what's the end game, really?
April 4, 2020, 9:30 AM
I don't remember when I started this whole escapade. I think sometime in February, which means that it's been at least a month since I kicked myself back into shape. Which inevitably leads me to question myself. As I am wont to do: what's the point?
If I knew the answer, I'm not sure I'd be trying to so hard. That being said, according to my five minute journal entries, here were things I thought about this past week, and my response to each of them in turn
I need to focus for longer periods of time
The inclusion of the pomodoro technique has been pretty good. I'm surprised at how long I can focus on things now. I usually turn to this youtube video:
And oddly enough, using this has been working out pretty well for me. I'm still stuck on the 2 hour block, which I think is just right for now. I may move up to the 4-hour block as needed.
I need to walk more
Yes, I still do. However, I think I've developed a good rythym when it comes my walking. By which I mean to say that I've done the following since then:
- A morning walk during what would be my "commut time"
- an afternoon walk after I've finished up work for the day.
- My walks last for exactly 15 minutes each time, so I've created spotify playlists that last exactly 15 minutes.
This by itself seems to get me up to a reasonably 5k+ steps a day. Not bad for being shelter-in-place. I think I'll try adding an afternoon walk and see how much more I can squeeze in.
I need to plan my meals better
This is still true, though I've essentially taken to cooking methods that don't take a long time, or need a lot of effort. So I've been eating a lot of pre-cooked proteins, and veggies are usually just roasted in the oven.
I wonder if my overall diet goals would be better if I stuck with a simpler meal plan, recipes be damned. Up until now, I've craved variety.
The only reason I'm thinking this is because eating and cooking take up a little too much of my "cognitive budget". Which is a fancy way of saying that I think way too much about food and cooking.
meditating mid-day seems the best time for me.
If I don't meditate mid-day, during lunch, when I have a some lee-way with my time, I end up having to place the meditation in my to-do for later that night. My evening routine is already pretty packed, so mid-day has been working better for me.
lucid dreaming?
Something I've always been interested in. I don't know whow I'll squeeze it into my schedule, but we shall see.
fiddling with notion or next cloud
I've tried both notion and next cloud. The idea of a personal cloud is quite interesting to me, for some reason. However, both notion and next cloud, while good, seem lacking in a few respects.
Notion, for instance, doesnt have good calendar support. It also doesn't have an external API, which is pretty a killer for me.
Next Cloud seems a little... clunky. The idea of my own personal file share is appealing to me, though Cockpit CMS seems to be serving my purposes just fine for now.
need a steady source of veggies
I don't know why, but I've been eating veggies at every meal now, and I feel bad when I don't. This could be chalked up to my wanting to improve my overall health, but I don't understand where my motivation is coming from. I never had a problem going veggie-less before. Now, it just feels "wrong".
So anyway, I went over the target and loaded up on frozen veggies.
dealing with frustration
I got frustrated at work.
But then I tried to take a step back, and think about what my meditation ritual has taught me: remove myself from experiencing my thoughts and being a quiet observer.
It's not quite like emotional detachment, but more like not letting my thoughts drag me into frustration.
I've always had trouble with letting my thoughts go wild. Maybe I have a tool to deal with it now?
reading and walking
On my walks, I'd put on a play list and start walking. I started adding reading into the mix. So, basically I'm reading, walking, and listening to music at the same time.
Oddly enough, it has worked out pretty well. I thought it'd be hard, and it was at first, but I got used to it, and walking and reading a lot now.
This has the added benefit of knowing out two birds with one stone: getting in some quality reading time, but also reaching my step goals for the day.
On the same topic, I've taken to listening to an audio book while I'm working. I've always been against the idea, because I don't like to split my attention too much. But, oddly enough, it has worked out pretty well. I'm able to follow along with the book I'm "reading", and albe to get work done. I'm glad I tried this out, and now I've got a list of things that I want to "read".
focus during non-work activities
Even now, as I'm writing this blog entry, I've opened a tab and went surfing for other things. To say that I lack focus feels almost like an understatement.
I've used the pomodoro timer to great effect during work hours. And now I'm wondering if the pomodoro timer should be applied to my non-work blocks of activity. I did do some during my last gaming session. I think I'll try that again today.
over complicating my personal tool chain
Notion. Next Cloud. Habitica. Google Calendar. Keep. Book Stack.
And lots more. These are all software that I think about. And I think it's a little too much sometimes.
Eh, I dunno where I was going with this train of thought. But maybe instead of trying to add a new tool to my suite, I should focus on what I need, and the existing tools I'm using. I'm not feeling any pain points at the moment, so maybe I need to ease up here.
I have a vague idea of what I want:
- easy note taking
- richly formatted text
- categorization options
- external API for blog ingestion
- easy image management, multiple image size options
- privacy options, easy sharing.
- music library organization
...unfortunately, looks like no single solution will solve all my needs. I need to give this more thought.
As for happenings this week.... well, it's been pretty uneventful.
Shelter-in-place is a still a thing, and has been extended another month until May, 2020. This whole lockdown is pretty fucking crazy so far. I remember SARS being a thing, but never to this extent.
I've always been a homebody, but even this prolonged isolation is kind of wearing on me slightly. I think I'm fairing much better than other people, but still.... having no-choice in the matter of being social is something different than a personally enforced isolation.
The job is still going. For how long, I know not. I've been practicing my interviewing, as I'm taking no chances here.
Dating? ¯\(ツ)/¯