Splintered time vs. chunky time
Oh, hi friends!
I can’t answer emails at lunch. I’ve known this for 10 years. If you’re eating at your desk (something I refuse to do when I’m in an office FYI) your food is in front of the keyboard. You can’t type. But you might find yourself reading emails because that’s an “easy” activity, right? Except you can’t respond.
You’re almost doing something. But not quite.
Because the best way I’ve found to actually get stuff done every day is this: Work on a task once — and only when you have time to finish.
That means opening an article when you know you can read it. Writing the lede of a story when you have time to start the second paragraph. Transcribing an hourlong interview when you can knock out the whole thing. Clicking “compose” when you can type the entire message.
But where will I find the time!! These giant chunks of time!!!
It’s weird but...they’re already there? It’s hard to see when they’re splintered up into these half-tasks. (Half-assed tasks?)
The more I commit to chunks of time, the more I realize: Tasks feel shorter when you do them all at once.
“I worship at the altar of intention and obstacle. Somebody wants something, and something is standing in their way of getting it. They want the money; they want the girl; they want to get to Philadelphia. Then the obstacle to that has to be formidable, and the tactics they use to overcome that obstacle are what shows us the character.”
Screenwriting and playwriting advice from Aaron Sorkin, delivered in this conversation from March. This pretty much sums up everything in four sentences.
Do You Think I’m Cute?
This is Winifred, a baby aye-aye born in June at the Duke Lemur Center. Don’t be scared. This is what aye-ayes are supposed to look like. I just thought you should know. The Lemur Center is one of my favorite accounts on Instagram — who doesn’t love a lemur?
But today I’m going to walk with all the confidence and curiosity of a baby aye-aye who knows exactly who she is and why she's in this world. I hope you do too!!
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You can also support my work by pre-ordering my motivational journal Do It For Yourself, coming out in the world on September 8.
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara