Shiny New Things

When I started this blog, I set a goal for myself to publish two posts every week for the rest of 2019, with no exception. I filled in the Shipit Journal, setup a daily habit of writing and made concrete times on when to publish.

Then came summer. For over five weeks I have spent time with the family, travelling and spending a lot of time outdoors. This summer I did a deliberate downscale on digital, inspired by Cal Newports new book on the topic. No computer, no 24h-tracking of my heartrate and sleep, phone left in the cabin/room most of the time.

That was a choice I made. It obviously made it much harder for me to fulfill my goal of this blog, but somehow that insight didn’t reach me until I had missed quite a few of my planned blog posts. A growing feeling of letting someone down. Letting myself down. I still feel bad for it, even if I am the only one who cares about that goal.

I had a clear goal (publish to this blog), and yet jumped on another shiny new thing (Digital Minimalism) without much reflection of how one would affect the other. I see this behaviour in myself and others, both in individuals and in organisations. Yes, we are doing A. And now we will also start doing B.

In retrospect, I should have spent some time reflecting over my decision to experiment on digital minimalism over the summer. Can it be be done while pursuing my other goals? Do I need to adjust my current goals and priorities? Can I change some of my habits to keep my current goal while also doing this? I did nothing of this, I just started.

Regardless of the decision, I would have been clear on priorities, spending my days without that nagging feeling that I failed. That would have been worth a lot.

Reviewing your project list regularly and adjusting it to reflect your priorities is a great way to stay clear about what is important and avoid the busy work that does not move you towards your goal(s).