1. Some of the most incredible creative output of the past ten years (and arguably before that, too) has been created in support of video games and similar cultural artifacts; if you ever need aesthetic inspiration, google around for concept art, soundtrack music, and/or play a game like Disco Elysium (the writing and voice acting in this game!), and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
2. Many of us have trouble meeting up with friends (and acquaintances who might become friends) as often as we would prefer. Something I find helps with this is planning social situations so they’re either ultra-chill and casual (so that getting together doesn’t feel like a task) or very concrete and regimented (so everyone who’s invited knows exactly what to expect, and ideally doesn’t have to do anything—including make decisions about what to do—beyond show up and follow the plan). Anything in between these extremes is a lot easier to back out on in the moment, even for folks who would generally love to see more of you.
3. You probably don’t need another tool, app, or system. You probably just need to do the thing you’re avoiding (using what you’ve already got available). After you’ve accomplished that thing, you’ll be in a better state of mind to think clearly about maybe buying (or investing your time in learning to use) something new.
4. A lot of people say their family, their friends, or their health are the most important things to them, but then continue to prioritize literally everything else in their lives (maybe assuming that some day, after they’ve hit it big and fixed all the other problems in their lives, they’ll be able to invest in those supposedly most vital things). It’s worth asking ourselves in what ways, specifically, we prioritize these things, and if it turns out we’re actually focusing on other (supposedly less important) stuff, it might be prudent to figure out how to rearrange things to account for that miscalibration.
5. Habits and routines are great because they provide us with predictability and the capacity to make small investments over time, which can then compound into big, positive outcomes. Going totally rogue and deviating from our habits and routines is also great, though, as it stacks the deck for serendipity and novelty, exposing us to new things and forcing us to look at the world from different angles, for a time. Figuring out the right balance of structure and chaos is important, but it’s not easy because we have different ideal equilibriums at different points in our lives (and because we’re all different, our baselines are distinct from those of other people, as well).
6. It’s good to be a little bored and listless, sometimes. That means you’ve got space to just think and process, and even if it doesn’t feel like you’re doing anything, your brain is churning along in the background trying to work through all the stuff you’ve experienced and learned since the last time you gifted it that kind of downtime. Pretty much every important realization I’ve ever had about myself and my life has arisen while I’ve been bored and rudderless, not while I’ve been in the zone, feeling productive and accomplished.

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