My favourite story about Einstein is the one where he and a
colleague are trying to find a paperclip to hold the pages together of a report they’ve
been working on. They find a paperclip in a drawer, but it’s all bent
out of shape, so they set about trying to find a tool to fix it.
In a draw lower down, the colleague finds a box full of
paperclips. Einstein takes one out of the box, straightens it out and uses it
to fix the original paperclip. He colleague says, “Einstein, what are you
doing? There’s a whole box of new paperclips.”
“When start I a task,” replies Einstein, absentmindedly, “I
like to see it through to a conclusion.”
I like the story, because it demonstrates two things. One,
it demonstrates how obsessive and dedicated one has to be to be at the top of one’s
particular field. It also demonstrates that even the brightest men and women in
history can be a bit thick sometimes.
This year I’m going to try and post something new to this
blog every day. In the past I've used the blog as a place to post stories,
articles and essays and so in 2014 I’m going to try and write a steady stream
of new pieces of writing, pushing myself as much as possible. That might sound
a bit thick, but it also demonstrates the level of obsession that I need to
start demonstrating to not merely good at what I do but an expert. That’s what
I’m doing this year and I think this should be the year for all of us of
getting shit done. My motto this year, Get it done.
Coming up in the next few weeks and months, invented news, Deep
Space Nine, Blue Metal Jazz, on the hating of adverts and the electronic
afterlife. There will also be far, far too much about James Joyce, for which I can
only apologise in advance. There will be some filler, I’m sure, when I’m mired
in some larger project, but I’ll try to keep the standard as high as possible.
Welcome to 2014 (please mind your head).
Get it done.
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