When?
Five questions and five quotations to start your weekend
Good morning and welcome to this week’s issue. I’m glad you’re here.
Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.
- Mother Teresa
Today we are focused on the fourth W: When?
If you just joined us or have missed any prior issues, we set out last month to address the five Ws and one H (aka 5W1H) — one each week — in a bid to both clarify the purpose of this blog and give you a better understanding of me.
So far, we’ve addressed:
In this issue, we will explore:
When?
In the next two issues we will explore:
Why?
How?
I’m curious: How have you been finding this series? Readership has been healthy but engagement has been muted. I’d love to hear from you — reply via email or comment below.
For me, writing the What? issue was particularly clarifying. I hope it gives you a better sense of the types of content you will find in this publication as we move forward.
When is really about time:
When do I write?
When is the focus - past, present, future?
When will new issues be published? Frequency?
How long is each issue? How much time will it take to read?
When do you read?
Let’s dig in, shall we?
When do I write?
Recently, I have settled into a routine of writing on Saturday mornings. When I started this blog in January, I generally wrote in the evenings, which I enjoyed but found it impacted the amount of time available with my family.
Now, I get up early and cherish my Saturday morning writing time. The house is quiet. The only sound (aside from the clock ticking above my head) sometimes is the sound of our windchimes blowing in the wind outside. Often, it’s still dark outside. I put the lights on low in the office. I sit facing east and — when I look up — get to watch the sky slowly brighten as the sun rises. I never thought of myself as a morning person growing up but I do love the beginning of a day. It’s the potential and possibility of a new day that excites me. This morning, the sky is now a pale blue with some wispy cirrus clouds moving above.
When is the focus - past, present, future?
Life is lived in the present and generally I will strive to focus on the present. Because I believe context matters, however, I will also look back now and then — providing historical context when I believe it’s helpful or interesting. I will also look to the future because I love the potentiality of it. The through line is a desire to learn and live the best life possible.
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.
- Albert Einstein
When will new issues be published? Frequency?
New issues will be published each Saturday morning (Pacific Time, GMT-8).
From time to time, there may be bonus issues published at other frequencies but the core promise is a weekly publication right now. I will admit: I miss writing more frequently as I did in January so I may revisit this at some point in the future but for right now I believe a weekly cadence is sustainable and sustainable is what we want, right?
How long is each issue? How much time will it take to read?
Issues will be organic and length will be variable. One of the benefits of the web vs. print is that one doesn’t have to write to a specific word count every week as a newspaper columnist does.
That said, I respect your time and attention and will strive to make most issues focused enough that you can read relatively quickly (~2-5 minutes). I’m a big believer in the two minute rule and know how I feel when articles are much longer than that — I save them to Pocket rather than reading in the moment.
When do you read?
Based on last week’s poll (and thank you to those of you who participated!), about 3/4 of us read this via email and about 1/4 read this in the Substack app.
Please take a moment and respond to this week’s poll:
More broadly, if there’s a time of day or day of the week that you would prefer to receive this publication, I’d love to hear from you. I feel like Saturday mornings have potential but am open to adjusting if there’s a different consensus.
Perspectives on Past, Present, and Future
As I said at the beginning, when is really about time. So this week’s media embed is a series of five quotations on the past, present, and future paired with corresponding images. May one resonate with you this day. (And if one does, I’d love to hear about it - please reply or comment below and share how it impacted you. :)
The past exists only in our memories, the future only in our plans. The present is our only reality.
- Robert M. Pirsig
Never erase your past. It shapes who you are today and will help you to be the person you'll be tomorrow.
- Ziad K. Abdelnour
The future depends on what we do in the present.
- Mahatma Gandhi
We are all here for some special reason. Stop being a prisoner of your past. Become the architect of your future.
- Robin Sharma
The future starts today, not tomorrow.
- Pope John Paul II
Today. Let’s make a it a great day!
Have a great weekend, everyone.
Until next week,
-bp
PS: If you are enjoying this publication, it would mean the world to me if you shared it with someone else you think would also enjoy it — and thanks!
Enjoyed the visuals in this issue alongside the quotations - really added to the impact of focusing on the 'now of life. Thanks for the reminder to try to stay present.