Journal

I have tomorrow off work, and I want to use this opportunity to refocus my efforts into actionable, measurable targets, and to establish a more effective and sustainable workload moving forward. I will push this blog out before bed, and tweet it to make a publicly visible commitment. Please tweet me @MaxLepper and / or comment on this post to hold me to it!

It has been mentioned - probably more than it should be - over the past month, but I’ve been hit with this sense of overwhelm and inability to charge forward with the same intensity as previous months. I believe this is due to multiple factors:

  • I’ve been at it for a while. The wear of trying to maintain 20-30 hours a week of development learning on top of an already mentally demanding full-time job in a different skill set takes a fair bit out of me.
  • I have lately been using “need” statements in regards to specific tasks and learning skills that I know will have a high value yield if I work to incorporate them. This, and motivation in general, has been a big subject for the past few blogs.
  • I have multiple trustworthy sources of direction now, as opposed to being predominantly self-directed. Understandably, not all vectors are pointed in the same direction, and I have been experiencing some analysis paralysis.
  • I have slowly been accumulating physical exhaustion of either being unable to sleep or staying up too late pushing myself to cram a bit more progress into each day (with mixed success). My Tasks page has been calling me out incessantly and I am very aware of it.

The holiday weekend has been a great opportunity to reset my sleep schedule and properly recharge - hopefully giving me the energy to make tomorrow a success!

MORNING

  1. Get up at the same time as a typical workday.
  2. Attend Irregular Cafe.
    1. If there is opportunity to discuss, follow up on book club books and express interest in participating. Both books sound excellent!
  3. Complete the Yearly Prioritization Workbook from Susan Shu Chang.
    1. Summarize my findings and feelings from workbook.
    2. Attempt to complete by lunch / early afternoon.

AFTERNOON

  1. Revisit the priority list from 11/22 and refine.
    1. Try to identify overlap with the workbook.
    2. Identify and weigh key objectives.
      • Consider formalized rank-order prioritization for in the future, too much overhead for today.
    3. Additionally prioritize key objectives with respect to mentor tasks.
  2. Create either one or A/B weekly schedules for themed work sessions, with formal time slots.
    1. The goal will be to try and take on objectives that fit with that day’s theme, when it makes sense. Obviously, working on a project or intensive learning subject may take priority, but I want to keep all the plates spinning as much as possible.
    2. Try to factor in “downtime,” similar to an exercise routine, where maybe I follow up a few days of study with networking or generalized research.
    3. I would like to formalize a time slot for book reading (15 minutes every day?). I currently squeeze reading into short walks, and it is not enough.

EVENING

  1. Develop a current “all fronts” action-item list of absolutely everything that I actively want to work on.
    1. Sort this list into categories.
    2. If applicable, assign time estimates to tasks.
    3. Break down tasks bigger than one day into smaller related tasks.
    4. Aim to reduce my default daily commitments. I can always selectively opt into additional tasks.
    5. Consider building this task list in Airtable and extracting tasks from the daily blogs. Include only completed tasks to reduce blog clutter.
  2. Collect and review all artifacts from the day.
  3. Post a draft blog (NOT live, leave it rough), recording my time and any major bullet points that I would like to include.
  4. Tweet out success of objectives, and any valuable immediate impressions.
  5. Stop and REST for the remainder of the evening.

It’s off to bed for me as soon as I send this tweet. Fingers crossed that this ends up being a productive and beneficial exercise!

Tasklist