Finances
😐
I started researching grad school costs. What I’ve learned so far is that university websites are confusing. I’m going to try not to get lost in the details, because right now I’m only looking for ballpark figures. I’m impatient to get to other topics, so I’ll try to finish that this week.
Research
🤔
I paused my finances project a few days to study my research methods. Taking notes on one of my books reminded me that my note-taking techniques are slower than I’d like, so I spent some time analyzing them. Reworking my study skills may need to be a major project at some point, but for now I’ll do it on the side.
Productivity
🤔
The next few weeks I’ll focus on my productivity system. Despite my time management improvements over the past few months, I still have plenty of tasks that get put off or forgotten because my productivity system is in an unfinished state and a little too hard to use. Next week starts the Thinkulum month of Sol, and I’m going to spend at least part of it on that project. Then I’ll get back to finances.
Business
😎
Introduction to Business by OpenStax gives me a helpful overview as I think about how business fits into my life. I had previously listened to The Portable MBA, but this book was more listenable and engaging, probably because it’s an undergraduate textbook, and it was far from sterile and perfunctory. The authors seemed to truly care about students’ success. I highly recommend it.
What made it especially interesting were the many examples permeating the text. For example, I didn’t realize how many businesses are making serious efforts to be socially responsible. The book made it sound like it’s the in thing to do. Even the appendix on law was interesting and helped me understand things like contracts.
Housekeeping
🙂
The Home Edit by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin gives some chatty and reassuring tips on tidying. The book had caught my attention for being aesthetic and popular, so I wanted to see what they had to say, and last week my hold on the library’s ebook came up. The book was shorter than I expected, so I think most of the benefit I get will be from studying it to draw out more of the principles they’re using.
I did like finding a name for one of my life philosophies. They call it the Low-Bar Lifestyle. I think of it as counting up from zero. When I assess my day, I like to compare whatever I did to doing nothing, as opposed to doing everything on my to-do list. If I did something, the day was a win.
It was also nice to hear from people who aren’t Marie Kondo but still make tidying work. Kondo has helpful advice, but she gets a bit insistent on her point of view, and some of it doesn’t really fit me.
Health
🙂
I got my first COVID shot Wednesday. I went with Moderna because I need to work around my other medical treatments, and that vaccine fits my schedule. My second dose is on the 30th. I’m already planning my reentrance into society.
People
🙂
Sunday I introduced Jeremy to my favorite nearby walking spot. It was one of our rare get-togethers during these pandemic times. We had a picnic and walked around the lake and the woods. He even noticed some large, predatory-looking birds I hadn’t seen there before, so in future walks I’m hoping for a closer look at those. And hopefully soon we’ll get back to our regular meetups.
