Mulling things over

One of the best friends I've never met sent the URL for this article to me tonight, and I think there's some cool stuff in it. It amazes and delights me, in fact, when people are creepily on target with such things as "an article for you."

The writer/speaker is Richard Hamming, who I'd never heard of, but will look up again. The title is "Good and Bad Procrastination". My favorite part is: "

There are three variants of procrastination, depending on what you do instead of working on something: you could work on (a) nothing, (b) something less important, or (c) something more important.

My next favorite part is:

You can't look a big problem too directly in the eye. You have to approach it somewhat obliquely. But you have to adjust the angle just right: you have to be facing the big problem directly enough that you catch some of the excitement radiating from it, but not so much that it paralyzes you. You can tighten the angle once you get going, just as a sailboat can sail closer to the wind once it gets underway.

And my least favorite part, but probably the most important, is:

What's the best thing you could be working on, and why aren't you?

It reminds me a lot of what Steve Jobs said to the Stanford graduating class of 2005 -- something about doing what you love, and not settling. The "settling" is Hamming's "errands" -- it's what kills focus.

Anyway, it's a good article. Thanks Milo! Send me more.