Big fan of the Dilbert book...I struggled for years to find a way to make things work for me. I always had 'performance anxiety' when it came to doing work on my 'real' projects that were nevertheless relegated to a hobby-level alongside something else that paid the bills. I had limited time and as a result I became incredibly stressed out when I couldn't muster peak-level attention and productivity during those few hours. For some reason I felt I could only do the project justice when I gave it all, interestingly this has resulted in bailing out too often and not progressing with anything for weeks. Conversely I was much less productive than now when I put all my effort into just simply doing something (anything) every day, let's say for 30 minutes. All the anxiety is now channeled into the thought of missing a day or not maintaining the routine :)
I think your aim should still be to, at minimum, cultivate a system that is aligned with both your short and long-term goals. Then, when circumstances allow, you are free to exceed that minimum by racing to meet ambitious goals. But you should never let anything break the 'background process' or the 'system' (aka. routine). Write 50 words a day, anything. It really does add up big time.
"Let me tell you one of my pet peeves: space solar power. Okay, the stupidest thing ever. If anyone should like space solar power, it should be me. I got a rocket company and a solar company. I should be really on it, ya know. But it's like, super obviously, not going to work because, ya know, if you have solar panels - first of all, it has to be better than having solar panels on Earth, so then you say, okay, solar panel is on-orbit, you get twice the solar energy - assuming that it is out of Earth's shadow - but you've gotta do a double conversion. You've gotta convert it from photon to electron to photon, back to electron. You've got to make this double conversion, so, okay, what's your conversion efficiency? Hmm. All in, you're going to have a real hard time even getting to 50%. [The solar cells are better.] It does not matter, put that cell on Earth then. See, that's the point I'm making. Take any given solar cell, is it better to have it on Earth, or is it better to have it on orbit? What do you get from being in orbit? You get twice as much sun - best case - but you've got to do a conversion. You've got to convert it the energy to photons - well, you have incoming photons that go to electrons, but you - you've gotta do two conversions that you don't have to do on Earth, which is you've got to turn those electrons into photons and turn those photons back into electrons on the ground, and that double conversion is going to get you back to where you started, basically. So why are you bothering sending them to bloody space. "I wish I could just stab that bloody thing through the heart." BTW - electron to photon converters are not free and nor is sending stuff to space. Then it obviously super doesn't work. Case closed. You'd think. You'd think case closed, but no. I guarantee it's gunna come up another ten times. I mean, for the love of God."
This doens't only apply to America, and I wish more people understood that actually the same concept was the reason "communism" (state capitalism really) failed in Europe, possibly also in Russia - the same mechanism were in place, strengthened by fear. The stakes were higher, you were looking at a catastrophic effect on your and your family's place in society if you got on some higher-ups hit list. Super stupid and incompetent people have risen to the top, and often are still near - in every sector.
I think this is why a no-stakes system should be strived for. You shouldn't have to live in fear due to losing your job or pissing someone off. Basically it should not matter whether you still have a job or not.
Fair enough point of using a car for outdoor hobbies - I'd call it an exception to the rule, an appropriate use of technology. But let's face it, in most cases it isn't like that.
Regarding my suit comment, it's about looking into the mirror in the morning and thinking whether the person you see is really who you once aspired to be.
Some people like to wear suits. One of my friend's greatest days was when just off high school he got straight into finance and finally could wear a suit 24/7. It genuinely makes him happy, it's an extension of his personality. He wants to be the big-shot-80s-New-York-cocaine-snorting-penthouse-owner-investment-banker type of guy.
But for me and I guess many others, to walk the earth in a suit would be, I don't know...perhaps the antithesis of existence. I think most people never think about it and even enjoy the office culture in a perverse way. Perhaps it's some form of a groupthink empathy, a we're-all-in-this-together style of getting a kick out of this masked suffering. I remember being a small kid and swearing I'd never be like an office manager or the bankers I saw, all wearing the same suits and becoming an empty shell that just assumes whatever of a corporate idenitity, becoming an embodiment of a foreign entity. Really just a zombie or a host for a parasite until it chews you out.
Because it does chew you out exactly as stated in this Bukowski letter, you're not really getting out. All the prices, the whole economy is set upon this 40-hour workweek, wage slave reality. All value is derived from this standard. I saw this very clearly 20+ years ago without even knowing the proper vocabulary to understand it. It's surprising how simple and clear it is, yet it's collectively decided that we don't want to look at it, we don't want to face it. You want out? The only way is to become the embodiment of the hope of getting out - a well-known star that can sell us the dream. And we'll gladly pay for it!
But you're right, the binge-drinking, fixed-bike urbano hipster thing is also a joke. We're all a joke in the end. But at least we could maybe strive to be funnier than we are because the joke is getting old.
I think more and more Gen Y people in advanced European countries see owning a car as a failure - you are a fool for wasting money, when transportation can be done cheaply and also often for free. You are basically penalized for owning a car by high taxes, and for those few occassions in a year when you need a car (moving stuff) it's easy enough to rent. Spending your life in traffic jams is just a plain fail.
Having to wear a nice suit is also a failure. I would never consider working anywhere where I have to wear a suit.
Edit: My overarching point being that attitudes are changing. The 'American dream' doesn't really apply anymore, and especially not everywhere.
I think your aim should still be to, at minimum, cultivate a system that is aligned with both your short and long-term goals. Then, when circumstances allow, you are free to exceed that minimum by racing to meet ambitious goals. But you should never let anything break the 'background process' or the 'system' (aka. routine). Write 50 words a day, anything. It really does add up big time.