# inspiration: what do i freewrite about?

in @/freewrite and @/stream i wrote about how i like freewriting, especially in the evenings. but what do i usually freewrite about?

if i don't have drama around me, i usually stick to the topic of planning. it's a very generic, endless source of thoughts for me. should i get a new place for living? should i move to a different country? should i go work part time? should i go on a vacation? should i change my daily routine? why and why not? thinking about these help me get clarity in life in general.

but it's even better if i just think about the things i'll do the next morning. if i have a small project that i'm working on then i can think about breaking down the upcoming tasks. i keep breaking tasks down until they become trivial "let me just write all this down" type of tasks. such thinking can be incredibly motivating for making progress because next morning i'll know what to do already! the dread of not knowing where to start when i open my project disappears.

it even drives me to make progress on my project simply because the next tasks are already worked out and i don't want to lose them by not writing them down. in other words i use my loss aversion tendency as a source of motivation. and just because i do this before going to bed, it sometimes primes my brain to work on my project even in my sleep. not sure if that actually works but it certainly doesn't hinder my progress.

in general freewriting about such topics is super helpful for me to get unstuck in projects or life in general.

edit 2024-01-19: in case i don't have a project at hand, i can always pick some hard leetcode tasks and think about those. that's an evergreen source of problems to think about.

published on 2022-01-30, last modified on 2024-01-19

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