Like all years, 2023 has been a blur. A lot may have happened, but I am as usual thinking huh? was it just not 2022? What even was I doing in Jan? Other than change up my phone lock screen to a different one every month, I dont have much awareness of time flying by.
Last week I read Anne Kadet's newsletter on a week of no multi-tasking. Fascinated, i decided to adopt a slightly muted version of it. Eating while not watching something was a no-go right from the beginning, but not listening to random podcasts while getting ready in the morning has been surprisingly easy. While travelling, at the airport instead of spending it in a distracted blob of scrolling + impatience, I decided to be calm and watch people- Wasnt particularly interesting in that I didnt get an epiphany about humankind- and I did end up checking my phone a few times, but I felt slightly ( very slightly) calmer. When I tried at work, the first day was a lot more successful. But like everything else I think it needs a lot of practise, and I have to consider that my only job is getting back on the wagon- because falling off the wagon is an inevitability ( multiple times a day)
While thinking of reducing inputs, one of the first things that I am thinking of eliminating is podcasts- not ones where experts talk about their area of expertise- but where successful people interview other succesful people on what makes them succesful. I dont recall where I read this, but it is like lottery winners annoucing their winning lottery numbers and hoping that it will be useful to the rest of us.
It might be interesting and it needs to be considered as entertainment, but I dont want to consider it useful information. If I am seeking entertainment I would rather watch Seinfeld, and if I feel like doing something useful I should do tutorials or listen to podcasts where people talk about their business/ tactical podcasts on how to improve your FB ads or whatever. Not one where Nikhil Kamath interviews some uber-succesful friend of his, who gives gyaan about how you need to be poor to be hungry. Look around and you will find 5 examples that completely go against that. So whats the point?
So there is my resolution - Mono tasking. Will see where it gets me. I mean we are all being rushed towards 2024, hopefully Ill remember a bit more of these days when I am more mindful
