His father was ever a man of few words, even when Liam is on the other side of the world, with a new name and unfamiliar clothes, facing a committee of robed men who have come to sit in judgment of him, he will be able to recall the astonishing day that turned his father garrulous.
- From Land: A Novel by Maggie O'Farrell
One June weekend, Washington collected Hamilton and Jefferson, neither yet sufficiently acquainted with the other to regard him as an enemy, and went fishing off Sandy Hook. If they discussed the assumption of state debts or where to locate the nation's capital permanently, it went unrecorded. Instead, the president returned with a large haul of sea bass and warm praise for his "able coadjutors, who harmonize extremely well together."
- From Patriarch: George Washington and the New American Nation by Richard Norton Smith
The Free Press: Larry Sanger, a co-founder of Wikipedia, on being banned from Wikipedia.
Many thanks to serpentinesheldonserpentine and to Cultural Offering for their kind mention of my recent Substack post on Books for America's 250th Anniversary.
Many thanks also to Nicholas Bate, A Large Regular, and A Layman's Blog for their mentions.
They are deeply appreciated.
[Photo by David Kovalenko at Unsplash]
Consider your average workday. How much of it is consumed by distractions? How much more work could you get done if you reduced them?
Now for the brutal part: How many of those distractions are chosen by you and not inflicted by others?
My guess is that it's a large amount so here's the assignment:
Set aside 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon for those self-chosen distractions. No other time can be devoted to them.
A rigid application of that regimen will make a big difference.
[Photo by Bradley Andrews at Unsplash]
