NO SWIMMING IN THE NOISE: NETWORK TOOLS SHRINK YOUR POTENTIAL
In a world now swimming in a daily endless stream of mind numbingly distracting tools along with the increasingly popular rise ‘shorts’ and ‘reels’, peoples abilities to do anything that requires deep, long term sustained thinking and focus, paying strong attention to detail in a state of energised concentration is diminishing, rapidly. It almost seems now to me that people are voluntarily subscribing to suffer from inattention and idiotism, prescribing themselves with ADHD, rather than trying to cure it, giving their minds, and lives, to tech companies.
A typical day in my life starts by waking up at 5:30am. Then, I have to leave my home to go and earn money to be able to support myself coming home to start my ‘real work’. Therefore, everything on this website is the result of intense efforts made in and around the hours of 7am – 11pm. What this means is my schedule is already maxed out. I therefore cannot accept emails, for that would mean having even less time to read the books that I really need to read.
If you have any questions, first read all of the books I’ve left for you in the books to live your life by section. And re-read them at least once a year, every year, and do that for at least 10-years. I am certain that any questions you think you still need answered will be, and even better than you could have expected. That’s been the case for me.
My goal is to read widely, and study deeply. My hope is that this productivity proposal also inspires you to make the same kind of investment in safeguarding your own time and attention. Being aware of how much attention you spend each day and where so to know where best to spend it. And to focus your life on matters of a far greater, much higher practical importance.
I still have an email account. But I will only check it to see my bills. As my work consumes so much of my attention that I prevent myself from worrying or thinking anything else whilst deeply immersed in my work and I will only let myself even start to begin thinking about other problems in life, after my important work is complete, first.
This then is a “DO NOT DISTURB DUE TO CREATIVE COMMITMENTS” sign. As I’m already extremely engaged with my own life and constantly working and always thinking of new ways and possible solutions that may be of assistance for future generations to come. Our life, and attention, is finite. Which is why I’m limiting my inputs deliberately for the purpose of being able to increase my creative output. This is a letter of instruction to never try contacting me. My mind needs to be 100% distraction free to continue being heavily invested in researching the problems that I find interesting to solve. That is the reason why this blog exists: The goal is to learn and become educated. The best (and only) way to do that is by immersing yourself deeply into a complex world of work for long enough to be able to achieve comprehension and experience insight. Something you can’t do if your attention is split or you are wasting your time trying to solve other peoples problems all day. This blog is a creation through my own efforts born from my own interests and problems in a search for trying to solve them.
If however you still have a problem, or you feel really sure about feeling stuck, here is one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever heard. Follow it too. You don’t need to ask, because the mentor you seek has already answered your question:
“Anytime I have a little dilemma in my life I write a really good description of my dilemma before I reach out to them because I don’t wanna waste their time. So first I write a really good description of the problem. And then I summarise the context, the problem, my options and my thoughts. Because I gotta make this succinct. I don’t wanna send somebody a 20-page long email. And then before I send it to them I try to predict what this person would say. Then I internalize that and I address those points that I’m predicting they would say. And then, after I’ve done that whole process I don’t need to bother them anymore. Because I’ve just done the work of summarising everything and imagining what they would say. So the truth is I haven’t talked to my mentors in years. I also get a lot of emails from people saying like, “Hey Derek, I need a mentor. Will you mentor me?” And this is my answer: “Hi there. It’s all in your head. It’s about summarisation of your situation. Thinking of it from another persons point of view. You can predict what this person would say. If you’re a fan of their books and their podcast and their talks you know what they would probably say so do it yourself. “- DEREK SIVERS.
And I couldn’t agree with this any more. To further that: we are living in the golden age of technological abundance. You have access to right now in your hands what kings of past times could have only ever dreamt off. To not make use of this opportunity is one of the worst decisions you could make in your life. To not know what to do is simply a lack of using your imagination. Books written by authors is their best attempt at curating their best thoughts and putting their best ideas forward. Therefore there is nothing you need to ask, if you follow this process. You just have to want to do all of this hard work yourself. Then do it. Research and read all the books related to your given problem. And continue to follow that process, for a minimum of 10-years.
Currently, my life is organised in a way to support me so I get lots of long, consecutive, uninterrupted blocks of time, in isolation, devoted to these states of contemplation and deep focused thinking. Trying to interfere with my attention is not permitted. All forms of interruption whilst engaged in these tasks is distraction. You are requested not to do so, and warned, I will not respond. All of my time and attention is booked up and scheduled for the next 10-years. Do not ask for it. I know what I want from life and to do it takes up all of my remaining time. If you want to engage with me, unfortunately, I won’t. If you want me to speak, I will decline, or simply ignore the request. This is a commitment to creativity. There are many more, much smarter than me in the endless stream of online content, much of which is in the form of videos, shorts and reels. Something which you will never see any from me at all. Ever. I do not wish to participate in that vast sea of noise. So if you wish to ask, the answer is always no. Do not waste your time trying to reach this line. You will be disconnected, for it is permanently engaged.
Email and constant network communication tools such as social media and group conversations are wildly distractive and through most of my observation over time, completely pointless. It reduces productivity and reduces your attention span, which unfortunately are two of my main key and focus areas of discipline. I’m therefore unable to share it with you. Sorry. But thank you for understanding this move to be more efficient and effective. It helps me to accomplish more in the hope to be able to serve you in the future better.
Have a wonderful day.
Paul.
