Context switching Slack with my code editor, hitting two workouts a day, and becoming Superhuman with my email! | Report

26 Apr 2021 . category: report . Comments
#radicali #startup #singapore #fitness #productivity #sleep

Welcome to #232

Writing this on Sunday night, after prepping for the week. Sunday nights with todo lists are inspirational, weekend off days are quite productive in the big picture if i effectively rest and plan out the five weekdays.

At work, we did deploys on four weekdays sticking to our continuous deploy structure. It hampers our ability to focus on development the whole day, and we need to get better at timeboxing development and merging in different times of the day. i listened to Lex Fridman’s podcast on deep work with Cal Newport last Monday, and the hangover of their conversation left me highly productive for the next few days. i noticed that when my calendar is slotted with timesinks for interviews or calls, or if i’m focusing on doing code reviews/deploys, it is difficult to context switch to development.

This Wednesday midnight, i was onboarded to Superhuman via a human being, one of the very few times that i might have gone through an onboarding process for a SaaS product. Their process is extraordinary, and left me with so many ideas to improve our customer engagement going forward. i’m now at Inbox Zero on both my work and personal email!

Sometimes i wonder whether this micromanagement of time and deep work optimization matters in the long run, and whether the yogis sitting in the Himalayas ever worry about these things in their pursuit of nirvana. If not, then why are we as civilian humans in the pursuit of productivity - just because it feels good or gets us more dollars? i guess, till the point i don’t become a yogi in the Himalayas, this is worth putting effort into!

On the reading front, i read up a bit of Sam Harris but had to return three of my issued books to the Library. The due date by the library imposes artificial deadlines which is a good push for me. i’m currently reading Win Bigly by Scott Adams, his take on Trump’s persuasion tactics.

On the fitness front, i started two workouts a week which improved my overall commmitment towards exercise. The pressure to put two Instagram stories pushes me to plan my days better, sleep earlier and get the runs in. i coupled yoga sessions in the morning with BJJ in the nights on MWF, and runs in the morning coupled with workouts in the nights on Tuesday and Thursday. i had to take rest on Sunday, and could only get one BJJ session on Saturday - i need to figure out this rest day conundrum soon. The body craves for sleep on weekends(i put in 3 hour afternoon naps on Saturday & Sunday!), but i’m pretty sure i can push myself.

On the NoFap log - i’m thinking of experimenting with 7 day intervals, as i don’t think the 30-day goals are super effective. i still get in the zone where i’m craving for release and i have to put extra effort in channeling my energy elsewhere. That’s probably the right thing to do, but i need to find a balance. Will update on this in the coming few weeks, this goal had fallen off the priority list recently.

This weekend was restorative, as i focused on JiuJitsu & yoga, sorted out housework, cooked some dinner and talked to friends/family on Saturday. Spent Sunday brainstorming on the product in the long term and planning out the Jira for optimizing our execution in the short term. i had gone for a quick movie(Mortal Kombat) outing on Tuesday night with a couple friends - had fun as we watched some MMA on screen, got chicken wings in the theatre and masala dosa after!

My family is slowly recovering from covid as the whole of India is struggling to keep its sanity in the midst of healthcare infrastructure breakdown. i didn’t dive in too deep in the news, but initial readings made me quite angry at the system. i feel like this is a pivotal point in my thinking about where i want to be spending the latter part of my life - i don’t think i want my children to get education & healthcare in a infrastructure that crumbles under any amount of stress in a crisis. Singapore, USA, Canada, UK are some options - but frankly the Himalayas would be the best option. i guess time will tell :)

Keep hammerin’

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