WTWN #71 - Stop Right There.
The myriad benefits of doing one thing at a time.
Stop Right There.
Yes, you.
Now.
I mean, take a break.
If you're doing anything other than reading this post, stop. Focus on these words—one short sentence at a time.
Don't worry; I'm not trying to hypnotize you. I'm just making a point.
Anytime you’re distracted or doing multiple things simultaneously, your brain is more likely to overload.
In recent months, I’ve written about sorting out my priorities and putting my family and relationships first. But to do any of those things properly, one must stop doing other things.
In the name of productivity, I've bundled tasks that shouldn't be bundled. For example, I’ve read books or dictated journal entries while walking. Or worse, while riding my bike.
“Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence and nothing too much.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
Where in Emerson’s famous quote does he say you should also be reading or dictating your next book?
If you want to rejuvenate while walking, stop everything else and pay attention to the sights and sounds around you.
This point was driven home when I read “How to Do Nothing” by Jenny Odell. Odell pointed out that one should listen to the birds and other natural sounds. Too often, I’ve tended to block the sounds with noise-canceling headphones, maximizing my productivity by listening to podcasts or audiobooks.
I noticed the difference when I stopped, especially during transitions – getting on and off the bus, for example.
I'm still in the process of slowing down. Entirely stopping is even more challenging.
No place to go, nothing to do, and nothing to attain. Then suddenly, everything is attainable.
--- Jon Kabat Zinn.
At the beginning of this year, while announcing my project to read all 100+ Pulitzer Prize-winning novels since 1918, I joked that my first goal in 2024 was to read “Less”— “Less” being the name of Andrew Sean Greer's 2018 Pulitzer winner and the first book on my list this year.
If you want to rejuvenate while walking, stop everything else and pay attention to the sights and sounds around you.
Since January 1st, I have read “Less” and about twenty-five other books. But when I say I want to do less, I mean I want to prioritize things more so that I can do less while being more effective as a human being.
One thing that has not helped me to do less has been pushing myself to write one Substack weekly, perhaps merely to prove I could manage a weekly column 52 times a year. I'm not a full-time journalist, so that’s overkill. Even professional journalists take holidays.
A weekly Substack also cuts into my writing time for other things—fiction, poetry, etc. I'm cutting back to one essay every other week, starting with this article about stopping and creating space.
Here are some other reminders of how I can continue to do less.
When I was writing my journal on my Remarkable tablet this morning while listening to Debussy and Saint-Saens, it counted as a stop. The single-purpose tablet makes a difference. When using it, I tend to lean my head on my arm and breathe more slowly.
My mind still wanders while writing on a single-purpose device, but the wandering it does when typing and handwriting is more purposeful: staring into space or out a window, daydreaming.
I thought of my old Hermes 3000 and how to regain it. I contemplated pitching a rewrite of one of my articles to Steve Budden, “the typewriter guy” on Substack. I'd love to start using typewriters again. I wish I had a place to set one up and leave it there—a spot by a window, perhaps, like in my bedroom in my old hometown, Monmouth, Illinois, in 1984, so far away and so long ago.
Coffee breaks don’t always constitute stopping, but they should. I propose that coffee should not be gulped while on the way out of the door or working, as it is too often. It's too good for that.
The sauna should be a stop. Here in Finland, nothing is allowed in—no music players. No newspapers. Not even clothes. Well, occasionally, a cold beverage of some sort.
Finally, the bedroom should be a place where you always stop. I've heard it should be reserved for sleeping and sex. (And reading if it helps lead to sleep, but not on an iPad or phone. A general rule should be banning tablets, phones, and other electronics from the bedroom.)
The benefits of a full stop are too great not to dedicate myself more fully to it. And that’s why you’re seeing less of me on Substack.
Be well.