with him on flat earth, that's why I called him Ferth. I've never mentioned him in my journal until today. He believes in the flat earth and is debating me on the topic. He sends very long messages about it and it's all ridiculous stuff. I only reply to him once every few days, because it's honestly a waste of time, but it's entertaining. I guess this would be me falling for the Myth #3 Direction trap. I need to get back into focus tomorrow.
Anyway I am very sleepy, that was my day today.
You must be signed in to post a comment!