I must be psychic somehow. I had been toying with this revelation for most of the day, slowly putting it into words, when, guess what, my RSS aggregator picked this post at To-Done. Well, it doesn’t matter: I still feel the need to write down all of this.

Although it’s not as sudden an illumination as it could seem, when I started reading No Plot? No Problem! during what was left of my “lunch break”, I immediately felt in harmony with what the author, Christ Baty, was describing: the sheer need for deadlines, and, opposed to it, the tendency to procrastinate when we don’t have any. (Sidenote: the book is about writing a novel in one month—see NaNoWriMo for more details. The theory is that the busiest we are, the easiest it is to write like mad, because compared to the rest, writing time then feels like a treat. We’re more prone to just do it, instead of procrastinating.)

That’s right, I’m of these people who need deadlines. I never perform my job as well as when I have a limited amount of time to do it. As stressing as they are, deadlines are what make me efficient, in most areas of my life. I don’t like them—to be honest, I hate them, they stress me to no end and even send me into panic fits at times when they’re made of a hundred little tasks rather than one or two big ones. However, the facts speak for themselves. I need them. I need my day to be compartimented. I need to get up in the morning and be able to tell myself “today, at work, I must do this, this, and that”. When I can’t have these thoughts, the day goes to waste almost immediately.

I’m thus considering trying a little something: completely scheduling my day, from work itself to puny housework tasks, even though there aren’t any external circumstances that demand me to do so. It may seem weird, it may seem stupid, but I definitely need to focus more on my works as a writer, and if I keep on playing with my dog or cleaning the toilet instead of setting myself to write, I can’t have much done. Delaying is easy. Taking years to complete a novel is easy. The more time I have, the less I do. Setting myself to work with clear, timed goals: now this is harder, but also something that can and will work better for me.

Weird, how easy and evident it all seems to me, now that it’s written here on my screen…

Y Tags: deadline | writing

I recently enough saw this question in some meme on a blog I can’t remember now, but the implications of it made me think twice.

If you were to live 90 years and could choose between retaining the body of a 30-years old or the mind of a 30-years old, what would you choose?

In all honesty, I’d decide to go with the body. If I were to lose my mind, I wouldn’t be aware of it in the end anyway, right? So might as well go with a healthy body. Besides, having a 90-years old mind doesn’t necessary mean being senile, whereas the body, even with a healthy lifestyle, wouldn’t be a terribly strong one no matter what. And what good would it be, having a shrewd and acute mind in a decrepit body? I probably wouldn’t be able to stand that, being conscious of how limited I’d be physically, while my mind would still be racing.

Of course, I don’t have such a choice. Now, just out of curiosity, what would you choose?

Y Tags: body | mind | reflexion

Since most of my job is currently done this way, I was quite interested, a few days ago, when Keith Robinson from To-Done posted his compiled list of things to do to be productive working from home. Sure, it can appear like the ideal way of working, and something that everyone would want to do. Beware, though. It’s not as easy as it seems, and temptations to slack off are numerous, especially when other members of the family are home when you’re working (I remember a commenter, on another post at To-Done, who was mentioning finding himself helping with the kids or the laundry instead of working).

Here are a few of the points he mentions in his list:

• Stick to a schedule. Treat your days like a “regular” work day. Many people have found that a 9-5 or 10-6 schedule really helps keep them on track and productive. (I can’t agree more with that! Actually, it’s even what I myself suggested.)


• Separate your “work” area from your “living” area. This includes your phone and computer. If you’re a gamer, you should use a separate computer, or maybe a separate alias. Or hit up the Xbox like me! (I’m trying this—not the Xbox, working on another computer and in another room. It works wonders!)


• Get dressed everyday. Don’t wear pajamas all day. It’ll make you feel less work-like. (This way, when people ring at the door, you also don’t look like a slob.)

As an add-on, here’s also an article I got today through the Freelance Writing Success newsletter:

Working from Home: 4 Rules to Follow

A necessary dose of self-management, indeed.

Y Tags: work

Un peu plus tôt dans la soirée, occupée à explorer les diverses chaînes de notre abonnement TPS nouveau-né, j’ai été frappée par une scène apparemment des plus banales sur Tfou – une petite vache en images de synthèse, invitant son jeune public à lui envoyer diverses occupations pour l’été car, disait-elle, “sa maman n’avait rien trouvé de mieux à lui suggérer que de faire une collection de broccolis”. Lesdites idées de loisirs seraient diffusées ici et là sur la chaîne durant les vacances.

Quid de l’étrangeté de cette scène, me direz-vous? Ceci, tout simplement: depuis quand les enfants ont-ils besoin d’une chaîne de télévision pour leur dire comment passer leurs étés? Je ne crois pas que mes amis de l’époque ni moi-même ayons eu besoin de ce genre d’artifices pour nous “tenir occupés”. Bien au contraire, les journées n’étaient jamais assez longues lorsqu’il s’agissait de faire jouer notre imagination fertile. Un vieux balai sans poils devenait un puissant bâton de combat. Le manche d’un maillet de croquet bon marché se transformait en sabre laser. Un tas de terre, dans le lotissement encore en construction où nous vivions alors, se révélait être une montagne infranchissable donnant libre cours à nos escalades d’alpinistes chevronnés à l’aide d’une corde de remorque et d’un morceau de bois en guise de piolet. J’ai d’ailleurs du mal à me souvenir du type de programmes que nous regardions à la télévision à cette époque, étant donné qu’il ne s’agissait pas là de notre activité première.

D’où ma question et ma perplexité... Quinze, voire vingt ans plus tard, la nouvelle génération a-t-elle donc vu décliner sa capacité à l’imagination? C’est là une pensée qui me fait froid dans le dos, et qui néanmoins ne m’étonne plus vraiment, car j’ai pu en voir l’illustration flagrante à plusieurs reprises. Une généralisation n’est bien sûr pas de mise; néanmoins, ce petit interlude télévisé m’a laissé un goût amer dans la bouche.

L’on en viendrait vraiment à se demander si tout ce que crée notre société n’est rien d’autre qu’un assistanat permanent, à commencer dès le plus jeune âge…