Phil Bowell

Over the years I’ve developed a few strategies to help get me in to the right frame of mind to work. One of the best ones is my time for work playlist, I put it on when I need to focus and it never fails to get me into the right state to focus on a project. I’ve worked out that the best albums for me to work to are film soundtracks. The nature of films means that they often build to a finale towards the end of the film, and the soundtracks have a big part to play in that. I find that as the urgency in the music builds my focus deepens and by the end of the soundtrack I’m immersed in my work.

Occasionally I’ll come across a new album that has a similar effect to the play list and I add it on the end. This week when I came across a new album I realised that it might be time to review the albums that I have in there. When I opened it up I had amassed over 6 hours worth of music. I realised it was time to review what albums I had saved, along with the fact that I rarely even got to the soundtracks at towards the end of the playlist.

Most of the time when I used this playlist it was to settle down to a block of work, generally in the afternoons when I have fewer meetings at work. That means a block of work a can last between 1 and 3 hours, so I really had no need for the amount of music that was in there. On a Wednesday afternoon work has implemented a no meetings policy, it means we have a consistent free block of time we can set aside for deep work, and my playlist gets used a lot on those afternoons.

When I assessed the albums that I had in there, I decided it was time to limit the length to about 3.5 hours of music. I picked my top 2 soundtracks and added in the new one to hit the magic length of time. I structured the playlist with the longest first moving to the shortest last. We travel through Dune, Tron Legacy, and The Dark Knight, which nicely breaks my work period into three chunks should I need to pause for a few minutes and move my legs. I’ve been using it this week and it’s working very well. If you’re interested here’s the Apple Music version for you.

I can confirm counselling in 2022 is no easier than it was in 2021 or 2020. 😞

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Pretty much smashed Wordle today!

Found myself listening to the Dune soundtrack on repeat today. Really good for working too. 🎵

All the Christmas decorations are down, the new year is well and truly underway now. Since it’s no longer used for Tree lights I now have a spare smart plug, any ideas of how to put it to use?

Straight into a whole day workshop on the first day back to work is a brutal way to start the year. My brain is not awake enough for this.

Really impressed with how well Ulysses works with Micro.blog. Hadn’t realised you could update posts you’ve already published.

I’ve been thinking about how to approach the idea of New Year’s resolutions. I’m not a fan of them, mine have usually failed by the end of the 3rd week of the year, so I’m focusing on developing some habits through small changes. My Mum sent me this article this morning and I really liked some ideas in it. Worth a read if you’re looking for some New Year’s inspiration.

One thing I want to do more of this year it to write. Back when I started blogging in 2005 or 2006 I used to post everyday, often more than once. It might have been the novelty of being able to write something and have it appear on the internet for people to read that made it easier. It might also have been that the blogging community was in full force at the time, but one thing is for certain it was my hobby and I enjoyed it.

Since those heady days of the my blog something has gone astray. It might have been that all the bloggers I followed at the time became “serious” about blogging. They made careers out of it, and it made me feel like I had to be “serious” as well. Twitter also had a large impact. A lot of people, myself included, became more focused on posting there than on their blogs. Sharing took place there, but it lacked the same feel. What I do know is that somewhere along the way the joy of blogging disappeared and I lost interest.

Over the years I’ve tried to kick start the habit again but it’s never lasted more than a couple of weeks. This Christmas I’ve had some time to think and reflect over the events of the last couple of years. One thing that has become clear is that I lack a hobby, something for myself, and I want a hobby as much as I’ve realised I need one. I’ve decided that one of my intentions this year is to blog more, to find my hobby again and write for me. I try to journal most days in Obsidian which helps my mental health, but I want my blog to be more. So I’m starting off in January with a simple goal. To post something at lest once a day. Whether it’s a thought, or a link, or a longer piece is irrelevant, I want to make the act of posting a habit again. Most importantly I want to find the joy of sharing again.

Happy new year micro bloggers. I hope 2022 is full of joy and happiness. It’s been a difficult couple of years, let’s hope the next one is a little kinder. God bless.