I spend a lot of time online for non-writing-related work, and on the way to serious business I run across a lot of interesting things. It’s Monday, so here’s a calming fascinating visualization of The Internet and its growth from 1997 to 2021. (Actually, you know what? This isn’t calming at all. I updated the wording but now I’m worried this is going to give small children nightmares. Or maybe me. Still interesting though.)
Look closely enough and you might see sledding pandas and cat videos and recipes and sales and news and art and perhaps even yours truly.
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Parts of the internet are pure entertainment and too many are just awful but others include useful lessons on How to Do Better.
You may remember my motto, A Posse Ad Esse.* I don’t always achieve this goal, but I spend a non-zero amount of time trying to Do Better. Find ways to be more productive, to end the day feeling like I crossed off, if not everything, then the most important things on my list.
That’s been a challenge the past year or, hmm, so. That’s partly why I’m going back to writer’s guides like Swain. It’s also why when I run across articles about grit or new research on how to accomplish more, I take a minute and peruse.
Lately, I’ve found this recent research in Applied Psychology: An International Review helpful. (Ok, fine, I found this article and its summary of those results helpful. I don’t have access to that journal and honestly, reading every interesting scientific study would cut into my cat video time**;)
What did they find? That when working to accomplish something, it’s useful to ask yourself a few specific questions:
- What’s my goal?
- How would a person who is good at this achieve the goal?
- How will I feel if I don’t do this?
- What is the first (or next) thing I need to do?
It helps to take a brief break, a couple of times a day, to step back and revisit what you’re trying to do and what needs to happen next. And as “with advertising, repeated exposure was key.” So asking these questions a couple of times a day can help prompt a quick moment of self-reflection that (here’s the useful bit) actually leads to action. I have my Calendar app set to pop up these questions first thing in the morning. So far it’s been helpful.
Let’s try it:
- What’s my goal? Write this post.
- How would a person who is good at this achieve the goal? Probably stop procrastinating and start writing, so that’s what I’ll do.
- How will I feel if I don’t do this? Lame.
- What do I need to do next? Open a file and start writing.
And look, here we are! Now I get to cross this off my list and go have lunch. Have fun getting things done today!
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“A majority of life’s errors are caused by forgetting what one is really trying to do.”
— Charlie Munger
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* My Latin is 110% terrible so this may not be exactly right, but it gets the point across.
** I don’t actually watch cat videos much, but it’s nice to know that I could.
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J.R. Johnson 
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