Editor's note: This was originally sent out in the newsletter on 08/31/18

One of my goals this year was to read 25 books, I am way behind. Don’t get me wrong, I am still going to try and pull it off, but I have really fallen into a lull the last few months.

I have been thinking about this the last week or two, thinking about how to get back to my reading, and it got me to thinking about my attention in general. I am starting to consider different things I can do to curb my bad habits and help refocus my attention on the things I find important. When I relaunched this very newsletter, one of the reasons I chose to continue with this project was that I told myself it would give me an excellent opportunity and excuses to read more. To be able to use my platform to dive into odd topics and fun books. I need to push myself back into reading more.

I had started to think about using this topic for the newsletter this week, and then on Wednesday, I saw a new episode of one of my favorite podcasts, Hello Internet, had just been released. I listened to it that night, and it just seemed to hit a lot of what I had already been thinking about. One of the hosts, CGP Grey, felt that he too had been having attention issues and was finding it harder and harder to leave. He had decided that his response to this was he was going to, in typical CGP Grey fashion, basically quit all excess internet. No social media, no Reddit, no current events. He was just going to use what he needs for work and use the rest of his time to get back into reading and letting his mind wander. While I think he is taking this a bit to an extreme, it is similar to something I have been considering trying as well.

I am still working out the exact details, but I know I need to cut back on certain things. I know I am not as bad with social media as I used to be, I still check Twitter and Instagram every day, but usually not more than once or twice. It just the random Googling of topics, and checking email when I am sitting at work, or just looking at Amazon at who knows what. I do also sometimes think that podcasts take up to much of my idle brain time. I put them on anytime I am doing anything where my eyes need to be used by not my ears; driving, dishes, biking. Maybe these times my brain should just be bored.

I do think I am going to pick a few things and experiment on cutting back, we will see how it goes, but I for sure need to get back to reading more if I am going to conquer my goal (I don’t like losing).

Links

Obviously, I have talked about my love of the FilmJoy YouTube channel in the past but I enjoyed the latest video on Infinity War a lot, a lot of spoilers so don't click if you haven't seen the movie yet.
Just for fun, here is a link to some fictional architecture.

It is funny how the summer can seem to go so long and yet all of a sudden be coming to an end. With Labor Day weekend upon us, the weather already feels like it is starting to change, who doesn't love fall though? Enjoy long weekend if you have one.

Thanks for reading,
Mike

P.S. Good thing this came out on Friday instead of Thursday so I could share the Avengers video...