Full Steam Ahead – The Climb #916

Thursday 26th August 2021

I have my PC back. Several components and hundred pounds later the desktop is back, installed on my desk and running. I can’t begin to tell you how much I’ve missed it.

I thought I might have spent all day playing around with the ray tracing feature on the new graphics card but to be honest I did a lot less of that than I thought.

Instead, I got to work moving The Climb thumbnails to a synced location and then merging the backlog on the PC together with the ones I’ve had to make whilst on the laptop. It might not be the most taxing work but it needs to be done. I also have a load more thumbnails to create based on my recent travels so the plan is to do those tomorrow, With that I should have enough to cover me for the next year.

As I did so I listened a bit more to my latest audiobook. Anyone who has been following The Climb over the last month knows I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet over consistency and habits. Whilst I can get a lot of tasks done I struggle with some beneficial habits and want to get a better idea of how to correct that.

A lot of people have recommended Atomic Habits by James Clear to me and I have to be honest and say this has been one of the best educational books I’ve read this year (and I’m only a few chapters in). I guess when they started to talk about systems they hooked me in. I’ve been a big advocate of systems in my writing, and so this book feels like a ready-made LEGO brick to add to what I already have.

I’ve actually started taking notes on the book which is something I want to do more of. Now I have two screens side by side this is a little easier to do. I want to do more of this. Whilst I tend to switch between those businessy / self-help type books and fiction, I think retaining some notes on the productivity books I read is a good idea. Like writing, it’s not for me to follow every bit of craft advice to the letter but to take what I learn and adapt to the way I work.

The other thing I have to combat is putting some things off. I’ve been desperate to launch my video series, had all the prep work done before the computer died, but now I have it back, it’s half way through a Thursday at the end of the month. I have a real urge (that I need to fight) to leave the launch to next week (or even the 1st September). It’s not quite procrastination as I am still doing things to prepare for launch, I’m just holding off pressing the big button labelled go live.

Maybe once I’m done with habits, I can start taking a look at this reluctance to engage fully with experimental projects.