Some people like to walk while they think. You already know if that's you.
Even if you aren't, you should pace occasionally. Walking is good for clearing the mind. Regardless, sometimes pacing isn't an option, especially in confined spaces.
As an alternative, I highly recommend juggling. Not fancy three ball tricks, just the motion of throwing something and catching it repeatedly. A hackysack or the like will do fine. Something hand sized with a bit of heft, but unlikely to seriously damage anything if you miss the catch. Things which are a little larger, like a head-sized round plush, are also satisfying, if a bit more prone to knocking items off your desk.
The key is making sure you can throw and catch it without effort. If you have to think about the trajectory, you aren't thinking about whatever you meant to be thinking about.
The downsides are of course that you need the item to throw, it can be a bit noisy, and you run the risk of hitting things. It also removes an excuse to step away from the workspace and get some air. Keep it as an option, not a replacement.
- Rew
Nightly Notes
My mind is all over the place. Picked up a side project on a whim even though there's so much I should be doing besides.
You ever get the urge to just throw away everything and start fresh? One of those days.
Anyway.
Happened to find another daily blog today. Almost all of them lead with an anecdote, whether personal or ripped from fiction. It was fun reading, they write about the same kind of casual musing I find fascinating in short, well organized posts.
But after a few dozen, I felt tired. I'm not sure why, but my guess is the context switching between so many little stories did it. Makes me wonder what I should be going for. I recall I've led with an anecdote a few times here, or even made a post out of an anecdote, but I don't think it's my preferred format.
Then again, I don't even know if I like my format. I did pick up another one, bullet lists, which I think is fine. It's not going to win any awards for eloquence, but it gets the job done for certain topics.
I wonder if it was a good thing that I chose to narrow the topics down so much when I started. I have plenty of thoughts on minutia, technical asides, and media which don't fit here. I also gave myself an out to include some anyway at the very start by adding these notes.
I cut half a page of philosophizing about good UI design from the notes last week. It's the kind of minutia I do discuss here, but from the designer's perspective. Things I talk about here are supposed to be things you can do, the user perspective.
Even with the notes, I try to keep it more personal. I think you can get something out of the specifics of a person, even if you're a completely different person, that you don't get from general principles or philosophizing. I don't know that I've succeeded.
- Rew