Let’s begin with the latest issue of The Imperfectionist by Oliver Burkeman in which he shares perhaps the most universal principle of time management: we only have the capacity for three to four hours of serious focus every day. There’s a lot in this essay that speaks to me but it’s these few sentences that most stand out:
“The truly valuable skill here isn’t the capacity to push yourself harder, but to stop and recuperate despite the discomfort of knowing that work remains unfinished, emails unanswered, other people’s demands unfulfilled.”
In Declinism: how rosy retrospection impacts decision-making, Anne-Laure Le Cunff explains how memory biases can cloud our ability to make good decisions and what we can do to avoid falling into that trap.
Adam Grant helps us name that meh feeling that most of us have experienced over the past year; it’s languishing, the forgotten mid-point of mental health.
These 10 tips for digital spring cleaning provide a good prompt to declutter our digital lives, not only in the hope of finding more focus but also initiating some improved digital hygiene for the long term.
On a related theme, while catching up on the latest from The Creative Independent, I stumbled on their collection of resources exploring the question how do you use the Internet mindfully? It hasn’t been updated in a while, but there’s some interesting links to follow nonetheless (and unfortunately a few dead ones).
This week marks the return of Poetry Unbound for a third season. This description from the On Being website really sums it up perfectly in two sentences: “An immersive reading of a single poem, guided by Pádraig Ó Tuama. Unhurried, contemplative and energizing.” I find the relatively short episodes meditative and a good excuse to slow down for a few minutes during the week.
Useful tool
readng is pitching itself as an alternative to Goodreads. It’s still in beta and new features are being added all the time. There’s a way to go but it’s certainly got potential. I’ve been using it to keep track of the books I’ve read and want to read since the start of the year. If you give it a try, be sure to add me as a friend.
Featured image by John Schaidler on Unsplash
