Category: A Matter of Time
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To minimize overthinking, set and adhere to a time constraint
Doechii made her mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal, in a month. She says, “If I sit with art for too long, I start to overthink. Then you start over editing. Suddenly you can find yourself with a completely different picture. That’s why I set a hard time limit. I told myself: ‘Whatever I get done…
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If you’re embarrassed by your early work, that means you did it right
Anybody who does anything worth doing knows how difficult it is to get through the early work. While you have great taste, your skills aren’t at the level you need to match it yet—so you make work that falls short of your vision. It feels mildly embarrassing at the time, but as the years go…
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What do you need?
This is worth being curious about. But for starters, you need to be mindful and not distracted—sometimes, bored—in order to remember to ask yourself this question. “Our changing moods and energy levels, and how inspired we’re feeling on any given day, are part of the hard reality we must accept in order to take effective…
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The secrets of the tree
An old Cambodian tale suggests that if you carve a hole in a tree and whisper into it, it will keep your secret. In the closing scene of In the Mood for Love (spoiler alert!), a man who had his heart broken—twice—travels from the bustle of Hong Kong to the trees of Cambodia to leave…
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Primary focus
“Figure out what your primary focus is and make progress on that every day, first thing in the morning, no exceptions,” Nabeel Qureshi writes (while hat tapping Tyler Cowen). “Days with 0 output are the killers.” This was the gentle reminder I needed, and I shared it in case it might help you. 0.1 output…