So here is the third of my Bibliosnap series – a look at the blogs, books, and articles that inspire and enthuse me. These are the writers and practitioners who make me go and do that thing I have procrastinated over, or stop that thing I have worried over.
This time it is Dave Seah. Dave’s was one of the first blogs I discovered when I became interested in productivity – his ground breaking Printable CEO tools drew me in, but it was his daily narrative that ticked my boxes.
Dave appears to have one of the most analytical minds I have ever had the pleasure to see open bare. His blog provides commentry on the development of his own design business, but the meat is where he digs below the “didn’t get x done today” into the “not sure I could get my head around x so didn’t get it done today”. And then he digs deeper still – reflecting on the traits and limits of his own character that are blockers to progress, then developing a means to push-on-through.
Why does this matter to you? Well without examples of skills and techniques you are just reading a textbook – and that is slowest way to learn. Most Half-a-dozen Monkeys will have a paragraph that starts ‘For example…’ – what you see you know, and what you know you never forget. Have a look at his blog for a first-class case-study:
In the interests of digging deeper, Dave has very kindly answered my usual Bibliosnap questions on himself:
1) Who are you in one sentence?
I’m a man in search of what I’m meant to create, trying to build a vision of something glimpsed just over the NEXT hill.
2) What do you write about and more importantly, why that?
I write a lot about design, development, productivity, and inspiration, in the context of my personal journey and insights that have happened along the way. I also sometimes share things I’ve made that I suspect would be helpful to other people, such as the various productivity forms and calendars. I’m very drawn to the idea of having a mission, purpose, or calling. In my case, I’m not really sure what it is, so my blog is a compendium of theories, experiments, designs, and connections that have my attention at a given moment. The reason why I write is twofold: I need to write to work things out, and I think that by sharing these thoughts I’m putting out a signal to other people who might also be drawn by the same questions. It’s good to know you’re not alone in the universe.
3) What is the Big Lesson you learnt most recently?
I’m learning to turn off my brain, which is the key to focusing for someone like me who’s constantly bursting with ideas of things I could be doing. I’m also deprogramming some old expectations related to “knowing what you’re going to do before you start”, which is the sort of mentality I picked up when I was studying engineering in college.
However, the right mentality to have when you are being creative (even in engineering, I think) is to be able to give yourself the space to NOT know, and have the chillness to go forth and start making something. That’s a pretty significant blockage that I’ve overcome…I didn’t realize how much of a demotivator it was, keeping me from even starting my own projects because it was emotionally uncomfortable. But now that I’ve accepted it, the resistance seems to have disappeared.
4) What are you NOT going to do ever again?
Be an employee of someone else’s company, if I can help it. Gotta commit to this run!
5) What is the first thing you try when you need to up your productivity level?
I try to identify what the blockage is, which is usually a combination of emotion and logic, and then I write a little explanation of it.
Sometimes I turn these writings into blog posts, if they seem significant enough. Writing, for me, is the least-effort way to start doing something, and that momentum tends to translate into activity.
The result of the writing is usually a working set of short-term principles and goals for getting something done. I find that maintaining a narrative of what I’m doing and experiencing also helps keep my productivity going.
6) What do you do to put a smile on your face when you start your day?
Usually I have a good look at one of my cats, and marvel at just how ridiculous they are to even exist. After that, I usually hang out at Starbucks, and a smile from the barristas often puts me in a good mood.
7) Where would you rather be right now?
I’m pretty happy where I am right now. I wish I had more money to do things with, but otherwise I feel that everything is within my grasp once I crack this puzzle of what I’m supposed to be doing, how I’m going to do it, and how I’m going to fund it. Of course, I’ve been in this state for many years, but I keep trying 
What is the best thing you have ever read?
I really enjoyed Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist”, but I’m really close to “The Diamond Age” by Neal Stephenson and “Pattern Recognition” by William Gibson.
9) What is the best thing you have ever written?
This post comes to mind as one that marked a critical change in the way I wrote, changing from the safer “I like this because it’s cool” posts to more introspective and personal ones. I remember at the time being concerned about how people would think of me, and I indeed got some, “dude, are you ok? are you going crazy?” type comments from people who knew me. But I posted it anyway, and this gave me the bravery to keep going down the path I’m on, to wherever it might be going.
10) What soundtrack shall I listen to when I read your work?
For some reason this came to mind: Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) – Computer Games
It’s computer-y, 80s, game-y, and a little cheesy with a straightforward beat and progression. Which is kind of how I am in person
