30-minute discussion memo workshop

I hadn't written a blog post in four months.
I'd been feeling like I'd been slacking on updates for about two months, so the passage of time left me stunned.
Come to think of it, I've only written four articles this year.
Looking at my New Year post, I'd written "I want to write forty this year" — a complete lie.
With three months left, writing alone won't cover it. For me each post takes at least an hour, and I want to focus on writing rather than squeeze it between tasks — so when near-term work piles up, it inevitably gets postponed.

I've been relentlessly busy.
About three months ago the flow of work started to feel off.
Not one clear incident — more that things wouldn't move, and a strong sense of stagnation.
I tried changing how I work and how I rest, but in the end the only fix was putting in time, so I quietly kept working to change the flow.

Lately the flow of work has finally improved.
It feels like things are heading in a good direction. Toward year-end, I hope it keeps going well — and factually various things are advancing, so I want to keep at it.

I'll write about an interesting discussion method that stuck with me recently.

First: about two weeks ago I went to Okayama.
Reuniting with a close friend
The close friend in that post lives between Tokyo and Okayama.
His job is in Tokyo, but he moved his resident registration to Okayama.
He stays in Okayama about a week once a month, and about three months ago he said come sometime soon.
Time passed, and just recently I went for three nights and four days over a weekend.

Verdict: incredibly good.
From the balcony of his Okayama home you can see the sea.
When people hear "sea" many picture a beach, but Okayama is a fishing-port town — coastal scenery.
The water was calm; truly beautiful.
Since I was staying anyway, I did a digital detox and my head cleared.
Time in Okayama moved slowly; I ate good food, walked a lot, and drank.

As for putting the scenery in my head into words — I don't think I can explain it well, so I'll leave photos.

The second and third were taken by a professional photographer (a local friend of his nearby). Beautiful photos.

In Tokyo we meet about twice a month and always discuss things.
During the stay we came up with an interesting discussion method, tried it, and it worked so well I want to introduce it here.

We called it the 30-minute discussion memo.
1. Discuss for 30 minutes and memo the process.
┗ While listening, also memo words that float up in your own head.
2. After 30 minutes, walk back through the discussion together one step at a time.
That was the exercise. The fun point is noticing how the talk shifted from one topic to the next.
Background: I have a good memory and roughly remember who said what, with imagery attached.
He doesn't remember as much, so we tried recording a discussion once and looking back.

Honestly, I still can't put into words what "benefit" this produces.
My friend is strongly interested in how his own perception changes by situation, so I remember him being very excited by this workshop.
Tracing the discussion he'd say, "Wait — between that discussion and the next I thought this, so add it!" and I'd say "Got it" and append the memo.
He was focused on the shifts between discussions; I was enjoying the act of remembering itself, or enjoying his reactions during the excavation.
Try it once with a friend — even over drinks.

That's all.