Slow Down
Clay Johnson reveals his “super secret weapon” in writing The Information Diet:
With slow bandwidth, I could begin a search on the web, knowing full well it’d take some time, and then get back to writing. It kept me away from bandwidth intensive sites like Facebook. And usually when I was trying to do something counter-productive, I found myself getting frustrated with the web, and taking a walk or stretching instead. So at least my counter-productivity was healthy. Even if I did want to check the land of twitter, I’d have to type in the URL, and wait several minutes for the page to load giving me no other choice but to get back to work.
Brilliant! I installed Network Link Conditioner. I’m pulling my hair out, waiting for pages to load. Every second crawls by as I am forced to focus. Instead of mindlessly surfing the web, I’m actually writing and researching for this post.
In college, Wendy and I rented Season 1 of 24. 24 is an action-packed show, with cliffhangers at every commercial break, betrayals at the end of every episode, and non-stop action in-between. At no point in time did we want to pause it and interrupt the flow.
Yet being mere humans, we needed breaks. We had to eat. We had to pee. We had to stretch our legs, see the sun, even gasp sleep! My insatiable curiosity was at war with my bodily needs.
Who wouldn’t ask for more speed and power, though? I’d love to do what I do with no wait and no crashes. Yep, that’s my dream.
What I want and what I need are two different things. I want everything and I want it done yesterday. But I need to be patient. I need to accept things as they are.
In the end, I need…nothing.
Ajahn Brahm taught me a few tricks to increase patience and mindfulness. In some parts of the world, a bell rings every hour, reminding everyone to appreciate the moment. For those without, he suggests that we do the same whenever the phone rings.
In the same spirit, I appreciate walk signals, lines, and commute times. Each time I am forced to wait, I slow down, get out of my head, and appreciate the wonder of life.
I’m grateful for:
- Wendy’s Maximum Greens Ultra Mega Green dietary supplements, which make my pee highlighter-yellow.
- My extra time, now that my mom is gone and I have retro-internet. I have time to meditate and ponder about what to write!
- Being able to take out the battery from the ticking clock in my room.
- Today being a moon day, so I can take a break.
- Chats with my dad. They just get better every day.