Fun Friday Resources

It has come to this. Rather than a bunch of actually fun resources, I’m going to give you a list of online articles about ::gasp:: productivity.

Approach with caution.

“The Best Way to Boost Your Productivity Without Even Trying,” by Jandra Sutton (whom I follow on Twitter and who follows me, he bragged) is a good place to start. Most articles boosting your productivity are focused on the business world, and Jandra’s article is no exception. But her advice is good, and I like the Coin Flip strategy.

Side story: my burn theme camp is 3 Old Men, and our shtick is a large labyrinth with four entrances. During our ritual, a participant can choose which exit to take from the center, three of which lead to an Old Man. One of the Old Men will offer you a blessing; another will ask a blessing of you; and the third offers a “struggle,” which can take many forms.

One burn I had obtained a coin from the intertubes, one side of which said “HELL YES” and the other of which said “F*** YES.” My plan was to challenge the participant to think of a yes/no question that was important to them there at the burn, then call it heads for yes and tails for no (which makes no sense if you think about it).

The very first time I offered this “struggle,” the young man thought seriously, called tails (for no), and then visibly blanched when the coin came up yes. I showed him both sides of the coin and pointed out that the asking of the question was the point. Still agitated, he began to walk away, then came back to me and said, “The question I asked was, ‘Should I stay with my wife?’”

Jebus. We had to have a chat.

The point is, that the Coin Flip is valid practice.

In “10 Foundational Practices for a Good Life,” Scott Young gives us a rather aspirational list. He’s not wrong about any of it, but I suspect that if we had the discipline to pull off all ten practices, we wouldn’t be as stalled out in our creative life as we all seem to be. But his recommendation of David Allen’s Getting Things Done is not amiss, and of course Always Have a Major Project is halfway to Lichtenbergianism. (I will say that phrases like “upgrade your life” always give me the willies.)

Jenna Avery, also a good follow on Twitter, writes over at Final Draft “7 Creative Strategies to Survive ‘Distance Learning’ and Keep Writing This Fall.” It’s aimed at writers in general and parents in particular, but the advice works for painters and cocktail enthusiasts as well. In the Lichtenbergian framework, most of it’s going to fall under RITUAL, and Be Generous With Yourself is the best advice any of us can get right about now.

Okay, one fun one: Focusli, a background sound generator. It’s rather robust with source sounds, and you can mix and match in an infinite number of ways. If nothing else, you can bring a little calm (or a little busy street life) into your working space.

Hang in there.