Skimming over notes about decision razors yesterday, I stumbled back across the 'Lion Razor'. 'If you have the choice, always choose to sprint and then rest' Which broadly describes a lot of how I work. It's not always the case, and not always healthy to do things that way, but I definitely tend to be either 'on' or 'off'. It loops back to a few things I've written on here before:
- The Four-Hour 'Rule' -- the idea that we only have so many hours of good, effective work in us per day, so using them intentionally and well is better than dripping yourself out over the day.
- Timeboxing -- including the idea of 'fixed-schedule productivity' and the Parkinson Principle. Curtailing the time in which you plan to work can be far more effective than assigning more time to it and using it all less effectively.
- Enabling Deep Work and Time Models in general. My deep-work schedules aren't suitable all the time, both due to the specifics of the work and also just where my energy is at on any given day. But it's turned many mediocre works days into excellent ones when deployed effectively.
On that last point, actually -- I do have various tools and systems for getting the work done when I feel like How to Write When You Can't|I just can't. That's part of any job, and certainly part of Being Creative Uphill|doing creativity as a job. It pays (literally) to know how to push yourself through when you're struggling.
But also: it's important to know when that's necessary, and whether it's a good idea or not, even if you can. I definitely feel the effects when I'm working against myself like that. There's a cost, and it comes due. Sometimes, that's the better way of doing things. Sometimes, you have no choice. But other times, it's better just to stop for a while.
(Also Cassandra's latest newsletter, Trust the Process, spoke me to a great deal on this.)