Fri 10 Feb 2006
My name is Jonathan and I’m a sponge.
I soak up information. I’ve always been known as the guy who reads all the time. As a kid, I’d lie on my bed with an encyclopedia, surfing from one subject to the other. Replace “encyclopedia” with “Web” and you have a good idea how my idle time gets spent during the day.
Last night, a friend commented on my recent lack of output, and asked me how much time I spent reading versus writing.
Stammer. “Um… you mean reading just books, surfing the Web, or what?”
He suggested I shoot for a 50-50 split.
Wow. That’s daunting. Spend as much time squeezing the sponge as soaking it? Should I count TV time as well? You’ve got to be kidding.
Well, eventually the sponge gets full of water and won’t hold any more until it’s squeezed. There’s got to be a lesson there.
So how do I know when the sponge is getting full? Monkey mind is one way. Words bounce around my head and I can’t focus until I let some of them out. Or I start carrying around my notebook and pen, looking for excuses not to use them.
He’s absolutely right. How much time do I spend on input that I could be using for output?
I’ll stick that in my pipe and smoke it the next time I start whinging about not having any time to write.
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6 Responses to “Perils of Spongehood”
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Jacque Says:
February 10th, 2006 at 5:46 pmyou could have been writing about me. some days i actually find it painful to even attempt at output. i wonder what really does happen when you have information overload?
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February 10th, 2006 at 5:49 pmi forgot to mention i’m here from michele’s this evening. i’ll definitely be back though!
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Amber Says:
February 10th, 2006 at 5:59 pmyou are too cute!
Thanks for the visit!
Cheers,
A -
Carmi Says:
February 10th, 2006 at 7:23 pmYou’ve just described the hell that is my life. The trials of a creative…
Still, I’d rather be this way than the alternative. If the result is a blog like yours, then I’m totally in.
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Tae Says:
February 10th, 2006 at 10:43 pmSame could be said about a lot of things…personal vs. family time, hanging out with old friends vs. making new friends, quadrant 4 vs quadrant 2 time, work vs. play, talking about it vs. doing it
people always say you have to have balance…but do they realize how difficult it is to be in balance…by its very nature, it is a form of perfection…something to work towards, maybe grasp for a moment, but never really attain
I love making to do lists mainly for the joy of checking things off…thus achieving balance is one thing you’ll never see on my list…
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callie Says:
February 11th, 2006 at 12:22 pmI realize this will not be a popular response, but it is what I had to do to get that 50/50 split between reading books, reading blogs, reading periodicals, watching TV, reading about writing and actually doing the writing. Since I love to read books and blogs, I decided that was what had to stay. And obviously the writing had to stay (or appear!) so - yes - painful as it was, I cancelled my cable tv service. I no longer have TV. Its been 9 months (much like a gestation period of sorts) and it was not easy going at first. But we get Netflix and we watch several movies a week. But NO TV. Yes I miss House. I am pining for the second season to be released on DVD. But the thing is…I no longer waste time sitting in front of the TV.
Do I still procrastinate with the writing? Of course. But my procrastination is now focused on two things that 100% for sure feed my writing mind — reading books and reading blogs. Its a choice, yes. But it had to be done. Otherwise I wouldn’t write anything!
(Okay, I’m now off my soap-box. Clearly writing this long of a comment is SOME form of writing avoidance, eh?)