š« Finding inspiration again
š« Finding inspiration again
vol. 4 // recalibrating // essays on the blockchain
Happy Saturday!
This month marked the start of my masterās coursework, and turns out writing & side projects are much easier when you have two months of break. Nevertheless, the past few weeks have been a good wake-up call for me to reevaluate how I spend my time. I found myself maxing out to-doās with little break to evaluate if I was finding joy in what I was doing: a fast-pass to burnout. When time is dictated by tasks that feel obligatory, it can become difficult to find inspiration.
Even though I was still reading the same newsletters, following the same people on Twitter, and reading the same books, I didnāt find as many ideas from what I consumed as I was when I was in a free creative mindset. It felt like I would consume the content only to know that I have to switch back to work right after. I wasnāt coming up with many ideas, and I didnāt feel any urge to write or produce more work.
Although I believe that action can fuel motivation, I think that an initial spark of inspiration helps with open-ended creativity. An idea that has stuck with me is the idea of making time to follow your inspiration, as time is abundant and inspiration is fleeting. The exact quote from the Indie Hackers podcast is below:
āI think, for me, inspiration is hugely effective in terms of, you know, I use it as a productivity multiplier in a sense, but itās perishable, right?
And so, it doesn't last forever. And so for me, taking advantage of that inspiration is hugely important. And so I continually prioritize a clear calendar and freedom to be able to act on my ideas as they come.ā āJames Traf
With full schedules, the ability to act on ideas as they come becomes difficult, and those great ideas come far and fewer in between. My task now is to spark back the optimism and curiosity that drove me to begin writing and producing in the first place. Although that natural spark still feels somewhat random, Iām hoping to explore how consuming different content forms and creating different schedules may help.
In the meantime, enjoy the slightly shorter issue for this week!
š« Life updates
To be completely honest, I pushed a few commits on my Best of Your Twitter project and didnāt do much else side project wise. In an effort to get creativity flowing again, Iām aiming to read & write more. Some goals for the next two weeks:
Finish reading āThe Handmaidās Taleā
Finish reading āAmusing Ourselves to Deathā by Neil Postman
Write on opportunities in decentralization
Write something inspired by the Rehoboam from Westworld
š« Digital serendipity
Curiosity provoking content & ideas from the last few weeks:
A new platform for writing: mirror.xyz. Built on a crypto network, Mirror aims to transform how we write. With all the censorship weāve seen from centralized platforms recently, itāll be interesting to see how Mirror may popularize decentralized networks and create a novel way to monetize writing and invest in it.
Essay (audio version included) on āWhat Did We Lose When We Lost the Stars?ā. With most writing being optimized for short attention spans, long-form essays like the ones in The Convivial Society are a treat to find. This one touches on a phenomenon that often goes unnoticed: the disappearance of the stars in our night sky.
This meme. Although Iāve gotten better at letting myself take breaks, the ācapitalist definitions of worthā have been tough to shake off. Itās difficult to value activities that have no clear utility when creating capital value is all people seem to care about online. Like with this Substack, how do I focus on the work itself without emphasis on the outcomes?
Thatās all for this issue! If you got this far thanks for joining; feel free to respond to this email. Otherwise, wishing you wellness in the next few weeks.
āVadiniĀ
