Category: A Matter of Time
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Notes on making The Consistency Journal
It’s been almost a year since we started developing the original idea for what turned into The Consistency Journal. This post is intentionally brief and incomplete: Sometimes an experiment needs months or years to work out. Taking on work outside of an experiment can buy the time and relaxation you need to sustain it. It…
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Remembering a restaurant
A few years ago, my wife and I visited Tokyo together for the first time in December. We’d arrived inbound from Chiang Mai, with a layover in Busan. It felt like travelling from summer to winter. By the time we had settled into the hotel, it was the early evening, so we searched for a…
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The intermediate hump
When you’re young, you just do stuff. Because you don’t have much experience, you’re a beginner, and you have nothing to lose, it’s hard to overthink. As you gain experience and expertise, it’s easier to shoot down ideas quickly. When you’re in the intermediate hump, you experience being in the groove of shooting down ideas,…
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Ira Glass, and the gap
A few days ago, I published an essay convincing you to be prolific. I was elaborating on the idea that focusing on quantity will lead to better quality, a lesson I learned in 2013. When I was writing that original post, I came across a useful metaphor from Ira Glass, about how people experience a…
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A final goodbye
Today, I visited a friend in palliative care. I was joined by three other friends, and the shared presence made the trip feel lighter. We talked to each other and his family in his hospital room. Our friend’s eyes were closed, and he didn’t respond to our comments. He seemed to be sleeping. He looked…
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Five minutes ahead
The clock in my study runs five minutes ahead. My partner and I set it this way in the hopes of constantly being five minutes early, which is exactly what happened the other day. This happens to be a tradition in both of our families. When I grew up, the clock in my family’s living…