Clear the Screen

A fresh start is terrifying. There's even a name for it in writing, blank page syndrome.

But a fresh start is also the most free you'll you ever be. No outside distractions, no constraints. That's beauty right there.

I was once told me that creation is the act of repeatedly trying to fix the mistake of the first mark. We can never return to the pristine blank page so we must work and work to correct ourselves, making new mistakes all the while.

I still think about that. Philosophical debates for another day though. Those are hard, big, project and life spanning tradeoffs.

Let's go a bit smaller scale.

Information is clutter by default. If you can't use it, all it's doing is churning your visual processing.

You know how it's harder to think when listening to songs with lyrics, even if you already know the song and aren't consciously processing it? That, but visual.

The digital world is uniquely suited to clutter by default, giving you absolutely everything you ever needed and no space to work. Endless waves of tabs and groups and windows to manage them. Sidebars full of pending email and notification bubbles.

For me, personally? It's the terminal. Rows of commands and outputs and more commands and more outputs and the screen blurs into a haze of colors.

I don't care about the previous commands if they didn't error.

Now and then I'll want to compare the output of two different commands. But, for the most part, when I'm getting things done I just need space to see what I'm currently working on. Sometimes I care about the previous commands, but sometimes I don't.

So I've built the muscle memory to immediately clear the output if I know I won't need it.¹

Close tabs as soon as you're done with them. Hide sidebars and panels and popups you aren't using right now.

It's hard to tell at first, but there is a difference when all the excess information isn't constantly buzzing around the back of your mind.

You'll lose things occasionally. Use search and history tools. Get in the habit of saving things you'll care about in a more permanent spot.

The quiet is worth it.

- Rew

Nightly Notes

I expected to write more about specific digital tools when I started this. It's turned more into workflow changes and physical minutia. I think that's a good thing?

I'm feeling fine about writing today. I think fine is actually good. Everything is getting done, as it needs to be.

Now I stop, sit, and think about more general scopes.

Breathe.

- Rew