Two minutes before a Zoom meeting
Why do I do this? / Issue 1,477
Oh, hi friends!
I recently noticed I was trying to do stuff during irresponsible times.
It’s a small thing, but I was checking my email during random times — say, two minutes before a Zoom meeting.
I knew I wouldn’t have the brain space or time to respond, yet I’d read the email anyway.
My brain does not like this.
Because not only would I create and not close a loop — I would not answer the note, give it considered thought, file it correctly, or even read it all the way through — but I was allowing the open loop to poop on the rest of my day.
I was creating a swift undercurrent to my thoughts, when all I want is stillness.
And I was creating something to return to.
Yet my brain, and maybe yours too, loves the new and novel more than anything.
So I would resist returning, and things pile up.
(Same thing happens if I don’t have enough time to read something important, or fix a little broken doodad, or go down a research rabbit hole.)
So now I’m trying to look at, introduce, or start something when I know I have the space to contain it.
(Maybe this is a sequel to Monday’s newsletter on Containers? Brain containers!)
This is also a twin attempt to only do one thing at a time, which is a forever goal.
So that’s my mulling for today:
What would happen if you brought things into your mind only when you have the space to completely handle them?
My brain doesn’t like not closing the loop either. Sometimes I read an email or a little snippet of something as a reward after I complete an arduous task. But the worst is when I read an email to procrastinate working on the hard stuff
Wow I do this all the time!! Thank you for helping me recognize one big way I'm doing myself a disservice throughout my day!