Balance

I have been writing fewer Columns lately. Some of the things I used to write about on here have transitioned into my Notes. Below are an excerpts from a few notes that would have been Column topics in years passed.

Of course, the beauty of having a hobby like this is that I owe a new post to exactly nobody. Especially not Nick1.

A Sampling of Notes

Productivity isn’t Inherently Good

At some point approaching adulthood you came to the overly simplistic fundamental assumption: ”Productivity is Good”.
This is true sometimes, but there is nothing inherently good2 about productivity. Sure, if you’re productive, then by definition you produce a result… but results aren’t inherently good. Even “good results” aren’t always good.

Does the “productive activity” make you happy?
Is the result actually necessary?
Does the result make you happy?
Does it make the world better?

When you want to be productive and can’t, then it feels like “productivity is good”, but that ignores the question of why do you want to be productive in the first place?

Productivity is bad if:

  • you’re not enjoying the process, and the results aren’t outweighing that
  • because the results are unnecessary
  • because the results are bad
  • achieving results that are worth the 3 Personal Resources you’re using and that result cannot be achieved via more enjoyable

Productivity is good if:

  • The results are truly worth the suck
  • If the process doesn’t suck and the results are okay

Productivity is great if:

  • The results are good, and the process is enjoyable

Brutal and Relentless

Person A: “be kind, everyone is fighting their own battles.
Person B: “why would I be kind? I will be brutal and relentless and ride into battle by their side.”

Control Your (blank) or Your (black) will Control You

A surprisingly common turn of phrase that I have come across in my reading is:

Control your (blank) or your (blank) will control you

Where that blank is filled with:

Although I don’t specifically ever seeing these in this context, I feel like several books I’ve read could be summarized in this way:

Endnotes

I honestly dunno if this sort of Column is at all interesting. After having done the work to copy/paste the above, meh. Maybe I’ll just write about non-noteworthy things.

Non-Noteworthy Things

The weather is nice. Allergies are not.

Dune 2 was great.

I told a good joke today. The punch line was “You can have Juan, but not the other”. I’ll leave it to your imagination to fill in the run-up. Frankly any setup would work. Dynamite punch line. I had to stop myself from fist-pumping all over the room.

Top 9: XoX

I’m not sure why I wanted to make this.

9. 909 - Area Code for San Bernardino

8. 808 - Old Drum Machine

7. 707 - Airplane

6. 606 - Bloomingdale Trail

5. 505 - Green Chiles

4. 404 - Page Not Found Error

3. 303 - British 7.7mm rifle cartridge

2. 202 - School District for Turner, Kansas

1. 101 - Basic Class on Whatever Subject

BONUS ROUND:

AOA - Analysis of Alternatives

BOB - Name

DOD - Department of Defense

EOE - Equal Opportunity Employer - Thanks D

IOI - Five, in binary - Thanks D

LOL - Laugh Out Loud

MOM - Best Person Ever

NON - Prefix meaning “not”

OOO - Out of Office

POP - person you should not hop on

SOS - HELP!

TOT - what a tater turns into

WOW - what a list I’ve made!

XOX - kisses and a hug

Quote:

Honesty means telling the true.  My oldest, where the “h” in honesty isn’t silent

Footnotes

  1.  Thanks for reading, though

  2. Or bad… but who’s arguing that?