Productivity
😎
I made a couple of interval timers to march me through my morning and night routines. A sign of a disturbed mind, I’m sure. I chose those routines because in theory they should fit into reliable time frames, but in practice they don’t. I get sidetracked very easily, so the time expands and runs into other things I need to do, like go to bed or to work.
So far the timers have been very effective. They’re only training wheels, so hopefully once I’ve practiced enough, I can drop them. I’ll probably make them for other activities too. Anything with a consistent procedure is a good candidate.
I’ve replaced housekeeping in my schedule with blocks for administration and side projects. Those blocks each get half an hour. I’m still housekeeping, but I’ve split it into two parts: tidying as my main side project and cleaning once a month. For my elastic habits, I’ve replaced housekeeping with administration, since the river of my life was getting clogged by my inconsistent attention to task management and miscellaneous life maintenance.
Housekeeping
😐
I’m ordering my categories for tidying based on annoyance and speed. Last week I finished up clothes and linens. I was going to resist Marie Kondo’s “correct order” of tidying (clothes, books, papers, miscellany, and sentimental items), because she cares too much about clothes and too little about books. But I ended up starting with clothes anyway because I didn’t have space to store the boxes they were in, and I was tired of having them sit out in the open, and I didn’t think they’d take too long. I had towels jumbled in with the clothes, so I tidied the linens too. The next category I’m working on is cleaning supplies and other household items.
Finances
🤔
Rich Dad Poor Dad is another mix of good and suspect advice. I listened to this one because his distinction between assets and liabilities seemed helpful, which came up in this video. I thought this Bogleheads thread had some good comments, especially this referenced critique by John Reed and this post on finance books in general.
But criticisms aside, I think the book has some value. I was intrigued by the “financial genius” he thinks everyone has. I doubt we do, but it would be useful to unpack the concept. And I’m definitely on board with his take on games in education. A game is instruction that is personalized because the player is confronted with their own unique interaction with it.
TV
🙂
I started watching Person of Interest. I’m four episodes in. I was feeling nostalgic for older action shows, and this is one I’d been meaning to get to. I’m sort of considering it part of my AI watching project, but even though AI is part of the premise, so far it’s not as much an AI show as a vigilante antihero show.
I like it so far. It’s fun to see what kinds of twists the creators come up with on their premise. And there are a few mysteries that are kind of interesting, so I’m curious how much they’ll do with those. I’ll probably intersperse this show with other things so I don’t feel like it’s holding up my other viewing. I’ve been wanting some space shows too. Maybe I’ll catch up on The Orville.
