Every Tuesday, Waller speaks on the phone with one of her strongest advocates: Kelly Savage, a woman she met at CCWF. Si

Savage, who was tried and incarcerated for calling the police after her husband murdered their son, understands how important it is for people to remain connected to the outside world. While incarcerated at CCWF, she’d sometimes receive upwards of 100 letters a month, some from people who would write to her weekly. “I once received an origami bird and hung it up on my bed,” Savage recalls. “It was something for me to look at, just to have some support when things got really difficult in court.”,Procrastination can often be a product of overwhelm. We have so much on our to-do list that we don’t even know where to begin, so we don’t begin. Seneca liked to use the word “discursive.” When we have our attention pointed in so many different directions, we have it pointed nowhere. He compared it to the nomad: “Everywhere means nowhere.” The way forward is to zero in on what’s most important.,It is essential for you to remember that the attention you give to any action should be in due proportion to its worth, for then you won’t tire and give up, if you aren’t busying yourself with lesser things beyond what should be allowed.—Marcus Aurelius,Arnold Schwarzenegger is a filmmaker, entrepreneur, author, former governor, professional bodybuilder, and father of five. He’s also a fan of the Stoics. In a recent video, he gave his best advice for staying strong during this pandemic: “Just as long as you do something every day, that is the important thing.”,Since habit is such a powerful influence, and we’re used to pursuing our impulses to gain and avoid outside our own choice, we should set a contrary habit against that, and where appearances are really slippery, use the counterforce of our training. — Epictetus, Discourses, 3.12.16,Abolitionist organizations like Survived and Punished, SWOP Behind Bars, and Black and Pink identify pen pal relationships as a critical resource for those coping with the isolation of imprisonment. These organizations have coordinated thousands of pen pal relationships, connecting survivors like Waller with people they’ve never met, as part of their larger missions to fight for the fundamental human rights of incarcerated people.,The writer Haruki Murakami talks about why he follows the same routine every day. “The repetition itself becomes the important thing,” he says. “It’s a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind.” Procrastination feeds on our uncertainty. Routine eliminates that uncertainty. We know what we do and when we do it.,It’s good that he had a friend like Seneca—someone who cared about him and told him the truth. One of Seneca’s best pieces of advice in those letters was actually pretty simple. “Each day,” he told Lucilius, you should “acquire something that will fortify you against poverty, against death, indeed against other misfortunes, as well.”,Seneca wrote a lot of letters to Roman knight Lucilius. Through them, we get the sense that Lucilius struggled with many of the things we all struggle with: anxiety, distraction, fear, temptation, and self-discipline.,When a dog is barking loudly because someone is at the door, the worst thing you can do is yell. To the dog, it’s like you’re barking, too. When a dog is running away, it’s not helpful to chase it — again, now it’s like you’re both running. A better option in both scenarios is to give the dog something else to do. Tell it to sit. Run in the other direction. Break the pattern. Interrupt the negative impulse.,Micah Herskind, who is working to launch Georgia Freedom Letters, another effort that works to connect incarcerated people with pen pals within the state, says that forging pen pal relationships was “a radicalizing experience” for him and was crucial in leading him to fight for the larger mission of abolition. “Prisons are incredibly isolating institutions by design,” Herskind says. “They erect physical walls between people and pose barriers to communication and access. With commitment, these pen pal relationships absolutely can turn into real friendships — real, solid, sustained relationships.”,That’s torture. Seneca would call it a design problem. “Life without a design is erratic,” he wrote. “As soon as one is in place, principles become necessary. I think you’ll concede that nothing is more shameful than uncertain and wavering conduct, and beating a cowardly retreat. This will happen in all our affairs unless we remove the faults that seize and detain our spirits, preventing them from pushing forward and making an all-out effort.”,One gain per day. That’s it. This is the way to curbing our procrastinating tendencies: remembering that incremental, consistent, humble, persistent work is the way to improvement. Your business, your book, your career, your body — you build them with little things, day after day.,The same goes for humans. When a bad habit reveals itself, counteract it with a commitment to a contrary virtue. Sometimes, when you find yourself procrastinating, it’s best not to dig in and fight it. Instead, get up and take a walk to clear your head. Try what artist Austin Kleon calls productive procrastination: “A kind of promiscuous working in which I procrastinate on one project by working on another, sometimes switching between two or more projects until all the projects are done.”,Having been here for 3 years now, I can say that working at Netflix is really special. The company is always evolving, big decisions are made in a transparent way, and I’m encouraged to voice my thoughts. But the single most important factor is the people. My Content Analytics teammates continuously impress me not only with their quality of work, but also with their kindness and mutual trust. This foundation makes innovating more fun, lets us be open about our passions outside of work, and means we genuinely enjoy each other’s company. That balance is crucial for me and is why this truly is the place where I can do my best work.