There was a time when I was not able to finish any work or project. Days where I would stay looking at the empty page/screen/canvas wondering if my creations would take some kind of form eventually.
I remember that I was used to stopping myself from trying things just because of the fear of never finishing them. It was so easy to feel bad when that happened because I would give so much meaning to the outcome and not getting it would mean a disaster.
But there was one thing that changed the game when I thought that nothing made sense. It was the same variable, or I must say constant, that helped me accomplish all my previous success:
Consistency over the journey and not the destination.
Seems a bit obvious and even cliche, but I must say that when you are afraid of even starting a new journey, the idea of a failed outcome distracts you from what the problem might be.
Let me elaborate a bit. Sometimes, when we focus all our efforts and we wait for enjoying any activity until we see the outcome taking place, we might get frustrated or tired when we feel that there is no joy in taking every step. It feels as every day is a burden and we won’t get happiness until we see that our efforts meant something.
It’s a horrible feeling.
But then, the idea of focusing on consistency in the journey is linked to the idea of creating systems over our tasks. Let’s say that you want to create your own podcast and you think that it will be worth it once you have 10 episodes. The problem here is that everything just makes sense in the future and there is no plan to value what we do right now.
When we focus on being consistent in the present, we may create systems for recording every episode and finding joy and meaning in those tasks. So whenever we are about to record a new episode, we don’t think that the tenth one will be the meaning-making. Instead, we will enjoy setting up our gear, finding topics to discuss, contacting people before every episode, and then, the whole process gives the satisfaction of creating something.
Now, I am pretty aware that I enjoy it much more when I know that my efforts have a direction but these efforts are the ones that mean everything to get there.
Hope you have a wonderful week,
John
Weekly realizations
UpNote - I just found an amazing app called UpNote. It is a note-taking app that works offline, has an amazing editor, and will soon have a Linux client. Seems like a really good option for the ones who care about organization as this one even has notebooks. This was initially shared in the chat group for the app AnyType (a Notion Open Source alternative).
Working out is awesome - For the last two weeks, I wasn’t able to work out as I went through a minor surgery so I’ve realized how important it is to me to work out and spend time doing some physical activities. It was the same feeling as not valuing things until the day we no longer have them. This is a reminder to spend some time doing something else besides working.
Highlight of the week
I moved my website from Github pages to Netlify. It uses the same backend and code but there are many upgrades for the page organization, speed, and overall performance. So I hope my website can give you some value. I work hard to make it the best possible.