Junk food

I have a very simple thing to say. I'm gonna try not to dress it up too much. You know that that uh that thing where people measure what they do, like the time, how they spend their time. And how it's very different than how you think you spend your time. Like you think you spend your time working and spending time with your family and cooking and reading.

And watching T V maybe or something like that. That's how you think you spend your time. And then when you map it out, you realize that you're actually on YouTube all day. Or Twitter or Instagram or TikTok. Um I think that it's a problem for me. I don't have a TikTok account at all. I never ever look at Instagram. I look at Twitter. Barely look at Twitter.

But I'm on YouTube a lot and I'm starting to realize that, like, oh, like this is that thing where basically Like the only thing the only thing that I know to be like absolutely true in work is that focus is the most important thing. And it's very, very difficult to attain and it's even more difficult to maintain. It's a painful experience. That's why it's difficult, because focus is a painful experience. And w humans avoid painful experiences.

And YouTube is a pleasurable experience. Extremely pleasurable to type YouTube.com in and hit enter and then just It really is like tapping in, you know, you put the needle in the arm and you just go ah that's what it feels like. It's an escape. Twitter is the same way. It's an escape. These things are an escape from focus and the focus is the thing that you need the most. It is the soul determinant, maybe. Of your success, of your productivity, whatever.

And yeah. So uh and with the so with uh like these AI tools, I think it's just becoming more evident than ever. Because there there are days where I'm working and it's like You know, it used to be like you're either working or you're on YouTube, right? Now it's like, well, you can be working and on YouTube. Like that's that's a new thing. Before it was I'm programming and my brain is in it and I'm focusing, or I'm being bad and I'm watching a YouTube video.

Now it's like, well, I mean, I have twelve agents like busy right now and I'm just kind of waiting for'em. So I'm watching some YouTube, you know, and they're so productive that like it's okay, you know, this is the devil. This is the devil. I don't care how productive these agents are and how miraculous the work they do is. If this will be a trap, here's good news. If you're worried about losing your job, this is a trap. Because again, these things are junk food. Humans love junk food.

They're easy, they're pleasurable, and focus is painful. Now introduce this new workflow, this new AI workflow, and it is going to be a trap for many, many, many people who don't have the Huxhba to wrangle.

You know, so that's been on my mind is I need to wrangle it. I need a prohibition. I need a prohibition on YouTube and I th I've been thinking like I need this. And then I just grabbed a lunch here, sat down at my desk, and I put on YouTube. But what else am I gonna do? I can't type.

So I don't know. Maybe just being aware of I don't know. I but I do think well you read a pup read a blog post, that's what I should have done. I should have opened up Hacker News or something. I should I don't know. Even Twitter. is better than YouTube for me. Um, because YouTube has become a lot of like comedy and, you know, there's other stuff and there's educational stuff, but it's not Yeah, my algo's drifted, you know? So anyway, um okay.

But yeah, I find this Shia LaBeouf interview with the Channel Five guy, that stole a bunch of my productivity away. Like how is that? That's a terrible thing. Shia LaBeouf on drugs Has nothing to do with my life. Why do I care? Why do I want to watch it? You know? It's junk food. It's all junk food. And so on the topic of changes like this. I I recorded an episode a while back called like the things you suck at you'll always suck at, you know?

And I got a lot of replies from it actually. A lot of people that were like, Hey, like well, some people are like I don't know. A lot of people disagreed. We're like, I I think that's a really depressing take and and you're wrong. And I don't think I'm wrong, unfortunately, but I do think it's a depressing take. But I think what I tried to make clear in the episode, and maybe I didn't, is that the takeaway is not, so then just continue sucking at all the things you suck at.

It's accept these as fundamental, you know, impossibilities for yourself and work around them with environmental changes. You know, that's the takeaway is find a new approach to winning the game against yourself. All of this, this whole thing, life. It's a game against yourself. It's so simple. It's a game against yourself where there are things.

I don't think everybody is like this, but I think most people are like this. Where you live life and you know the thing you should be doing or shouldn't or whatever. And You know the thing you should be doing and you're not doing it. Or you know the thing you shouldn't be doing and you're doing it, if you know what I'm saying. That's the whole thing is, and it's junk food stuff. You know, it's it's the it's the things that you should be doing that you're not doing, they're hard.

But they make you feel good in the long run. I I've classified these in my head as like like drugs make you feel really good right away when you take them. And then you feel like crap after. Right? Like so it's a win, it's the it's the good good up front and the bad bad at the end. And the bad bad is a longer tail than that good good up front.

The good things in life, and maybe this is how you can just measure them. Maybe it's a side effect of things being absolutely good. I don't know. The good things in life feel bad up front and good on the long tail. You know? And they both of these things compound, like drugs compound. You feel worse and worse and worse and worse. or or you feel less good and less good and less good and less good, right?

Well I think the opposite is true, is the things that are good for you to do f feel bad when you start them, like running or something. But you get better at it. It gets easier to do, it gets less bad up front. And the good gets more.

I've thought about so I've re I've been running and I ran two days ago and I just remember having this like Sort of daydream. Like I th I don't know if it was like when I was waking up the next day or taking a nap or something. I don't know. But I just remember kind of laying there and and not being in my full consciousness. And thinking this thought. Thought is that you want to have a good day, you start it by running. Like

It gives you a good day. It's almost impossible to have a bad day after you ran. Something about your brain and your body just when you exhaust yourself, it shakes all the willies out. And you have a calmness, a peace, a sort of happiness to you. You're sort of glowing. You know? But the running part really sucks. Now I'm not a great runner. I'm kind of slow. I ran a 5K this morning. Not an I didn't like go to a 5K. I just ran the amount of a 5K. And it was hot.

And I didn't like it. I didn't like any bit of it. I got a cramp for a portion of it. I felt kind of nauseous for another portion. Dripping sweat'cause it's super hot now. I just wanted it to be over. It's a mental game. It is a crazy mental game. You're running and you're going, uh, this it was half I just did half a mile. I have to do six more of these. Like

Ah. And then you think don't look at don't look at the watch. Don't look at the watch. Oh, I looked at the watch. I'm not far, you know. Or like the you're staring at your pace, whatever, and it's just whatever. You don't it's painful. It's painful. Your body wants escape from it. I was thinking about that as I was running, is how like I'm like, why do I not want to do this right now? Like, why is my why is what can I change that about myself so that I'm not wanting to escape this this

Oh, people are coming home. I'll catch you later.