Something to Read
Is there something on your to-do list that has been there for a while? Now that you’re thinking about it…is it staring you down from your notepad right this second?
About a year ago, I purchased the book, “I didn’t do the thing today” by Madeleine Dore. Honestly, I purchased the book mostly because I loved the title. I, too, didn’t do the thing today and I wanted to hear what an entire book might tell me about how another human, in this case Dore, also didn’t do the thing today.
Why did this book resonate so much for me while writing Talking Points?
You’ll notice that Talking Points is released at the end of the month. The reason is more nuanced than you might think. Yes, I like collecting ideas and suggestions that I may help your life or improve your communication practices. But a big chunk of the reason is that it takes me a full month to get this task off my to-do list. I am usually eeking out the final words and pushing it out the door as the closing bell of the month rings out.
The good news is that Dore’s book is full of explanations and commentary about why this is all ok and how our quiet practice of delay tactics make us entirely human. I like knowing that I’m not alone in my struggle of humanness – especially related to communicating with others.
- “I didn’t do the thing today” by Madeleine Dore was published in 2022 and can be found at local Boston-based bookstore, Trident Booksellers & Café or wherever you buy your books. Find the digital or audio book from your online retailer of choice.
Something to Hear
Flow is the state of being completely immersed and engaged in what you’re doing.
– David Melnikoff for Think Fast, Talk Smart
Thinking back to our recommendation of something to read…that lingering task on your list, wouldn’t it be so nice to get into a flow state and finish it!? David Melnikoff joins the Think Fast, Talk Smart podcast with host Matt Abraham to let us know what it really means to be in “flow” and how we can utilize this information for the practice of better communication.
Want to read what surprised me most about his theory?
In college I took a psychology of sport class and that professor would talk about flow requiring a dimension of task complexity – you needed to be doing a task that was neither too hard or too easy in order to reach flow. The surprising thing I learned from this podcast is that the challenge of the task is less important to establishing flow. What is primary is the outcome of the task and the how uncertain you feel about the outcome. Melnikoff suggests that flow is established when we complete an aspect of the task, which helps to reduce uncertainty about whether or not we could do it in the first place.
I am experiencing some of this right now as I type these letters….the more letters I type, the more I reduce my uncertainty about whether or not this month’s collection of ideas will ever be released into the world. The podcast does a good job of giving an example for how flow can be found in communication – my goal is to work towards reducing the uncertainty that anyone will read this month’s collection – therefore I have to put something out in order for it to be read.
- This quick, 17-minute lesson is from episode 139 (Lose Yourself: The secret to finding flow and being fully present) from Think Fast, Talk Smart podcast where they interviewed David Melnikoff. You can find this April 23rd episode by visiting the Think Fast, Talk Smart website or wherever you get your podcasts.
Something to Do
Sign up for WordDaily.
Do you know what absquatulate means? ….I didn’t either until it popped up in my email through a daily vocabulary lesson from WordDaily. I don’t know what I signed up for to get this daily lesson, but somehow, this happy little email update found its way to my inbox. I couldn’t be more pleased about it.
And most of my pleasure comes from learning the word, absquatulate, which is a verb meaning “leave abruptly.”
And with that, I am absquatulating.
You can sign up for your own daily lesson by clicking here
Something to See
This month found me in Boston – the home city of Point Taken! Have you ever been to Boston in the spring? If the answer is no, then I present to you an image that captures the beauty you see around every corner. The flower boxes in Boston are something to behold – this one I have captured was just a few doors down from the Point Taken offices. How lucky we were to enjoy it on a beautiful blue spring day.