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Anti-resolutions

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  1. unhurt
    Member

    Already making productive, go-getting resolutions for 2018? Well, don't. Read this instead then go for a nice ride.

    "I often see [rule 2] like, “Ten Habits I Have QUIT to Get More Done,” and I think, “Maybe quit writing posts like this.” If you’re waking up at 4 a.m. to write 1,000 words about how you write 1,000 words every day, what are you actually getting done? Just stay in bed. Whenever I am back in the Protestant centers of modern capitalism (New York or London, basically), it’s especially jarring to remember what it feels like to treat being busy as if it were a virtue."

    Posted 6 years ago #

  2. gembo
    Member

    Life would be easy if we did one thing properly and then did another thing properly instead of lots of things sub optimally.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  3. dougal
    Member

    I dunno about easier. I'd never get anything done if I had to get it done to my own standards of pedantic perfection!

    Posted 6 years ago #

  4. chdot
    Admin

    From link -

    “

    My personal rule is that if you aren’t quite certain that a certain action will be good for you and the world, you shouldn’t do it.

    “

    That of course contains an internal difficulty.

    It’s easy (for some people) to believe that doing what they do is good for them and, with luck, the rest of the world too (they may be right).

    ‘Good for the world’ is definitely more problematic.

    This will of course justify getting a new bike instead of a new car.

    People in ‘the west’ sending their unwanted clothes to ‘less fortunate parts of the world’ may have unexpected/unwanted consequences.

    Not buying “stuff” is probably good for the world, though perhaps less so for those relying on the wages that result from making/doing stuff.

    Still, better to think about these things than saying “make America great again” or “Brexit will result in wonderful opportunities”.

    Happy New Year.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  5. chdot
    Admin

    “Life would be easy if we did one thing properly and then did another thing properly instead of lots of things sub optimally.”

    “I dunno about easier. I'd never get anything done if I had to get it done to my own standards of pedantic perfection!”

    This really is one of life’s dilemmas.

    I blame parents/education systems that encourage/demand things to be done properly AND FINISHED.

    Fine if you have the capabilities, temperament or obsessive nature.

    If you don’t, then feelings of failure and the consequent personal problems are all too common.

    Consequently many people give up or don’t try things - some of which they might be good at or like doing.

    Some people excel at things because they are unusually talented or dedicated (which may or may not be by choice).

    This is often held up to others as ‘see what you could do, if you tried’...

    I am uncomfortable with the idea of ‘doing things outside your comfort zone’, but recognise that it can have positive results.

    There is no simple/straightforward/easy ‘must do’.

    Personal choice (or not?)

    Posted 6 years ago #

  6. chdot
    Admin

    “

    You can't always get what you want
    But if you try sometimes, yeah
    You might find you get what you need!

    “

    Posted 6 years ago #

  7. unhurt
    Member

    @dougal I tend to procrastinate because if I don't start something I can't fail to do it perfectly. So I really like this quote (about writing but more widely applicable):

    “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft." Anne Lamott

    Ive been trying to let go and get on with actually living the [does rule 2 apply to soft swear words from quotations?] first draft of my life.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  8. LaidBack
    Member

    Many activities are 'works in progress'.
    If you are doing something new all that matters is that you are 'doing it'. This is a 100% improvement from 'not doing it'.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  9. Rosie
    Member

    To quote Chesterton, "If a thing is worth doing it's worth doing badly." I do various things badly - music, gardening, cycling - & yet it is so much better than not doing them.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  10. unhurt
    Member

    Hmm, despite my resolve not to make resolutions I do seem to have resolved to keep track of how many days this year I get on a bike. Not to try to change that figure - but since observation affects outcome... Essentially I have broken my non-resolving resolution in record time.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  11. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @unhurt

    You have hit on the essence of Christmas? The realisation that indolence in the company of the tolerable is worth more than any material object?

    I have recently started worrying that I might be an Augustinian. This is not the worst worry?

    Posted 6 years ago #

  12. sallyhinch
    Member

    Interesting thing* on the radio this morning about the rise in perfectionist tendencies among the younger generations. Strongly correlated with depression, anxiety etc. So once more CCE is in the vanguard of modern thought

    * I say interesting - it was the Today programme so they have 5 minutes, only two of which was the researcher attempting to say something nuanced about their research, the rest of the air time taken up by someone who had written a vaguely related book and the interviewer cutting everyone off. But reading between the lines, something interesting at the back of it.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  13. chdot
    Admin

    “So once more CCE is in the vanguard of modern thought”

    Don’t know if that is good or bad!(?)

    Posted 6 years ago #

  14. chdot
    Admin

    “Strongly correlated with depression, anxiety etc.”

    At least ‘we’ know that cycling can help.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  15. unhurt
    Member

    Good old Augustine of .

    @sallyhinch Everything you've *'d is a perfect summary of every Today programme

    Posted 6 years ago #

  16. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    * I was an habitual Today listener until 07h30 on the 24th of June 2016.

    At that point the scales finally fell. It was just bourgeois London babbling to bourgeois London about bourgeois London. Maybe that's changed but I'm done.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  17. gembo
    Member

    @Iwrats, did you not wait until after the news? The sports guy is usually OK, Gary Richardson I think is his name.

    the parents of Frank Partridge who used to read the news on radio four used to live in north uist which I found weird. I used to listen to radio four through the day on north uist when I went up in the winter, until I wanted to puke. But then next day I would still listen to it.

    Some quite good radio four moments over Xmas (IWRATS comments about Today do pretty much cover the whole channel) my favourite being Satchmo on desert island discs. Still available on iplayer, I implore anyone to listen to that. Then more niche but the old comedian, long dead Peter Jones getting buzzed on Just a minute and muttering I don't think this format is right for many of my stories..

    Posted 6 years ago #

  18. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @gembo

    Kenneth Williams' 'cult figure' rant on Just a Minute was one of the funniest things I've ever heard. Not that I'd want to hear it again. In the context of the time it was genius.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  19. gembo
    Member

    Was nice to hear Linda Smith the original ship's computer on red dwarf. On the spliced together show. She was a human being. Williams always challenging to today's listeners (e.g. I think we should have more women on the show). He tried to dismiss Peter Jones another human being but could not get him on hesistation, deviation or repetition so he went for accusing him of being Dreary. Jones mutters That never stopped anyone on this show.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  20. Cyclingmollie
    Member

    I have recently started worrying that I might be an Augustinian.

    St Augustine, what a waste of a great brain.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  21. dessert rat
    Member

    @ Gembo

    The sports guy is usually OK, Gary Richardson I think is his name.

    OK ?? He is awful - nothing on the radio, other than Chris Moyles, makes me detune faster.

    wrt Moyles - i can not comprehend the appeal.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  22. gembo
    Member

    @iain McR, just so I am sure, are you saying you do not like Gary?

    Posted 6 years ago #

  23. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    St Augustine, what a waste of a great brain.

    True, but CCE only started in 2009.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  24. dessert rat
    Member

    @ Gembo - ooooooh I get to use my childish pie chart again!

    I think he is great.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  25. sallyhinch
    Member

    When I had a proper job and had trains to catch, the Today programme was invaluable because you always knew exactly what time it was without looking at your watch. Now that I no longer need it for timekeeping purposes I mostly turn it on just so I can have the pleasure of turning Jacob Rees Mogg off in mid sentence.

    The rest of the R4 output is much better as long as you avoid question time, any questions, you and yours, the moral maze and the drama (so probably most of it). The only news programme I actually enjoy is PM because Eddie Mair actually listens to what people are saying, which makes him a devastating interviewer when he wants to be and a very sympathetic interviewer of non politicians. He didn't cover himself with glory the once time cycling came up though, which took a bit of the shine off.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  26. gembo
    Member

    @iainmcr, I saw a similar green red pie chart on Facebook asking Will my children tidy up? Like it. Though your one won't work with the second commonest form of colour blindness and mine won't work with the most common form of colour blindness ( though how I am googling)
    From Google - colour blindness more complicated than I remember
    @sallyhinch Eddie Mair is very good.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  27. steveo
    Member

    Was nice to hear Linda Smith the original ship's computer on red dwarf.

    You sure, she looks nothing like Norman Lovett

    Posted 6 years ago #

  28. gembo
    Member

    @steveo, :-) though very sadly Norman came aboard after Linda died.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  29. steveo
    Member

    I can't listen to Steve Wright, makes my blood boil for reasons I can't entirely articulate. This is not ideal when I'm driving.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  30. steveo
    Member

    @steveo, :-) though very sadly Norman came aboard after Linda died.

    Ah, don't know my dwarf history as well as I should for round here. :D

    Posted 6 years ago #

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