Welcome to my new weekly podcast, inspired by stories brewed from within. To celebrate the launch of You Don’t Need This Podcast, listen as I articulate a caffeinated manifesto for this podcast, introduce our friendly co-host (BEN BOT) and invite you to join in on the fun every Wednesday morning. Cheers!
Create a library of written works.
It can unfold into a timeless asset.
Imagine if you had already started writing. With no index cards required, welcome to your very own collection of organized, articulated thoughts, eh!
You will have embraced the moments of your own thoughts. You will also have felt the nourishment of released energy that awaits within the art of writing. Even more, you also moved past the fear and began “shipping your art” by sharing it within a community as well.
With your library of writings in place, even if traffic is low, your future self can become a real-time index. Available any time, from any device, and you’ll remember them all because you created them!
This treasure trove becomes super handy and very valuable! You can effectively add thickness to any interaction. What a timeless gift to yourself and to those you seek to serve, beyond so many beautiful, but brief sparks in time.
Quick temperature check. The world is experiencing a mainstream surge in AI, but don’t let that become an excuse. Anyone can now unleash AI and #ChatUX is so sweet, but those who show ingenuity will never be out created. Along with helping us all maintain intensity, your own writings can represent a honest heart connected to different topic you’re also talking about… maybe even building realities around as well!
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“Reading helps us understand the world.
Writing helps us understand ourselves.”
– Ben McDougal, Roasted Reflections
Does writing take serious time? Yes. Does publishing your writing online spark hesitations? Yes. Will writing welcome a creative release and potentially deliver more art for you to ship? Also yes.
Start writing my friend, then get generous by sharing it with us.
The achievement of writing every week for two years has me considering the future of this ambitious frequency.
For most of us, the recurring year-end audit includes a look back on how we spent our time. I love how writing helps me coordinate, understand, and translate thoughts, but the contemplative time poured into Roasted Reflections has also required intentional, lasting dedication.
As I sip on The Holiday Walk, considering what’s next, I wonder if I should give myself a break? Reducing the frequency would add ease and would subscribers even notice? Increased personal bandwidth and self-doubt aside, I still really enjoy shipping this art and I love considering how my writings will help unfold a life well lived. Along with personal growth, hearing how these weekly jolts help people is deeply rewarding and I believe we collectively have more to share.
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Ready to write more? Let’s collaborate on a Caffeinated Contribution!
Recursion is a computer science term that describes the process of defining a problem in terms of itself. This form of problem solving divides a problem into smaller parts of the same type. I’m quick to encourage others to start/continue writing so I’ve decided, at least for now, to keep building. By writing, I will uncover why and what to keep writing. Expanding this web of thoughts will feed an intrinsic motivation toward perpetual learning and will remained brewed to keep you building as well.
Storytelling, enhanced with trapped time, defines our civilization.
Voices were first translated into writings to stretch the impact. Humanity continued to bring the past to life with audio, photos, and then video. We’re now adding telepathic communication and other weird ingredients to the technology soup that’s made to trap time. Leaders who leverage these tools are time trappers who wield an ability to more actively appreciate life experiences.
To test your time trapping skills, grab a device and look through your own creative content. Whether it’s writings, audio, photos, video, or other types of art, go back to see what was captured this week. Now, rewind further. Revisit this day last year, two years ago, five years ago, and ten years ago. Embrace nostalgia, then consider the quantity, quality, and different types of content you’ve created.
Avoid distractions and stay in the moment, but if you’d like to enhance your time trapping capability, think of fun ways to create more organized content. This may be journalling, recording a podcast series, finding a day dedicated to taking an exorbitant amount of photos, or editing a video from individual clips. As content comes together, organize it and push past fear by shipping the art. Creation, organization, and sharing will avoid everything going numb within a device. The value in doing this can be seen as we write into physical notebooks or treasure a healthy bookshelf; when music lovers choose vinyl over endless streaming or that live theater performance compared to any TV show. Exertion from those generous enough to create, organize, and ship their art makes thoughtful time trapping more demanding, but more fulfilling as we extend time beyond the moment.
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We are already cyborgs and biotech will further augment the way we seamlessly capture, organize, and share our realities. Until we autonomously enhance our bandwidth, telling a story, writing, recording audio, taking photos, or shooting video will still take manual effort. Let’s mitigate the risk of AI and optimized efficiency, but might the elbow grease required to set each time trap make our personal creations more memorable? Yes, and even as future tools add ease, ingenuity and creativity will remain an essential currency that adds heartfelt context to trapped time.
Without a thesis, care enough to habitually go beyond what’s expected. When premium human time and ambitious initiative becomes a fundamental part of your creative practice, you’ll be an active time trapper who stays in-tune, organized, and inspired with timeless purpose.
I’ve written into Roasted Reflections every week for almost two years and this is the 100th entry!
I put a lot of thought and energy into every one of these friendly jolts, each brewed to keep you building in different ways. Whether it’s taking the time to read, sharing a quick reply, crafting a caffeinated contribution, or just paying the good vibes forward, I want to thank everyone who starts your Wednesdays with me. As I reflect on this literary journey, here are things I’ve appreciated along with way.
– Writing helps us understand ourselves.
– Translating ideas into words is easier the more you do it.
– Verbal dictation can produce a base, then a round of editing brings things together.
– Having a home to organize your writings is more lasting and easier to share anywhere.
– It’s challenging to keep writings concise, but this makes more impact in less time.
– Attention is hard to earn, let alone keep. Stay curious, listen to those you seek to serve, and diversify content creation to stay interesting.
– If you’ve written a book, a complimenting library of shorter entries make it easy to connect ideas back to the book while sharing organized thoughts based on the context of any conversation.
– The thesaurus is a fun tool thats helps us learn new ways to express ideas with fresh vocabulary.
– Publicly publishing your art creates connection.
– I enjoy encouraging others to write.
– Writing is not free. It costs time.
– Without much financial capital involved, the ROI of this type of initiative comes in the form of intellectual, human, cultural, and network capital that churns evolving layers of satisfying value.
– Even so, doubt creeps in. I find myself wondering if I’ll run out of meaningful things to write about every week. Would anyone care if I quit sharing these reflections? If I do decide to quit or reduce the frequency, what’s my why and how might I change the way I ship this art? Would I miss the sense of connection or somehow lose momentum? Perhaps there’s peace knowing the impact can continue being made without weekly additions? I plan to push through these dips as long as I continue to enjoy the challenge, but it can be lonely when we give our best, so please know that I always welcome support from those who have walked this path before.
– Consistency requires sacrifice.
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If you like seeing Roasted Reflections land in your inbox each week, can you help me stay caffeinated? Share this link to invite a friend to subscribe.