12 Comments

More disinformation . I find the Times quite useful. In fact I used the Sunday version of the Times to housebreak my Corgi pup. I would elaborate on its usefulness further but I’m preparing a couple ribeyes while listening to Rogans latest.

Expand full comment

I agree with everyone that it's a very hard fuck right off. I'm in the middle of moving house and I can reassure Ollie that the only way I got through weeding the garden of the rental I'm vacating with my sanity intact was by listening to podcasts while I did it. I don't need to get zen dragging thistles out of the soil.

I don't know if anyone else has this issue, but I find I can't sit still and listen to a podcast if I'm trying to focus just on the podcast. I need to be doing something else, like walking, or weeding, or doing the dishes, while I listen. I think it's because the act of listening doesn't give me something to do with my hands the way reading a book does or kicking back on the couch to watch a movie or TV show. With audio alone I need to be otherwise occupied, otherwise my mind drifts and I find myself not listening properly. Another reason Ollie and his "live in the moment and be one with the podcast" advice can GTFO.

Expand full comment

From the title, I expected this article to be about something completely different. But I'm glad it wasn't. This is some genuine wisdom. Life is too short to be too pedantic about anything.

Expand full comment

I listen to podcasts,l a LOT by some measures and there is no way I would have kept up with all the podcasts I listen to if I had to do them sitting down in a room and solely focussed on listening. Do I need to be laser focussed on my podcast to absorb every single factoid presented this week on the science show, no, I just need to be focused enough to remember that there was a piece earlier in the year on how some Australian frogs have any bacterial chemicals under their skin which are being investigated so I can find it again later. Am I going to loose out on the benefits of being 'in the moment' waiting to collect the pizza I ordered at the local takeaway.

Unless of course it's the Smart Enough To Know Better podcast that requires complete and undivided attention.

Expand full comment

I've found that I'm _very_ single-task focused. There is no way that I can read or do productive work while there is talking-radio (or podcast) or TV within hearing range. Music is different: I like music (even if it has lyrics) while working. Never tried the ambient sounds or noise tracks that some here have mentioned. Didn't know that they were a thing. So I guess that people differ, which is perfectly fine.

Expand full comment

I’ve only recently stopped peeling sweet potatoes. They don’t need it. I feel liberated.

I was listening to a report about the recent successful campaign of the Qld State of Origin rugby league team. It said, coach Billy Slater tells players to ‘be where your feet are’.

Then I was reading about the English cricket team and their new ‘Bazball’ strategy which is reinvigorating test cricket. The report said, coach Brendon McCullum is very big on ‘be where your feet are’.

It’s a different way of saying ‘be in the moment and concentrate on what you are doing’, but I’ve found the newer one a stickier phrase that benefits from being a bit droll.

Expand full comment

Interestingly, the great Wayne Gretzky used to say he skated to where the puck _would_ be, which seems (on the face of it) contradictory advice.

Expand full comment

Yeah, nah, that's a strong get fucked from me. Blah blah beauty in all things but ffs, using podcasts to alleviate drudgery is the only way I stay sane.

Washing up for the umpteenth time today, cooking food for kids to stuff into faceholes, hanging the washing, doing the ironing, forcing the meatsack to go through physical jerks.. these are all things that are improved by giving the brain weasels something to fight over.

Multitasking remains bullshit, of course. When it comes to actual work product I can only focus on one thing at a time - although I have found that specific music helps me maintain focus a lot easier and more effectively. Cue up the right track and I'm a fucking demon.

Expand full comment
author

Agreed. I'm a big fan of trance like electronica for background vibes.

Expand full comment

I still run 3 monitors but I don't use them like I used to. I had twitter on one, a movie or TV show in the middle and a game typically Diablo 3 on the last one. It worked well at the time, I had the overhead to deal with the cost of multitasking.

Expand full comment

Wish I'd been less distracted about 2 weeks back when I tried to carve a piece off my left index finger while cutting beans for dinner...

Expand full comment

I think real multitasking just happens. That's just life. It's when you actively consider yourself to be multitasking that it becomes bullshite. I like to have music playing, or something like Noizio, as essentially white noise while I'm working on something somewhat complex, because it takes away my immediate life, or drowns it out, so I can focus, but I wouldn't call that multitasking.

I agree there's not much Zen involved in peeling one potato, but there might be in peeling one hundred potatoes. I get great pleasure from making pasta, the kneading and then the rolling, even if that bit is done by machine. It's soothing to the mind.

Expand full comment