Wednesday January 18, 2023 // Afternoon Post-Lunch Slump
The coffee has kicked in and worn off. Leaving only the mild anxiety and some jitters of having had slightly too much caffeine. In an effort to “be productive” I’ve found myself in front of an empty Google Doc. With any luck you, dear reader, are soaking in these words sometime in the uncertain future.
I recently started reading Leviathan Wakes, the first book in The Expanse series. In typical fashion, I went in knowing absolutely nothing about the book except “space adventure”. So far some 200 pages in it has not disappointed. Meanwhile I have two non-fiction books sitting on my desk that I started in early 2022 and have yet to complete.
One of the goals I set for myself this year is to “read lots of books I want to read”. Not necessarily X number of books across the next 365 days. And it’s purposefully vague. “Lots” lol. Write “lots” on any sort of corporate goals planning document and your manager is going to roll their eyes and send it back.
The other important piece of the goal is “want”. Books I want to read.
As a serial completionist, it’s so darn difficult to quit something like a book, show, online course, etc. before finishing it. These two non-fiction books represent books I don’t really want to read. Once upon a time ago I did but they didn’t hook me. So I leave them out as a constant reminder of a failure. Maybe it’s time to actually quit them? That might provide me some peace of mind, even if it’s a tiny fraction of mental offloading.
What other things in our lives are out there that are clogging up our mental RAM? Maybe there are some other items in my life I can force quit out of so I can turn my focus more on the things I want to spend my time on. I’ll chew on this some more but if you have a thought, let me know in the comments.
– Josh // Purging my mental RAM
Related Reading: What is Important?