re: the latest writing post

A reader posts this:

“I was reading Graham Harman’s blog – Object-Oriented Philosophy – a couple of days ago, particularly the posts where he gives advice about writing and generally being an academic. The main thrust was sit at your desk from 6am to 6pm and you’ll be ok. I see his point, but have now been lurched into a greater anxiety – that I don’t spend enough hours working – as a result of that nugget of advice.”

Actually, that’s not what I said. That’s what was said by the person who was quoted by the student. What I thought I said in response is that I think this advice, though it contains a grain of truth, amounts to putting the cart before the horse. If I had just sat down at my computer from 6 AM to 6 PM in my late 20’s, it would have made me anxious too, and nothing would have been accomplished. I do often now sit at my computer for many hours at a time working, but that is an effect of productivity, not its cause.

In fact, any advice that causes you anxiety is probably the wrong advice for whatever stage you currently occupy in your life cycle. What I advise students is not to plop down in front of a computer for 12 hours per day; most likely you’re simply not ready for that yet. Your work habits should be project-based, I think. If it’s the dissertation, then you should do whatever it takes to make progress on the dissertation.

Once the dissertation is behind you, you’ll be picking up other projects. Do what it takes to finish those properly. Your proper work routine is something that will emerge from successes. Work methods, in short, gain moral authority from their track record, not from some sort of priori validity. In fact, the track record is all that counts with these methods, and that’s I like to go so far as to incorporate “lucky cafes” and other such habits into my work methods.

And of course, a successful history or track record is going to be colored by personal quirks to some extent. Going out and playing bongo drums probably wouldn’t help me, but it did help Richard Feynman, just to give one example. You just have to learn the difference in your own situation between true leisure activity and procrastinating activity. Deep down it’s not hard to know the difference between when you’re really enjoying yourself and when you’re procrastinating. Listen to the voice that speaks to you about that difference.

Another personal factor in my case is that I like to work based on “commissions,” like a builder. That is to say, I have my own core of ideas that recur and develop over the years, but I also like the stimulation of people approaching me and saying: “We’d like you to write an essay for us about X.” Usually these are topics I wouldn’t have thought of attacking at that precise moment, but generally I learn a lot from these exercises. Some people might feel easily distracted by such invitations, and if so then they should feel free to avoid them. But I generally feel like those are missed opportunities.