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Optimal is Optional and Writer Decks
This Week's Note
Optimal is Optional
Although optimal conditions are nice, they’re not really required. We can go on a run even if it’s rainy or cold. We can cook a meal even if we don’t have all the ingredients required. We can continue to make progress even when this decision maker or that resource is out of pocket.
But often, we forget this. We forget that the rain and cold can be overcome. That even if our meal is different than the recipe it can still be good. That there are things we can do even if that person hasn’t had a chance to weigh-in.
What’s more, even though we all lust after the optimal, it’s an incredibly rare resource. Things get delayed. Parts go missing. People make mistakes. The weather changes. The list gos on. All of these factors create, in essence, less than optimal circumstances. And while, at times it feels untrue, the “universe” is not intentionally stacking its cards against us. We live among the “less than ideal” because what we’d consider as optimal is often, a very narrow combination of variables.
So it’s simply less likely that the chaos of creation will collude in such a way that the optimal is achieved. For example, if I only ever ran when it was sunny, and 70 degrees outside, or when I wasn’t sore, or had an abundance of time, or wasn’t tired, or stressed I would go on 99% fewer runs. Every run, every project, every assignment, is filled with variables that create sub-optimal conditions.
This is why I’ve stopped considering what may or may not be optimal. In fact, “optimal” has become a category for those more fortunate than myself. I’m learning that when I choose to view things as they could have been as opposed to how they currently present themselves I gain little more than comparison fodder and create for myself a cycle of idyllic-FOMO.
We need not consider what optimal may have been if we can do the task that lies before us. If under the current circumstances the outcome we want seems possible, then knowing what the optimal conditions may have been is trivial. While it may be nice to know what to alter for the next attempt, keeping a weather eye on the optimal horizon is best saved for when necessary progress has already been made.
This Week's Resource
​Writer Decks, which are devices dedicated specifically and solely to writing.
In the era of everything platforms, automated creative work, and the death of the passion project, its inspiring to see a community passionate about making something that solves a contextualized problem in an interesting way without concern for the bottom line.
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