As I was looking to write, I thought of Rihanna’s song “Shut up and drive”, as as it captures jumping out of an analysis paralysis phase and pulls you into action. A quick search showed me that there is a Shut Up & Write community.
Ecclesiastes said it so many years ago, and it made me think again. There is nothing new under the sun, just things we yet have to discover.
Without setting out what the goal is, it is very hard to know whether you are on track or even when you have done enough.
The world is hardly straightforward, and there is more that contributes to your success than only your own efforts. However, being clear on what needs to be done will help us better appreciate the lucky breaks, recognize the patterns, and act with haste.
That way, we can move closer to our destination, working with and maximizing the effects of our environment.
We are likely to defer working a task which is due later than the one that is due now. We put a singular focus on that task to make sure it is done.
While this is good, the focus on the short term can affect long-term goals if we are not careful. What, then, should one do?
Instead of fighting it, we could break the long term goal down into a series of steps, each with a deadline which is close enough to keep us on track. That way, we can leverage the same deadline rush to achieve both short and long-term goals.
We see it often in sports. A team might look down and out during the first half of the game, but come back strongly in the second half to make the game close, or even snatch victory.
Similarly in life, it is worthwhile to take a break from a hard problem. Then, when we return to the table to relook it, we might appreciate different perspectives that help us in solving the problem.
To move faster, we might be tempted to cut out the breaks. But the break just might be our superpower.
The saying that no man is an island is true on many fronts. We only create meaning through our interactions with others, our role in life, from birth to death, is defined by relationships.
In writing, I have also found value in having a second set of eyes, someone to review and flag the obvious errors I might have overlooked.
Sometimes that person is me, reviewing my own work later. And it has never failed to help in improving the first draft.
Random Walks 