i hate all my friends, i miss the days when i pretended with you.
–Patrick Stump
last month i read Cal Newport’s Deep Work and it confirmed a few things:
- we do our best work ONLY while free of distractions
- your work environment matters
- world changers ruthlessly eliminate distractions and bad environments
at the end of 2018 i’m moving from New York City to Austin, Texas. i am not looking forward to this move.
but i am looking forward to removing distractions:
- drinking
- walking 30 mins to go somewhere < 1 mile away
- long lines
critical to each of these distractions, however, are friends.
i don’t drink alone, i drink with friends. i don’t travel to Brooklyn for myself, i do it to meet friends. i don’t stand in long lines because i hate myself, i do it to get into popular venues where memories are made with, you guessed it, friends.
unfortunately, i have friends in Austin. i also have friends moving to Austin for lifestyles that are friend-centered instead of work- or drink- or travel-centered. sigh.
this is honorable, but it’s not for me.
when i move to Austin, i’m prioritizing Deep Work over friends.
please do not ask me to hang out.