Focus

For a while now, I’ve been questioning the effectiveness of video media for learning new skills or content for self-improvement. While it’s easy to start, I struggle with video-based learning due to a lack of interest in completing it or confidence in effective application after completion. However, I find that the opposite is true with long-form reading, such as books, research papers, and essays. I learn better through an audio-only medium like podcasts or audiobooks than video, although not as effectively as with long-form reading....

So often I find myself wanting to curb my curiosity for the sake of more focus. While the former aids creativity, the latter cultivates productivity — This raises a deeper question: “Is curiosity and focus dichotomous?” Perhaps the battle between them isn’t necessary. Maybe I’ve drawn them together on a battlefield, making them appear dichotomous. That invisible battleground is the internet. A vast and treacherous jungle, with endless paths and context-switch behind every click, yet, an unavoidable modern-day utility, especially for knowledge workers like myself....

As a programmer striving to do deep work, nothing captures the struggle in an eloquent yet visceral way than Paul Graham’s article on Maker vs Manager schedule. Though unstructured meetings are a major visible obstacle, there is an equally pernicious one that needs the same visibility — The unstructured “work” flow; it is the rock and roll culture of plugging into multiple communication channels (emails, chat tools like Microsoft Teams, Slack etc....