The Tale of the Tortoise and the ... Squirrel?

Once upon a time there was a Tortoise. Yep. That same Tortoise that you know from the race. Years later, he was still pretty well-known in the forest for the victory over that cocky Hare (although Tortoise never let it get to his head).

One autumn day, he was on a long walk home through the forest when he bumped into Squirrel. Squirrel seemed very nervous, like always. Squirrel was always on high alert. Always looking over his shoulder and nervous, like someone was going to scare him at any moment; he seemed to always hear a noise and jump.

But just like Hare, Squirrel was competitive and sought to challenge Tortoise...

He jumped back and started up the tree before realizing it was just Tortoise.
“Oh! W’chout! I-mean. Hi'tort’se. Hi.” Squirrel said, barely able to keep his attention.
“Ohhhhhh. Hiiiiighhhh. Therrrrrrrrre. Squiiiiiiirrrrrel.” Tortoise said slowly.

Today, he was beginning his seasonal hunt for peanuts and acorns. Each Winter, Squirrel would hide away in his den and wait out the cold by writing.

“Heeeey. I haaaad an iiiidea for a booooook” Tortoise said.
Squirrel licked his lips at the competition.
“Oh! Wanna race? Write’abook. Firsta fift'thousand words!”

The tortoise thought for a long minute.

He didn’t love competitions but he was looking for some accountability to get his book done. (Hare was great accountability to train to get into shape, which Tortoise had been wanting to do for years before that race.)

"Ohhhhh kaaaaay."

That winter, they both sat down to write their novels but with very different approaches. Squirrel planned to write all day. 8 or 10 hours straight, never leaving his den. It was small, so some days he would write at the kitchen table. Some days from bed. Some days he would sit on the couch and write while the TV was on in the background.

And his phone was always by his side. Squirrel loved the (literal and metaphoric) buzz of getting a message or notification.

The Tortoise blocked off 2 hours of deep work every morning, when he did his best thinking. He cleared his desk and put his phone in the kitchen and wrote. When his timer went off, he would exercise, make lunch, and finish up any other chores around the house.

Squirrel, being as on-edge and easily distracted as he was, kept running into writers block. What was he going to write about? He couldn’t figure out the turning point scene in act two of his story. So he scrolled Instagram for a bit, hoping for inspiration. Yesterday, he searched old screenplays online and comedy subreddits for any help before finding himself looking at memes and watching standups on YouTube.

It wasn’t going very well.

Tortoise was, as expected, slow. Only 2 hours a day of writing. Some days he barely got 2 or 3 pages done. But they were good.

By the time the first icicles were dripping and the buds were showing on the branches, word about the race had spread around the forest. With the warmer winds of spring, the other animals anxiously awaited the outcome of the writing contest.

One morning, Squirrel emerged from his den holding a thick notebook exploding with posits and bookmarks. He had made such progress! He saw the crowd waiting for him. They stared back in anticipation. And finally, Squirrel dropped his head to his chest and shook it.

He didn't finish his novel. The crowd gasped! (Which made squirrel jump nervously.)
Next winter. He’ll figure it out by then, right?

Tortoise waddled out next. He was slurping a smoothie. The other animals looked confused.
"I’ve beeeeeen peerrrrrfeeeecccting thiiiiis spiiiinachh banaaaaana caaaaaardamom smooooothieee. It’ssss deliiiiciouuuus.”

Tortoise saw their confusion. He stared for a long moment, also confused. Did they want some? Then the realization slowly washed over his face.

“Ohhhh. The booooook. I fiiiinished that laaaaast mooooonth.”

The crowd erupted in cheer. Tortoise handed out copies of his self-published opus to every raccoon, chipmunk, deer, and bear that wanted one.

Being on high alert for any distraction makes you more susceptible for ALL distractions. Squirrel learned that his nervous system was constantly activated. Checking his phone every 5 minutes conditioned him to have a fragmented attention span, seek dopamine, and distract himself with every notification, alert, and ping that felt like it could be life or death. Such is the nature of squirrels.

And humans.

Tortoise’s book went on to be an Amazon best seller (the forest, not the website). He toured across the country, sharing his secret. Namely that a few hours a day of slow, focused, distraction-free work is enough to make a career's worth of great work.

No need to quit your day job.
Slowly and intentionally, we can all do more than we think we are capable of.

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Caveday is a company aimed at improving your relationship to work. We write regular posts on our blog and send out newsletters with productivity tips, life hacks, and recommendations. Sign up for the mailing list here.

Jake Kahana is a cofounder of Caveday. Sign up for his personal emails, called “The Email Refrigerator” here.