Donald Matheson

if im being cold and clinical on emotion, i think we should try prioritise short term emotion less. and value long term emotions more.

what do i mean?

let’s say you see a girl you like. the long term emotion in that situation is “i could see us together. id have a friend. id be happy.” the short term emotion is fear, it’s risk of overcoming public disapproval. 

wait… actually is what i mean we should try prioritise the long term emotion, actually mean we should prioritise the positive emotions…?

i write these blogs live - aka i cannot press backspace, i only clean up spelling afterwards. not chain of thought. it means i often discover things as i write - its quite an interesting journey - im literally thinking out loud.

anyway

i felt like remembering this thought as when i think through my life the moments that have been the best have usually followed some sort of hardship, or temporary pain. aka a job interview. aka a gym session. aka a new business. 

try remember today is only 1 go. you have 365 go’s every year and (somebody do the maths I can’t work it out in my head lol)

:)

Talking about the thing isn't doing the thing. Thinking about doing the thing isn't doing the thing. Blogging about doing the thing isn't doing the thing...

Only sitting doing the thing is doing the thing. 

I think people hear the word AI and automatically think you wrote a 3 word prompt like "make me xx" to get what you want.

God how I wish that was the case. Actually... no I don't.

I think the hardest thing in my life right now is deciding what to work on...

Rewind 3 months to October and I was at a completely different life and headspace. I had a job, went gym and that was really it... I didn't really have side-projects or directions aside from my main career.

Fast forward to today and between my AI page - which I just found out made it to the national papers and radio (LINK) - this new app idea, upcoming job and health issues I feel like I'm in a constant state of FOMO.

I think I need to spend more time deciding how to delegate my mind and life.

Just as building has become democratised - design has not. Taste has not. 

Since figuring out that actually getting an app to work isn't that hard (apart from a bunch of error and bug solving), I've spent most my time figuring out how Appearance is going to look and feel.

- What's the journey people go on?

- Why are they here? Why will they stay? Why will they come back?

RIght now I'm tusselling to figure out the answers. 

This all started with me wanting to try a haircut before a haircut (try a trim). I think I need to hold that closer to home. Visualising what you could look like (and genuinely look like, not imagine what you could actually look like, aka FaceApp). From that you should be able to store that look. Then after your haircut you should be able to compare what you actually look like vs what you thought you'd look like. That then becomes your verified appearance. 

In between your next appearance update, you can then explore new appearances, maybe using one of them as the inspiration and guide when you go the barbershop/salon. 

From there everything is an addon. 

Sometimes you can only put it down to fait.

Today at around 3pm my Claude usage maxed out. At 4pm Claude suffered an error resulting in no enforced limits. 

Time to go crazy!

power = legitimacy plus capacity over time

i wrote a while back about creativity. 

in it i wrote about how i need to refocus myself back towards it. today i feel that feeling again.

without knowing it i've aimed myself towards becoming an "enabler". analysing media, obsessing over trends, thinking i can calculate the next best move based on the data.

there was a saying my dad used to repeat - "those who can't, teach" - and i fear as the months and years go by i'm setting myself up to be a teacher, and not a do-er. 

in hindsight there is nothing wrong with either, but when watching the pure creative spirit and energy at kendrick lamar's concert last night i can't help but feel deep down THAT is my calling. to be a "creator". an "artist". or whatever the label is we're using right now. 

what that means for me right now, i'm not entirely sure. all i do know is that the feeling exists, and if i want to release my own creative spirit someday i have to start acknowledging the feelings that shape me

Creators make content for the algorithm.

Artists make art for the audience.

Creators choose money > meaning.

Artists choose meaning > money.