Tag: focus

My Music Mood, August 7, 2020

Carl Setzer

Music, a deeply critical part of my life. I use it to reflect my mood or change it. It gives me energy, focus, feeds sadness. Such a powerful thread interweaving my whole life.

I’ve been streaming Kaki King the past few days. Her music covers such a wide range of topics and styles. She has plenty of pieces that give me energy and focus, important things since my studies are demanding plenty of both lately.

Pieces like this have been today’s loops:

Explore more about my relationship with music here.

Here’s my daily playlist built on my current interests and foci.

“Too much”, or “I need to focus”

Carl Setzer

​I love to write. I love blogging. Yet there are challenges. Distributing my focus lowers my effectiveness. That troubles me. And yet, though each site has meaning to me. But each site has costs, economic and otherwise. Every time I focus on one, I can’t focus on another. 

I haven’t had an objective, much less a strategy on any of my sites. I love to write poetry, about Seattle, about sustainability, geek culture, about so very much. Each site has value to me. I hate the idea of neglecting one at the expense of another. Yet I also hate writing substandard stuff. I prefer to be proud of what I put on the internet. 

This time in history has so many choices; a blizzard of potentials and possibilities. And I hate letting go of those potentials. Any of them. Yet I know that must be done to achieve ANY of them. How does one choose which baby to let die?

Perhaps overly dramatic, but it captured the sentiment I’ve been struggling with. 

A Meditation On Motivation 

Carl Setzer

​The question you should be asking isn’t “what do I want?” or “what are my goals?” but “what would excite me?”

~Tim Ferris

I’m still not sure what it is “I want”, in terms of a long-range vision. Or, more specifically, what it’s is I don’t want. Rejecting ideas, goals, opportunities is what’s hard for me. It’s hard to say “no” to opportunities, even ones that haven’t materialized, or even transitioned slightly from concept to reality.

Having too many things on your to-do list is a sure way to fail at everything.

Saying “No” is the kernel of planning, of living a life of vision, mission and purpose.

When we think in terms of excitement and energy, the challenge of choice changes. I find it much easier to deselect things that don’t energize me. That are boring, draining. Cool sounding things often change when we consider the actual work.

Spend as much time as possible doing activities which give you strength, energy and life.