Craig Constantine

The do-not list →

Published September 22 · All posts on Sep 22 · Books, Podcasting

If you’ve not heard of Burkeman’s book (Four Thousand Weeks, I’ve not yet read it) the seed is simple: Your life will be about 4,000 weeks in duration.

In this podcast episode, Burkeman talks about the common advice to prioritize your work and to do the important things first—an echo of Stephen Covey’s metaphor of rocks, pebbles and sand to be put into a jar representing your limited time. Burkeman zooms in on the implication—missed by most people—within Covey’s advice.

You only have finite time. If you have a prioritized list of what’s important to you, it’s the stuff in the middle that will do you in.

Your top 5 items are clearly those big things you should work on. But, your number 6 item—that one feels almost as important as number 5. You need to actively avoid the danger of getting sucked into that number 6 (and the other almost as important items right behind it.)

Limited time →

Published September 20 · All posts on Sep 20

Every 6 months or so I reach the end of another volume in my journaling. At the front of each journal, I write my oath. I use the act of cracking open a new notebook as a prompt to reflect on my journaling process itself.

I reflect on what, and how, I capture things each day. Why am I journaling? Am I seeing longterm trends? Is there any change for better, or for worse?

Stop and really look →

Published September 13 · All posts on Sep 13 · Perspective, Books

On a recent trip I found myself with some spare time one morning. I used it to slowly wander through the little hotel’s sitting area. There I found a collection of board games and a couple dozen coffee-table books scattered about. I took the time to thumb through each of them for just a few moments.

This book still held my interest after a few moments and so I applied my page 88 test. When I realized that page 88 was somewhere within a long series of color plates—all of which were interesting to me—I flipped to the Foreword. And then I took a photo of the cover so that I could later snag a copy.

Today, here I am with a copy of the book (bought for $4.95 from AbeBooks). Beyond all of the above and the contents of the book itself, the book is now also imbued with the ambiance of that little hotel and cues up all the memories of that little trip.

On approach →

Published September 10 · All posts on Sep 10

Once in a while I spot striking color compositions—this looked like something van Gogh would paint.

But I didn’t even notice the bumble bee on approach to land until I looked at the photo later.

Decisions made →

Published September 9 · All posts on Sep 9

What they couldn’t get right is that leadership isn’t consensus.
Leadership is standing up and saying, “Ladies, I will be in Cartagena on these dates to celebrate our birthday… by myself if I have to. I hope you can make it.”
Nini Nguyen, from What Leaders Can Learn From Type-A Personalities

I’m not a leader in business, but I would like to be a leader in my life generally.

And this is something I screw up all the time. Note to self.

Automagic (converter tests) →

Published September 7 · All posts on Sep 7

New toy: code that spots text files in my slipbox and automatically creates WP posts from them.

slip:4uaaai1.

h2 heading

This is a para with italics and some bold, plus inline code_span() and a linebreak at the end.
Like this second visual line in the same paragraph.

Here’s a link to my site and an autolink https://example.org that should pass as plain text.

h3 heading

Unordered list, with nesting:

one
two
- two point one
- two point two
  - two point two point one
three

Ordered list, with nesting:

alpha
beta 3. beta.1 4. beta.2
gamma

h4 heading

Fenced code blocks:

<?php
// sample PHP fenced block
$items = ['alpha', 'beta', 'gamma'];
foreach ($items as $i) {
    echo strtoupper($i) . "\n";
}

# generic fenced block without language
line 1
line 2

h5 heading

my blockquoty goodness
~ john doe

A multi-paragraph quote to ensure wrapping works across paragraphs.
Second paragraph of the same quote, still quoted and should render inside a single quote block.
~ jane smith

Another paragraph after the quotes.

Ironic →

Published August 13 · All posts on Aug 13 · Sleep

Those fundamentals matter — and if you’re not doing them yet, they’re worth implementing. But if you’ve already got the basics down and are looking for some lesser-known strategies to enhance your sleep, we’ve got you covered below.
~ Brett McKay from, 45 Tips — That You Haven’t Heard a Million Times Before — to Improve Your Sleep

slip:4uaohe2.

Ironically, I was up at 4am when I read this.

«Partage» with Stany Foucher →

Published August 12 · All posts on Aug 12 · Movers Mindset

«Partage» with Stany Foucher

What new formats and practices best transmit Art du Déplacement’s culture—beyond technique—so practitioners can reflect, connect, and grow together?

Art du Déplacement’s culture is deepened through «partage», reflective practice formats, and distinctive training like vision work and night missions.

Still, I had the fear, but I knew where I was, where I was going, [and] how— I knew myself better, basically. So this very strong experience with my friends, and this strong experience of failure— That was really an in between moment for me. […]There is before that training session at the «Dame du Lac» experiencing all this. And then there is me discovering more about my inner self and being very different in the way I approach fear.
~ Stany Foucher (1:33:00)

The discussion frames Art du Déplacement as a living culture rather than simply a set of techniques. Stany’s recently published, French-language book is highlighted as a deliberate choice, made with the awareness that language shapes who can engage with the ideas. (Craig and Stany hope that an English translation can eventually be created which captures the subtlety and depth of the material.) The strengths of books—slower pacing and deeper digestion—are compared to the reach and immediacy of video. This leads to exploring audio as a practice medium, with the idea of podcast-led movement sessions modeled on audio yoga classes. The conversation also touches on the value of building shared reference points across the community, so practitioners in different places can connect through common experiences.

(more…)

Flow state →

Published August 11 · All posts on Aug 11

Actually, flow — the state of “effortless effort” — was coined by Goethe, from the German “rausch”, a dizzying sort of ecstasy.
Friedrich Nietzsche and psychologist William James both considered the flow state in depth, but social theorist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, is the true giant in the field.
~ from, How to Enter a ‘Flow State’ on Command: Peak Performance Mind Hack Explained in 7 Minutes

slip:4uoeho1.

A tidy tour of the history and current status of what we know about flow state.

This will give you hope →

Published August 10 · All posts on Aug 10 · Podcasting

Ira Glass is a champion for the Many Voices that public radio’s mission says it values. This American Life is not the voice of record, but a record of the voices around us. The stories are as fully strange and hopeful and funny and harsh and romantic as America itself…and occasionally all at the same time. They sprawl outside the usual standard-issue broadcast confines, telling about the way it actually was, what it felt like, what really happened. Ira is their shepherd, their piper. But it was not always that way. Ira’s Transom Manifesto, which will appear in serialized form over the course of his time with us, begins with his utter lack of talent at this work. We think Ira’s failures will give you hope. — Jay Allison
~ from Ira Glass – Transom

slip:4utaia1.

This is a sprawling, multi-part piece by Glass. It’s part manifesto and part autobiography. It’s well worth the read. I know my may seem odd—it’s just the opening paragraph that’s written by Allison.