Noisy Deadlines

journal

There was this sofa bed at IKEA that was within our budget, and it would fit perfectly in our living room. I’ve been trying to purchase it for about a year now. Because of the pandemic, this item was constantly out of stock. During this time, I got a few notifications that it was back in stock, but every time I tried to purchase, it was gone. I guess some people were quicker than me!

Today, at 5am in the morning, I saw the “back in stock” notification and placed an order right away! I secured one out of the 4 available. Finally! 🤗

Since we moved to the house, we’ve been planning to get a sofa bed. We haven’t owned a sofa since 2017. We’ve been using the POÄNG armchairs from IKEA to watch movies/TV shows, and they are very comfortable, I like them. But now we have a little bit more space in the house and we wanted to be able to receive guests to sleep overnight.

This was a Project that was on my list since at least July 2022 and now I’ll finally be able to complete it! Yay!

Post 13/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge!

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

Earlier this month I took a whole week off from work and since my partner would still be working, we had no travel plans. I wanted to spend some time relaxing at home. My main goal was just to REST A LOT. I was feeling I was in the verge of work burnout and I needed to disconnect. I literally put my work phone in a drawer for the week.

I had some ideas of things I wanted to do during this week. Here they were:

- ✅Go to the Public Library to do some reading and/or a Weekly Review: I did go to a Public Library and spent some time reading. I didn't do a weekly review a the Library, tho.

- ✅Revise My Areas of Focus : I did this review in the Public Library near my house. It's something that I would look at every year or so, but I realized it's nice to look at all Areas at least bi-monthly. I'm trying to do that more.

- ✅ Do Free Writing sessions outside the house (in the Library, in a Café): I did go to a Public Library and spent some time writing there. I did not go to a Café. I don't think I'm a fan of the Café environment to do focused work, like writing. I didn't feel like trying one. Instead I went to a couple different Public libraries.

- ✅ Go for walks (or runs) in the morning: I usually go for runs and walks in the evenings. For this week I wanted to be outside early in the morning. I did go for a long walk one morning and it was glorious!

- ✅ Sit down and read for 2 hours straight: Yeah, I did have the time to do that. It took a few tries to actually be able to focus for 2 hours. It wasn't exactly 2 hours straight, as I would took a break in the middle for tea and snacks. But it was nice to know I'm capable of doing it, if I have enough space in my schedule. I was worried my ability to focus was damaged.

- ✅ Do longer sessions of free writing: I didn't do super long sessions. The greatest amount was one hour and a half at the Library. It was interesting, I usually don't have that much free time to write anymore. But I'm thinking some of those on the weekends now.

- ✅ Think about how I want to organize my blog ideas and routines: I gave this a lot of though. I created a list in Standard Notes for “Ideas”. If I want to develop an idea I start writing in Standard Notes in a folder called “drafts”. When I feel like the draft is developed enough, I copy it to Write.as and finish editing there for publication.

- ✅ Watch the GTD videos I've been wanting to watch for ages: Done! I had some webinars in my “To-Watch” list for ages, and I finally got to them.

- ✅ Do longer meditation sessions (30+min): I did some 30-40 minutes sessions. I want to do those more often.

Stepping away from the demands of work and allowing myself the freedom to explore my interests and reflect on my priorities brought me a sense of renewal I hadn't realized I was missing.

These simple moments of uninterrupted reading, writing, and meditation showed me how important it is to take time to rest. I found some solace in the stillness.

Some flowers spotted in an early morning walk.

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

I was at the dentist the other day and one of the dental assistants was a Brazilian lady. We chatted a little bit in Portuguese. She's been in Canada for less than a year and she asked me what were the Facebook or Whatsapp groups I was part of. She was ready to pull out her phone and add more groups to her list. I quietly told her: “Hmmm, none really. I don't use Facebook and I only use Whatsapp for calls with my mom”. 

It was a weird moment, because the look in her face was of total astonishment. She made a comment about how it should have been hard for me to live all these years without having these groups. I told her that I survived all right, and I actually used a lot of the newcomers immigrant services offered by the government, so I didn't feel the need to search for a Brazilian local group, honestly. 

And she told me about an association that promotes parties and such for the Brazilian community here, and again, I felt super weird telling her that, as an introvert, I don't really enjoy parties. They are loud, and crowded, and... it's just not my thing. 

After I left the dentist I kept thinking about this encounter. I've been in Canada for 6 years now and I've adjusted to the local groceries products, I learned the quirks of using the public transport, I know where is the closest public library (and I know how to use it), I learned how to pump gas in my car (in Brazil there is an attendant who does that for you), I learned the best combination of layers for winter clothing. And all those lessons learned were made without using services like Facebook or Whatsapp groups. 

Maybe I took longer to learn those things, I don’t know. It was not until last year that I discovered the perfect combination of winter socks for my winter boots, for example. Lots of trial and error.

I guess what I'm wondering here is: Have I missed something? Should I have been in constant communication with fellow Brazilians and participating in these non-stop discussion groups? Even the lady I met at the dentist said that these groups are crazy, she receives hundreds of messages everyday. 

My gut feeling is that I don't feel I missed anything. I enjoyed my quiet days as a newcomer. There is so much information out there. And making observations and asking around has always worked for me.

It's certainly not the same for everybody. Because of my quiet nature I was okay. In the real world I always found help when I needed it. Anyway... this post was just a reflection. 

Post 08/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge!

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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 Daily Planner that replaced my old one. I was using Cal Newport's Time-Block Planner which is great, but I always thought it was too heavy and bulky. Mine was the first version so it didn't lay open flat on my desk.

Last month I got a simpler planner, much more compact, in spiral biding and cheaper. It has 100 non-dated pages. I have the view of an entire day in one page. There is a space for the Top 3 most important things for the day, the day schedule from 6am to 9pm, a space for to-do's, meals, water intake and notes.

I'm using the Top 3 space everyday. It's such a simple thing, but it is helping me to make the decision first thing in the morning of what is my focus for the day.

I start by putting the date at the top, then I use a ruler to add some vertical lines to the Schedule (creating an additional column if my schedule changes, inspired by Cal Newport). I think about my Top 3 things and write them down. Then I look at my digital Calendar and start blocking out all the meetings, appointments, lunch break and my end of the day shutdown routine block.

Then I look at my Top 3 and decide what will be my focus for the morning and block the times. I also look at Nirvana to see which tasks are in my Focus list. I try to block by theme or project, and use Nirvana to guide me through specific next actions. Sometimes I add a next action to the To-Do section of the planner, as a way of reminding myself I need to work on those ASAP.

I can never time block the whole day at once. I prefer to plan the morning, then after lunch I regroup and block the afternoon based on what happened throughout the day.

I’m using the Meals section of the planner to note the snacks I eat during the day. I’ve been trying to cut down on snacks as I noticed I’ve been snacking out of anxiety. Writing it down makes me aware of this behaviour.

On the left: An early morning plan – On the right: a complete day plan

I’m using this Planner as an auxiliary tool to help me plan my day. I could do that by using my digital calendar, but there’s something about writing things down that makes the plan more real, more palpable. It’s an exercise in looking ahead and facing the productivity dragon.

Post 07/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge!

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

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!

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

After 5 months, me and my partner finally finished the Dragon de Jade puzzle. It was definitely the hardest puzzle I've ever done! It is very dark, with imperceptible colour nuances in the pieces. Shades of blacks, greys, and blues, with hints of oranges/reds.

And it was the first time we had to redo the border pieces multiple times in a puzzle! Usually the border is the first thing we finish, and it kinda stays unchanged till the end. On this one the border was the last item to be finished! Some pieces seemed to go well together judging by their shape, but then other surrounding pieces wouldn't match. So we had to constantly rearrange these borders pieces.

Read more...

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:

My new desk setup with Lenovo Thinkpad X1

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!

Writing at the Public Library!

#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.