Two things worth reading: the blog Rands in Repose and the essays of Paul Graham. They have ways of explaining things that make brilliant sense.
The moment Rands struck a nerve (and if the comments are any indication, I’m not the only one) was near the beginning of N.A.D.D.: “Stop reading right now and take a look at your desktop. How many things are you doing right now in addition to reading this column?”
I immediately burst out laughing, and took a screenshot.
(This was on my old computer. Oh, nostalgia.)
That’s activity in seven IE windows, one Firefox window with six or eight tabs open, Microsoft Excel, Paint Shop Pro, and Explorer, with Total Video Converter, Winamp, and BitTorrent all running in the background. Oh, yes, I have NADD.
But, to pull up more Rands for elaboration, I don’t multitask. I procrastinate—which, as Graham points out, has good and bad varieties. (I’m in the middle of the bad right now. That essay should be required reading for every procrastinator.)
More useful reading: how to do what you love and how to give a genuinely good presentation.
And, finally: Why Nerds are Unpopular. It’s spot-on. To read it is to feel understood—which, if you’re me, is like oxygen.
