Monthly review: February 2015
Posted: - Modified: | monthly, review- Preparing for some projects: Done!
- Hosting another Emacs Hangout: Done!
- Learning more about Helm (in Emacs): Customized!
What a month for cooking, drawing, writing, sewing, and tweaking Emacs. Somehow I managed to make more progress on personal projects and do lots of consulting.
Time
Category | Last month (%) | This month (%) | Avg h per week | Delta |
---|---|---|---|---|
Business – Earn | 4.1 | 7.8 | 13 | 3.7 |
Unpaid work | 8.5 | 9.9 | 17 | 1.4 |
Discretionary – Productive | 11.9 | 12.6 | 21 | 0.7 |
Discretionary – Social | 0.5 | 1.2 | 2 | 0.7 |
Discretionary – Family | 4.4 | 5.1 | 9 | 0.7 |
Sleep | 35.3 | 35.3 | 59 | 0.0 |
Personal | 15.1 | 14.7 | 25 | -0.4 |
Discretionary – Play | 3.8 | 2.8 | 5 | -1.0 |
Business – Connect | 5.4 | 2.8 | 5 | -2.6 |
Business – Build | 11.1 | 7.8 | 13 | -3.3 |
As an experiment, I tried treating consulting as a "dessert" task to encourage me to work on my personal projects. I also stayed late at the office when I happened to have evening get-togethers scheduled downtown. I made decent progress on my other projects, I got more consulting in, and my clients were happy for the help. Still, my personal projects and interests are starting to be more motivating for me, so I think I might be able to rely on their intrinsic motivation soon. =)
This month, I spent some time thinking about clothes, shopping, sewing, and how I can make this experience better. It was a little stressful trying to find clothes for a family event (I ended up going in my office clothes), so I've resolved to try:
- shopping more frequently
- giving myself permission to spend more money
- investing in learning how to sew
So far, so good. I've found a simple pattern for tops and am working on filling my wardrobe with them. Some people like variety. I think I get a kick out of consistency.
I've been cooking a lot too, yay!
I expect next month to focus even more on personal projects. I'd like to:
- finish a few more tops in this season's colours
- bake a few pies for Pi Day
- work on a few personal projects
Blog posts
- Sketched Books
- Drawing
- Emacs
- Using Emacs to prepare files for external applications like Autodesk Sketchbook Pro
- Learn how to take notes more efficiently in Org Mode
- Emacs: Peer-to-peer coaching is easier when you use impatient-mode to share your buffer
- Org Mode: Reusing the date from file-datetree-prompt
- Continuous integration and code coverage for Emacs packages with Travis and Coveralls
- Getting started with Emacs? Empty your cup
- Digital index piles with Emacs: Rapid categorization of Org Mode items
- Let's have a virtual Emacs conference in August – help me make it happen!
- Learning
- Writing
- Tech
- Experiment
- Life
- Review
Sketches
- Happiness
- Pace
- 2015-02-12g Community and divergence -- index card #pace #niche -- ref 2015-02-12f
- 2015-02-12f Is what I can contribute through slowness more useful or interesting than what I can contribute through speed -- index card #pace -- ref 2014-02-12e
- 2015-02-12e When do I savour slowness -- index card #pace #leisure -- ref 2015-02-11e
- Philosophy
- Productivity
- Sewing
- 2015-02-25b What's next for sewing -- index card #sewing
- 2015-02-24d Improving my sewing experience -- index card #sewing
- 2015-02-24a New pattern, or several of one -- index card #sewing
- 2015-02-11c What were the friction factors for sewing last time, and how can I improve -- index card #sewing #kaizen #reducing-friction
- Cooking
- Tech
- 2015-02-24c Update on phone decision -- index card #tech #decision
- 2015-02-21a Plan for replacement phone -- index card #tech #phone
- 2015-02-20c Hmm, phone seems to be limping along -- index card #phone #tech
- 2015-02-20b Flagship phone features -- index card #phone #tech #decision
- 2015-02-20a Flagship or midrange or budget -- index card #phone #tech
- 2015-02-19b Phone battery -- index card #phone #tech
- 2015-02-13d Setting up a fake NTP server for testing time -- index card #sysad #ntp #tech
- 2015-02-13c What did I learn from Google Helpouts -- index card #experience #helpouts
- 2015-02-09 Capturing Org Mode notes more efficiently -- index card #emacs #org #capture #refile
- Clothing
- 2015-02-16a How can I play the long game when it comes to stuff -- index card #clothing #maintenance
- 2015-02-14d What colour combinations do I like -- index card #clothing #colour #wardrobe
- 2015-02-14c Ideal for things to wear -- index card #clothing #wardrobe
- 2015-02-11d Do I want to invest in clothes or in sewing -- index card #sewing #clothing -- ref 2015-02-10
- 2015-02-10e Shop or sew -- index card #clothing #sewing #shopping
- 2015-02-10d Things I would like to sort out clothes-wise -- index card #clothing
- 2015-02-07 Alternative shopping experiences -- index card #clothing #shopping
- 2015-02-07 Alternative shopping experiences -- index card #clothing #shopping
- Writing
- Connecting
- 2015-02-11b How can I help friends who are struggling with work -- index card #friendship #unemployment #freelancing #connecting
- 2015-02-06 How can I brainstorm and organize questions in order to speed up my writing and drawing -- index card #thinking #questions #pkm #acceleration
- 2015-02-06 How can I brainstorm and organize questions in order to speed up my writing and drawing -- index card #thinking #questions #pkm #acceleration
- 2015-02-05 Biscotti -- index card #cooking #baking
- Life
- 2015-02-17b What kind of interesting people do I want to have more of in my life -- index card #connecting
- 2015-02-08 Planning my opportunity fund for clothes -- index card #shopping #clothing
- 2015-02-08 Planning my opportunity fund for clothes -- index card #shopping #clothing
- 2015-02-07 Alternative shopping experiences -- index card #clothing #shopping
- 2015-02-05 Biscotti -- index card #cooking #baking
- 2015-02-04 Digital index cards are working well -- index card #drawing #digital
- Drawing
- 2015-02-20d Tips from my digital workflow -- index card #drawing #process #digital
- 2015-02-10 Evolution of my index card workflow -- index card #drawing #workflow
- 2015-02-09 Capturing Org Mode notes more efficiently -- index card #emacs #org #capture #refile
- 2015-02-08 Planning my opportunity fund for clothes -- index card #shopping #clothing
- 2015-02-06 How can I brainstorm and organize questions in order to speed up my writing and drawing -- index card #thinking #questions #pkm #acceleration
- 2015-02-06 How can I brainstorm and organize questions in order to speed up my writing and drawing -- index card #thinking #questions #pkm #acceleration
- 2015-02-04 Digital index cards are working well -- index card #drawing #digital
- Planning
- Sharing
- 2015-02-24b Exploring idiosyncratic questions -- index card #questions #sharing
- 2015-02-09 Capturing Org Mode notes more efficiently -- index card #emacs #org #capture #refile
- 2015-02-09 Capturing Org Mode notes more efficiently -- index card #emacs #org #capture #refile
- 2015-02-06 How can I brainstorm and organize questions in order to speed up my writing and drawing -- index card #thinking #questions #pkm #acceleration
- 2015-02-03 Benefits of sharing my index cards -- index card #sharing #drawing
- 2015-02-03 Benefits of sharing my index cards -- index card #sharing #drawing
- Experiment
- 2015-02-13e Turning money into other things -- index card #finance #decision #money
- 2015-02-12d What are the roots of my difficulties delegating -- index card #delegation
- 2015-02-12b What do I want from Thursday evenings -- index card #consulting #experiment #leisure #evening #relax -- ref 2015-02-05
- 2015-02-11a How do I recognize, work around, or make the most of my impostor syndrome -- index card #impostor #self-doubt
- 2015-02-05 Biscotti -- index card #cooking #baking
- 2015-02-05 Biscotti -- index card #cooking #baking
- 2015-02-03 Benefits of sharing my index cards -- index card #sharing #drawing
- 2015-02-02 Core areas -- index card #life #priorities #values #goals
- 2015-02-02 Core areas -- index card #life #priorities #values #goals
- PKM
- 2015-02-06 How can I brainstorm and organize questions in order to speed up my writing and drawing -- index card #thinking #questions #pkm #acceleration
- 2015-02-05 Biscotti -- index card #cooking #baking
- 2015-02-03 Benefits of sharing my index cards -- index card #sharing #drawing
- 2015-02-03 Benefits of sharing my index cards -- index card #sharing #drawing
- 2015-02-02 Core areas -- index card #life #priorities #values #goals
- 2015-02-01 Accelerating my learning -- index card #learning #accelerating
- 2015-02-01 Accelerating my learning -- index card #learning #accelerating
- Emacs
- 2015-02-13b What are the benefits of watching someone code an idea in Emacs Lisp -- index card #coaching #emacs #teaching #emacs-lisp
- 2015-02-09 Capturing Org Mode notes more efficiently -- index card #emacs #org #capture #refile
- 2015-02-09 Capturing Org Mode notes more efficiently -- index card #emacs #org #capture #refile
- 2015-02-06 How can I brainstorm and organize questions in order to speed up my writing and drawing -- index card #thinking #questions #pkm #acceleration
- 2015-02-04 Digital index cards are working well -- index card #drawing #digital
- 2015-02-04 Digital index cards are working well -- index card #drawing #digital
- 2015-02-03 Benefits of sharing my index cards -- index card #sharing #drawing
- 2015-02-02 Core areas -- index card #life #priorities #values #goals
- 2015-02-02 Core areas -- index card #life #priorities #values #goals
- 2015-02-01 Accelerating my learning -- index card #learning #accelerating
- Learning
- 2015-02-16c Thinking, learning, doing, sharing, and reviewing -- index card #thinking #balance #learning #sharing #reviewing #doing -- ref 2015-02-16b
- 2015-02-16b Finding a good mix of thinking, learning, and doing -- index card #balance #thinking #learning #doing
- 2015-02-13a How does experience change what you get out of manuals -- index card #learning #coaching #teaching #reading
- 2015-02-06 How can I brainstorm and organize questions in order to speed up my writing and drawing -- index card #thinking #questions #pkm #acceleration
- 2015-02-06 How can I brainstorm and organize questions in order to speed up my writing and drawing -- index card #thinking #questions #pkm #acceleration
- 2015-02-04 Digital index cards are working well -- index card #drawing #digital
- 2015-02-03 Benefits of sharing my index cards -- index card #sharing #drawing
- 2015-02-01 Accelerating my learning -- index card #learning #accelerating
- Review
- Journal
- 2015-02-28a Saturday -- index card #journal
- 2015-02-27a Friday -- index card #journal
- 2015-02-26a Thursday -- index card #journal
- 2015-02-25a Wednesday -- index card #journal
- 2015-02-24e Tuesday -- index card #journal
- 2015-02-23a Monday -- index card #journal
- 2015-02-22a Sunday -- index card #journal
- 2015-02-21b Saturday -- index card #journal
- 2015-02-20e Friday -- index card #journal
- 2015-02-19a Thursday -- index card #journal
- 2015-02-18a Wednesday -- index card #journal
- 2015-02-17a Tuesday -- index card #journal
- 2015-02-16d Monday -- index card #journal
- 2015-02-15a Sunday -- index card #journal
- 2015-02-14b Saturday - relax, tidy, connect -- index card #journal
- 2015-02-13f Friday -- index card #journal
- 2015-02-12a Thursday -- index card #journal
- 2015-02-11f Wednesday -- index card #journal
- 2015-02-10f Tuesday -- index card #journal
- 2015-02-09 Capturing Org Mode notes more efficiently -- index card #emacs #org #capture #refile
- 2015-02-08 Planning my opportunity fund for clothes -- index card #shopping #clothing
- 2015-02-07 Alternative shopping experiences -- index card #clothing #shopping
- 2015-02-06 How can I brainstorm and organize questions in order to speed up my writing and drawing -- index card #thinking #questions #pkm #acceleration