New Name: Ease & Effort, formerly Professional Curiosity

Thoughts of a post-career break man who now works full time in Crypto and is trying to maintain healthy boundaries and habits with work.

Welcome to Ease & Effort, formerly Professional Curiosity. I’m still Allen, and for the forseeable future you’ll be hearing the thoughts of a post-career break man who now works full time in Crypto and is trying to maintain healthy boundaries and habits with work.

I have frequently wrote about personal energy systems, and it wasn’t until a yoga class (that’s a cliche story in itself) that I began to appreciate the circular nature of energy systems.

• Breath in for effort.

• Breath out for ease.

Turns out when I do a few of these, I can become incredibly flexible.

It was also in that moment I started to look at the world a little bit differently-

What is Ease and what is Effort?

I hope through writing, I can better articulate what Ease & Effort mean. I spent a long while and I realized I can’t succinctly explain it.

What I do know is this:

Ease refers to a reduction in stress and a state of recovery, recharge, or repair, in a way that does not expend active amounts of energy and leaves you more drained than recharged. The breaks between a workout set could be referred to as ease, but also the breath you take out as you stretch can be referred to as ease. I think the core distinction is that the action of “ease” moves you forward. You “ease in” to something, not “out of”.

Effort refers to anything that can be, or is perceived to be, energy draining, or tense. There are topics you may not want to think about because on paper, they are already exhausting. Perhaps travel in itself is something that stresses you out given the amount of “what-ifs” and “logistic planning” and “friend/family appeasements” that must be made.

A Look Forward

Some thoughts that have been lingering in me are around what tasks, conversions, or events I perceive to be things “I ease in to” and recharge.

I don’t believe everything in one’s work is energy draining. I can tell you there’s a level of mental relief in taking a workpaper not from 0 to 1 (that’s a lot of effort), but from 1 to 10 (lots of ease). I can also tell you there’s a lot of fun for me to write policy, which as it turns out, I find myself able to ease in.

I want to be more nuance and mindful about which things are things I ease in to, and conversely, are efforts in themselves. I want to figure out when both conditions are present, and if there is a paradox, if both are not present. Perhaps if both are not present, then the task is not my problem?

Anyway, consider this a journal of my thoughts.

And yes, I can still do technical explainer pieces on demand.

Other thoughts:

• What happens with URL? I’m in denial about that part. Branding and Naming are not my jam.

• Will you talk about crypto? Yep. It’ll be in here somewhere.