The Deliberate #5: Stigmergy and the Deliberate Use of Attention

A good thing about having a notoriously porous memory and a large back catalog of writing is that looking through my old writing sometimes feels like I’m seeing these ideas for the first time. Occasionally, I find myself nodding along and thinking, “Wow, sometimes I'm smart,” and more frequently I cringe with every word read. Recently, I was digging through my Medium archive, which has some of my writing from as long ago as 2015, and stumbled across an idea I really like and want to do more with.

Essentially, the idea is that you can and should make changes to your environment to help you take the action(s) you know you’ll want to, or should, take in the future. It’s called “stigmergy.” The canonical example is putting something that you must absolutely not forget to take to work literally in front of the front door so you have to move it or step over it to leave in the morning.  By doing this you've changed your environment (put something that normally doesn't belong in front of a door in front of a door) so that you'll take a specific action (take that something with you when it's time to leave).

The reason I like it is not because I necessarily have a huge list of things that fit into this category but because I know the feeling of wanting to capture the moments where I’m feeling inspired and full of positive energy such that I can reap those benefits when I feel shitty and super low in energy later. It’s like leaving little messages in bottles or power-ups for my future self when I know I’m gonna need it.

It strikes me as a particularly savvy way to harvest moments when I’m using my attention well so that I can use that mindset again in the future. It also requires the humility and self-awareness to know that this feeling of being so on top of things isn’t going to last forever and I should do what I can to make the runway to get back to this state of mind as smooth as possible.

A couple quick examples:

  • I know that drinking water is important but sometimes I forget to do it first thing in the morning because water isn’t coffee and the only thing I want in the morning is coffee. So, one day when I was feeling particularly motivated to make sure I drink more water I put a recurring reminder in my phone for 6:45 AM (about 15 minutes after I generally wake up) that says, “Drink some water, ya dingus.” It generally makes me chuckle. And then I drink some water.

  • I know that walking through a few specific steps at the beginning of my day can set me up for a really productive and positive day. Basically, it’s simply spending 5-10 minutes getting situated, turning on my “focus music”, reviewing email and Slack for open loops, reviewing the tasks I’ve given myself for the day, and setting one big “most essential thing” that I’m going to work on first. When I do that, I generally have a good day. Do I feel like doing that everyday? Hell no. But the fact that it’s captured in a little recurring checklist that’s waiting for me when I sit down at my computer each morning means that it’s easy to do it even when I don’t want to.

  • If I know I’m planning on working out later I’ll put my contacts in (rather than wear my glasses) and will put on my workout clothes as early as possible. This sends signals to my brain that I need to go workout. If I’m still sitting here in my workout clothes and a complete lack of sweat when it’s time to get ready for bed then I know I messed up.

I would love to do a better job of creating more of these things for myself in the future. It seems to start with an awareness of when I’m feeling good and humming along and the humility to realize that this isn’t always going to be the case and that I should try to find a way to leave something behind that the really lazy, bored, uninspired, and surly version of myself might be able to pick up and use to make himself a slightly better version of himself/myself.

 

Links

Robert Caro is one of my writing idols

I was going to save this link as a reason to write something long and profound but I feel like that window has passed. Anyway, here’s a new article about Robert Caro, maybe my favorite living author. He writes incredible biographies (The Power Broker and a 5-volume series on Lyndon Johnson) and is one of my favorite examples of what dedicated and relentless focus can accomplish. This article from 2012 about his writing process is sublime, too. Also, he has a new (non-biography) book coming out that I just insta-preordered.

Brave New Work by Aaron Dignan

My colleague and founder of The Ready, Aaron Dignan, has been hard at work on a book for the better part of two years and it was released today! If you’re interested in a better future of work — one built on trust, autonomy, and continuous participatory change, then you should check out Brave New Work.

 

How Steinbeck Used the Diary as a Tool of Discipline, a Hedge Against Self-Doubt, and a Pacemaker for the Heartbeat of Creative Work by Maria Popova of Brain Pickings

Awhile back I read Grapes of Wrath and Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath back-to-back. It was a pretty good move and Working Days is one of the most inspiring books I’ve read in a long time. Turns out Nobel Prize-winning authors think they’re shit writers some of the time, too. 

 

Closing Round

With five issues under my belt I feel safe asking you early adopters to consider forwarding this newsletter to someone you think might enjoy it. It has been a blast to write and I'm looking forward to keeping it going for a long time.