Noisy Deadlines

I am not a writer. I am an introvert. I spend a lot of time with my own thoughts. A L L the time! And it seems that writing helps me to quiet down those voices in my head. I have a Wordpress blog but somehow I don't feel the urge to write there. It seems too noisy. Too flashy. Too much attention, even though nobody reads it. So I haven't written on my blog for more than 6 months now. But that itch to write something has been on the back of my mind for months. Am I a writer? Should I be a writer? I think probably not. But writing is a kind of therapy to me. It gives order to chaos. It silences the worry, the anxiety, the fear that haunts my thoughts. I never know if the thoughts create anxiety or anxiety that creates anxious thoughts. Are they the same? Anyway, I just needed a blank empty space that welcomed me to write. I think I found it here. I am not afraid of being judged. I feel free!

#noisymusings

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

Hello!! It was a little quiet around here and I'll explain why.

Around 6 months me and my husband left our home country to start a new life in Canada (the picture is a hint of exactly Where in Canada). And I can tell you that these first 6 months were intense!

Moving to a foreign country is a marvelous experience. During the first months I felt like I was reborn because I was learning new things 24 hours a day. In a sense I felt like a child again!

Everything was new:

• looking for a place to live;
• understanding how rental contracts work;
• buying furniture, learning to use the public transit;
• looking for a job;
• figuring out groceries and everyday products;
• getting a driver's license;
• filing tax returns;
• getting used to the local slang;
• experiencing the Canadian winter for the first time;
• finding out which type of winter boots are right for you;
• learning how to skate....

......and many, many more things. It has been quite a ride!

So now that the most urgent life essentials are dealt with, I got a job and my routine is running smoothly, I will get back to writing here.

I survived winter (and loved it!), I saw the Tulips Festival I don't own a TV for the first time in my life and I feel rejuvenated.

I continued to read a lot during these months and I've been rethinking my social media usage.

Social Internet

So, I want to recommend 2 articles by Cal Newport:

• On Social Media and its discontents
• Beyond #DeleteFacebook: More Thoughts on Embracing the Social Internet Over Social Media

They really got me thinking about my relationship with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. What is connection? Is having followers a useful type of connection? Why we feel the need to post photos of our food to strangers? What is happening? Who owns my data after it is published? Aren't we just being used?

Cal Newport makes a distinction between “social internet” and “social media”. The first is about meaningful connections and learning, the second is about companies monetizing these interactions. And Newport gives some ideas on how to embrace the social internet. He is in advocate of everybody having their own website:

“In other words, acquire your own damn digital land on which you can do whatever you want without anyone else trying to exploit you or influence your behavior.” — by Cal Newport

That is an interesting approach because social media is now a huge business in which our attention is being used for monetization. That is scary! And how come clicking a “like” button or blindly sharing headlines have become a social expression?

Anyway, these were all reflections I had during these months amidst living new experiences and having the best time of my life doing so. I will write more about these topics.

Spring is here (if you are in the northern hemisphere) so let's be mindful of our time and escape from being negatively influenced by social media.

Note: Cal Newport is writing a book on “digital minimalism” and I am really looking forward to it!

#socialmedia #attentionresistance

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

For the first time in years I have a true inbox Zero on GMail. I’ve been reorganizing my GTD (Getting Things Done) system and decided I should attack my email habits. I used to keep some important or waiting-for messages using the priority boxes of Gmail. And they were always visible.

Today I set up two new labels to use them as an action list and clear the clutter:

• @To-answer calmly: For e-mails I have to answer that will take longer than 5 minutes.
• @Waiting-reply: For those messages I am waiting for a reply so I can track them later.

All the rest gets deleted, clipped to Evernote (if it is something that will require starting a project or some action outside Gmail) or archived under one of my reference labels on Gmail. I sometimes clip to Evernote messages that I want to keep as References and that can be linked to any of my ongoing projects (support for projects).

I was inspired by the GTD Evernote for Windows setup guide by David Allen Company, 2017 edition. The guide gives two options:

1. Use the e-mail as the reminder: This is my choice, meaning that the e-mail is also an action bucket that has to be checked regularly and acted upon.
2. Use next action notebooks in Evernote or the calendar as the action reminder: This option only keeps the e-mail as a reference folder, and all the required action are registered into your next action folders.

And I even changed my Gmail theme to celebrate! I’ve always used the classic theme with no images. Now I have a reason to keep my inbox zero: I want to see the beautiful landscape with nothing over it!

Immediate outcomes:

• I no longer re-process and think over the same e-mail message more than once. When I had read messages lying around in my inbox I used to open them again to see what they were about and got a bit lost inside the mess.
• I no longer let e-mails pile up. I keep it clean and tidy!
• I check my Inbox less. I am not a person that works all the time with e-mail, so I can have the luxury to check my e-mail only a few times a day. Before this change, I compulsively checked my Inbox waiting for some news, kinda like what we do scrolling down social media. This compulsive behavior disappeared!

So, I encourage everyone to test some kind of Inbox Zero strategy to see it if works for you! I’ve never truly implemented it because I thought I didn’t need it!

#GTD #productivity

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

Kindle Edition, Reprint Edition, 754 pages Published October 26th 2004 by Dell (first published July 1st 1992)

I read the first book of this series (Outlander) in 2013 and I remember that at the time I have enjoyed many aspects of the story but I’ve thought that the book was longer than it needed to be. I had the intention to continue on reading the series but I eventually forgot about it. And maybe knowing that it was a long series (today there are 7 books published!) made me postpone reading it until I had more time.

This year I was leisurely browsing Netflix and I saw the Outlander TV show available! Well, I decided to watch it! At the same time, I started reading the second book because watching the series Season One made me want to go back to that world. And that made be dive into this epic story story once more! Each book is like a chapter in the larger story, so it’s the kind of series you have to read the books in the order they were published.

Overall of the book series

Before I talk about the second book, I will say that Diana Gabaldon is a superb writer. The books are well-written with generally well-researched historical background.

She has a way of telling a story in the most compelling of ways with complex characters and solid world building.

The Outlander series is a mix of time-travel/historic romance and it starts with the story of Claire Randall, a former combat nurse that lives in 1945 and was transported back in time to Scotland in 1743, in the middle of clan wars and borders conflict between scots and englishmen. Claire encounters a young Scots warrior named James Fraser and they experience an epic romance story together.

The second book : “Dragonfly in Amber”

It is a follow-up of the first book, but it starts with Claire Randall in the “present” going back to Scotland and starting a research about the Battle of Culloden and aftermath of the war. From the first book we have an idea that the main characters were somehow involved with the historic battle of Culloden that took place in 1746. This battle marks the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising of 1745, in which the Jacobites, with the support of France, fought to reestablish Charles Edward Stuart, known as “Bonnie Prince Charlie” in the throne of Scotland. We all know from historical facts that the battle of Culloden ends the rebellious rising and the clan system in the Highlands of Scotland.

So, in this book, we are transported back to 1745, with Claire and Jamie fleeing from Scotland to find refuge in France. Meanwhile, the story brings us flashes of the present, with Claire telling her adventures to her daughter for the first and revealing her secrets.

I was amazed by the quality of the storytelling because of its freshness and pace. I love the writing style of Diana Gabaldon: she can be “flourishy” without being boring. The reading flows effortlessly.

The time travel aspect of this series can at first seems too absurd and I was worried that it could spoil the story. You know, it is complicated to avoid time travel paradoxes. And sometimes when you explain it too much, the story can loose its power. So far in this series I have not seen it being spoiled. I think the author did a good job of playing with historical facts and avoiding paradoxes. So far, so good!

The book is quite a ride, with politics, war, romance, personal struggle and historic facts being beautifully intertwined with fictional characters. I am totally hooked to the series now, and I have already started reading Book 3 “Voyager” (and enjoying it so far!).

I highly recommend the series for historical romance lovers who fancy a bit of time travel vibes!

#books #bookreview #reading

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

“There are 168 hours in a week. This is your guide to getting the most out of them.” by Laura Vanderkam

• Kindle Edition
• Print Length: 271 pages
• Publisher: Portfolio (May 26, 2010)
• Publication Date: May 27, 2010

My overall thoughts about the book:

I enjoyed the main approach of the book, which is to be aware of how we spend our 168 hours and identify how we can make better use of the time available for all of us. So far so good, but I found that the author addresses only a handful of life styles, specially couples with kids.

I didn’t agree with all the suggestions she gave. There was too much “delegating” to paid services tips and I am more into searching for a frugal or simple lifestyle. As far as I know hiring household services is usually more expensive than doing them ourselves, but the author affirms that this model could work for some people (if they have the money to afford it, of course).

I think it’s hard to try carve out more time out of our days if we don’t reduce the excess activities and stuff we accumulate over time. And I don’t remember the author addressing this side of the coin.

The Pros:

The main messages of the book that stuck in my brain and that I somewhat agree with were:

1. Cut down TV time. And then cut some more. TV is not so relaxing as we might think.
2. Block out time to exercise. Then fine more exercise more.
3. Make a list of tasks you can do in 30 minutes. And another for 10 minutes. Remember these little things that can be done between tasks or while waiting something. For example: read a book in a waiting line, or do some push-ups or stay in plank position while you wait for the microwave. Reading while waiting or in public transport is totally okay, I do this all the time with my Kindle. Doing push-ups while the microwave: not so much because there are usually other things to take care of in the kitchen, in my case. But I think it’s doable.
4. Identify our core competencies: that is a good exercise because we often forget our main goals amidst the various activities and responsibilities we are involved. When we know what are our core competencies we can plan out more time to develop these areas.

The Cons:

The following tips didn’t really resonate with my personal style:

1. Carve out chunks of time during our work day to do the things we say we don’t have enough time to do. That’s the kind of tip that won’t work for everyone because not all of us have a flexible schedule or a work environment that encourages “off duty” activities or arriving a bit late.
2. Hire services: Get someone else to do the things you don’t enjoy by delegating or hiring someone else: laundry, cooking, scheduling appointments. I don’t agree with this one because I truly prefer to live an independent life, and if I can’t find time or satisfaction from taking care of my stuff, I should consider minimizing.
3. The writing style. I thought the chapters were too long and there were too many anecdotes about other peoples lives filled with excessive and unnecessary details to prove a point. Those parts really put me off the book and made me speed read them. I think the text lacked a bit of objectivity, since it’s about productivity and carving out precious time.

So, the book has a couple of good ideas and tips but the overall experience of reading it wasn’t fulfilling and I was a bit disappointed in the end. Maybe it was not directed at my simpler lifestyle. Sometimes doing less is the best option.

#books #bookreview #reading

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