productivity

Woody Allen and the art of letting go

Woody Allen has got his head screwed on.  He knows how to let go.

photo by Gilberto Viciedo

photo by Gilberto Viciedo

Allen told the New York Times that he never rewatches his films after they are made:

“I’ve never once in my life seen any film of mine after I put it out. Ever. I haven’t seen ‘Take the Money and Run’ since 1968. I haven’t seen ‘Annie Hall’ or ‘Manhattan’ or any film I’ve made afterward. If I’m on the treadmill and I’m scooting through the channels, and I come across one of them, I go right past it instantly, because I feel it could only depress me. I would only feel, ‘Oh God, this is so awful, if I could only do that again.'” [Source]

He doesn’t want to feel that itch to improve the past.  There’s no point in being embarrassed now.  That type of worry is redundant.

I also admire Allen’s drive to start working on a new project as soon as he finishes the last.  Always moving ahead, never looking at what’s passed.

I’m sure he still learns from mistakes and takes from experiences.  But he won’t dwell.  Neither will he panic about the future.

Compare this with Jenny Diski’s comment in this fortnight’s London Review of Books:

“It’s absolutely true that writing a book doesn’t make you happy (it’s never good enough while you’re writing it or after you’ve finished it, and anyway what about the next one).”

I can’t say how happy Woody Allen is when he’s writing screenplays, but he does manage the situation well:

  • It may never be good enough, but he cracks on with that understanding.
  • He lets go once the project is finished.
  • The next project is a challenge worth starting right away.

How do you use this as a student?

Whatever you do, be ready to let go:

  • Let go of research.  You’ll never know everything.  The aim is to have *enough*.
  • Perfection is not attainable.  Letting go before it’s perfect is necessary, not shameful.
  • When you hand work in, let go of that burden.  Stop thinking of ways to improve on writing style (at least until it’s handed back).
  • When you let go of one project, grab hold of the next as soon as possible.

What do you need to stop dwelling on?  What is your next project going to be?

“Writer’s Block” – The uninvited break

“I don’t believe in writers block particularly. I think you can feel you’re getting writer’s block and then you call it writer’s block and you’re in trouble. So I refuse to call it writer’s block. I call it ‘time for tea’ instead.”
[Graham Coxon, via morjames]

You’d be forgiven for thinking that “writer’s block” is some sort of disease, given the amount of coverage and advice it gets.

photo by amypalko

photo by amypalko

Faced with a 2,000 word essay, your words need to be important, hard-hitting, scholarly, impressive…

You want those words to be right, so you don’t write any old stuff.  You ponder the possibilities and dismiss most ideas as non-starters.  After hours of doing this, you’re no closer to completing the essay.

Thinking too much about the right words can stop you in your tracks.  You’re allowed to write whatever you want while nobody is looking.  The nonsense you start producing now won’t be the final essay you hand in for marking.

So write nonsense.  Talk rubbish.  Get words down on the page and see where it takes you.

James Dunn recently mentioned writer’s block “coming in waves, as inspiration wavers, usually through little mental stimulation or nothing of note occurring”.  James isn’t alone.  It’s hard to be inspired all the time.

Thursday Bram makes this point, saying that she can pump out 500 words in 30 minutes with no problem, but that doesn’t mean an eight-hour day of writing should produce 8,000 words.  She has managed this feat and even written a 12,000 word e-book in a day:

“But every time I’ve made a push at writing so many words, I’m absolutely useless for two or even three days afterward. There are certainly elements of exhaustion: writing that much leaves me feeling physically wrung out and like I just hiked up a mountain. I may not have run a marathon, but I’ve definitely exerted myself.

“The other reason that I need so much recovery time is that I feel like I’ve burned up whatever it is that lets me put together sentences in a generally pleasing fashion. My writing simply sucks after one of my all-day writing sessions.” [Thursday Bram]

Some people find it a struggle to even begin, let alone pumping out 500 words in 30 minutes.  It’s not burn-up, because the match hasn’t even been lit.

As writer’s block is psychological, there is no solution to fit all shapes and sizes.  Blocks can manifest themselves in many ways, such as:

  • General tiredness
  • Personal problems
  • Burn out
  • Lacking inspiration
  • Seeking perfection ‘out of the box’
  • Pressure to produce something ‘better than last time’
  • Uncertain what is required
  • Not enough research to provide much discussion
  • Distractions
  • Lacking belief in your own ability and/or comparing yourself to others

Just look at famous writers and artists.  Nobody is immune from writer’s block, no matter how talented they may be at their craft.

If you’re truly stuck, try writing random words.  Write a shopping list and then write about writing the shopping list.  Write about why you can’t write.  Type out a paragraph from a book and look at the words on the screen.  The screen isn’t blank any more…is that less intimidating?  Increase the font size on screen and let the text take up more space.  Use handwriting instead of the keyboard, and vice versa.  Try something…anything different.

If you really don’t want to suffer from writer’s block, don’t accept the break exists.  On the flipside, do accept that you need a break sometimes.  I don’t want to hear that you’ve gone bonkers…

Simplicity

You have too much music available, too many books lying around, too many status updates to stay on top of, too many things vying for your attention.

photo by visualpanic

photo by visualpanic

Simplicity broadens the mind.  Minimalism is big.  Less is more.

See what I did there?

Really, it’s too easy to collect too much stuff and never make enough use of it all.  It’s hard to value belongings when there are so many vying for your attention.  Yet it’s hard, nearly impossible perhaps, to discard what *could* be useful later or what you have enjoyed in the past and *may* enjoy again.  Attach a tiny value to something and the value seems to grow tenfold as soon as you think about getting rid of it.

Do you need all the things you have?

What about your music collection?  Do you really need all those files on your computer, phone, player…?  Are you quick to click the next track on shuffle, or search a list of your favourite bands and still not know who to listen to?

Variation is great, but some restriction is also healthy.  Sticking with music, we all have different tastes and we’re happy to take recommendations from others.  You need never buy another song again with all the free stuff available legally.  You don’t even need to turn to piracy to hear the latest music in full and for free.  On a computer or a mobile, you have the ability to stream almost any song out there.  As for radio, there are so many stations that even picking one of those is a chore!

Choice doesn’t come cheap.  The more choice you have, the harder it is to choose.  So you don’t choose at all.  Annoying, huh?

There comes a point when you could get rid of everything you’ve got and start from scratch.  As a student, you may not have a vast library of books and may not own the biggest collection of (legal) music, but you may still have more than enough.

But it never *seems* enough.  A new product comes out and it’s just what you want.  So you get it.  The process happens again and again.  And again.  And again.  And it never ends.

Do you really need it?  The answer is almost always ‘no’.
Do you really want it?  That’s a different question.

The ease with which we can buy things in an instant adds to our impulse buying.  It’s there for the taking, it’s cheap, it’s instant satisfaction…you might as well.  But will it truly make a difference to you? There’s something to be said for patience.  We don’t see enough of it now.

I may sound contradictory here, but simplicity is difficult.  We naturally edge toward complexity at any given moment.

Shun complexity.  Move toward simplicity.  It seems so far away, but it’s closer than you think.

Monkeys and typewriters

Stick loads of monkeys in a room and give them a typewriter.  Assuming they do as you say and hit away at the typewriter forever more, it’s only a matter of time before one of those monkeys will have written the works of Shakespeare.

photo by Laineys Repertoire

photo by Laineys Repertoire

Or so the theory goes.  If every attempt was a unique effort, then one day the attempts would reduce in size until you’re only left with the works of Shakespeare.  But monkeys on typewriters wouldn’t be typing with the insight that we do.  In essence, all the monkeys forever working on typing would also, feasibly, write the works of Shakespeare with many spelling mistakes and errors.  And some will get halfway through the correct text and veer off into nonsense.

Even if one monkey managed it, I don’t imagine the follow-up would win any prizes.

The monkeys and typewriters analogy doesn’t work outside of mathematics.  A lot of life is random and much of what happens is by chance.  If you’re chosen out of 10,000 contestants to win a talent contest, you don’t need to be the best performer to win.  You won’t be the worst person either.  However, a lot is down to luck, subjectivity, who’s aware of and following the contest, the amount of backing you already have, and so on.

You do need skill to achieve, but you need more than skill to achieve many goals.  There’s drive and determination to get you working each day.  There’s your attitude and a network that appreciates it.  There are many elements in play; some are in your control and some are not.

You do your best and still nothing is certain.  But it’s a start.  You’re not a monkey randomly bashing at a typewriter.  You have insight and you have a choice.

Choice plus chance equals luck.  Don’t be afraid to create your own luck!