on “going to the beach”

Gratton adds one caveat to my previous advice post, and only half-jokingly so:

“But far worse than that is wasting all July still not writing, but still not enjoying yourself by going to the beach… There was a great interview this week (I forget the venue) on NPR with a novelist who was also a gamer, who said he would procrastinate every day and stalk around his bed at night with grand plans, all for the naught. He didn’t let himself leave the house (must work you know) but he also didn’t get his writing done… Far better to say you went to the beach than that you finally fixed all 30000 song titles in your Itunes…”

Here I am happy to agree, and it’s an important point. The ascetic renunciation of social activity in favor of staying home and working is utterly counterproductive if you end up not getting any work done.

What I find helpful in these cases is simply to be very conscious and explicit about what you are doing. For example, consciously tell yourself things like this:

“I had planned to stay home and work today, but this invitation is really just too good to pass up.”

“I had planned to stay home and work today, but I just can’t focus mentally for some reason. I’m going to go out and enjoy myself, and then get back to work tomorrow.”

Or as I’ve done myself from time to time in recent weeks:

“I probably ought to stay home tonight and work, but the World Cup only happens once every four years.”

But the key is that you have to tell yourself these things consciously, so that you can then make a conscious judgment as to whether or not your excuses are legitimate in the case at hand. Otherwise, you just blow with the wind of whatever comes up.

Also, let me add that I agree with another caveat stipulated by Schopenhauer. Namely, though it is quite often worthwhile to turn down social invitations for the sake of writing, don’t ever turn down an invitation for the sake of reading. Schopenhauer’s point was that activities generally provoke our mental faculties more than reading a book does. And I have found him to be correct about this.