Inspired by Patrick Rhone (who, in turn, was inspired by Derek Sivers), I have created a /now page. As outlined here, this is a that fills a gap that exists amidst blogging, social media et al:
No. If I wonder how someone is doing these days, it doesn’t help me to see that they went on vacation last week, are upset about something in the news, or even got a new job. That’s not the big picture.
Think of what you’d tell a friend you hadn’t seen in a year.
Like, “Still living in Dallas, though considering moving to Austin. Working at ABC. Really getting into cycling. The kids are age 3 and 6. I’m reading a lot of Pema Chödrön, and listening to a lot of jazz piano especially Brad Mehldau. I’ve stopped taking on web design clients, since I’d rather keep improving my back-end database work.”
That’s what a now page is for. You can’t get that big picture from any other outlets I’m aware of.
I was also inspired, covering the same terrain, by Austin Kleon’s post Don’t discard. Keep all your pieces in play., especially:
Margaret Atwood once said, “You’re supposed to do one thing. If you do more than that, people get confused.”
It’s not just that other people get confused – you yourself get confused. You love all these things, but you feel like you’re supposed to pick one.
My answer to “what do you want to do when you grow up?” is “everything.” Which is born out by my coding, writing, printing, bookbinding pursuits.
I’ve long admired the weeknotes of my friend Ton, and the monthnotes of my friend Peter, but I’ve never got it together enough to be that regularly retrospective; I’m hoping I’ll be more successful at this project; I’ve already got a reminder to update the /now on January 28, 2019.
(See also Less, More and None, a similar but different effort; I don’t have it in me to be that declarative right now; via University of Winds).
Comments
The /now page is an interesting idea; one that I may explore in 2019.
A followup question. How often is the /now page updated?
I plan to update mine monthly, but I think others use different cadences — weekly, quarterly, etc.
I suffer from a similar problem - I want to do everything - I say suffer because I consider a lack of focus a detriment to doing anything to a high standard, there are unfortunately only so many hours in the day. I find it also risks falling into a comparison trap.
/now page is interesting. I think I might try that.
Thanks to your description I now finally understand the point of a /now page, and how it's different from a more traditional /about page. Despite my weekly notes that you laud, I think a page with "what I’d highlight if I ran into a friend I hadn’t seen in a year" makes a lot of sense. Added to my list of small hacks to do.