20200607_1051 - What are your constraints? == * Note created: [time=Sunday, 07 June 2020 10:51:48 +0700] * ###### tags `sTREaming` `published` * Published to: http://proses.id/constraints/ ---- I saw this old tweet of mine the other day: > https://twitter.com/theresiatanzil/status/475160444026380289 > > We take the naps we think we deserve As you might know this is a twist on the famous quote _"we accept the love we think we deserve"_ taken from that John Green book or sth, stars, wallpapers, wallflower, ah perks of being a wallflower I think And then this morning I was updating my life tracker spreadsheet, where I put quick commentaries on different areas of my life that day. I have text wrapping on the cells and I find myself rearranging the text so it fits nicely, making sure nothing messes too much with the height, every cell balanced. And often they will always do. I am now looking at neatly lined rows with uniforn width and height. Surely it's impossible that everything that happened that day fit nicely like that. And it made me think.... --- We work with what we think we have We fill the space we think we're given We raise up or shrink to the expectation we set or accept from others ==We work with constraints== Rephrasing things to fit into Twitter character limitation Typing and rewording stuff to make it align perfectly in the life tracker spreadsheet (`// OK this one is probably just me`) We weave our own day to day workflow, stitching apps together to fill the gaps need filling, using tools in ways they were not designed for `// related: 1) that book Kevin Kelly mentioned about designing buildings for flexibility and 2) the indirect functions / jobs we use apps for. I mulled over this briefly` [here](http://proses.id/screenshots/) We just make do. [We adapt](http://proses.id/your-new-normal/) and we get creative ---- The thing is, we can play with those constraints, more often than not, if not always `// cue: everything is about framing`. Notice them, poke at them, question them. The other thing you will find is that these constraints open up more opportunities than they do incur costs. `// again, framing, aka stories or... rationalisation` You'd find out that apparently you *can* say the thing you want to say in just a couple of sentences. Apparently you can build a website with just a notepad and a 32MB RAM PC in 2001. Apparently you can manage more pull-ups than you thought you can / will. --- "*I could*" is often more stressful than "*I should*" "*I should*" is sometimes more freeing than "*I would*" "*I could*" is always less bounded than I think, if not ==infinitely unbounded==. But bounding them is where my power lies, and boy do I need it.