“Yes” is a commitment and “No” equals freedom. I like that saying and seldom have it been more appropriate than yesterday when I published my final daily upload on YouTube after publishing at least one video every single day since November 2019. I had concluded that video is the medium of the future, and decided that I needed to get comfortable in front of a camera, and that the best way to get there was to publish at least 1000 videos with a minimum of one per day. It is physically impossible to not get at least decent at it if you do it one thousand times. Yesterday, after I pressed the upload button for the final time in my somewhat insane endeavor, I experienced a strange and very satisfying feeling of inner peace. A sense of freedom.

HabitsRikard ÖqvistMay 31, 2022vlogging, blogging, video, writing, podcast, habits, consistencyComment

The worst days are the most important

I’ve been publishing content daily for more than two years by now and this is the most important lesson that I’ve learned. Never pre-produce your content! The best blogs and videos are created on the fly when you’re in the zone. You cannot pre-plan flow. However, writing a blog or recording daily videos has a flip side. What do you do when you are all out of inspiration? Sometimes life sends you a curveball and it is all but impossible to create. Today is one of those days, and I now wish that I had some pre-produced content ready to publish. But I don’t, so here I am anyway. And I guess that might be an even more important lesson.

HabitsRikard ÖqvistDecember 20, 2021blogging, vlogging, writing, thinking, consistencyComment

Creative starvation

Isn’t it paradoxical that to stimulate the creative process, you need to increase the difficulty and make it harder for yourself? Time constraints are especially useful in this regard and works very well for me. I.e. unconditionally write and publish a blog post in 30 minutes max. Like I just did with this one. Whatever you do, do not choose the “When it’s done”-approach. Because if you choose that road, the probability increases that you will remain stationary.

Art, HabitsRikard ÖqvistAugust 2, 2021writing, video, blogging, vlogging, creativity, routine, habits, growthComment

Are there similarities between restoring old computers and old cars?

Since I resurrected my old enormous RGB shining gaming laptop from the dead to a new life as a blog typewriter, I have been trying to figure out if there are any similarities between restoring old computers and for example old American cars? Old cars aren’t really usable as a daily driver either, I told my wife. Yes, but at least old American cars can be beautiful. An old laptop with RGB cannot. She has a point. It got me thinking: Have I ever seen a beautiful computer? I can’t think of one honestly, but I can think of several beautiful cars. Both are tools meant to be used, so what is it that cars have that old computers doesn’t seem to have?

ComputerRikard ÖqvistMay 3, 2021linux, dell, computer, retro computers, blogging, writing, focus, productivity, reuse, recycling, sustainabilityComment

The definition of insanity

The definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expect different results, a wise man once said. However, there is an exception to that rule: Computers. From my experience, trying the same thing and expecting a different result is usually the first thing I try when my IT gives up. And the success rate is high enough to keep doing it. Technology is wonderful when it works. I love technology. It might also be the thing that most effectively can send my pulse to 300 bpm while I am screaming on the top of my lungs (my kind of anger management). I suppose my family is grateful that I am often in another building when the glitch gremlin strikes.

Engineering, Habits, PhilosophyRikard ÖqvistApril 19, 2021technology, it, glitch gremlin, linux, tools, writing, bloggingComment

Time to change my blog schedule

There is a saying that “He who stops becoming better, ceases to be good.” That pretty much sums up my life philosophy. I currently have four daily habits and one weekly habit. Every day I practice French for a couple of minutes, draw a picture, publish a short video, and play the drums for 15 minutes. And every Saturday I write a blog post. I´m in my second year now of these five simultaneous habits. These last weeks my gut tells me that I need to make some changes in this schedule, especially the writing habit. For over a year, I set my alarm clock very early every Saturday and got up before my family woke and wrote a blog post. But now I feel that the sacrifice to get out of bed in the weekend is too great. My son just turned two, and he is so much fun to be around that I can’t describe it. That’s why I have chosen to prioritize that morning hour with my family instead. It is now more important than writing. That, and the combination that work has been exceptionally intense the past month or two, and in times like that, those cozy morning hours and a day where you are completely “free” is more important than ever.

HabitsRikard ÖqvistMarch 13, 2021writing, blogging, habits, focusComment

Get it done early

One of the most important lessons I have learned is that you should always do the important stuff as early as possible in the day. Take this blog post for example. I have been publishing my blog posts every Saturday morning for the last year and it has become a natural part of my week. At the time of this writing, the clock is closing in on midnight and every minute I spend writing is one minute less of sleep. I do not like to write as the concluding activity of the day. My mind is filled with thoughts and honestly, I feel a bit stressed when writing this. But on the other hand, if I do not write this post now, I will break a year-long habit and I will have to worry about it tomorrow instead. So, to sacrifice a little sleep is still the lesser of two evils.

HabitsRikard ÖqvistDecember 27, 2020writing, family, blogging, habits

One year and 52 blogs later

Today is a one-year anniversary! This is my 52nd weekly blog post. A year goes by quickly. It is amazing how much easier the writing process is now, compared to the first one or two months. The friction is all but gone now. Writing is an incredibly useful and valuable skill, and I am glad I started this habit. I have now reached a point where I can decide to sit down, write a blog post, and publish it. Even if I start from scratch and no idea what to write about, I can produce something. And that is often enough. Something always beat Nothing.

HabitsRikard ÖqvistNovember 28, 2020blogging, writing, consistency, growth, anniversaryComment

Discipline equals freedom

I always write my blog posts on Saturday mornings, but today I am writing this post at a café in my hometown Umeå, around lunchtime. I haven’t gotten enough sleep the past week, and last night me and my wife had an important discussion which dragged on past midnight. I realized that four hours of sleep on top of the already empty sleep account would come back to bite me, when my alarm went off at 04:45. The icing on the cake was that my son had cuddled up next to me in the night, sleeping peacefully. Even my dogs were extraordinarily calm (they usually want to go walking around 05:00). It was that kind of a moment that you only get a handful of in a lifetime and I wasn’t going to miss it. I decided that my blog can wait a couple of hours and switched off the alarm.

HabitsRikard ÖqvistSeptember 26, 2020blogging, writing, consistency, flexibility, freedomComment

What I have learned from 38 weekly blogs

I wrote my first blog post on the 6th of December 2019 and have posted an article every week since then. I still remember writing that first post. I was on a business road trip with a very busy schedule and I had decided to get it online before the end of the day, no matter what. I wrote it late that night, after bedtime for most people. I knew that every minute I spent writing, was one less minute of sleep and thus I just wanted to get it online as fast as humanly possible. Which I did, by the way. I don’t remember how much time I spent on my first post, but I am pretty sure it is one of the fastest I have written. In hindsight, that might have been the optimal way to start! Just get it done and move on. When you start out with anything, your first attempts will likely be mediocre at best. Maybe that’s how it should be done? Set a timer and go. Actually, I will do that right now. There. Timer set for 30 minutes. This post must be online before the timer runs out. Let’s do it.

HabitsRikard ÖqvistAugust 22, 2020blogging, consistency, speed writing, focus, productivityComment

How a vlogging habit is formed

I have been vlogging daily since early November last year. I publish a minimum of one video every day on Youtube, Facebook and Instagram. Sometimes I vlog on Linkedin too, but I am much more selective with my content there nowadays. I just did a summation and realized that I have passed 300 vlogs now. Vlogging has been a very effective way for me to discover how a habit is formed. At first, there was a lot of friction every single time before I released that daily video. Now that friction is all but gone. It is because my focus has now shifted to the process instead of each individual building block. To get the ball rolling in the beginning, it can help to create certain support systems to make your life easier. Later, when you got the momentum, you can start to remove the support systems.

HabitsRikard ÖqvistJuly 25, 2020vlogging, blogging, habits, productivity, schedulingComment

Quantity over Quality

I have always been obsessed with quality. When I was little, I took great care to arrange the Lego pieces in a symmetrical fashion. Just like a Patek Philippe watch, even the pieces inside the Lego build that weren’t visible to the eye had to be perfectly arranged. Maybe it’s not a big surprise that I chose to be an engineer and later pursued a PhD in Engineering Acoustics? Quality is important, but without Quantity, progress becomes impossible.

HabitsRikard ÖqvistFebruary 15, 2020blogging, vlogging, writingComment