Today's Brass Ring Daily
Oh, hi friends!
I love a strategy.
And by “strategy” I mean a random rule I assign to my work life that seems to stick...for a while.
For months, I was obsessed with email batching.
I didn’t open or respond to any emails in the morning (unless they were directly related to something I was working on) and then only checked and responded to emails at 1pm and 4:30pm. I felt much less reactive and able to focus on other tasks — and, strangely enough, I always got back to people much faster.
Then there was that time I ran a mile a day for a few months.
Oh, and that phase of time blocking, when I would turn on a timer and race against the clock.
I can’t forget my writing playlist either. I repeated the same five instrumental songs while editing or writing. For years.
These strategies were all extremely helpful — so helpful, in fact, that I stopped consciously doing them.
Isn’t that how it goes? Other routines change or we think our patterns are so firmly established that we don’t need reminders.
This is a little nudge to myself: You can go back to the things that worked before. In fact, you should!
I could even cut them in half to start. Batch emails for half a day. Ran half a mile. Time block for one hour. Start one song in the morning. Anything to lock me in to the memory of these building blocks.
Is there a strategy that’s worked for you in the past that you can dust off this week?
I loved this article/screed by Jerry Seinfeld about how New York is not dead (thanks to Fam VDH and Mr. Macdonald for sending). But I especially loved someone named Old Yeller in the comment section, making Jerry’s case in the sweetest way. The little moments are the ones you remember the most.
Also, should we start using the word "crumby" more often?
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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