The tyranny of open loops

The never ending story.

10:30AM

Have you ever been stuck in an open loop?

I mean, you're probably in one right now.

Unread emails, dishes left in the sink, arguments not settled, verses not finished, artworks not yet brilliant.

Open loops, all - which means your mind is like a paused Nintendo game with all the players running in place.

I, myself, am drowning in open loops.

Things add up. Mind and body become like an overheating computer with the fan growling underneath. Much stress, for such little outcome. The slower the grey matter machine runs, the crankier its owner gets.

Open loops.

Even when you're not thinking about them, the back-alley parts of the brain that don't show themselves in polite society still run in the background. That's what the brain does - it can't help itself.

However.

Last year, I started a new running program based on time and not mileage.

When it was mileage I was chasing, I could just press harder and run faster, and the workout would be shorter.

But when it was time based, I realized I could relax into a comfortable zone centered on the experience of running and not centered on keeping up a pace and the distance covered.

It was a different kind of achievement. A new finish line.

It opened up space for the deep, transcendental zone that some people call the runner's high that was just as satisfying, and with the comparable health metrics as the mileage-based approach.

Things still felt done.

And so I thought maybe I could reframe other parts of my life in this way as well and achieve similar results.

Rather than leaving the studio frustrated every night because I failed to tick-off the TODO item that said "finish writing chorus" or "record drums," I'd change the definition of done to "One hour of chorus writing" or "two hours of drum recording."

And when I moved the goalposts, the loops started to close in a meaningful way. I felt like I could enjoy the process and not worry about the outcome. Things felt done, even if they weren't.

A small mental shift with massive results.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

What I’m reading: Room to Dream (David Lynch and Kristine McKenna)

What I'm listening to: Temporal (Katatonia)

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