Logical Disconnect · productivity https://logicaldisconnect.org/ Logical Disconnect · productivity en Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400 The Unremarkable Bisy Backson https://logicaldisconnect.org/post/2013-04-the-unremarkable-bisy-backson/ https://logicaldisconnect.org/post/2013-04-the-unremarkable-bisy-backson Wed, 10 Apr 2013 22:11:06 -0400 productivity I don’t think this is a great article, You Can Be Busy or Remarkable—But Not Both. But when I read it—after a tremendously busy day—it struck a chord. Plus I couldn’t resist a title reference to the Tao of Pooh after seeing the guy referenced in the article was some dude named Tao.

I read something that said being lost is not about not knowing where you are, but giving too much focus and anxiety to where you are not. I don’t have any idea what the origin of this was, maybe some quote in my High School yearbook.

I think often the sense of anxiety that accompanies being busy is about knowing all the things you aren’t doing and letting that fill up your mind. Or allowing your mind-reading of other people’s expectations to dictate how you feel about your life. These things all are awful ideas.

Anyway I’m feeling a inspired to spend a more of of my time trying to relax, be realistic, and have some fun.

Update: I read what I wrote and was completely confused, so I reworded some things. See I was tremendously busy yesterday and my brain doesn’t work anymore.

calnewport.com

]]> Reflection on beginnings https://logicaldisconnect.org/post/2013-04-reflection-on-beginnings/ https://logicaldisconnect.org/post/2013-04-reflection-on-beginnings Mon, 08 Apr 2013 22:28:19 -0400 busy productivity I enjoyed Michael Lopp’s article An Introduction to You, specifically this part:

We are in an incredible hurry building important things and have no time for nuance. We’re impatient. We’re busy. We want everything to move faster, so we make huge, comforting assumptions and slap easy to understand labels on complex concepts.

Though I’ve been thinking little about the idea of oversimplifying and therefore over or under estimating the contribution of a new employee. Rather the quoted section made me think about how much is often missed in the “incredible hurry” when building products and the systems and processes to support a business.

It would have resonated more with me if he had written the exact same article but if it were not about an employee, but a new technology being integrated into the same busy-worshiping company culture.

randsinrepose.com

]]> Tomatoes for strength https://logicaldisconnect.org/post/2011-03-tomatoes-for-strength/ https://logicaldisconnect.org/post/2011-03-tomatoes-for-strength Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:20:35 -0400 health productivity health-and-fitness personal Another change I’ve made recently to help with my overall health is to try using a scheduling infrastructure for my day. For about three weeks now I’ve been using the Pomodoro Technique to plan and track my activity throughout the day. It’s improving my productivity and also helping me lose weight. This relates to my physical health in two ways, first if I spend my days full of anxiety about all the things I’m not doing I can never get physically well. Second it makes me do push-ups.

That probably needs an explanation. Pomodoro is a time-boxing technique that guides you to do 25 minutes of highly focused activity followed by a short 5 minute break. In the PDF the author suggests it should be a real break from any thinking about work. I found the transition from a hard thinking task to a state of mental relaxation to be very difficult to pull off, my mind–already warmed up to the topic–would wander back to the problem I was working on. So I decided to do a set of push-ups to help me relax.

So far I’ve gotten better at pushups, squats, and sit-ups. Oh, and I’m enjoying my productivity based primarily on the structure to my day. It helps me concretize the idea that I can only do so many things in a day and helps me at the hard task of prioritizing my time. It also helps me measure how long I take at certain tasks. Since I chronically underestimate I welcome the opportunity to improve my judgement.

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