Establishing Morning Focus and Day's Priorities

This AI transcription/summary was created on @November 24, 2023. Listen to the original recording here.

TL;DR I've found that vocalizing my thoughts in the morning, like this morning at 3:42 a.m., helps me focus and physically resonates more than internal dialogue. Instead of meditating, I chose to speak out loud, planning to set daily goals each morning to maximize my time. Today, my focus is on developing a new website for raiments.xyz, handling admin tasks, and preparing a painting for Yoon's album cover. To prevent my attention from scattering, I'm using my Notion list to prioritize tasks that convert potential energy into movement, forming a pragmatic plan to tackle time-sensitive tasks while deferring others.

Transcript

I'm really finding that vocalizing in the morning, leaving these audio notes is a really good way to focus my attention. And so much can happen when attention is focused for even five minutes. The way that it changes the day when you carry the same thought through, it actually reveals how rare that is if we're only playing dialogue through in our heads because in our heads, we don't have the benefit of that physical resonance to carry us from moment to moment or to connect moment to moment. But when we speak out loud, we actually are entering into a sort of cadence which can really help facilitate a single stream of focus.

So right now it is 3.42 a.m., I woke up pretty early and I'm choosing instead of meditating to speak for the next however many minutes. I'd like to make this part of the habit where I start the day really evaluating what it is that I want to accomplish today. And it's important that I do so because I'm finding that because I'm not very clear, I end up losing a lot of potential time, especially in the later part of the day. In the morning, it's always good for me because I get to the studio and I have my accountability calls and I'm following a certain kind of schedule or a certain kind of theme for the day.

But then once I get home, it's really the time that I need to use for painting. And so it's actually pretty clear and rhythmic, but I ended up getting pulled in a lot of different directions. And I think that has to do as well with the space being not so clean and also the fact that I'm sharing this space with Max. So for today, I intend to get to the studio and I think build the website, I think it's time to settle in to the next website for raiments.xyz, that's spelled R-A-I-M-E-N-T-S.xyz.

And to build out that structure as quickly as possible because just to have that started is going to help determine what's needed for the product images. And I can also then make some tasks about the storyline for the WDIM t-shirts. And maybe I can also design the hat because I think the hat is a really good way to determine the proper introduction and the proper length of the acronym for WDIM. Then I would like to also take care of some admin tasks like shipping out the fabric because I was delayed in doing so.

But all of this doesn't feel like a real focus yet. There's also getting the painting prepared for Yoon's album cover. Yoon is spelled Y-O-U-E-N-N. And I definitely have landed on the right image but it requires that I redraw a little part of it.

And I think I can do this on my own. I don't think that I need any support in terms of, yeah, I think I can do this on my own. Okay, so my prediction is that right now I still feel very unclear about the day. Like there isn't a single point of focus.

And what I've learned from the self-analytical work that I've been doing, a day really needs a focus and needs to be able to basically tether itself in a direction so that everything else kind of bounces off. And certain days inevitably will have a lot of openings and a lot of switching, but if I can avoid it I need to avoid it at all costs. There's another thing that I have to take care of which is closing out all the tabs and inputting the research but I need to push myself to do that later on in the day and not start my day that way because if I started that way, it becomes very scattered and I lose the potential of like an entire day. So for what that means is when I sit in meditation like right now, it's when I'm most clear in evaluating how that day is going to be.

And it's actually one of the reasons why I meditate every day is because it's only in this space where it's like, I feel like you're in the control tower and you're like, oh, I can predict how things are gonna go based off of how centered I feel right now. And I've had that experience a lot of times where I'm in meditation and I'm like all over the place and then I'll leave meditation before I center. And then it's like, okay, well, I haven't done the thing that I know is going to completely change how this day rolls out. So for today, I won't leave meditation until I have a very clear, at least a very clear idea, a 100% idea on how this day needs to go.

Because if I don't feel 100%, then it's definitely not gonna be 100%. And if I feel 100%, then at least I'm giving myself a chance for the day to show up and for me to show up in the day with that kind of direction, which is necessary in a world that throws so many distractions at you. So the reason why I'm struggling right now is because I have a lot of things on my to-do list and it's kind of like, I need to do a little bit of this, I need a little bit of that. So let's really dive into the feeling of not allowing myself to focus on one thing.

Why do I, if I know that the only way that I can execute is to focus on one thing, why do I create so much noise? Or why do I maintain so much noise? And what would be the best thing to do today? Is there a best thing or is it simply, let's just pick something.

Let's just pick something and go with it. Is the best necessary? If we already know what has to be done, then can we prioritize in a more pragmatic way? My goal for the day is to just pick that one thing and the way that I'm gonna do that is I'm gonna look at my notion list and see what I might be behind on.

So what would give me the most release of potential energy into movement? And also make a list of all the tasks that are time dependent. So things I really need to do before I leave the studio today. And then I'm just gonna pick one thing and push everything else out of the way.

And that makes me feel really, really good right now.

Notes

Main Points

  • Vocalizing thoughts in the morning can help focus attention and influence the day positively
  • The speaker recognizes the rarity of maintaining a single stream of focus and the benefits of speaking thoughts out loud
  • They express a desire to start the day by evaluating goals and mention concerns about time management in the latter part of the day
  • The speaker plans to work on a website for raiments.xyz and has several tasks related to design and shipping
  • They aim to draw on self-analytical work to tether their day in a direction, minimizing distractions
  • The need to prioritize tasks and eliminate noise for effective execution is acknowledged
  • Using a Notion list, they intend to evaluate tasks to identify which one to focus on based on potential energy release
  • They plan to list time-dependent tasks and pick one main task to focus on for the day
  • There's a mention of the speaker sharing space with someone named Max and its impact on productivity
  • Meditation is credited as a method for gaining clarity on how the speaker's day should unfold

Stories and Examples

  • The speaker shares a habit of vocalizing thoughts in the early morning as a means to focus their day.
  • The speaker analyzes their routine and acknowledges the challenge of maintaining focus, especially once they return home from the studio.

References and Citations

  • The website raiments.xyz, which the speaker plans to build
  • The acronym WDIM, which is related to t-shirts and hats to be designed
  • Yoon's album cover, for which the speaker is preparing a painting

Integration

Potential Action Items

Build the website for raiments.xyz ASAP (2023-11-24)
Design the WDIM t-shirts and the hat
Ship out the fabric that was delayed
Redraw part of the image for Yoon's album cover
Organize and prioritize actionable tasks in Notion and identify the most time-sensitive ones

Follow-Up Questions

  • What specific steps will be taken to build the raiments.xyz website?
  • What is the storyline for the WDIM t-shirts?
  • What are the specific design choices for the hat?
  • What are the exact admin tasks that need to be addressed?
  • How will the speaker maintain the chosen focus throughout the day?

Arguments and Areas for Improvement

⚠️
These are potential arguments and rebuttals that other people may bring up in response to the transcript. Like every other part of this summary document, factual accuracy is not guaranteed.
  • Physical resonance from speaking may not be the only or most effective way to maintain focus for everyone
  • It might be more productive to engage in meditation for focus rather than vocalizing thoughts

Alt Text

Related Topics

  • addressing procrastination and task prioritization
  • benefits of vocalizing thoughts
  • designing merchandise and managing an online presence
  • morning routines for productivity
  • the importance of having a clear daily goal
  • the psychological benefits of meditation
  • the role of physical resonance in thought process
  • the use of notion for task organization
  • time management and focus
  • workspace sharing and its impact on productivity

Meta

  • Sentiment: Mixed
  • Transcription Cost: $0.056
  • Chat API Cost: $0.047
  • Total Cost: $0.103

※Take what you need, if it brings you into delight※ 2027 weseeclearly CC BY 4.0 DEED