Tags on Loops

Experiment in Time Tracking

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 14:38:00 -0500

A little while back, I started an experiment. I began tracking my time while working. I record what project I’m working on and the type of activity.

I’m a contractor, so I bill hourly, but that wasn’t the primary reason I began time tracking. I’d been billing my hours just fine with less rigorous tracking for years. Instead, I hoped that doing regular tracking would help me account for how much time I spent in different places. Was one project taking more time than it deserved relative to others? How much time was I in meetings versus heads-down writing code?

And it worked. I did get a better objective view of these questions. And I made some adjustments to improve some of those misalignments. But if that were all I got out of the practice, I probably would have stopped after a few months. Instead, I kept it up because of another benefit I hadn’t expected.

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I was much less likely to check my email or Slack because I had defined my focus.

The second perk came not in examining the data retroactively but when I physically started the next timer. There was a simple power in this moment of being intentional. Because I had to label a block of time with a project and activity, it forced me to be conscious about what I intended to concentrate on for the next little bit. I was not always perfect, but saying, for example, “now I’m working on planning for project X,” did help me follow through. I was much less likely to check my email or Slack because I had defined my focus, and it remained at the top of my mind.

In fact (and maybe you recognize this quicker than I did), I’d backed myself into rediscovering the Pomodoro Technique. I’d previously tried working with pomodoro timers once or twice without getting a lot out of it. During those attempts, I was focused solely on the work intervals and the breaks. Those are both really important, but I think the “decide on the task to be done” piece never truly sunk in. At least for me, at least right now, that’s the final key that’s brought it all together and made it stick.

And yes, it’s also good to ensure I’m not getting sucked into too many meetings.

Sleep

Wed, 01 Dec 2021 10:18:10 -0500

The closest I ever get to feeling like I have a superpower is when I get enough sleep. When this happens, it’s as if my mind suddenly reaches a higher altitude. I realize from this new vantage point how foggy it has been, how dull. With sleep, I’m more functional. I have better insights and get more done.

Jud Brewer talks about curiosity and an expansion mindset versus anxiety and a contraction mindset. This description resonated with me. When rested, I’m open to thinking new thoughts. My mind can drift more and almost feels lighter. But I can also focus on something in a productive way, pushing it forward.

In contrast, when I’m tired, my thoughts are much more closed in. Rather than focusing, I’m more likely to dwell on things, echoing the same thoughts repeatedly without any advancement. It’s harder for new ideas to get my attention, and I’m more resistant to considering alternatives.

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When rested, I’m open to thinking new thoughts. My mind can drift more and almost feels lighter.

I can even feel these differences physically. When tired, my body gets more constricted. I adopt poor posture, which leads to headaches. And headaches certainly do not help me open up a more expansive mindset.

I suspect that none of this is unique to me. I bet most people experience these same benefits. But I also think that a lot of folks delude themselves about how much sleep they need. I know for a small number of people, their bodies truly do require fewer hours a night, but when any actual individual tells me about how four hours a night of sleep is plenty for them, I’m dubious.

All of which makes it that much worse when I say: for many periods over the past year and a half, I’ve often had trouble sleeping well. Again, I don’t think I’m alone in this. If you’re in the same boat, there are plenty of resources out there; you don’t need me to tell you strategies to combat this. Getting exercise and not drinking caffeine too late in the day are a couple of big ones for me, personally. But right now, some of the causes are so much bigger.

I don’t have any magic solutions for you. But I like sleep, and I hope that you do too. I know I feel better when I’m getting it. Over and over, I need to remind myself to stop trying to push through a foggy brain in an attempt to get more done. I’m far better off focusing on getting the rest I need, and good work will follow.

Goal for the Week

Tue, 21 Sep 2021 20:42:12 -0400

It’s easy for a week to come off the rails. Unexpected meetings start filling your calendar; new tasks clog your inbox out of nowhere; a sudden emergency demands your full attention. At the level of specific items, each one of them might be unexpected. But we can be pretty sure in advance that something unknown is going to arise, even if we can’t predict what it will be. Amidst all this, how do we retain some level of focus, some modicum of attention?

One thing that I’ve found invaluable is to define a goal for the week. I’ll do this as part of my routine first thing on Monday morning. The intention isn’t to list everything that I expect to get done in the week. That’s too much, and besides, I know things are going to come up. Instead, I want to define: what’s the key thing for this week. What’s the lynchpin, the item that’s the absolute most important this week. If I’m able to accomplish my goal for the week, it was a good week. Even if nothing else gets done, it’s ok, and if I’m able to get through more of my to-do list, it’s gravy.

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If I’m able to accomplish my goal for the week, it was a good week.

Once I have my goal, I write it down. I want it where I can see it. Then, I want to look at the goal many times during the week and reflect on it. Have I achieved this yet? If not, am I on track to achieve it? If I’m not on course, what do I need to adjust, prioritize, or declare “not happening this week” in order to get my goal done?

I’ll note that on occasion, the fabric of the universe shifts such that I learn mid-week that, for whatever reason, my goal is no longer relevant. If that comes to pass, that’s fine. These things happen. But they don’t happen often. This item was the very most important thing in my world just a few days ago. If my goal goes away too often, I’m going to start getting worried—it’s going to be time to think harder about what’s going wrong.

But most of the time, the most important thing on Monday is only that much more important on Friday. Naming it, writing it down, and regularly reflecting on it has helped keep me focused and better at completing at least this one item a week.

And here’s a little secret to close things out. A week is a handy period, but there’s nothing special about it. Setting a goal for a day, a month, or a quarter is a great idea too.

Weekly Review

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 22:03:32 -0400

Last time I talked about my practice for starting the week off right. I have a mirror event for wrapping up the week: my Weekly Review.

I do this review at the end of the day on Friday. My team has a great practice of getting together and showing off what we’ve built that week, so I make the time right after. The Weekly Review serves several vital purposes: capture, reflection, and shut down.

I start by looking over the week’s notes in my notebook. Are there todos I captured but haven’t yet filed into OmniFocus? Hopefully, this is a “belt and suspenders” type of review, and I don’t need to do anything. But on those crazy weeks, you never know, and I don’t want anything falling through the cracks.

The larger piece is the review. Continuing to look at my notebook—and perhaps back at my calendar—I consider: what happened this week? What kept me busy, and what did I accomplish? And crucially, how well do my accomplishments line up with the goals for the week I defined on Monday? Now is a great time to think about what I can improve about my processes.

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The Weekly Review serves several vital purposes: capture, reflection, and shut down.

I’ll also look over my project list in OmniFocus. Are there important projects I’ve neglected this week? What have I added to my list since Monday? Then projecting forward to the upcoming Monday morning, do I have a sense of what next week’s areas of focus will be?

The final purpose is tied less to specific actions but instead accomplished by this entire ritual. In Deep Work Cal Newport talks about the importance of a “shut down” procedure. It’s a way to tell your brain, we are going through the airlock now. I’ve finished what I’m going to, I’ve captured everything I need, and now I’m done with the workweek. Brain, you can leave that all behind for the next two days. Let’s do family things, friend things, house things, get some rest, and not actively think about work any longer. It’ll be there waiting for us on Monday, and the downtime will help refresh me so that I’m ready to tackle it when we get there.

The Week Ahead

Fri, 03 Sep 2021 12:20:51 -0400

Like many folks, I’ve been working entirely from home for over a year now. Remote working brings many benefits, but one challenge has been establishing a daily and weekly routine. When I was going into the office, the commute there and back performed many secret jobs to bookend my day. Sitting on the train in the morning, I could glance at my calendar and task manager and start to think over my day to come. The ride and walk home gave me time to decompress. It provided a barrier between “work” thoughts and “home” thoughts. On weekends I did not take the train to an office in the morning. It’s almost silly to say that, but it sure made it very obvious that this day was different from the previous five.

Now things are different. I wake up at home; I sit down to work at home; I eat lunch at home; I relax in the evening at home. Maybe you can see a trend here.

I have some history working from home, but in the past, it would be for one, maybe two days a week. Looking back, I can see that it was different. By being out of the ordinary, special days, they adopted their own unique patterns. Unlike office days or weekend days, these were the days where I went over to my desk to work in the morning. Often I’d go to a coffee shop to work for a few hours at some point. I’d have fewer meetings on these days because it was easier to get them in when I was in the office. What’s more, these work-from-home days were almost always on Fridays, so their very presence served to highlight the end of the workweek. Now that I’m working from home every day, no day feels unique or different.

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I realized that I needed to be more thoughtful and conscientious about my routines and structures.

After muddling around like this for a while, I realized that I needed to be more thoughtful and conscientious about my routines and structures. Designating a physical space as my “work zone” helps, but it’s also important to define time markers.

One marker that’s been working well for me is starting Monday mornings by reviewing The Week Ahead. I set aside dedicated time first thing in the morning for this. I’ll look at my calendar to see what meetings I have coming up this week. I’ll review my list of projects: what I’m working on and the next step for each. Most importantly, I’ll think through—and write down—the themes for this week. What is my shortlist of goals I intend to focus on?

These days I’m juggling several different projects at once. It’s easy for unexpected tasks to jump into my lap over the course of the week. Having goals helps me prioritize my known work. It also helps with evaluating surprises. Does this new request support one of my goals? Does it need to wait for a week when it can be a focus? Or is it legitimately more pressing than an item on my list? In that case, I have to be honest and say that item was on my list at the start of the week, but now it will have to be pushed back.

The Week Ahead happens on Mondays, but I’ll also do a mini Day Ahead every morning. What’s on the calendar today? What are my next tasks? How are they supporting my goals? Repeating this every day helps keep it quick—I can often accomplish this casually in a minute or two.

The Week Ahead is just a single tool in an arsenal I’ve been working on. But it’s been a meaningful and successful way to help bring structure to my work week.

Next time I’ll talk about the compliment: closing out the week.