Leisa Michelle

Nerdy Monologues of an Autodidact

Productive vs Valuable

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This post is a part of my Personal Development Project for May 2016.

“I was so unproductive yesterday.”

“I couldn’t get anything done all week. What a waste!”

“Man, I didn’t do anything today!”

The number of times I’ve said or heard these things is too high to count. We (people in general) like getting things done. We like seeing the results of our labor, creating tangible things. We’re obsessed with being productive.

Clearing your inbox is productive. Finishing that assignment is productive. Cleaning the house, taking the car into the shop, uploading the pictures from that vacation you took two months ago, doing the write-up for that meeting, being able to check something off your to-do list — all productive activities. Productivity means producing something tangible, something concrete, something completed.

Unproductive tasks, then, don’t produce tangible results. Taking a walk, for example, is unproductive. Going to the beach is unproductive. Watching a movie, getting on the internet, hanging out with friends, reading a few pages of a book, taking a nap, brewing a good cup of coffee, sitting in silence and just thinking about life — all of these things are unproductive. You usually have nothing tangible to show after you’ve engaged in these kinds of activities.

Somehow, the word “productive” has come to be “valuable”. And by extension, “unproductive” has come to mean “not valuable”. But this is a huge shame (or rather, a huge sham!) because a lot of unproductive tasks are actually quite valuable. Taking time for yourself is valuable. Building meaningful relationships is valuable. Slowing down and enjoying and appreciating life is valuable.

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Let’s Talk About Clothing

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This post is a part of my Personal Development Project for May 2016.

I can’t believe I’m writing an article about clothes. Really, truly, I’m embarrassed. But bear with me because I have something to say. About clothes.

You are what you eat. Your words reflect your character. The things that we love tell us what we are. Insert more cliches and proverbs about how our essence is reflected in our actions here. But most obviously, our clothes give others an idea of who we are. What’s that old saying about first impressions? Yeah. You are the first thing that people notice, not necessarily your words or works. How you look and what you wear matters.

Keeping good hygiene is important. Maintaining a nice haircut can go a long way. Taking care of your skin is rewarding in both the short term and long term. Stand up straight. Walk with purpose. Not only will you look different, but you’ll feel a lot different if you make the tiniest adjustments. You’ll feel better, stronger, more confident. It’s worth the initial discomfort of breaking bad habits and setting aside time to take care of yourself.

But there’s something there in the clothes themselves too. Something subtle, but important.

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Bad Idea Monday: Do I Have to Sleep Through the Night?

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This post is a part of my Personal Development Project for May 2016.

TLDR; Yes, you have to sleep for a lengthy period every day. Ideally 6-9 hours at night.

Sometimes I feel like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do. And I like to think that I do a pretty good job of managing my time. My life is filled with valuable activities. I take my time drinking a cup or two of tea every day, I like taking walks and going for bike rides, I like meeting up with friends, I like listening to music, and I like sketching with graphite and charcoal. I also like doing productive things like reading and writing and even working.

I’ve gotten good at recognizing when I’m bored. Whenever I feel that I’m not being intentional or engaged in what I’m doing, I stop and think of what I’d rather be doing. And then I go do it. So even if I’m not doing something productive, I still make sure I’m doing something valuable in an active and engaged way.

Once I cut all the boredom and valueless activities out of my life, it was pretty awesome. I felt great because at the end of every day, I would think, “Wow, today was a great day!”

This has been going on for the past several weeks, but now I find myself thinking not just, “Wow, today was awesome,” but also, “Man, I wish I had more time to do X and Y and Z”. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do!

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The Evolution of Classical Music – Some Thoughts

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This post is a part of my Personal Development Project for May 2016.

Today I published a new article for Mozart For Muggles titled, “The Evolution of Classical Music: An Overview”. You can read the article here on Medium. It’s basically a summary of music history, starting with the baroque period in 1600 and ending with 20th century period music in the year 2000. The post will be the first in a series of in-depth analyses of classical music history. I have plans for individual posts on the baroque, classical, romantic, early 20th century periods, as well as posts on impressionism, futurism, minimalism, atonality, and influences from folk music and jazz.

I talk about this a lot, but I really love writing for Mozart For Muggles. I love classical music, and I feel like I’ve come to learn a lot about it. And yet when I’m writing for the publication, I still feel the need to research, cross-reference, and fact check everything even if I think I know what I’m talking about. I don’t want to publish crap, and I also don’t want to put up misinformation (even if I’m innocently misinformed).

Through the process of writing and researching, I’ve really come to increase the breadth and depth of my knowledge about classical music. I’ve learned a lot of new things. For example, today I learned that the word “baroque” came from the Portuguese word “barroco” which meant “misshaped pearl”.

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Books: the Bad, the Good, and the Truly Awesome

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This post is a part of my Personal Development Project for May 2016.

I read a lot of good books. I also read a lot of terrible books. And I’d say one of the reasons that I wade through all the terrible books and good books alike is to uncover the truly awesome books. If I had to give a totally biased, gut-based statistic for the ratio of good to bad to awesome books I read, I’d say that out of every ten books I read, 7 are good, 2 are bad, and 1 is truly awesome.

How do I define books as bad, good, and truly awesome?

Bad books are sometimes unclear, poorly written, and/or poorly researched. But what really makes a book good or bad is the reaction it stirs in me. When I’m reading a bad book, I feel nothing. When I finish reading it, I usually think, “Well, no complaints.”

It’s not that feeling bored makes a book good or bad for me. Whether or not I enjoy the book plays no part in my book assessment ritual. When I say that I feel nothing, I mean that I don’t feel a pull or push, and I don’t have a frenzy of thoughts, questions, and arguments whirling in my head. Reading a “bad” book is usually a pleasant, non-polarizing experience.

I think of reading a bad book like eating a bowl of grandma’s soup. You know what grandma’s soup tastes like. You’ve had it many times all throughout your life. It tastes great! You love grandma and her soup. But it’s not comparable with the soup from that restaurant down the street. There’s no comparing grandma’s soup to anything– that soup just is. “Bad” books just are. They’re don’t excited me, they don’t challenge me, they just are.

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