There is no quick road to what we deem success.

AB WatsonEducation, Philosophy

We hopelessly wish for a shortcut, the quick path, instant gratification. To obtain the gratification of accomplishment fame and fortune. In reality, it is the mundane, the monotonous daily grind that leads us to success. I believe that outside of the limelight all great human beings have a simple but effective system that accumulated into their accomplishments. A system the mainstream contuses ignores because it isn’t exciting or flashy. There is no excitement, story or obstacle to overcome in these basic systems for success. Just get up, sit down and do the work. Read, train, take notes, and improve, little by little. This method I believe this to be effective. But sadly would never be made into a movie because it’s just that, monotonous and boring. The road to success is so simple we can’t believe it to be true. We wish there was something unattainable to achieve success. So we can at the very least avoid blaming ourselves for not doing so in our lives.

When it comes to obtaining our goals and ambitions. It is imperative that we have a daily routine or an established system that removes all obstacles and aspects of distraction. A system so simple we dare not believe that is all it takes to reach nirvana.

What defines this culture of toxic productivity?

AB WatsonEducation, Philosophy

What is this toxic productivity culture? Why is it bad for someone to want to improve themselves? Get better at time management or have control over their days and intern their lives? There is an invisible line that we can cross here. And everyone’s line is different to an extent. Here I will outline what turns self-improvement, productivity or systems into toxic productivity.

White corner of a room

What is wrong with living a life of mundanity?

AB WatsonPhilosophy, Thoughts

What is wrong with living a life of mundanity? Why always strive to make a difference, to create, to have a legacy? Why do we believe that we must be more than what we are? Why do we subconsciously strive to live past our own lifespan? Is it possible to accept our average life like an ant in a colony, a bee in a hive? We are just a tiny aspect. So why do we feel shame and guilt when we just live; and experience, void of productivity?

Buy the camera you’ll use, not the camera you want.

AB WatsonEducation, Philosophy, Thoughts

I see too many photographers worry about their gear over capturing the image. As photographers we love gear, we love buying it, talking about it, reading about it and writing about it. Owning, researching and showcasing photography gear in itself is a hobby. I’ve met so many photographers with far better and newer gear than me. Amateurs normally have better gear than me. But I’ll tell you one thing, I’m not afraid to use it, and sacrifice my camera if I must for that perfect shot.

How reading books made me a better photographer

AB WatsonInspiration, Philosophy, Thoughts

Over the past year, I fell away from photography, I did it for a job daily. When it came to my personal work I completely stopped. I no longer cared about a camera on my person when I walked out the front door. I stopped reading books and stopped working out. I did my job and went home, and my personal drive for development and creativity dried up. It wasn’t until I started reading books again that something changed.

Time doesn’t exist

AB WatsonPhilosophy, Thoughts

Our world is run on a clock, be it the time we get up too and go to work, to the dates of events like our birthday or celebration, to the sessions of our crops and weather conditions. I would say these events are just that events and only we put a measurement on them that is dictated by where we are rotating around the sun, and spinning on this rock. Nothing more than our attempt at controlling something that doesn’t exist in the first place. There is only entropy, that shows time passing. No causation no passing of time

The dangers of aspiring to be a perfect person

AB WatsonPhilosophy, Thoughts

Be it a healthy person regarding fitness, eating habits. Being it a time-efficient hustler, and productive person. Or be it minimalist, aspiring to consume less and aspire to have only long-lasting high-quality items. To the spiritual or person of faith that preaches their belief without request. There is something about these people that isn’t quite right. Something about somebody that labels themselves as (insert aspiration here), that rubs me the wrong way and that is they are generally speaking assholes.

Walking to work

AB WatsonInspiration, Philosophy

After dealing with a period of depression I decided to go back to my roots and the way things were. And one of the transitions was walking to work again in the morning. Now walking to work is a privilege I know this. At the same time, it is tremendously time-consuming. I lose about two hours of my day walking, where I could save that by driving to work or taking public transport. But the time vs cost against reward is so worth it and where is what I get out by adding 2 hours of me to my commute.

Photography is selling us a lie

AB WatsonPhilosophy, Thoughts

When it comes to what photography is predominantly used for in our society, documentation; or to put it simply to sell us a feeling or product. An extraordinary amount of advertisements focus on three emotional components to manipulate us. This idea is that whatever they are selling will bring us happiness, love, status or luxury. But advertisements wouldn’t work well if they focused on what we really need. Is advertisement or our focus photography selling us a lie?

Needless consumption

AB WatsonInspiration, Philosophy

Maybe you have heard of these words going around. Needless consumption, endless consumption, responsible consumption, zero waste, eco friendly, sustainability, green, recycled, materialistic lifestyle or minimalism. In short, these are the current marketing buzzwords targeting environmental impacts. Or words that make us feel good when a company says their products are sustainable, recycled or whatever bull-shit they are using to make you buy their products.

Needless consumption or a consumer’s morels are constructed on not valuing a person on 1. How they care. 2. Their creativity. 3. Or the strength of their community. Instead, we value ourselves on how many commodities we have. This also pushes us away from ethical questions on how those commodities are made or the well being they have on communities. The number one priority of a company is to make more profit.