Pandemic "Productivity"
Google Sheet glitch (very important), Lorenzo Balooba
Here are two tracks for you to listen to as you read:
- RefraQ - RUK : a nice swampy little track with thworping (y'know, thworping) synths and an evolving twister of a lead line
- Chrome Sparks - All Or Nothing (feat. Angelica Bess) : a thoughtful tetchy little quorptrack with some spaced out vocals and beautiful encouraging guitar sections
As I round the Sun, I find myself finally starting to shake off the paralyzing collective trauma of COVID-19 and being... "productive". On my own terms, at least. Someone asked me to cover my personal methods of being "productive" (I'll stop quoting it shortly, I promise) in my newsletter, so here we are.
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Let's start. I put "productive" in quotes is because productivity culture is largely bullshit designed to ensure you streamline your life into a useful, self-correcting capitalist worker bee. However, we do need to get stuff done from time to time, and many (most?) of us are now dealing with an unprecedented amount of executive dysfunction. Therefore, I present my emotional tools for getting shit done.
Here's the most important thing to know: productivity isn't natural. Evolutionarily speaking, if you can get away with doing nothing but eating hot cheetos every day, sitting on the couch, and playing video games, you are succeeding at your prime directive: staying alive and conserving as much energy as possible to survive the winter. Therefore, much of what is required to "succeed" at being productive doesn't feel easy, normal, or natural.
“I understand there’s a guy inside me who wants to lay in bed, smoke weed all day, and watch cartoons and old movies. My whole life is a series of stratagems to avoid, and outwit, that guy.”
Anthony Bourdain
In my opinion, accessing behaviors we're unfamiliar or unsuccessful with is almost entirely about your emotional and attitudinal orientation to the problem. Therefore, the art of being productive is really about learning how to arrange and tactfully deploy various attitudes, beliefs, and brain tricks to get yourself to do what you want to do.
And thus, follow my techniques.
1. Eliminate productivity-related shame shame - The first and most important step is to Productivity is to avoid productivity-related shame. Shame tells us that we're bad for not getting enough done, but productivity just isn't the natural state for a human being. Shame is an absolutely useless emotion in this context; discard it. Instead, substitute shame for a very reasonable "Well, I didn't do what I wanted to get done today, I'll commit to trying better tomorrow/next time/whenever."
2. Use forward imagination/visualization - Doing things is almost entirely about your emotional orientation toward doing the thing. If you're not in a state of feeling ready and able to do the thing, you're just going to come up with a reason to procrastinate it immediately. This is the dynamic of "I should really do X" vs. "But I can do them tomorrow, I'm really busy/occupied with/prefer to do/need a break doing Y."
Visualization is extremely useful in enabling yourself to do something, especially things that are unfamiliar or challenging. Top athletes use visualization to perfect top-tier execution of their sports, and it works just as well for deciding to finally clean the bathroom.
I recommend literally imagining yourself doing the thing you want to do. Doing this is an incredibly powerful priming tool that makes you feel like you're very close to actually doing the thing, and often can make you feel like you may as well just go do it. If you're planning ahead, this is best done the night before the day you need to get things done, but not too close to bedtime otherwise it'll keep you up.
3. Create space away from attention pits and dopamine loops - This means things like social media, computers, video games, TV shows, snacks, masturbation, Twitter, conversations, that great fiction book, whatever. The most insidious forms of distraction are the ones that revolve around screens; it's easy to while away your time in a constant loop of minor satisfaction until suddenly it's been an hour later and you've gotten nothing done and now you're too tired to start anything. (After all, being entertained actually consumes energy.)
I'm not saying BAN those things (well, maybe for short periods), but create time, breaks, space during which you're NOT engaging in those things. What would you do during that time, you ask? Well, nothing. Absolutely nothing. In that nothingness, the things that you actually want for yourself--not the things that demand to consume your time and attention--quickly become apparent.
Indeed, the most productive stance I've found is to stand in the center of a room as far away from anything interesting as possible, weirdly occupying the useless middle space of a room. In standing there, the hustle and bustle and distraction of the thousand things I could find to do aren't present, and I personally find it extremely easy to visualize or contemplate the things I want to accomplish. Like a samurai standing still, but with sword raised and ready to strike.
4. Change your language to change your mind - Instead of "should", "must", "have to", "need to", replace these words and phrases with "want to", "will", "desire", "like to", "prefer", etc. When we use terms that imply obligation, we unwittingly enter a subconscious dialogue with memories of parents and authorities telling us what we have to do. Depending on your relationship with those experiences, you may find yourself rebelling against yourself and the thing that you actually want to do and is good for you--or even critical to your success.
Instead, use active, self-originating, desire-oriented terms. You don't need to clean your room, you want to clean your room. You don't have to respond to those emails, you will respond to those emails because you would like to have an empty inbox/make people feel like they're heard/whatever. Originating your task with yourself both makes you feel like you do want to do it, and also helps build a sense of personal control and ability.
5. Commit emotionally by utilizing principles and aestheticization - Do you have a reason to keep your home clean besides that you "should"? Do you have a reason that you want to work out, besides that you "really ought to"? Do you have a reason that you want to answer/clear emails besides that "they're piling up"?
The most successful (and inherently rewarding) tasks are motivated by some inner principle and goal. The people I know with the loveliest homes set out especially to keep their home tidy and beautiful because they highly value the sensation of harmony within the space they inhabit, or entertaining guests, or the belief that the home reflects the mind. My home quickly falls into disarray because I typically care very little about any of those things. However, I spend an inordinate amount of time and care on my digital spaces because I derive great satisfaction from the act of organizing, cataloging, and keeping safe digital artifacts.
If you're having trouble doing something, think of the principles or reasons that can incite that goal. For instance, I've finally figured out that my key to keeping the dishes done is to value the experience of being able to come to a clean kitchen at any time and just start cooking without having to wait. I've started cleaning up more in general because I've realized the importance of having a space that doesn't overwhelm me.
These principles are also part of an idealization or aestheticization of our own personal experience. I've noticed that those who keep a beautiful home are particularly interested in pursuing a particular aesthetic, or being surrounded by beauty. Even the most technically-minded, fastidious programmer type has a personal ideal/aesthetic that drives their mannerisms and behavior--to be clinical, effective, pragmatic, technical, and beautifully mechanistic. (By the way, when I talk about standing in the middle of a room poised like a samurai, this is what I'm doing--aestheticizing the experience of literally standing in the middle of a room to make it more interesting and appealing to enact.)
If you can find a way to embody the end of your means in a way that is inherently attractive or beautiful to you due to its inherent attributes, it's much easier to actually go through with the means. It also makes life that much richer.
6. Be specific - If you're halted by accomplishing something due to its unfathomability or general BIGNESS, you must break it down to its component pieces. Outline the steps or ingredients required, and be very specific--the more intimidated you are by the project, the more mundane and unnecessarily detailed you should be so that you can follow your own instructions to the letter later. For instance, a phone call I'm particularly intimidated by has the instructions: "Call to schedule remote wedding ceremony date, explain personal situation, if necessary ask 'what would you charge for a convenience fee to do the ceremony before your regular hours?'"
Generally speaking, recursively breaking a task down into its component parts will help you size and more accurately estimate the size and time required in the problem as well, which is rarely a bad thing.
7. Design productivity systems and habits to catch yourself - Understand that you, wiggly little meatsack of a human being that you are, are naturally going to drift from your productivity-mindedness, constantly. It's important to set up central places or spaces where you will constantly be reminded of or reinserted into your productivity system. By this I mean simply a place, an app, a device, a whatever that will remind you of the things you want to do, including the fact that you wanted to do things at all. For example, this can be constantly pinned Trello tab on your browser, a favorited Evernote note that lists your current goals/plans/checklists, a physical cork/whiteboard with tons of stickies on it, or constant Google calendar push notifications sent to you on your phone.
If you don't have a habit yet built to check these sources, I recommend Post-It notes that are excessively obtrusive and irritating, like putting a Post-It note right in the middle of your computer screen to remind yourself to look at your system that you must remove to use your computer. (Of course, you also have to remember to put it back after you're done. Stick it to yourself if you have to.)
You should have only one entry point into your productivity system, ideally a top-level list with all of your initiatives/projects/plans/etc., and then places you can store the information or more detailed instructions you need to get those things done.
If you're interested in productivity systems, I know of no better book than Getting Things Done. It's a little dated (it talks about filing cabinets), but it's easy to transfer the principles to the modern era.
8. Emphasize a holistic form of effectiveness - Business/tech-type people talk about productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness a lot. How do you cram as much as you possibly can into a day as quickly as you can while wasting as little as possible?
Usually, it involves pushing, grinding, and just trying to get it all in before you die. Of course, this is usually a cultural monolith that places self-care, relaxation, and rest as oppositional and frustrating necessities that you will occasionally be forced to yield to when your body (or mind) fails you, as it eventually will under such stress.
But anyone who has tried to sprint the productivity equivalent of a marathon knows that this is the path to self-damnation and shame, because it's fucking impossible. Instead, I encourage you to think larger and wider about getting things done.
Do you really have to get on top of these things NOW, or do you actually have years to perfect and refine your processes and self-discipline?
Do you really have to push yourself all day for a week straight, or will you break on the 4th day and spending the next 3 "slacking off" and making "excuses" because your subconscious knows better than you that you must rest or else?
The fact of the matter is that success for most of us rarely looks like titanic effort applied strenuously forever; more often, it's the result of years of honed work and plenty of time for rest, decompression, insight, beauty, pleasure, and enjoyment of life. Effectiveness here means not maximizing output (work, tasks) or maximizing input (rest, relaxation) but finding the optimal balance through which you can convert as much self-care into as much productivity as you can while still feeling like a human being, a living person.
That's all I got (for now). These are hard-won over the last decade, but they work for me and I hope they provide some new (or helpfully reminding) perspectives for you. Anyway.
On to...
GL!TCH.INTERNATIONAL FEATURE
Aha, something new! Dear eminent glitch jonCates started a project called GL!TCH.INTERNATIONAL to feature and promote glitch artists and provide them with more much deserved exposure in their own words (but for free so it's cool). Every week I'll be featuring someone from the site to help. This week, we have...
eccchobunny (Chicago, Il)
I stumbled upon glitch art while still living in my hometown of Portland, OR via vaporwave muzak, which often utilizes that theme a e s t h e t i c a l l y. It resonated with me a lot because I found many real-life experiences I have had seemed synonymous with what I felt when I saw or heard glitch. Events like mental illness (a perceived error of brain functioning), suicide (a fatal malfunction), gender stuff ([binary] structures resulting in chronic social malware, such as misogyny and patriarchal masculinity), and, of course, the now global worms that are capitalism, white supremacy, etc (the point where we just need to maybe need to get a new computer). The decaying socio-political structure we’re currently living through, of which technology has risen and dictated, aligns with the “destructive” and “exposed” aspects of glitch. I find the visual output of glitch to often be mesmerizing, chaotic and unrefined. It helps me to embrace the nature of imperfection in my own work. It is a useful tool for storytelling these times, which I do by integrating it into my own 3D, video and live visual work. While things may feel apocalyptic, perhaps the destruction and “glitching” of the system must happen to reshape a much healthier future, in which we overcome the societal viruses that cause us to be having all these glitches in the first place.
eccchobunny @ Vimeo
eccchobunny @ Instagram
<3
Hope you enjoyed this longer missive. I'm trying to push into longer writing but I don't know if I'll always have it. But when I do--you get it. (P.S.: One of the things I'm trying to improve upon IS answering your emails. Hoping to get to many of them soon, but email correspondence is still something I'm trying to aestheticize.)
Boom!