HackMake

I had trouble falling asleep last night which doesn’t happen that often (I’m pretty professional at sleep). I lie awake, mind spinning. I wasn’t worrying that things were “falling through the cracks” or that I had commitments I couldn’t make good on. I tend to do a good job writing down what I need to get done but I think I was lying awake because I didn’t know what I needed to do.

It can be romantic to tear it all down. Trash your software, burn your notebooks. Clean slate, empty mind. Fresh approach. For fun or for pageviews.

When you lay awake, it’s time to do something about it. Kiss and make up. Don’t go to bed angry. Work it out or walk away. I’m doing this for me not doing this for flow.

Your workflows won’t show up at your funeral. When it’s your hobby, “workflow” means time away from sunshine, from the warmth of smiles, from the world around (which just happens to be magical). If those aren’t important to you, cool, but I’ve been missing out.

My job is creating productivity software for people in big businesses–manufacturing, healthcare, supply chain. Workflow matters but flow is there to support experience. My work is creating experiences and the experiences in my life aren’t going to come from a list. What’s your real job? Who’s your boss? Is your list your master? Who does actually care about the work you do? What you get done? The person you are when you get home from work? Someone cares more about the person you are when you get home from work than how you work.

But there is a place for flow. Flow can mean that when it’s time to fall asleep at night, I fall asleep. But if everything’s a task then everything’s a task, or something like that. I’d rather be at 30,000 feet in a plane on an adventure to a place I’ve never been before than 30,000 feet in my “system.”

I review my system more often than I call my mother. Who the fuck am I?

I won’t let a computer tell me what to do. I’m going to choose what I want to do with my life, thank you very much. Then I’m going to do it and not tweet about it and just sit outside with a beer and watch the sun set. Because I’ve missed too many of those sitting in front of this harsh, heartless machine.

Not what is the goal but what is the point? There is a point, it’s just not a goal. It’s something, some place, someone. “Have fun” has never shown up on my to-do list. “Laugh until my face hurts” hasn’t made it on my calendar. The Work is important but what are you working towards? What’s the point of your work?

What I need to do is different than what I need to get done. I need to make people more important than priorities. Experience more than analyze. Care more than capture.

What are you going to do today?