My brief summer break has helped me establish a new routine: a proper night’s sleep. I am eating early, have reduced my carb intake and am essentially not using any devices after 7:30 p.m. Sure, I don’t answer emails for a whole 12 hours, but I think it is a small price to pay, as it allows me to focus on reading. There is still nothing better than falling asleep with a book.
Recently (before 7:30 p.m., I might add) I read a great piece called “Why we can’t read anymore.” The author argues that being constantly connected on the social web takes away our ability to focus, and I think there is an element of truth to it. I don’t have Twitter and Facebook on my iPhone, and most of the apps I use are actually for either photography or reading. Instagram, however, is still on my phone and isn’t going anytime soon.
My new ability to focus also results from taming email. It helps that summer slows down the amount of email and other sundry distractions. San Francisco has nearly perfect weather these days: 65 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny with some fog. After baking in hot Paris, let’s just say it is good to stay put at home for a few weeks. The real joy of summer in San Francisco is to conduct all of my meetings sitting outside on a bench in South Park across from the office.
If there is one downside of my break, it is that my camera is not getting much exercise! I have not felt a burning desire to go out and take photos since coming back from my trip. I think the prospect of sitting down and editing nearly 1,000 photos from the trip has scared me out of adding more to my Lightroom library! Fortunately you readers will benefit from that work, since I’m running a series of black-and-white portraits on my Instagram. If you have a minute, take a look. (By the way, I just learned that 70,000 photos are uploaded to Instagram every second.)
Photos aside, the short break has helped me focus and find enthusiasm to blog more often. I also want to increase the cadence of publishing over on Pi.co, and I have three great conversations lined up. Hopefully I can publish one a week through the end of September so I can start afresh this fall.
Till next time,
July 23, 2015, San Francisco