8 ms·

Letting go

119 points by arm 12y ago

chippy 12y ago
Most of the paragraphs of this article begin with the letter "I"
- webmaven 12y ago
  Well, isn't honesty preferable? If he had switched them all to 'we' he'd be falsely claiming to speak for others.
  - rotub 12y ago
    I think he means the letter I, not the word I. Funny observation, but it's true...plus...if it's not an I it's a T, except for the last one.
    - webmaven 12y ago
      I'm is just a contraction of 'I am'.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
danso 12y ago
I find the attitude of "letting go" to be specifically helpful for news. Unless you're directly affected at the time of occurrence by something like the Malaysian airliner disappearing, or by a mass shooting...you gain virtually nothing from being atop the news. You skip all the knee-jerk reactions and theories, the hours of meaningless jabber used to fill the 24-7 newscycle, the errors in judgment made by first impressions. I would say you gain less than nothing by following breaking news...you lose time and attention obviously...but for the most part, you also fill your mind with what is the very definition of information junk...stuff that, at best, is "the first draft of history", and at worst, is just the kind of nervous blather people make when they're anxious and waiting for resolution. If there was a way to put a "Show me nothing newer than a week ago" filter on the Internet, I'd probably turn it on by default.
- paulrov 12y ago
  > I find the attitude of "letting go" to be specifically helpful for news Then you wake up 5 years later and realise you have become ignorant.
- rikkus 12y ago
  I've been giving up news slowly over the years. When I was young, news gave me information about the world. I learned about countries and cultures I would have had little knowledge of otherwise. I used to listen to the BBC World Service all day every day. I moved on to other sources, looking for the least bias, the most facts, the picking of stories that actually mattered (to me); eventually I realised that I'd never find what I was looking for: Every source became painful to read, watch or listen to. So I've given up, for now. If there happens to be news in front of me, I won't avoid it; It's just that I don't actively seek it or subscribe to it. Maybe I'll become a news consumer again in the future.
  - insky 12y ago
    Yeah I'm a sucker for the news. I'm not wedded to cutting edge news though. I'd be happy picking up last month's paper. Occasionally I just drop following it, and don't really miss it. It's easy to cut yourself off or become very myopic. That's what worries me. Small things can end up having the same gravity as a hard hitting news story. I can become rather petty. Wading through comments is hard work. But a little feedback and opinion from others is good. I only wish it was a genuine sample. My local newspaper's online edition is full of the same commentators who can't help but comment on everything posted, with their same negative replies and opinions/agendas. It can make you feel a little ill; you can start to believe that many people do hold those views. But, for all I know it's the same girl with ten sock puppet accounts. A little real life interaction with others can be quite reassuring and calming, even if you may end up discussing trivialities. I do find the radio offers a nice condensed more easily consumable news bulletin.
- VLM 12y ago
  The problem is he gave up RSS in order to give up what he calls news, but I don't get news from RSS. News has been redefined as journalistic agitprop to gain pageviews of people in the right attitude to sell them an advertising message. I have very little interest in that. On the other hand I like astrobites, and some of the arxiv RSS feeds, and others along those lines. They are news in some definitions, but definitely not news in the "news industry" definition. Its like the difference between getting your weather news report from weather.gov or from the weather channel on cable.
sergiotapia 12y ago
Congratulations, you are now a robot. You are optimized, streamlined, hustling, motivated and focused.
- eddieroger 12y ago
  Or, he's identified the things that make him unhappy and is actively trying to remove them from his life. There's merit to identifying the things that bum you out and avoiding them.
  - sergiotapia 12y ago
    You're reaching for that conclusion, nowhere in the article does he mention it makes him unhappy. He said it hinders his 'productivity'. Beep boop.
    - scotch_drinker 12y ago
      He specifically talks about spending more time on his passions which unless they are clinically unhealthy make him happy. You are the one reaching for a conclusion in ascribing productivity to an automaton. Productivity and passion are not opposite ideas.
- efsavage 12y ago
  This is all too true. I come at this problem from the opposite end of the spectrum. I am no misanthrope by any stretch, but I have to actively engage in things that many others (especially the people who feel the need to blog about 'letting go') find they need to actively disengage from. I realize the benefit of my position, I can go heads down and be productive for sustained periods of time at the drop of a hat. But there is a downside as well. People who are not up on things or who don't interject themselves into the Conversation may find themselves on the outside looking in and are terribly inefficient at getting involved when they want or need to.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
crusso 12y ago
A few pages that I've found to have helpful themes for this basic problem: http://www.fastcompany.com/3022958/the-art-of-letting-go-how-i-learned-to-stop-procrastinating http://www.fastcompany.com/3022958/the-art-of-letting-go-how... http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303933104579306664120892036 http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405270230393310... http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Seven_Habits_Study_Guide/Quick_overview_of_the_seven_habits http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Seven_Habits_Study_Guide/Quick_...
- anathebealio 12y ago
  I love reading articles about procrastination techniques to procrastinate from work I need to do!
- lugg 12y ago
  I dont think it was mentioned in here yet so ill add to the list: the majority of the four hour work week is also on this topic for those looking for more of the same.
yawz 12y ago
Coming here... Reading this... Writing this comment... I should let go.
eertami 12y ago
>I’m also letting go of second chances. One strike and you’re out. This just sounds so ridiculously absurd it is hard to take seriously.
Lapsa 12y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHue-HaXXzg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHue-HaXXzg
mtkd 12y ago
Procrastination will always find an outlet. You've turned all that off then focused on writing a piece about turning things off - so another outlet appeared almost instantly. Embrace it - there is probably a reason you are not ready to do the thing you are running away from - you've probably not finished figuring it all out. The time spent writing that would have likely been better deployed meditating or walking.
- vitro 12y ago
  But the writing IS the meditation.. And you can write while you meditate.
  - kerkeslager 12y ago
    There's definitely a possibility for overlap between writing and mindfulness meditation, but not all writing is meditation. If you're seeing this as a way to multi-task, that's definitely not mindful, and it doesn't fit into any of the other forms of meditation I know of.
- bollockitis 12y ago
  I write, meditate, and walk. Each has its role; there is a time for each. Why are we so critical of the way the author chooses to spend his time?
PLenz 12y ago
Dammit - now I have that Frozen song stuck in my head...
- maddisc2 12y ago
  Thanks, now I have that song in my head! :-) very funny!
- nichochar 12y ago
  best comment.
paulrov 12y ago
Oh, it's one of THOSE articles.
donatj 12y ago
This is one of the most self centered things I've ever read. Modern day scrouge, "I’m also letting go of second chances. One strike and you’re out." Everyone makes mistakes, Honestly with that attitude your going to end up friendless and alone when you need people most. There are better ways than shutting everyone out. I find this persons attitude incredibly frustrating. You need people that challenge you in ways you don't like or you really won't grow or experience life. Shutting out everyone who says things you don't like doesn't help you, it hurts you. You are injuring yourself by not hearing other opinions. Believe it or not but you are not always right.
- mcormier 12y ago
  I agree. I didn't read the whole thing but couldn't a point to the post. Yeah, you're semi-famous for being an indie mac developer. Yeah, you've posted in the past that you have mental problems. Is this the correct place to blather on about this? Go have coffee with a friend.
- ambler0 12y ago
  "I’m also letting go of second chances. One strike and you’re out." This is the part that I came to criticize as well. To me, it doesn't sound like letting go at all; it sounds like holding on to a grudge. I excommunicated a family member from my life a while ago. I thought I was protecting myself and my family, but I was really just prolonging my own pain. I have since forgiven him and cautiously started letting him back into my life in limited ways. To me, that's an example of really letting go.
  - king_jester 12y ago
    > I excommunicated a family member from my life a while ago. I thought I was protecting myself and my family, but I was really just prolonging my own pain. I have since forgiven him and cautiously started letting him back into my life in limited ways. To me, that's an example of really letting go. Congratulations on making progress on a relationship that works for you. I'd like to point out, though, that for many with abusive or dysfunctional relationships with a family member, stopping contact is the letting go.
andyl 12y ago
Let go of the idea that work is so important that you should exclude everyone that is disagreeable.
ccallebs 12y ago
I'm honestly surprised at the amount of reactionary responses on this thread. Everyone is so quick to take up arms against this man because he's systematically eliminating distractions from his day to day. Some people are making wild jumps from point A to point X -- postulating that he'll be friendless and alone, telling him that he's selfish, theorizing that it's not going to work, calling him a robot. None of us are in Matt's situation. Stop projecting your moral compass, fears, and/or insecurities on him. If it works, I envy his ability to cut out noise from the signal.
- whafro 12y ago
  If he were just writing about what he's doing, that'd be one thing. But he's not: > It’s a tall order; there’s no question about that. But I really need to do this, and I think you do, too.
- mattgreenrocks 12y ago
  The vile lie of social: that we're all 'connected' to one another, when we're really mostly just typing text back and forth. And most of that communication is noise, status-signaling, or self-promotional. It's exhausting. There's nothing normal about ingesting loads of human opinions on the most trivial facts several times a day.
  - chillingeffect 12y ago
    Thank you for the impressive quote. I realized this recently while pondering "The Wisdom of the Crowd/Cloud": Using a (inter)net to fish out all the wisdom of the crowd mainly brings all the most common opinions up to the level of common sense. It's only additive to that niveau; it doesn't extend to brilliance. The wonderful human collaborations, like GNU/Linux? Those are created by a concentrated coterie, just as most other impressive creations. Surely, the web has catalyzed them, but they were strong anyway, not the result of amplified ignorance. Expecting a shotgun approach to advance beyond common sense means using a additional filter to except those ideas which do not rise to the level of common sense, and therefore, is more work. I'm sure humans, pre-media, exchanged numerous opinions about things for much of their days and evenings, but they weren't work. Work was toil, solitary endeavors, and collaboration with mostly familiar people and a few strangers (imagine a marketplace with travelers). Now, with "social media," opinions have become work, and as you say, exhausting.
masaladosa 12y ago
The assertion that this whole argument is built on (and is not explicitly mentioned) is that creation, or work, is the ultimate goal in life. I believe the author to be mistaken here and would urge the author to re-evaluate the truth of this statement before taking some of the more extreme measures the article mentions.
thothamon 12y ago
Seems like he's given up on listening. No wonder it seems so hard to do. He's got his way and he's sticking with it. Oddly, even whilst plugging his ears and ignoring others, he says he thinks we too should be like him. So we should not follow his example and ignore him; we should pay attention to his message. Shedding the unimportant is actually a really good idea, but I think OP has taken it too far here by a mile.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
Marcus316 12y ago
Perhaps such a ruthless track is beneficial to Matt, and if so I bid him good fortune. It would be of terrible hindrance to my own productivity, though. I am at heart a social person. I require a balance of social interaction and thoughtful solitude to be at my best. Too much social interaction can overload me with many extra thoughts and ideas that tend to mish-mash together in my brain and become nothing but flights of fancy. On the other hand, too much solitude has a detrimental effect on my focus. Not only do I start to feel a bit down, but I find that without that social outlet I will concentrate too much on details that may not even be relevant to my current task (or even to the project as a whole). Given a good (reasonable) dose of social interaction, I find my focus gets into a groove and tasks are just easier to complete, regardless of possible interruption by colleagues. Everyone must find their own balance. I suspect that Matt and I sit on opposite sides of this particular range, or are at least a fair distance apart.
thehme 12y ago
I did the total opposite of what this article discussed; I spent a few minutes reading this blog post instead of being productive and paying attention to my work. While there is true value to concentrating/focusing, so we can be creative and get important stuff done, the author's lack of tolerance for distractions (good or bad) may be going below a healthy level. Seriously, the "I’m also letting go of second chances. One strike and you’re out" would make us a terrible persons.
dsego 12y ago
tl;dr
Smudge 12y ago
I'm a fan of John Cleese's theory of "open" and "closed" modes of thought: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijtQP9nwrQA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijtQP9nwrQA While his idea of being "creative" (as a writer & performer) is perhaps different than mine (as a programmer), I still find his advice helpful in giving myself space for creativity. Sure, some days it's best for me to just buckle down on serious work and crank things out (the "closed" mode, as it were). But my best work comes from the days when I don't feel the need to punish myself for making mistakes or for letting my mind wander. Being in the "open" mode does require freedom from distraction, but it also requires breaks and must be very clearly time-boxed in order to succeed. I'd be afraid that, in attempting to "let go" of distraction and procrastination permanently, I'd be fating myself to a life in the "closed" mode, where nothing is more important than my productivity and everything (even boredom) has the potential to get in its way.

Letting go

119 points by arm 12y ago

chippy 12y ago

Most of the paragraphs of this article begin with the letter "I"

webmaven 12y ago
Well, isn't honesty preferable? If he had switched them all to 'we' he'd be falsely claiming to speak for others.
- rotub 12y ago
  I think he means the letter I, not the word I. Funny observation, but it's true...plus...if it's not an I it's a T, except for the last one.
  - webmaven 12y ago
    I'm is just a contraction of 'I am'.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]

danso 12y ago

I find the attitude of "letting go" to be specifically helpful for news. Unless you're directly affected at the time of occurrence by something like the Malaysian airliner disappearing, or by a mass shooting...you gain virtually nothing from being atop the news. You skip all the knee-jerk reactions and theories, the hours of meaningless jabber used to fill the 24-7 newscycle, the errors in judgment made by first impressions. I would say you gain less than nothing by following breaking news...you lose time and attention obviously...but for the most part, you also fill your mind with what is the very definition of information junk...stuff that, at best, is "the first draft of history", and at worst, is just the kind of nervous blather people make when they're anxious and waiting for resolution. If there was a way to put a "Show me nothing newer than a week ago" filter on the Internet, I'd probably turn it on by default.

paulrov 12y ago
> I find the attitude of "letting go" to be specifically helpful for news Then you wake up 5 years later and realise you have become ignorant.
rikkus 12y ago
I've been giving up news slowly over the years. When I was young, news gave me information about the world. I learned about countries and cultures I would have had little knowledge of otherwise. I used to listen to the BBC World Service all day every day. I moved on to other sources, looking for the least bias, the most facts, the picking of stories that actually mattered (to me); eventually I realised that I'd never find what I was looking for: Every source became painful to read, watch or listen to. So I've given up, for now. If there happens to be news in front of me, I won't avoid it; It's just that I don't actively seek it or subscribe to it. Maybe I'll become a news consumer again in the future.
- insky 12y ago
  Yeah I'm a sucker for the news. I'm not wedded to cutting edge news though. I'd be happy picking up last month's paper. Occasionally I just drop following it, and don't really miss it. It's easy to cut yourself off or become very myopic. That's what worries me. Small things can end up having the same gravity as a hard hitting news story. I can become rather petty. Wading through comments is hard work. But a little feedback and opinion from others is good. I only wish it was a genuine sample. My local newspaper's online edition is full of the same commentators who can't help but comment on everything posted, with their same negative replies and opinions/agendas. It can make you feel a little ill; you can start to believe that many people do hold those views. But, for all I know it's the same girl with ten sock puppet accounts. A little real life interaction with others can be quite reassuring and calming, even if you may end up discussing trivialities. I do find the radio offers a nice condensed more easily consumable news bulletin.
VLM 12y ago
The problem is he gave up RSS in order to give up what he calls news, but I don't get news from RSS. News has been redefined as journalistic agitprop to gain pageviews of people in the right attitude to sell them an advertising message. I have very little interest in that. On the other hand I like astrobites, and some of the arxiv RSS feeds, and others along those lines. They are news in some definitions, but definitely not news in the "news industry" definition. Its like the difference between getting your weather news report from weather.gov or from the weather channel on cable.

sergiotapia 12y ago

Congratulations, you are now a robot. You are optimized, streamlined, hustling, motivated and focused.

eddieroger 12y ago
Or, he's identified the things that make him unhappy and is actively trying to remove them from his life. There's merit to identifying the things that bum you out and avoiding them.
- sergiotapia 12y ago
  You're reaching for that conclusion, nowhere in the article does he mention it makes him unhappy. He said it hinders his 'productivity'. Beep boop.
  - scotch_drinker 12y ago
    He specifically talks about spending more time on his passions which unless they are clinically unhealthy make him happy. You are the one reaching for a conclusion in ascribing productivity to an automaton. Productivity and passion are not opposite ideas.
efsavage 12y ago
This is all too true. I come at this problem from the opposite end of the spectrum. I am no misanthrope by any stretch, but I have to actively engage in things that many others (especially the people who feel the need to blog about 'letting go') find they need to actively disengage from. I realize the benefit of my position, I can go heads down and be productive for sustained periods of time at the drop of a hat. But there is a downside as well. People who are not up on things or who don't interject themselves into the Conversation may find themselves on the outside looking in and are terribly inefficient at getting involved when they want or need to.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]

crusso 12y ago

A few pages that I've found to have helpful themes for this basic problem: http://www.fastcompany.com/3022958/the-art-of-letting-go-how-i-learned-to-stop-procrastinating http://www.fastcompany.com/3022958/the-art-of-letting-go-how... http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303933104579306664120892036 http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405270230393310... http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Seven_Habits_Study_Guide/Quick_overview_of_the_seven_habits http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Seven_Habits_Study_Guide/Quick_...

anathebealio 12y ago
I love reading articles about procrastination techniques to procrastinate from work I need to do!
lugg 12y ago
I dont think it was mentioned in here yet so ill add to the list: the majority of the four hour work week is also on this topic for those looking for more of the same.

yawz 12y ago

Coming here... Reading this... Writing this comment... I should let go.

eertami 12y ago

>I’m also letting go of second chances. One strike and you’re out. This just sounds so ridiculously absurd it is hard to take seriously.

Lapsa 12y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHue-HaXXzg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHue-HaXXzg

mtkd 12y ago

Procrastination will always find an outlet. You've turned all that off then focused on writing a piece about turning things off - so another outlet appeared almost instantly. Embrace it - there is probably a reason you are not ready to do the thing you are running away from - you've probably not finished figuring it all out. The time spent writing that would have likely been better deployed meditating or walking.

vitro 12y ago
But the writing IS the meditation.. And you can write while you meditate.
- kerkeslager 12y ago
  There's definitely a possibility for overlap between writing and mindfulness meditation, but not all writing is meditation. If you're seeing this as a way to multi-task, that's definitely not mindful, and it doesn't fit into any of the other forms of meditation I know of.
bollockitis 12y ago
I write, meditate, and walk. Each has its role; there is a time for each. Why are we so critical of the way the author chooses to spend his time?

PLenz 12y ago

Dammit - now I have that Frozen song stuck in my head...

maddisc2 12y ago
Thanks, now I have that song in my head! :-) very funny!
nichochar 12y ago
best comment.

paulrov 12y ago

Oh, it's one of THOSE articles.

donatj 12y ago

This is one of the most self centered things I've ever read. Modern day scrouge, "I’m also letting go of second chances. One strike and you’re out." Everyone makes mistakes, Honestly with that attitude your going to end up friendless and alone when you need people most. There are better ways than shutting everyone out. I find this persons attitude incredibly frustrating. You need people that challenge you in ways you don't like or you really won't grow or experience life. Shutting out everyone who says things you don't like doesn't help you, it hurts you. You are injuring yourself by not hearing other opinions. Believe it or not but you are not always right.

mcormier 12y ago
I agree. I didn't read the whole thing but couldn't a point to the post. Yeah, you're semi-famous for being an indie mac developer. Yeah, you've posted in the past that you have mental problems. Is this the correct place to blather on about this? Go have coffee with a friend.
ambler0 12y ago
"I’m also letting go of second chances. One strike and you’re out." This is the part that I came to criticize as well. To me, it doesn't sound like letting go at all; it sounds like holding on to a grudge. I excommunicated a family member from my life a while ago. I thought I was protecting myself and my family, but I was really just prolonging my own pain. I have since forgiven him and cautiously started letting him back into my life in limited ways. To me, that's an example of really letting go.
- king_jester 12y ago
  > I excommunicated a family member from my life a while ago. I thought I was protecting myself and my family, but I was really just prolonging my own pain. I have since forgiven him and cautiously started letting him back into my life in limited ways. To me, that's an example of really letting go. Congratulations on making progress on a relationship that works for you. I'd like to point out, though, that for many with abusive or dysfunctional relationships with a family member, stopping contact is the letting go.

andyl 12y ago

Let go of the idea that work is so important that you should exclude everyone that is disagreeable.

ccallebs 12y ago

I'm honestly surprised at the amount of reactionary responses on this thread. Everyone is so quick to take up arms against this man because he's systematically eliminating distractions from his day to day. Some people are making wild jumps from point A to point X -- postulating that he'll be friendless and alone, telling him that he's selfish, theorizing that it's not going to work, calling him a robot. None of us are in Matt's situation. Stop projecting your moral compass, fears, and/or insecurities on him. If it works, I envy his ability to cut out noise from the signal.

whafro 12y ago
If he were just writing about what he's doing, that'd be one thing. But he's not: > It’s a tall order; there’s no question about that. But I really need to do this, and I think you do, too.
mattgreenrocks 12y ago
The vile lie of social: that we're all 'connected' to one another, when we're really mostly just typing text back and forth. And most of that communication is noise, status-signaling, or self-promotional. It's exhausting. There's nothing normal about ingesting loads of human opinions on the most trivial facts several times a day.
- chillingeffect 12y ago
  Thank you for the impressive quote. I realized this recently while pondering "The Wisdom of the Crowd/Cloud": Using a (inter)net to fish out all the wisdom of the crowd mainly brings all the most common opinions up to the level of common sense. It's only additive to that niveau; it doesn't extend to brilliance. The wonderful human collaborations, like GNU/Linux? Those are created by a concentrated coterie, just as most other impressive creations. Surely, the web has catalyzed them, but they were strong anyway, not the result of amplified ignorance. Expecting a shotgun approach to advance beyond common sense means using a additional filter to except those ideas which do not rise to the level of common sense, and therefore, is more work. I'm sure humans, pre-media, exchanged numerous opinions about things for much of their days and evenings, but they weren't work. Work was toil, solitary endeavors, and collaboration with mostly familiar people and a few strangers (imagine a marketplace with travelers). Now, with "social media," opinions have become work, and as you say, exhausting.

masaladosa 12y ago

The assertion that this whole argument is built on (and is not explicitly mentioned) is that creation, or work, is the ultimate goal in life. I believe the author to be mistaken here and would urge the author to re-evaluate the truth of this statement before taking some of the more extreme measures the article mentions.

thothamon 12y ago

Seems like he's given up on listening. No wonder it seems so hard to do. He's got his way and he's sticking with it. Oddly, even whilst plugging his ears and ignoring others, he says he thinks we too should be like him. So we should not follow his example and ignore him; we should pay attention to his message. Shedding the unimportant is actually a really good idea, but I think OP has taken it too far here by a mile.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

Marcus316 12y ago

Perhaps such a ruthless track is beneficial to Matt, and if so I bid him good fortune. It would be of terrible hindrance to my own productivity, though. I am at heart a social person. I require a balance of social interaction and thoughtful solitude to be at my best. Too much social interaction can overload me with many extra thoughts and ideas that tend to mish-mash together in my brain and become nothing but flights of fancy. On the other hand, too much solitude has a detrimental effect on my focus. Not only do I start to feel a bit down, but I find that without that social outlet I will concentrate too much on details that may not even be relevant to my current task (or even to the project as a whole). Given a good (reasonable) dose of social interaction, I find my focus gets into a groove and tasks are just easier to complete, regardless of possible interruption by colleagues. Everyone must find their own balance. I suspect that Matt and I sit on opposite sides of this particular range, or are at least a fair distance apart.

thehme 12y ago

I did the total opposite of what this article discussed; I spent a few minutes reading this blog post instead of being productive and paying attention to my work. While there is true value to concentrating/focusing, so we can be creative and get important stuff done, the author's lack of tolerance for distractions (good or bad) may be going below a healthy level. Seriously, the "I’m also letting go of second chances. One strike and you’re out" would make us a terrible persons.

dsego 12y ago

tl;dr

Smudge 12y ago

I'm a fan of John Cleese's theory of "open" and "closed" modes of thought: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijtQP9nwrQA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijtQP9nwrQA While his idea of being "creative" (as a writer & performer) is perhaps different than mine (as a programmer), I still find his advice helpful in giving myself space for creativity. Sure, some days it's best for me to just buckle down on serious work and crank things out (the "closed" mode, as it were). But my best work comes from the days when I don't feel the need to punish myself for making mistakes or for letting my mind wander. Being in the "open" mode does require freedom from distraction, but it also requires breaks and must be very clearly time-boxed in order to succeed. I'd be afraid that, in attempting to "let go" of distraction and procrastination permanently, I'd be fating myself to a life in the "closed" mode, where nothing is more important than my productivity and everything (even boredom) has the potential to get in its way.