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Brandon Sanderson has a decent quote from Secret Project #1, that makes me think a bit. > That is one of the great mistakes people make: assuming that someone

Brandon Sanderson has a decent quote from Secret Project #1, that makes me think a bit. > That is one of the great mistakes people make: assuming that someone who does menial work does not like thinking. Physical labor is great for the mind, as it leaves all kinds of time to consider the world. Other work, like accounting or scribing, demands little of the body—but siphons energy from the mind. If you wish to become a storyteller, here is a hint: sell your labor, but not your mind. Give me ten hours a day scrubbing a deck, and oh the stories I could imagine. Give me ten hours adding sums, and all you’ll have me imagining at the end is a warm bed and a thought-free evening.

systems_glitch 3y ago
Truly, there was nothing more mentally productive than a day on the tractor, or driving fence posts and stretching wire, or clearing.
Invictus0 3y ago
I don't buy this either. I spend my 8 hours coding (yes, mostly coding) and still come home and study most nights. I don't feel any difference at night whether I spent the day doing yardwork or coding.
- tropicalbeach 3y ago
  I suspect because you have not done manual labor. When you really get in a routine, it just has this feeling at the end of the day after being outside in the sun or snow. It is nothing like sitting in front of a computer. I firmly believe that in our dna we were wired to be outside most of the time.
m463 3y ago
Well, there is lots of evidence that movement and exercise is excellent for your brain physiologically and psychologically. https://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-Brain/dp/0316113514 https://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-...
badpun 3y ago
> Physical labor is great for the mind, as it leaves all kinds of time to consider the world. Really depends on what kind of labor is it, not all of it is equal. I've had a new doors installed in my apartment yesterday, and the amount of troubleshooting and stress that the installers went through is not smaller than what I've faced in my programming job. But, I didn't have to do it while sweating from lifting 100 kg doors onto fourth floor, and later repeatedly trying to wrangle them into place.
- bstpierre 3y ago
  Right, that’s the “menial” in the previous sentence to your quote. Washing dishes, cleaning floors, routine stuff where the mind can wander. For me when I was younger this was driving a mower around and around and around — not really intense physical labor, just a rote mechanical job that doesn’t consume much mental capacity. I’m not a door pro, but my experience with diying doors puts it definitely NOT in the category of mindless!
PlunderBunny 3y ago
“An active mind cannot exist in an inactive body.” ― George S. Patton Jr. Other developers keep trying to persuade me to use multiple monitors (I have a laptop - I can't be bothered plugging it in every day, and I'm used to switching between windows with the keyboard). I struggle to explain to them that, even if I was less 'efficient', that time I 'lose' is not wasted - It's thinking time.

systems_glitch 3y ago

Truly, there was nothing more mentally productive than a day on the tractor, or driving fence posts and stretching wire, or clearing.

Invictus0 3y ago

I don't buy this either. I spend my 8 hours coding (yes, mostly coding) and still come home and study most nights. I don't feel any difference at night whether I spent the day doing yardwork or coding.

tropicalbeach 3y ago
I suspect because you have not done manual labor. When you really get in a routine, it just has this feeling at the end of the day after being outside in the sun or snow. It is nothing like sitting in front of a computer. I firmly believe that in our dna we were wired to be outside most of the time.

m463 3y ago

Well, there is lots of evidence that movement and exercise is excellent for your brain physiologically and psychologically. https://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-Brain/dp/0316113514 https://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-...

badpun 3y ago

> Physical labor is great for the mind, as it leaves all kinds of time to consider the world. Really depends on what kind of labor is it, not all of it is equal. I've had a new doors installed in my apartment yesterday, and the amount of troubleshooting and stress that the installers went through is not smaller than what I've faced in my programming job. But, I didn't have to do it while sweating from lifting 100 kg doors onto fourth floor, and later repeatedly trying to wrangle them into place.

bstpierre 3y ago
Right, that’s the “menial” in the previous sentence to your quote. Washing dishes, cleaning floors, routine stuff where the mind can wander. For me when I was younger this was driving a mower around and around and around — not really intense physical labor, just a rote mechanical job that doesn’t consume much mental capacity. I’m not a door pro, but my experience with diying doors puts it definitely NOT in the category of mindless!

PlunderBunny 3y ago

“An active mind cannot exist in an inactive body.” ― George S. Patton Jr. Other developers keep trying to persuade me to use multiple monitors (I have a laptop - I can't be bothered plugging it in every day, and I'm used to switching between windows with the keyboard). I struggle to explain to them that, even if I was less 'efficient', that time I 'lose' is not wasted - It's thinking time.