Gina Trapani on work and life meaning and old tech

Gina Trapani is a “Blogger and software developer. Commander in Chief of my one-woman army.” (@ginatrapani profile)

In a New York Times interview, she talks about work and purpose, among other topics.

Q. You work at the intersection of good work habits and psychology or self-awareness. What’s a tip-off that a time management or productivity problem might be better treated by a good therapist than a productivity expert?

A. If you are suffering from extreme paralysis, anxiety, or self-hatred over not being able to do the things you want or need to do, then see a counselor.

But it’s hard to say where the line is. It all goes back to the larger question: What do I want to be doing with my life?

Some go to church, some to therapists, some to mentors to answer it.

Many things on Lifehacker are my way of counseling myself.

The whole point of thinking about this low-level, rubber-to-the-road stuff is to get to the bigger questions of where you want to be. And then to analyze if a task serves your larger goal. If I’m spending this moment right now on the phone doing this interview, I have to ask myself if this serves my greater purpose?

She also comments:

Technology is deeply embedded in my life, but nothing can replace the feel of a pen against paper. I use paper and pen to brainstorm a lot. In fact, we just ran a feature story on all the neat things you can do with paper. It’s the ultimate tool. It’s affordable, compatible with everything, widely available. I also like it as a change of pace. Staring at a glowing screen all day is not a good thing for humans.

From Clearing Up a Blurry Work Life, By Marci Alboher, NYTimes.com July 29, 2008

Gina Trapani [site] is the founding editor and lead blogger for Lifehacker, and author of Upgrade Your Life: The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better.