Noisy Deadlines

I didn’t plan all my blocks first thing in the morning today. There was an urgent request from my manager when I arrived, so I spent the first 1h30min dealing with this task.

After that, I looked at my notes from yesterday and I noted that I still needed to finish clarifying and organizing a bunch of new inputs I got this week. So I blocked that off, then I had an appointment with my therapist. And that was basically my morning.

But I had a nice conversation with my therapist about attention and focus, and how to best use time blocking.

One of the discussion points was: “Why do I avoid planning my whole day at the beginning of the day?”

One of the reasons is that I’m afraid of the commitment, and I’m afraid to fail. That damn perfectionist tendency!

And it will take practice for me to get used to failing. In these 3 days, I changed my plan at least 4 times each day. And that’s okay ( I keep telling myself).

Another good insight was the use of time blocks that represent different mental modes, and different types of focus. For example:

• Emails: to check and process emails. Instead of having emails open all the time, schedule dedicated time blocks to act on them.
• Planning: to plan the day, clarify and organize. The end-of-day shutdown routine is included here.
• Work block: blocks to focus on my tasks. In this mode, no checking of emails or messages is allowed. The choice of tasks to work on will come from my next action lists. Time to use the Pomodoro technique here!
• Snack/Breaks/Lunch: using in conjunction with the Pomodoro technique. Plan for some short and long breaks. Lunch break is mandatory!
• Meetings/Appointments: those are already in my Calendar, I just need to acknowledge them and show up when the time comes. They can impact how many “work” blocks I can have in a day.
• Calls: a block to deal with the calls I have to make, pulling from the @calls context on my next action list. I won’t have this block every day, it depends on my project’s timeline.
• Admin/Misc tasks: a block to deal with quick/easy wins and miscellaneous tasks. I don’t need to have it every day, my therapist suggested I choose one day of the week for it, maybe two.

Looking at these “mental modes” it became clearer to me the advantages of time blocking. I’ve had many days when I was constantly switching back and forth between these modes, but I was never focusing on one at a time. That resulted in a stressful day, with my attention scattered everywhere and no accomplishments.

A snapshot of today’s plan:

Day 03 – It was going to start with some Planning & Organizing, but I had to put out a fire early in the day. I had to readjust, and some tasks had to be moved to the next day.

I will think more about those modes, and try to come up with a “skeleton time block” structure for my week. What is my typical week? How many “work” and “emails” blocks I want or need every day? Then I just adjust week by week and day by day depending on the reality of that week.

#productivity #timeblocking #planning #work #journal

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

I have been struggling with scattered focus during my work hours, constantly changing contexts, checking emails, and feeling overwhelmed. And I know it’s because there’s a lot going on right now. I find it difficult to decide what to do next when I look at my to-do lists.

I’ve used the Pomodoro technique with great success in the past. It’s basically a way to train attention, where you set up a timer for 25 minutes of focused work. It needs to be total focus, for the full 25 minutes: no checking email, no answering the phone, no talking to anybody. And then you take 5 minutes of rest. You do 4 cycles, then you rest for 15 minutes (long rest). I love this technique! It works really well for my brain.

However, now I'm having trouble DECIDING what to do and STARTING!

So, I'm trying out Time Blocking, using the suggestions from Cal Newport's book “Deep Work.” At some point during the pandemic, I even purchased his Time Block Planner: a paper planner customized with the way he recommends doing time blocking. At the time I used it for a week, but I thought it was too bulky to use.

But now, I’m really into doing some things using pen and paper. I feel like I can focus better, specially if I’m planning something or brainstorming ideas. So I got my Time Block Planner from the shelf and started using it again this week.

The Weekly and Daily Plans

This Time Block Planner is organized in weeks, so at the start of the week you have 2 blank pages to do some weekly planning. It’s a way to look at your commitments for the week, evaluate the amount of meetings, and do some high level planning of which projects or activities to focus on every day. It is not supposed to be detailed, it’s more like a direction for the week.

Then at the start of the work day, you make a daily plan, giving every minute of the day a job. You use the weekly plan as a guide. But you also review your calendar and look at your next actions list to decide what to focus on.

The interesting thing about Cal Newport’s planner is that you have space to renegotiate your plan in case of changes. Things will blow up, meetings will be rescheduled, and you are encouraged to rethink your daily plan and adjust it.

How it’s been so far

I started yesterday, a Monday after a long weekend. Mondays are the worst for me. I always feel overwhelmed and tired. I can never achieve anything I thought I would achieve.

The first hurdle I encountered was the decision paralysis. I couldn’t decide what to do in the morning. I scheduled half an hour first thing to make my plan. It wasn’t enough time. It didn’t help that I had 2 back to back meetings after that, and two more in the afternoon. I didn’t finish my plan, I basically updated it as I went, so it was not really planning in advance. It wasn’t a great day for deep work anyway, but I managed to complete 2 shorter tasks with the time I had in between meetings.

Today, I’m half a day in, and I planned the morning, which already changed 3 times. Then by noon I planned the afternoon. It was scary to write it down, like I wasn’t sure I could make it.

I’m discovering that I have difficulty planning ahead. For me, the future seems a homogeneous haze. I know it’s there, but I can’t really put a date to it. I am discovering that I have difficulty planning ahead in the immediate timeframe. Long-term, high-level planning is easier for me.

I will continue practicing with the Time Block Planner. It is giving me a better sense of time, and I am realizing that tasks take longer to complete than I initially thought. Sometimes I will mark 10 actions as my focus for the day, but realistically, I can only complete 1 or 2. Time blocking is helping me slow down, and slowing down is key for processing information and planning.

#productivity #timeblocking #planning #work #journal

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

1. The Blacksmith Queen (The Scarred Earth Saga #1) by G.A. Aiken, 304p: Not what I was expecting. It caught my attention because of the strong female characters (women blacksmiths), but the writing style didn't please me. It follows the trope of the death of a ruler and then a prophecy that will point to the new heir. It has brutal and bloody battle scenes that were treated so childishly as if they were of no consequence. It uses an amusing tone for everything (even violence), and that bothered me.

2. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, 507p: It's a well-crafted murder mystery. It was fun to try to figure out who was the killer. It's complicated, there are lots of moving pieces, but it all fits together in the end. There are a lot of characters, tho! I started a list, and I got to at least 30. It was hard to keep track of everything. I felt a lack of emotional connection to the characters, and the mystery itself kept me engaged. It reminded me of puzzle games, and it was a book that I loved thinking about while I was not reading it. Also, it was excellent for a Book Club session!

3. How to Be a Productivity Ninja: Worry Less, Achieve More and Love What You Do by Graham Allcott, 368p: Lots of good advice in this book, but it clearly uses most of the ideas from David Allen, who wrote “Getting Things Done” (which I've read more than once). So for me, there weren't too many new things added to my toolbox. It was fun because the author uses ninja references and imagery to get his point across.

4. Dance with the Devil (Mercenary Librarians #3) by Kit Rocha, 352p: I loved this series, I loved the characters and their positive overall mindset to try to make their dystopian futuristic reality a better world. This one was faster-paced than the second one but not overly so. It had a good rhythm, alternating between world-building, the big plot to turn down big corporations, and the characters' personal drama. The romance is not cringy, sex scenes are very well written. I would read more stories in this universe! Hopefully the author writes one more.

5. Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way by Kieran Setiya, 222p: I listened to the audiobook, and for me the beginning and the end were good, I wasn't as interested in the middle chapters. It brings some philosophical discussions about grief, happiness, hope, and the meaning of life. I enjoyed the reference to the “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams.

#readinglist #books #reading

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

Today, I am feeling better than I have in a long time. It's like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, and I can breathe again. I've been on a journey to get my pieces back together, and it's been a slow process, but I am getting there.

One of the things that has helped me feel better is doing puzzles. I used to love puzzles, but I stopped doing them a long time ago. I used to do it with my partner, we would gather in the evenings and spend some time doing puzzles while chatting or listening to music. Recently, we decided to give it a try again, and I'm so glad we did. There's something therapeutic about the process of putting the pieces together, and it helps me relax and take my mind off things. It is also an analog activity, something I do with my hands and away from bright screens. It’s been very nourishing!

We have it on a table in the living room and once in a while we will stop and do a little bit, fitting one piece here and there, or we get together in the evening, put on some music, and do it together for an hour or so. There is no rush, we take several weeks to finish a puzzle. The first one we took 3 months to finish! We are on our second one, it’s a gorgeous art inspired by the Chinese myth: “The Jade Dragon”, and some say it’s the origin story of the Chinese lantern festival.

“Le Dragon de Jade” – 1,000 pieces puzzle – by https://callisto-editions.co

Getting puzzle pieces together has helped me get MY pieces together and just enjoy the moment. It helps me shift my attention away from negative thoughts and onto something that is enjoyable and calming. It also feels very meditative, which is great for my brain!

#journal #puzzles

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

Every once in a while I feel unsatisfied about how I am managing my projects and tasks. It’s a recurring thing and I know now that perfectionism has some of the blame. Looking back at all my past iterations, I’ve used the Nirvana app the most over the years. I stick with it for a while, then I see something shinier, experiment with the new app, only to go back to Nirvana again.

My last distraction was Microsoft To Do. The company I work for transitioned to Microsoft for everything: emails, files, calendars, chat, meetings, the whole system. I was already familiar with Outlook and OneDrive, but Microsoft To Do was new to me. So I tried it. I can say that I tried it at least 4 times over the last year. Not to mention the times I tried Todoist as well. I believe the sequence was:

• Aug, 2021: First test of MS To Do. I didn’t like it.
• Sep, 2021: I tried Todoist (not for the first time). I got overwhelmed by all the tags/filters options (not the first time this happened…)
• Oct, 2021: Back to MS To Do. Maybe I can make it work? Also, emojis are so cute!
• Jan, 2022: I got back to good old Nirvana. So simple and organized! 😎
• May, 2022: Tried MS To Do again. Can I let go of having the next actions linked to projects? The UI is so beautiful, and tasks can show up alongside Outlook or even inside my calendar. Cool!
• June, 2022: Things got out of control, I was handling a lot of projects at once at work so I went back to Nirvana to gain some clarity. I also noticed I barely used the integrations with Outlook Calendar.
• Sep, 2022: But it would be so cool to have my emails integrated with my tasks! Wouldn’t it? The emojis were cute 🤩 So, back to MS To Do, trying to manage 2 separate accounts (personal and work).
• Oct, 2022: It was too much overhead to have two separate MS To Do accounts, I didn’t know which Inbox to put things in, I constantly neglected one or the other and things started to get off the rails. So back to my trusted tool: Nirvana ⭐.
• Jan, 2023: I read somewhere about new Todoist features coming up and I tried it again. I created a brand new account, got the Premium subscription, and set it up just to feel like it wasn’t for me anymore. In less than 20 days I cancelled my account and asked for a refund. Again, I had too many options to customize it and it became very distracting.
• Feb, 2023: I decided to solve the 2 accounts issue with MS To Do, by using the lists sharing feature between my personal and work accounts. It was okay, but I still thought it was confusing to have 2 inboxes. Also, since in MS To Do we have to use the “Tasks” folder as the Inbox, I noticed this cognitive discomfort of not having an actual “Inbox” there. It may sound like a petty detail, but it really bothers me! Capturing is something I struggle with and having any sort of resistance destroys my ability to get things out of my head.
• Mar, 2023 (aka, Today): I moved back to Nirvana! It just felt like home. I know how it works, things have their specific places, and I trust it more in the end😍.

I decided to write this timeline to try to understand why I was jumping from tool to tool. It became clear that Nirvana was the to-do list manager I used for the longest time because I like it! And so I’m making a decision to continue using it, even though sometimes I miss some colors and emojis.

Looking back I can say that when my life got busy I would always rely on Nirvana to manage all my commitments. It gives me the type of clarity I can’t really find in other tools.

So I’m making a personal commitment to not distract myself again and to stick with Nirvana for at least a year! Focus! 🎯

#GTD #Nirvana #Productivity #apps

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

Only after putting this list together I realised that my fiction reads were all romances! All of them lighthearted, hopeful and relaxing.

I totally failed at finishing a book for my local Book Club because it was a grim-dark fantasy from the 80’s and I couldn’t get past the second chapter. Well, I guess I needed some lightness this month. No regrets.

1. Legends & Lattes (Legends & Lattes #1) by Travis Baldree, 318p: This is a book that made me happy. It's a cozy fantasy and I loved every word of it. An orc barbarian decides to retire and open a coffee shop. That's it! And I loved following her steps, from acquiring a place, renovating, getting the coffee machines, finding friends, and baking delicious cinnamon rolls and pastries in her coffee shop. Friendship with romance and all the good vibes.

2. The Devil You Know (Mercenary Librarians #2) by Kit Rocha, 416p: I'm enjoying this post-apocalyptic world quite a lot because although it's a dark reality, the series focus on the group of characters that are trying to make the world a better place. This second book was hopeful and had some intense character development. I’ll read the next one for sure!

3. Below Zero (The STEMinist Novellas #3) by Ali Hazelwood, 121p: Another adorable romance story with a female scientist. This time the protagonist works for NASA on one of the Mars rovers project (super nerdy), a big misunderstanding, a rescue mission on an island in the Arctic Ocean, and, yes, romance. I had a good time.

4. Winning the Week: How To Plan A Successful Week, Every Week by Demir Bentley, 269p: This book covers detailed steps on how to plan our weeks so that it gets done regularly. I learned a few things that I will start implementing in my own routine. The most valuable message for me was the idea that I need to accept my reality:

“…look at your life with zero wishful thinking. Be able to see when a timeline isn't realistic and accept that reality without getting emotional.”.

It talks a lot about perfectionism and encourages us to ask ourselves what “good enough” looks like and where we can accept a lower level of quality and move forward. I thought there were too many steps to the process, tho. I'm not sure I would go ahead and plan EVERY hour of my week in advance, as the method seems to suggest. I prefer to do daily planning and allocate time for tasks on a day-to-day basis.

#readinglist #books #reading

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

1. Deal with the Devil (Mercenary Librarians #1) by Kit Rocha: I gotta say the series’ name combining the words “Mercenary” and “Librarians” was what attracted me to this book. And I enjoyed it! Strong female characters, information brokers who just want to help people, near-future post-apocalyptic setting, super soldiers against the power of corporations, augmented humans,  librarians, mercenaries, and romance. The characters grew on me, the plot was intriguing, enough, and the romance was NOT the usual  “alpha male” dynamic. It made me want to read the next in the series.

2. Ancestral Night (White Space #1) by Elizabeth Bear: This book starts with space opera feels, then turns into a more introspective narrative inside the main character’s head. It’s a far-future society, people have implants that can record memories, search for information and communicate with each other. There are spaceships AI’s who can be citizens, implants that can regulate hormones on the fly and enhance or avoid certain feelings, alien technology, a problematic cult, personal trauma discussions, humans enhanced to live in low gravity, and pirates. There is a lot going on! Did I mention space alien giant whales and a mantis cop? Also, there are discussions about social freedom versus social responsibility. The pace of the book was uneven, and it felt super slow in some parts.

3. Still Life (Chief Inspector Gamache #1) by Louise Penny: I wanted to get more into mysteries, and this was a good start. This is the first book in the series, and I wanted to read it mostly because the story location is a small fictional town in the Eastern Townships region in Quebec. The detective, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, is a lovable character: he is kind and smart, but also firm when needed. I wasn’t sure who the murderer was until it was revealed. This book is very sensible as well, and we get to know what the characters are thinking and feeling, making them believable. I just wanted to hang out in the local B&B (brunch and breakfast) with them someday!

4. White Night (The Dresden Files #9) by Jim Butcher: Nice page-turner, with vampire courts conflicts, lots of ghouls, Harry Dresden working together with more allies (so it’s not himself alone against the bad guys) and a lot is happening in this book.

5. Unwinding Anxiety by Judson Brewer: This book discusses how anxiety can become a habit we barely notice and suggests some ways we can get out of the loop. I enjoyed it because it focuses a lot on mindfulness practices, and how they can help in the process of noticing the anxiety habit. My main takeaways were: mindfulness meditation is an excellent practice to notice what is going on, loving-kindness meditation helps with resilience and well-being, and it reminded me to not fall into the “Why am I having these thoughts” question loop. It doesn’t matter why thoughts are happening, what matters is how we react to them.

#readinglist #books #reading

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

I had one day this week that I had an appointment early in the morning (1 hour before I start at my job). So that meant I didn’t have time to do my whole morning routine, I just had time to eat breakfast and leave.

And I tried to prepare the night before, telling myself that it was okay to skip my morning routine once. But I wasn’t ready for the consequences. I guess I didn’t know how much my quiet time in the morning (meditation + yoga) impacts my day.

It turns out skipping this quiet time made me more anxious and less resilient to daily work stressors. It felt like I didn’t have the extra boost of energy to be able to slow down and think things through. I felt overwhelmed and it was hard to focus. I was exhausted by the end of the day and the best thing I could do was have a nice healthy dinner and go to bed early.

Today was different, I had plenty of time for my morning routine and I started the day feeling great. When I was getting ready to leave for work, I got some voice messages from a family member that were hurtful. And I know it was not on purpose, this person is going through a lot of grief and pain right now. I got a little bit rattled and angry but then I had the peace of mind to realize that those words weren’t true. And that I could focus on my reaction to those words, rather than starting a discussion about them. I took a deep breath and calmed down.

The comparison of these 2 days gave me proof that having some quiet time with mindfulness practices really work for me. I feel like I am more capable of getting out of stressful situations and have better awareness of my feelings and thoughts.

#journal #mindfulness #morning #routine

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

I went for an eye exam last week and my optometrist told me my eyes were too dry and she suggested me to blink more when I’m working at a computer. She told me to get a post it, write “BLINK” on it and put it on my monitor so that I would automatically blink more when starting at my screen. Ok, great!

But I really want to talk about overwhelm. Some days I’m feeling totally overwhelmed at work. I get paralyzed, I can’t plan my next actions, I compulsively check email, or news, or whatever, I forget to take notes… I’ve been talking about this my therapist and one of the things she recommended was practicing identifying my overwhelm symptoms right when they start. For me the signs are racing thoughts, inability to focus, higher heart rate, headache and an overall feeling of unease.

And when I notice those signs, I should start my Overwhelm First Aid Kit routine. Inspired by the “BLINK” post it, I created one with my overwhelm emergency checklist and put it on my board, so that I can easily look at it and calm down.

The steps are:

1. STOP! Take 3 deep breaths.

2. Step away: get up and look out the window, get some water or tea.

3. Notice body sensations: what am I feeling right now? Naming the sensations helps them slow down.

4. Mind Sweep: WRITE! Helps getting thoughts out of my head, because they are bombarding me.

5. Plan and Resume: After I calm down, create a plan of what to do next.

6. FOCUS! Close distractions and start working on the next action.

7. Celebrate my progress 🙌.

I had an overwhelm incident at work yesterday, and I took a long time to identify it and snap out of it. I had unconsciously tensed my body and clenched my jaw, and by the end of the day I had a sore neck and shoulder.

Now I am more aware of when overwhelm starts creeping in and hopefully this post-it will help me get out of it sooner.

#journal #overwhelm #mentalhealth #noisymusings

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

Happy New Year! 🎉

Every year I look back at my reading list and think about my reader goals. I don’t have any specific genre or theme I want to focus on now. For 2023 I want to tackle my TBR digital pile.

I have 106 unread books that are already loaded in my e-reader. I quickly looked at the list and I’ve chosen 37 that I’d like to get through in 2023.

I have some series I want to continue reading:

1. A Closed and Common Orbit (Wayfarers, #2) by Becky Chambers

2. Aurora Blazing (Consortium Rebellion #2) by Jessie Mihalik

3. The Ghost Brigades (Old Man’s War, #2) by John Scalzi

4. Wanderlust (Sirantha Jax #2) by Ann Aguirre

5. Planetfall (Planetfall #1) by Emma Newman

6. Atlas Alone (Planetfall #4) by Emma Newman

7. Persepolis Rising (The Expanse #7) by James S.A. Corey

New series and books that have been on my radar:

1. Poison or Protect (Delightfully Deadly #1) by Gail Carriger

2. Ambush or Adore (Delightfully Deadly #3) by Gail Carriger

3. Defy or Defend (Delightfully Deadly #2) by Gail Carriger

4. Between Two Thorns (The Split Worlds #1) by Emma Newman

5. Any Other Name (The Split Worlds #2) by Emma Newman

6. Arsene Lupin, gentleman cambrioleur (Arsene Lupin #1) by Maurice Leblanc

7. Children of Time (Children of Time #1) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

8. Deal with the Devil (Mercenary Librarians #1) by Kit Rocha

9. Diving into the Wreck (Diving Universe #1) by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

10. Fire Logic (Elemental Logic #1) by Laurie J. Marks

11. Lock In (Lock In #1) by John Scalzi

12. Nightfall (Blood Magic #1) by L.H. Cosway

13. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

14. Rosewater (The Wormwood Trilogy #1) by Tade Thompson

15. The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield

16. The Blacksmith Queen by G.A. Aiken (The Scarred Earth Saga #1 )

17. The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

18. The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley

19. The Rogue of Fifth Avenue by Joanna Shupe

20. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

21. The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley

22. The Cold Between (Central Corps #1) by Elizabeth Bonesteel

Non-fiction books:

1. Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed by Ben R. Rich

2. Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness by Jon Kabat-Zinn

3. How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them by Jason Stanley

4. How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed by Ray Kurzweil

5. In Defence of Food by Michael Pollan

6. The Science of Time Travel by Elizabeth Howell

7. Power of Fun by Catherine Price

8. The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O’Meara

I will have at least 12 more books that are going to be picked for my local Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book Club and I’m sure I’ll have more books added to this list. This is a starting point, in case I run out of ideas!

Happy reading in 2023!

#Books #Booklist #ReaderGoals

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.