Climbing through the window
"Making things harder" might be the best option
Pretty much every productivity expert urges you to focus on one project at time. I, on the other hand, prefer to teeter on the brink of overload at all times, which is why this newsletter exists. I honestly find that having only a single project is less productive for me overall than juggling multiple. That said, I do have a loose system to tame the chaos: each week there is one primary project and one secondary project.
Primary projects are the priority during "regular" work days but if I'm stuck, or bored, or just feel overwhelming like doing something else then I do the secondary project. This week the primary focus was The Song of The Fae and this newsletter was the second. Lately the lineup has been rotating between game development, writing, making videos, freelance work, meditation, open source library dev, generative art and general research. Next week onwards it's going to be different again.
I find that bouncing around between projects keeps me in creative flow. Ideas from one project will mix with the problems of another, letting me consider the task in a different light. I think I'm pretty good at examining, monitoring and tuning this process after doing it for most of my life. I've tried variations, different time intervals etc. but this seems like the best fit. As I mentioned in Challenge and flow, my enjoyment of a task is strongly correlated to the challenge it poses and I seem to acclimate to new challenges quickly. I can be in over my head at the start of a week but I've usually tamed the problem by the weekend, and I'll be dragging my feet after a few weeks1.
In a regular 9-5 environment this mentality can be... a problem. I've always worked on side projects outside work, but you can't exactly switch it up in the middle of a salaried workday. As a result, I've developed a degree of shame regarding my boredom with work. It feels like an embarrassing weakness in the office to be too bored with a problem to actually work on it (though I suspect I am far from alone in this experience). I've compensated for this by working in roles with a wide focus: design, programming, project management and mentorship but, despite these efforts, the spectre of stagnation continues to loom over me.
There's a Dr. K2 video that touches on this problem directly. He himself prefers working on 2-3 concurrent projects so he can move between them without getting bored, and as a result he is a practicing Psychiatrist, develops his own online courses and broadcasts on Twitch. This was the first time I'd seen someone "credible" adopting the same strategy as me and succeeding, and it felt comforting to know that perhaps it wasn't strictly a disadvantage.
It might sound like I'm simply “lacking focus” but I have delivered many multi-year, self-directed projects while working in my bursty, chaotic fashion. I have systematised a response to boredom by structuring my work in a way that boosts my interest. In fact, rather than optimising for work output I am actively optimising for interest itself (and output is a lagging measure of interest).
In a recent issue of his Extra Focus Newsletter, Jesse Anderson sketches out the "The 4 C’s of Motivation", drawing on the concept of an “interest-based nervous system” as a model for ADHD3 from Dr. William Dodson. Here are the four C’s: Captivate, Create, Compete, Complete.
Captivate: make it fascinating4
for me: learn something new (+1 if I get paid to do it)
Create: make it creative or novel
for me: imagine, draw, design something
Compete: make it competitive or challenging
for me: more complexity, more responsibility, higher stakes
Complete: make it urgent
for me: I try to avoid this as I find it unpleasant
I am unsure of any non-anecdotal evidence for the effectiveness of this system, but I like this because it conforms to my existing thinking5. I would say I'm a little over-reliant on Create as a motivator, but I managed to unintentionally use Complete this week to cram a full day's work into 2 hours of hyperfocus. It seems that I have implicitly and explicitly used all four C’s throughout my life without ever putting a name to them6.
Ironically, having a toolset like this gives me a meta-problem on top of all my other problems: how does one maximise their motivation while doing it all. This, though, feels like an exploit for my thinking style. I love a challenge and this is very challenging problem. So far it seems that playing this particular optimisation game means both my daily schedule and the route my life takes might look a little different to the “norm”. It’s taken a couple frustrating decades of learning and accepting my nature, but it does feel like I’m starting to get the hang of it7. I’ve often ruminated on the fact my behaviour can be so needlessly convoluted. Why am I always climbing through windows instead of walking through the front door? Why is my approach punctuated by loops, switchbacks and so many naps? I think it’s because I’m an explorer by nature. Rather than pursuing a single-minded goal, I prefer to map the territory and leave the rest to others8. It took a while to see that.
I'm finding peace lately in “trusting the process”, allowing the self-development to accrue in the background as it always seems to (so long as I keep checking in with it). I have a sense that everything I’m working on and thinking about is building towards something, but it’s still blurry. Hopefully it's good when it comes into focus.
Until next time,
✌️ Ben
Stuff I’ve been thinking about
🎥 Balaji Srinivasan with Tim Ferris
📄 Soulbinding like a state by Gordon Brander
📄 The Power of the Bittersweet: Susan Cain on Longing as the Fulcrum of Creativity by Maria Popova
📄 That which is unique, breaks by Simon Sariss
🎥 A Sensible Introduction to Category Theory
🎥 Ido Portal with Andrew Huberman
This is at least part of my draw to sprint or mission driven approaches to project management, it fits my motivation style
I’ve always been fascinated by Dr. K’s whole operation, I don't always agree with his presentation style but it seems like he genuinely helps many people.
I have not been diagnosed with ADHD
I changed it from "interesting" to "fascinating" to fit with my earlier use of the word interesting.
It's nice to feel smart, okay?
This happens to me a lot, I can be blind to patterns when I’m looking too closely
Pride comes before the fall
There’s nothing wrong with big goals, but I am fundamentally “in love with reality” more than any of the pursuits it offers.