Allow me to jump straight in:

/…/ I learned not to think about anything that I was writing from the time I stopped writing until I started again the next day. That way my subconscious would be working on it and at the same time I would be listening to other people and noticing everything, I hoped; learning, I hoped; and I would read so that I would not think about my work and make myself impotent to do it. Going down the stairs when I had worked well, and that needed luck as well as discipline, was a wonderful feeling and I was free then to walk anywhere in Paris.

– an excerpt from "A Movable Feast" by Ernest Hemingway.

I remember the days when my bladder decided to disrupt my sleep and I would walk to the bathroom, eyes half shut, pulled down my shorts, and by the time I was shaking it off, my mind was already drifting to that "high-impact" thing that I wouldn't be able to escape once I reached the office. Even though there were still a good few hours of sleep left, my stupid mind put a stop to it and decided to end the escapism right there. Man, I hated those restless nights.

These days, it's not uncommon for folks in tech to brag about working 996 and spend the remainder of their time thinking about work. All the hype about moving our coding agents to the cloud and giving us the ability to check on them through our phones can only confirm the demand.

Hemingway thought differently. And so did Ian Fleming and Hunter S. Thompson…
But maybe none of them is telling the truth and they're all just flexing, just in a different direction…

PS: If you enjoyed this read, here's part 1: AI developers can learn from Charles Bukowski?

If you liked the excerpt, consider buying A Movable Feast by Ernest Hemingway.