Two Problem-Solving Techniques That Might Be Applicable to More Than Just Piano Every time you repeat something that isn’t currently working, decide what you want to change on your next repetition — and then evaluate whether or not you actually changed it. Yesterday I wrote about the ways in which problem-solving is the process of going from guessing to knowing — and, as promised, today I am going to share two problem-solving techniques that are helping me get to “knowing” a little more quickly. At least at the piano. (L thinks they could apply to the rest of life as well.) These two techni ..read more

Problem-Solving Is the Process of Going From Guessing to Knowing If problem-solving is the process of going from guessing to knowing, then there could be an advantage to learning how to expedite that process. What does it mean to solve a problem? I feel like I cannot be the first person to have tried to answer this question, though a quick Google search reveals — well, that Merriam-Webster defines problem-solving as “the process or act of finding a solution to a problem,” which doesn’t seem particularly helpful, and that someone named Gene P. Agre wrote an article titled “What Does It Mean To ..read more

Thoughts From My Office Includes where I got published this week! Let’s start with this week’s work-showing. I really wanted to get the second movement of Mozart K332 performance-ready, as it were — and I almost thought it was, but as soon as I put it under the pressure of “making a recording,” I realized there were still some uncertainties in the recapitulation. This is still astoundingly more specific than it was last week, specifically because I am using… View On WordPress ..read more

Not-Magic Is Letting the Elements Manipulate You If magic, as I wrote earlier this week, can be defined as “the manipulation of elements,” then it would seem to follow that not-magic could be defined as “letting the elements manipulate you.” If magic, as I wrote earlier this week, can be defined as the manipulation of elements, then it would seem to follow that not-magic could be defined as letting the elements manipulate you. Right? L isn’t as sure of this as I am. “Isn’t that Zen?” he asked. “No, it’s not Zen,” I said. “Also I don’t know enough about Zen. But accepting what is around you ..read more

Magic Is the Manipulation of Elements A short digression, because of the snow. A short digression, because of the snow — and because L and I have gotten ourselves onto the subject of magic, and I want to work through what I’m thinking about it. This isn’t the first time I’ve tried to come up with some definition of magic, btw. You might remember what I wrote about magic when I went to Disneyland in 2017: I don’t believe in magic but I do believe that people can create… View On WordPress ..read more

Thoughts From My Office I just got my very own CAL NEWPORT’S TIME BLOCK PLANNER… I am very very excited about the slate of guest posts I have coming your way over the next month — I told you a while ago that I wanted to run one guest post per week, and someone must have spread the word on Twitter, because I got a pile of pitches. It’ll be good to have a few other perspectives on this-here blog, right? Especially since I tend to have a particular sort of perspective… AND ON… View On WordPress ..read more

You Don’t Have to Settle if You Are Willing to Take the Time The perfect may be the enemy of the good, as is often said — but the good is just as much the enemy of the perfect. Let’s start with another bit of work-showing. Here’s the first half of the second movement of the Mozart: As you can see — especially if you’ve been watching my previous videos — this performance is phenomenally more specific. First of all, it’s actually adagio. (Not “slightly-faster-than adagio.”) Second of all, every grace note gets its moment of grace. Nothing is blurred, nothing is slurred… View On WordPress ..read more

Why I Went Back to Time Blocking T is for the time we use… B is for the blocks we choose… Yesterday I wrote about having to “figure out which part of my day to take time from,” and if you’ve been reading Nicole Dieker Dot Com for the past six months or so you might be thinking wait, didn’t you try this experiment where you let the days unfold without trying to plan them in advance? Yep, I for-sure did. (If you don’t know what I’m referring to, you might want to read Thoughts on a… View On WordPress ..read more

You Have To Set Aside Time for the Things You Want To Do I’ve been writing about time management for years and I just did this very thing myself — I signed up for an online class in January, the class started last week, and I realized that I hadn’t set aside any time in my schedule to take it. Let’s see if this sounds familiar: You sign up for something that takes place in the future, like an online class or a book club or a community choir. It’s something that you’re really excited about, not something that feels like an obligation. (Too many other things in your life already feel like oblig ..read more

In Which I Discuss Six-Figure Freelancing on Make a Living Writing 2020 was actually my second six-figure year as a freelancer. I haven’t written much about my freelance income in a while — so if you’re curious about how my year has been, writing-and-money-wise, you should check out the piece I just wrote for Carol Tice’s Make a Living Writing: Earn Money Writing: 4 Big Lessons from a $126K+ Freelancer 2020 was actually my second six-figure year as a freelancer. The post I wrote for Carol includes at least four of the… View On WordPress ..read more