This might not age well, but is permanently burned into my brain: When things get difficult and there is also a time constraint, I sometimes mutter: “Pick the lock, don’t look at the dogs.” It’s a reference to an ancient Magnum, P.I. episode where Magnum is trying to get into his patron’s Ferrari, as Higgins’s dobermans (the patron’s butler who eternally distrusts and dislikes Magnum) are tearing across the lawn to attack. The bit continues as Magnum repeats the mantra a couple times, and then glances at the dogs. He then mutters to himself, “I told you not to look at the dogs.”

Lately, I’ve been finding myself in that situation as the publication deadline approaches for each 7 for Sunday issue. I’m trying to get away from that situation and I’m turning to my old friend discipline as the pixie-dust.

The world, for all its failings, is an extraordinary experiment in rampant human imagination. At its best, it exists because there were people who had the courage to follow through on an idea – who resisted the inner voice that said, “You are worthless. Why bother?”

~ Nick Cave, from Did you ever want to give up?

This small piece by Cave demonstrates such a broad view; awareness of abysmal darkness and blinding brightness held at once in one mind.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be?

~ Marianne Williamson

I believe we each contain both the light and the dark. (No, I’m not going to start talking about “the wolf which survives is the one we feed.”) I think it’s important that I not attempt to eliminate the light nor the dark within. It’s the contrast which makes life interesting. I do not want to experience the solid block of average that would be just one, even if it were just the light.

Rather than try to escape these thoughts, you can begin by trying to understand them differently, which could change how you react to them. […] Have you ever paused to wonder why certain thoughts tend to grab your attention when you’re in bed? The reasons might seem obvious on the surface (eg, ‘Work is important, so I worry about work’), but Ehrnstrom suggests it can be helpful to give this some deeper consideration. You can do that while you’re having the thoughts at night, or during the day.

~ Matt Huston, from What to do when racing thoughts keep you up at night

Sometimes my over-wrought processes for how I find things, read them, queue them, and finally use them, pays a bonus. In this article’s case, I read the advice given back in April, and immediately set about trying to apply it: So I can also say that the advice therein really does work. Trying to escape the racing thoughts has never worked for me, but getting all meta about those thoughts has worked on several occasions. Often, my thoughts are racing because I care about whatever-it-is, and being clear then about what (if anything) I can do, and when I can do it, shifts my thinking enough that I… wake up the next morning.

And sometimes I don’t actually care. Here too, being clear about what I should do (nothing) and when I should do it (never), has been enough that I… wake up the next morning.

The world is a hellish place, and bad writing is destroying the quality of our suffering.

~ Tom Waits

Sorry, were you expecting some sort of transition before that Waits quote? I’ll disabuse you of that misconception right now. Ain’t nobody got time for transitions. Around these parts I just jump-cut.

From a very early age, perhaps the age of five or six, I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer. Between the ages of about seventeen and twenty-four I tried to abandon this idea, but I did so with the consciousness that I was outraging my true nature and that sooner or later I should have to settle down and write books.

~ George Orwell, from Why I write

Back in 2021 I read that essay, and added the above to my collection of quotes.

(I have a growing collection of ~1,500 quotes. A random one is sent by email each day, from https://littleboxofquotes.com.)

I found it interesting that 3 years later, I re-stumbled over the essay and my instinct was to pick this exact same bit of text to quote. It feels reassuring that my “what should I pick?” process is reproducible.

Also interesting: What I’ve quoted are Orwell’s opening words of the essay. For most things I quote, it’s something in the middle that leaps out at me. Perhaps, in addition to telling us why he writes, he’s also making an implicit point about how he writes: Start with the good stuff, and then get on to the even better stuff.

If there’s somewhere you need to be, you need to start walking.

~ uncertain; possibly Lao-Tzu

Discipline is the pixie-dust that enables everything I do.

(“You might have seen a housefly, maybe even a superfly, but I bet you ain’t never seen a donkey fly!”)

I’ve had a single, pink, sticky note on the edge of my monitor since April 2023: “There are NO MIRACLES, there is only DISCIPLINE.” And over on my ‘ol blog, discipline comes up often.

Others agree:

These reassurances did not particularly help me make my life better, though. They helped me tolerate the bad place I was in, which is a mixed blessing. Self-sympathy and coping strategies make it easier to stay where you are, but that’s not where you want to be.

~ David Cain, from Discipline is Underrated

Cain’s article is about his experiences with having ADHD, and the bit I quoted is really important. I do continue to use self-sympathy and coping when I need it. At other times—knowing there’s somewhere I want to be—I start walking. I end up using a lot of discipline.

The secret sauce is knowing to not try to make every waking moment involve discipline. Instead, I deploy the discipline pixie-dust up front when things are important. I don’t wait until it’s, “oh no, this is now urgent!” but rather, I sprinkle earlier when it’s, “oh yes, this is important to me.”

(Yes, I’m aware that the flight-enabling pixie dust didn’t work out well for that donkey.)

Until next time, thanks for reading.

ɕ