Inadvertently Seinfeld...

Via Lifehacker, there is a post on Jerry Seinfeld's productivity secret:

He said the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day. But his advice was better than that. He had a gem of a leverage technique he used on himself and you can use it to motivate yourself - even when you don't feel like it.

He then revealed a unique calendar system he was using [to] pressure himself to write.

Here's how it worked.

He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker.

He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. "After a few days you'll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain."

"Don't break the chain." He said again for emphasis.

I wish I could say I've used such a system in many areas. Alas, I cannot. But I can say that I began using such a system with my LiveJournal back at the beginning of August 2000, except that instead of looking at red Xs, I looked at the monthly calendar, which showed the days on which a post was made.

There was no system in my thoughts, then. There was only a curiosity as to whether I could post something about what caught my eye on every day of a month, and how hard it would be. I think by the last ten days of the month, I realized the goal was eminently achievable and that it wasn't hard at all. The rest has been glide path, mostly.

I've mentioned before that I've noticed how regular posting in my LJ has made it easier to write other things, has helped sharpen my thinking on a variety of subjects, and scratches an itch to write that I've had since high school.

However, the Lifehacker article has raised my consciousness about extending the technique to other areas of interest: learning Spanish, keeping up with my Russian, and other things. I've always known that "inch by inch anything's a cinch," now, I just need to be able to swap in new loads.

Cheers...

Goodbye to old junk...

There's this honest-to-Cthulhu credenza in my old downstairs office in Pagosa that I used to store files that, for some reason or other, I thought I'd refer to from time to time. I even had them organized, to the extent that each file folder was numbered and there was a file - now long lost - on my computer that held the keys as to what was in each file.

Needless to say, with very rare exceptions, i.e., when I was looking for something that I knew was in the credenza (course notes to a public speaking course I took, taught by Jerry Weissman, come to mind), the files sort of sat there, and for a while, were inaccessible owing to there being a pile of boxes in front of the drawers.

Well, it would appear Galina brought most of the files to Houston, and I've spent the day putting off important things - like figuring out how behind this one client is in paying me - to go through a few boxes of memories.

What kind of junk have I been throwing out?

Introduction to Knowledge-Based System Technology, by a bunch of colleagues from a former employer of mine.

Writing International Applications for Windows 3.0

National Language Information and Design Guide: Designing Enabled Products, Rules, and Guidelines

Mars Mission Planning and Surface Systems

Borland product fact sheets, some number of which I wrote/revised

A number of drafts of reviewer's guides, white papers, FAQs, etc. for Borland language products (Turbo/Borland Pascal, Turbo/Borland C++, et al.) written by moi

Strange to say, I've also unearthed a number of files that I'm not too keen on parting with (including a 1-inch-thick file of manuscripts that predated my moderate success as a writer on computer topics). There are also a few references that might still be relevant.

Of curious interest are old items of correspondence, such as several letters written to Congresscritters, and a file of correspondence for the year I was a consultant for IBM.

Some items I am loathe to chuck, such as my course notes for a two-day session on C++, taught at UC Santa Cruz by Bjarne Stroustrup himself. (If I had asked him to autograph the notes, perhaps it would be worth something; as it is, all it contains are my scribbled notes, and the contents are likely all available online, so this item is likely a goner once I get my mean streak back.)

* * *I attended what was described as a "summer get-together" last night, sponsored by my best client at the Villa Capri over on the north shore of Clear Lake. Everything went very well, and it's times such as last night that I regret - just a little - that things turned out the way they did in terms of my employment there.

In other news, Natalie brought her friend, Kyle, home last night after a day of hanging out around her favorite Houston haunts. This morning, while I went off to get Yet Another Badge™, they left for Austin, on their way to Pagosa to visit Drew and his family.

My eye just flickered to the clock, and for some reason I am comforted by the fact that it's not as late as I feel it is. Too bad that. Combined with about $3, all the feeling is worth is a latte at Starbucks.

Ah, well. Back to work!

Cheers...