Stuck in life, what should I do next?

what’s the first thing you do when you sit down at your desk to, officially, work?

check your emails?
go trough your news feed?
watch cat videos on youtube just to feel something?

if you’re reading this, you’re probably a knowledge worker, or a knowledge juggler as I like to call us.
aka you spend your days at the computer looking busy.

I read this article watched this video on tiktok yesterday, of this person with appropriate credentials, saying that knowledge workers spend, on average, 3 out of 8 hours a day actually knowledging.

I was shocked.
3 hours? 3 hours?? out of 8?
that’s too much.

most knowledge jugglers I know, spend their days writing emails, attending meetings, and, if you’re a woman, coming up with creative ways to censor yourself without hurting feelings egos.

all jokes aside, I’ve come to realize that a big culprit for our lack of productivity, is an ubiquitous absence of goals.

by goals I don’t mean vague dreams like “I think I’d want to buy a house in the next 5 years” but proper goals, with tasks, deadlines and accountability, the kind that would really eat you up for not accomplishing,
do we even do goals like that anymore?
especially after reaching a certain level of comfort?

it is soooo easy to become infatuated with your own work, especially the shallow kind that is easily replicable, only to realize you’ve been trading old problems for new ones.

how could it not feel like a hamster wheel?

goals are an indicator of where you want to go, how can you go forward if you don’t know which way you’re facing?

I heard Tiago Forte say this once and it really hit a string:
“take the time to define your projects or projects will define you.”

this year I’ve taken this advice to heart and have dedicated a substantial amount of time to refining my goals,
as a result, this is the most creative, focused and productive I’ve ever been,
it’s probably also good for the planet.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

today is day 250 of the year, there are 115 days remaining of 2022.