We started a new puzzle this week! This one is 1,000 pieces and it’s called the “Magician’s Study”. I love that I will be searching for candles, glass jars, a skull, a magician’s staff and lots of books.

This puzzle is not as hard as the previous one because it has fewer abstract images, which makes it easier to spot patterns. The pieces are oddly shaped and vary in size more than other puzzles I have done. I’m having fun with it 😃.

Day 01 Progress: we are still missing some border sneaky border pieces.

Post 06/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge!

#100DaysToOffload #100Days #journal #puzzle

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

I got a new computer this week! 😃

My 6-years-old 15.6” ASUS VivoPro laptop couldn't hold its battery charge anymore, it was bulky, heavy to carry around and I actually hated the keyboard and the screen. It still works, if connected to power, so I'll probably use it to play around with Linux or something.

So I decided to get a new laptop and since I've had a good experience with the Lenovo Thinkpad I use at work, I got a new 14” Thinkpad X1 Carbon.

It's ultra light, I love the screen and the keyboard and I also got the docking station to get my cables better organized at my desk (I am not a fan of wireless keyboards or mice). New laptops have fewer and fewer ports nowadays. I used up all the ports available for my basic devices and didn't have any port left to connect my Kobo connector, for example.

So, the docking station solved all the problems and it makes it a lot easier for me to disconnect it and grab my laptop to go somewhere.

Here is my new setup at home:

Because of my old bulky/no-decent-battery laptop I've been avoiding going to a café or a library to do some writing, journaling, etc. And I wanted to do that sometimes, you know, change the scenery and go work on my computer somewhere else.

And I did it! I packed my laptop in my backpack, I didn't need to worry about battery charging and I spent a couple hours at the Public Library typing away!

#journal #journaling #tech #noisymusings

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

Sometimes one small change to our routines leads us to take action. For me it was a change in my morning schedule. That happened because my partner (who was more of a night owl) started a job that requires him to be on site at 7am. So now he joined me in being an early bird (my usual wake up time was 5:30am – 6am). We are both waking up at 5am now! This was great for my morning routine! The result is that now I have 30 minutes free before leaving for my work.

One of the things that I've always struggled was to find time to journal. I tried mobile apps, notes apps, journaling before bed or on my lunch breaks. But it was always unsustainable, and I never had more than 10-15 minutes to write. I was either too tired to journal before bed or I had no time throughout the day. And I've been thinking about writing (including blogging more) for months!

So I saw this 30min pocket of time in my mornings. I remembered a book I read during the pandemic about writing practice and also some articles about morning pages, which I will get to in a minute.

My realisation was that using my mornings to write was the best use of those 30 minutes. These were the steps I took to make it happen.

Finding a reason and a method

I went back to the book about writing practice. The book is: “Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within” by Natalie Goldberg. Re-Reading this book was the catalyst: I noticed this pocket of free time, connected it with my urge to write more and a technique to follow... And voila, a space for writing practice was born.

Natalie Goldberg describes a simple practice: set up a timer for any amount of time you have available, and start writing. Whatever it is on your mind, just write. Don't worry about punctuation or grammar. Don't edit, just write. You can choose a theme, a topic, anything, or write whatever you feel like in the moment.

Another popular method is the Morning Pages, described by Julia Cameron in her book “The Artist's Way”. The practice is to write 3 handwritten pages (equivalent of 750 words) every morning, every day. Stream of consciousness writing. You can burn the pages later.

I prefer the practice described by Natalie Goldberg because it's more flexible. She actually encourages us to go back and re-read our entries to extract some ideas and good pieces of writing. I highly recommend her book. It's is a delightful read. She connects writing with mindfulness Zen practice, which pretty much aligns with my feelings on writing.

“When you write, don’t say, “I’m going to write a poem.” That attitude will freeze you right away. Sit down with the least expectation of yourself; say, “I am free to write the worst junk in the world.” You have to give yourself the space to write a lot without a destination.” — Natalie Goldberg

How am I doing it

I prefer to type using a full sized keyboard. So my steps are:

1. I sit down at my home office desk

2. Open up my notes app (Standard Notes) and go to my Daily Notes folder to create a new note

3. Set up a timer from 20 min to 30 min (how much I have available that day)

4. Start writing whatever comes to mind until the alarm goes off.

I'm not hard on myself. I will miss some days, but I strive to do it most days.

My timer beside my keyboard

The results

For me it has been a little cathartic experience (in a good way).

Just by having this space to pour out my thoughts into text reduces my anxiety. I never thought it could be that simple.

It's like a mindfulness practice. Because I'm in the moment, transcribing my thoughts. And by transcribing them, they loose power. Worrisome thoughts are not worries anymore. They become fleeting thoughts. It has been a powerful tool to use with therapy. My days are lighter!

For me the important thing here is writing privately. It wouldn't work for me if I was publishing these entries on the internet. It is an intimate mind dump. It is a space to throw it all out. It is not pretty, or logic or even coherent. But sometimes there are good things in there that I will use to write a blog post, for example.

By having these morning writing sessions I have more headspace for ideas. Writing ideas. Life ideas. Fun ideas. I am reading better. I'm feeling less anxious. I'm not writing to please anybody. It's just for me. And it's wonderful.

#writing #standardnotes #journaling #journal #mindfulness #NoisyMusings

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

Today was less chaotic than usual. I started with a planning block and after some hesitation, I planned the whole day!

One meeting was cancelled, so I regrouped by 11am to do some email processing. Right after lunch, I reorganized my schedule in my “Clarifying/Organizing” block and the afternoon went as planned.

I focused on 3 important tasks and felt less overwhelmed. I finished task #2 earlier than expected, so I started with task #3 in that same work block. I shut down my email for the afternoon work blocks. When I got to my break, I checked my emails and surprisingly, there were no new messages!

One advantage of having this time blocking routine is that it helps me avoid those moments in the day when I’m thinking: “What am I going to do next?”. In these moments I usually get distracted or anxious and suffer from decision paralysis.

So far, I’m enjoying time blocking! It gives structure to my day.

Here is a snapshot of today’s plan:

#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 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.

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.

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.