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🚀 Notes on meaning, career, writing and blogging – Ratika Deshpande:

The mistake I was making, and which I think many of us are making, in a zeitgeist where people think that you should make a living doing what you love and retire early, is believing that narrative.

Here’s what I’ve learned: the thing that pays the bills does not have to be the thing that you enjoy doing. And the thing that you enjoy does not have to be the thing that helps you do good in the world. Here again, we suffer from the idea that we must maximize the good we do (or the profit we make). Of course, if we are able to do that, that’s great, but anything less than “the maximum possible” isn’t bad.

This is really helpful for me, in these times where I don’t feel good about all the time that I give to the thing that pays the bills and the very little time that I have for the things that I enjoy doing. I’m constantly thinking that I need to streamline my productivity so that I have more time for my personal stuff, and the only thing I do is make more time to work more. Ratika has given me a couple of good clues to think about.

🚀 100 Days To Offload

The whole point of #100DaysToOffload is to challenge you to publish 100 posts on your personal blog in a year.

Posts don’t need to be long-form, deep, meaningful, or even that well written. If there are spelling and grammar mistakes, or even if there’s no real point to the post, so what? What’s important is that you’re writing about the things you want to write about.

Your posts could be how-to guides, or links to another post you have found interesting. They could include your own thoughts about that post, or a response to it. It could be a simple update about what you have done that day. Tell us about your dog, your cat, your fish tank, or whatever hobbies you have. Someone will find it interesting.

Just. Write.

I found about this in Manuel Moreale’s blog and I think it’s a neat idea. I’m not completely sold, though. I like that it might make me write more. I also like the sense of community that it can bring to the people that participate in the challenge, and how it can help to spread lots of personal blogs. But it’s precisely the challenging part, the Hall of Fame and the need to publish the hashtag in social media that I disliked, I don’t really know why, it feels like a competition, or a personal goal that seeks a reward in the form of social media dopamine. I might set the goal for myself but not use a hashtag. Or I might just skip this garden and continue looking around. Anyhow, you might like it so there you have it.

Does it occur to you that a typo on an otherwise well edited book ruins the experience and distracts you so badly that you find it difficult to keep on reading? I started an illustrated edition of On Natural Selection by Darwin and one letter missing on the first page is making me crazy. #thoughts

For a while now, Friday afternoons are my only free time of the week. I’ve needing to work full time on Saturdays and Sundays for quite some time and I don’t see that changing in the near future. But today is the day I nap until I no longer remember where I am. I thought I would not make it. See you later, if I wake up. #thoughts

Going through my spam folder right before cleaning it up, it still amazes me that reputable firms in my line of business send email offerings stating a «Exclusive offer just for you!». The contents of the email are nothing but exclusive and the emphatic language is just poor taste. I really can’t imagine anybody taking the bait. #thoughts

I want to focus on the good thing of the day. It’s taking me a while to think about them. I guess it’s easier for me to whine, I practice bitching and moaning more.

Two clients told me that they liked my work, after sending them the arguments I presented in court on their behalf. An important part of my job, since the outcome of a trial is not entirely in my hands, is that my clients feel that I did everything I could to defend them.

I did progress a little in the research that I’m stuck with. I still don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel (you’re whining again, Estebantxo!) but i’m getting there.

I had a delicious bocadillo for dinner. Thinly sliced and roasted chicken breast, Piquillo red peppers, Argelian sauce, on a toasted baguette.

I’m going to bed. That’s the best part.

I am pissed by SCOTUS’ 9-0 decision regarding Colorado’s ruling on the application of the 14th Amendment to Trump. I’m sure the progressive justices did what they thought was right. The problem is the conservative ones will never do the same. They will always find according to what the conservative agenda needs. Just like the Massachusetts Secretary, any official or court deciding on a local or state ballot should be able to decide that a former officer who engages in or gives comfort to insurrection is ineligible. #thoughts