Sacha Chua - category - visual https://sachachua.com/blog/category/visual/feed/index.xml Emacs, sketches, and life Sat, 11 Apr 2026 14:13:19 GMT en-US daily 1 11ty Creating sustainable futures in unsustainable times: Bicycles, justice, and resistance - Sabat Ismail, Cyprine Odada, Deepti Adlakha, Rachel Wang https://sachachua.com/blog/2025/05/creating-sustainable-futures-in-unsustainable-times-bicycles-justice-and-resistance-sabat-ismail-cyprine-odada-deepti-adlakha-rachel-wang/ Thu, 22 May 2025 14:51:16 GMT sketchnotes biking life https://sachachua.com/blog/2025/05/creating-sustainable-futures-in-unsustainable-times-bicycles-justice-and-resistance-sabat-ismail-cyprine-odada-deepti-adlakha-rachel-wang/

[2025-05-29 Thu]: Updated links for Cyprine Odada and Rachel Wang.

W- has been volunteering for Bike Brigade for a number of months now. A+ and I occasionally tag along. It's encouraging to be part of this initiative to deliver groceries and other essentials to people who need help. One of the organizers spoke at this panel discussion about bicycles and social justice organized by York University.

Session description

Bicycles hold immense potential for addressing today’s pressing social and climate justice challenges. However, coordinating and sustaining grassroots cycling movements remains difficult, especially as global development aid for climate action and broader humanitarian work rapidly declines. Indeed, we are living in a moment of profound global injustice, where imperialism, colonial violence, and systemic oppression dictate whose struggles and resistances are recognized. In this context, grassroots organizing and local self-determination have become more pressing than ever. This webinar explores how bicycling serves as a tool for justice, sustainability, and collective resistance. Indeed, we see bicycling/mobility justice in responding to uncertain global contexts, including a rise in right-wing fascist governments, climate change and its unequal effects on vulnerable communities, and an escalation on anti-immigrant policies and sentiments. Those most affected – racialized, Indigenous, low-income, and gender-diverse communities – are leading powerful mobility justice movements. They are reclaiming space, resisting exclusion, and challenging systemic inequalities through cycling activism. Speakers will share insights from different regions, highlighting how bicycles are more than transportation – they are a means of survival, self-determination, and community care. This conversation will thus bring together activists, researchers, and practitioners striving to make transportation more accessible and equitable.

Panelists:

  • Dr. Deepti Adlakha (Associate Professor, Delft University of Technology)
  • Sabat Ismail (urban planner, multi-disciplinary artist, and writer)
  • Cyprine Odada (urban planner, cycling advocate, Founder of Women Shaping Cities)
  • Rachel Wang (Founding Executive Director, The Bike Brigade – Toronto; environmental practitioner and community organizer)

Here are the notes I took:

2025-05-21-03 Creating sustainable futures in unsustainable times: Bicycles, justice, and resistance - Sabat Ismail, Cyprine Odada, Deepti Adiakha, Rachel Wang -- biking justice community
2025-05-21-03 Creating sustainable futures in unsustainable times: Bicycles, justice, and resistance - Sabat Ismail, Cyprine Odada, Deepti Adiakha, Rachel Wang -- biking justice community

Text and links from sketch

Creating sustainable futures in unsustainable times: Bicycles, justice, & resistance

  • Sabat Ismail: urban planner
    • Mid to late 2010s: books on cycling, inequality, gentrification
    • Couriers in Toronto, Albert Koehl (2024)
    • Food delivery couriers - Do Lee
    • Migrant farm workers
    • Girls on Bikes
    • Gaza Sunbirds
    • Gaps in conversation, data: race, gender (incl. trans/queer) - not just commuters
    • Disability access: CultureLink, Trailblazers
    • Bike hubs
    • Equity lens
  • Cyprine Odada: urban planner, Critical Mass Nairobi
    • The goal is to get people back on bicycles.
    • I started noticing inequalities.
    • We needed to diversify our cycling experiences.
    • Nairobi bike train: Commute to work
    • Children: Bigger impact than main ride
    • Kenya Cycling Women
    • Need for Speed
    • Cycling marketplace
    • CSR
    • New:
      • ride buddy
      • city bike tours
    • Access: pairing, tandems, training
    • Teen mobility & pregnancy in rural
    • Equity: give voice to marginalized, package for the city
  • Deepti Adlakha: assoc. professor, Delft University of Technology
    • Extreme heat & lack of shade
    • Active transport… has to be built into city priorities.
    • 8 Ds: local urban design principles
    • healthysustainablecities.org
    • societies, environment, people, systems
    • Score cards
    • commuting vs. trip chaining
    • connecting the dots, looking at mobility through a justice lens
    • Academic institutions can take a bigger role: research, data, evidence
    • Building accessibility into infrastructure (ex: storage)
    • Rural: Linking to transport
    • Equity: Require assessment, weighted scoring
  • Rachel Wang: founding exec. director, Bike Brigade
    • Before pandemic: 1 in 5 households were food insecure; many >1km from food
    • Food banks shifted to home delivery (no gathering in lines)
    • 40+ mutual aid groups
    • Beautiful stories of how people get involved: starting w/ deliveries, becoming community organizers
    • Equity: Allies are important - strategic messengers
  • Lyndsay Hayhurst, Jess Nachman
    • Bicycles are powerful tools for justice.

https://sachachua.com/2025-05-21-03

Feel free to share or remix this under the Creative Commons Attribution License.

I like that so many people are thinking about this from different perspectives around the world: from the ground up with the experiences of people who are out there, to groups like Critical Mass Nairobi and Bike Brigade where people can work together to make things better, to academics and urban planners who can think about how systems are designed.

We probably lean more towards the very small scale end of things, for now: whatever little deliveries we can squeeze into our schedule. A+ is particularly proud of putting things in her own basket and also hauling a full bag of groceries once we get to the recipient's building. Who knows, maybe we'll find ourselves moving along that pipeline from volunteer grocery deliveries to community organizing…

Anyway, I don't know if a recording will get posted, but if I come across one, I'll update this.

You can comment on Mastodon, view 2 comments, or e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.

]]> Visual book notes: ADHD is Awesome - Penn and Kim Holderness (2024) https://sachachua.com/blog/2025/03/visual-book-notes-adhd-is-awesome/ Fri, 21 Mar 2025 14:19:20 GMT visual-book-notes https://sachachua.com/blog/2025/03/visual-book-notes-adhd-is-awesome/

2025-03-20-01 ADHD is Awesome #visual-book-notes #adhd
2025-03-20-01 ADHD is Awesome #visual-book-notes #adhd
(Feel free to use or share this under the Creative Commons Attribution license!)

Text and links from sketch

ADHD is Awesome - Penn and Kim Holderness (2024) sachachua.com/2025-03-20-01

Notes:

  • Ch 1: ADHD 101
  • Ch 2: Diagnosis
  • Ch 3: Inside the ADHD brain
    • all-in or completely off
    • dopamine
    • Great at paying attention, terrible at choosing what pay attention to
  • Ch 4: The ADHD experience
    • checklist
    • reorder if needed
    • immediate; set a time to discuss long-term
  • Ch 5: The emotional side of ADHD
    • full-body experiences
    • overwhelmed: flooded
      • don't want to flip out
  • Ch 6: You're going to be okay
    • Benefits: Creativity, hyperfocus, bold vision, intuition, determination
    • Downsides (manageable!): Inattention, impulsivity, hyperactivity
  • Ch 7: Facing your ADHD
    • Strategies to stay regulated
  • Ch 8: Operation Mindset Shift
    • This is the brain I've got. I can work with it. Maybe it's actually cool.
    • Impulsive -> Creative
    • Distractible -> Curious
    • Noncompliant -> Independent Thinker
  • Ch 9: The ADHD upsides for you
    • chocolate + peanut butter
    • hyperfocus
    • designing your own life
  • Ch 10: The ADHD Upsides for others
  • Ch 11: The Right Stuff
    • Meds help 80-90% of kids, 70% of adults.
    • Behavioral therapy helps too.
    • solve upstream problems
    • carrots, not sticks
  • Ch 12: Charge your battery
    • exercise, sleep, nutrition, connection, medication, meditation (try eyes open)
  • Ch 13: Master your daily routine
    • stash extras
    • 15-min reset
    • cargo pants/clothes
    • songs
    • follow the food
  • Ch 14: Control your environment
    • secure the perimeter from distractions
    • edit your space
    • get comfy
    • right-size stimulation
    • use visual stimulation
  • Ch 15: Get it done
    • meaning
    • checklist
    • breaks, timers
    • reward yourself
    • when it's hard, acknowledge and ask for help
  • Ch 16: How to be an ADHD whisperer
    • connect, don't correct
  • Ch 17: Parents and caretakers
    • Strengths-based
    • slow down, reduce demands
    • parent-training class
  • Ch 18: Taking care of caretakers
    • ADHD: explanation, not excuse
    • useful scripts
  • Ch 19: Listening
    • mine for gold
    • gamify

ADHD is Awesome (2024) by Penn and Kim Holderness is a practical, positive, easy-to-read book on living with ADHD.

I find ADHD-oriented tips useful. My brain is prone to misplacing things, going off on tangents, and having attentional hiccups. Organizing my life around following my interests and minimizing commitments helps me increase happiness and reduce stress. Sketchnotes help me focus on what I'm learning and provide visual stimulation in my notes, making them more fun for me to review and share. I don't stock extras of things in a cabinet, but I do keep an Oops fund so I don't have to beat myself up over mistakes that cost a little money. I don't wear cargo pants, but I do wear vests with lots of pockets, a habit I picked up from my dad. I'm still working on developing that 15-minute reset habit, and on seeing and doing something about clutter.

As for the kiddo, there's no getting A+ to do things she's not interested in, and there's no holding her back if she's focused on something. Tips for parenting kids with ADHD also seem to work well for her: breaks, timers, taking advantage of hyperfocus, avoiding shame. My job is to:

  • Practise connecting instead of correcting: Fretting at her doesn't accomplish anything. We work better when we feel connected.
  • Explore and model things that work for me: I can show her how I use sketchnotes, checklists, timers, breaks, curiosity, learning, experimentation, self-compassion… Also, taking care of my sleep/exercise/happiness makes it easier to be the kind of parent I want to be.
  • Help her learn how to figure things out for herself: I can help her navigate systems that aren't designed for her (like school) and figure out things that would work better for her.
  • Frame things positively: Finding positive ways to frame our quirks can help with both self-image and other people's perceptions (chapter 4). Focusing on our strengths works better than beating ourselves up for our weaknesses. We still want to work around our weaknesses so they don't limit us, but might be able to use our strengths to do that.

The Hypercuriosity Theory of ADHD (and the paper) is also a good read that's somewhat related.

See related Mastodon discussion

You can comment on Mastodon or e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.

]]> Tiny Habits: The Small Changes that Change Everything - BJ Fogg, PhD (2020) https://sachachua.com/blog/2024/11/tiny-habits-the-small-changes-that-change-everything-bj-fogg-phd-2020/ Tue, 12 Nov 2024 15:10:52 GMT visual-book-notes productivity https://sachachua.com/blog/2024/11/tiny-habits-the-small-changes-that-change-everything-bj-fogg-phd-2020/

2024-11-11-07 Tiny Habits: The Small Changes that Change Everything - BJ Fogg, PhD - 2020 #visual-book-notes #book #habits #productivity
2024-11-11-07 Tiny Habits: The Small Changes that Change Everything - BJ Fogg, PhD - 2020 #visual-book-notes #book #habits #productivity

Text from sketch

Tiny Habits - BJ Fogg, PhD (2020) - Notes by Sacha Chua 2024-11-11-07

  1. Help people do what they already want to do
  2. Help people feel successful.

Motivation + Ability + Prompt = Behavior

  • Motivation: Motivation-ability curve: gets done, doesn't get done, start small, easy to do
    • Motivation is unreliable:
      • Complex
      • Wavy
      • Fluctuates
      • → Abstract X
  • Ability: Person: increase skills; Action: reduce size; Context: get tools & resources
  • Prompt: No behavior happens without a prompt
    • Person prompt: unreliable
    • Context prompts: sticky checklists, timers, notes, …
    • Action prompt: something you already do
  • Keep the habit alive.
  • Starter step
  • Where can it fit? Match: Location, frequency, theme
  • What is making this hard to do?
    • Time
    • Money
    • Physical effort
    • Mental effort
    • Routine
  • Skills of change
    • Behavior crafting
    • Self-insight
    • Process: growing
    • Context: redesign
    • Mindset: new identity
  • Habits grow or multiply
  • I change best by feeling good.
  • Untangling knots: positive new habits, then stop easiest old ones
  • Anchor, Behavior, Celebration
    • Anchor:
      • Trailing edge
      • Meanwhile
      • Pearl Habits: transform irritants
    • Behavior:
      • Specific behaviors towards aspirations
      • Impact, motivation
      • Small
    • Celebration:
      • Immediate positive reinforcement
      • Emotions create habits
      • Celebration is a skill: being nice to yourself
      • Shine
      • Rehearse & celebrate
      • Celebration opportunities
        • Remembering
        • During
        • After

I picked up Tiny Habits: The Small Changes that Change Everything (BJ Fogg, PhD - 2020) after reading Atomic Habits (James Clear, 2022).

I like Tiny Habits's emphasis on celebration and cultivating that feeling of shine, which is something I've been thinking about lately because of parenting. It is much easier to help A+ grow when she's feeling good. In fact, it's nearly impossible to get through to her when she feels grumpy or stressed. Part of my job as a parent is to manage myself so that I can co-regulate when she's off-balance, help her improve her abilities, co-design prompts based on environment and actions, and celebrate with her.

I also want to spend some time thinking about pearl habits. There are some things that irritate me, like when A+ is bored in virtual class and wants me to interact with her when I want to focus on something else. I want to turn those moments into more positive things. She's looking for connection and stimulation. I'm also looking for stimulation and the satisfaction of getting something done, but it's not as important as parenting in that moment. I wonder how I can rewire this part of our day.

Related:

You can e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.

]]> How to Take Smart Notes - Sonke Ahrens (2017) https://sachachua.com/blog/2024/10/how-to-take-smart-notes-sonke-ahrens-2017/ Mon, 28 Oct 2024 18:42:19 GMT visual-book-notes writing pkm productivity learning https://sachachua.com/blog/2024/10/how-to-take-smart-notes-sonke-ahrens-2017/ I want to get better at making sense of things and sharing what I'm learning. Nudged by Chris Maiorana's post on Second Brain, Second Nature, I borrowed How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens (2017). Here are my notes.

2024-10-26-01 How to Take Smart Notes - Sonke Ahrens 2017 #visual-book-notes #writing #pkm #book
2024-10-26-01 How to Take Smart Notes - Sonke Ahrens 2017 #visual-book-notes #writing #pkm #book

Text from sketch

How to Take Smart Notes - Sönke Ahrens. 2017 - sketched by Sacha Chua 2024-10-26-01

  • Niklas Luhmann: everything - writing; slipbox, Zettelkasten
  • Instead of: brainstorm (blank paper), then research (wrong topic? wrong understanding?), then write
  • Try a loop of:
    • Read with a pen in hand: short notes, your own understanding
    • Refine and connect your notes: elaborate.
    • Notice clusters
    • Develop into topics, write about them
    • reading ⇒ thinking ⇒writing
  • Types of notes
    • Fleeting: try to review within a day
    • Permanent: complete sentences, makes sense at a glance
    • Literature: short; use own words
    • Project: can be archived after
  • Work on multiple projects so you can switch between them and they can feed each other.
  • Things to think about.
    • Why is this interesting?
    • Why is this relevant?
    • How does this relate to other things?
    • What's not mentioned?
  • Numbering, physical references: let ideas mingle
    • 22, 22a, 22a1, 22b, 23, …
  • Retrieval cues
  • Saving cut pieces = easier editing
  • Verbund: by-products = resources
  • Writing → break it up!
    • reading, understanding, reflecting, getting ideas, connecting, distinguishing, rewording, structuring, organizing, editing, rewriting
  • Positive feedback loop: reading with pen, writing permanent notes, writing arguments…

The book goes into detail about Niklas Luhmann's Zettelkasten or slipbox system. Lots of people have written about Zettelkasten and various implementations. There's even a whole micro-industry around Notion templates. So I won't spend a lot of time right now describing what it is or what the key aspects are. I can focus instead on what that means to me and what I want to do with it.

Writing

By doing everything with the clear purpose of writing about it, you will do what you do deliberately.

I like chapter 5's focus on keeping writing in mind. I want to push most things towards writing and drawing (posts, code, whatever; public as much as possible) because it's a good way for me to remember and to learn from others. It's a reminder to not try speeding through my to-do list; it's good to slow down and write about stuff.

Following the work

I only do what is easy. I only write when I immediately know how to do it. If I falter for a moment, I put the matter aside and do something else.

I always work on different manuscripts at the same time. With this method, to work on different things simultaneously, I never encounter any mental blockages.

During my discretionary time, I usually follow the butterflies of my interest: working on what I feel like working on, moving on to something else when I get stuck. Sometimes I will work on something I have to do because it's got to be done, but those moments are rarer. Amidst all those productivity books that exhort you to focus on a limited number of things, it was nice to know that Luhmann also jumped from interest to interest, that the process of accumulating these notes builds things up into clusters with critical mass, and that these good habits build themselves up through positive feedback loops.

Different types of notes

I do all right capturing fleeting notes on my phone, but I want to get better at turning my fleeting notes into literature notes and permanent notes. I'd like to review them more frequently and spend some more time fleshing them out, with the goal of eventually turning more of those things into blog posts and code that I can share as I learn out loud.

I also don't really have a good way of putting topics "near" other topics yet. Categories are a little coarse, but maybe topic maps are a good starting point. It would be nice to have a quick way to put something before/after something else, though.

Different types of tasks

Writing a paper involves much more than just typing on the keyboard. It also means reading, understanding, reflecting, getting ideas, making connections, distinguishing terms, finding the right words, structuring, organizing, editing, correcting and rewriting.

I wonder if making these distinctions between the subtasks of writing will make it easier for me to break writing down into tiny tasks that can be completed and gotten out of my brain.

Thinking about connections, thinking about what's missing

I want to get better at connecting ideas to other things I've thought about by linking to blog posts or notes. That might also help me build up thoughts out of smaller chunks, which would be helpful when it comes to working with fragmented thoughts.

Thinking about what's not in the picture is hard, and that kind of critical thinking is something I want to practise more. I can pay attention to the follow-up questions I have so that I can get a sense of where to look for more insights or what to experiment with. Questioning the way something is framed is also good and something I don't do often enough.

For example, I wanted to dig into this quote:

Luhmann’s only real help was a housekeeper who cooked for him and his children during the week, not that extraordinary considering he had to raise three children on his own after his wife died early.

I ended up doing a tiny bit of research on my phone and putting it into Niklas Luhmann's Zettelkasten and life with kids (the kids were in their teens at the time, so they were probably a lot more independent than A+ is at the moment).

Related

You can e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.

]]> Visual book notes: Atomic Habits https://sachachua.com/blog/2024/10/2024-10-21-05-atomic-habits-visual-book-notes-productivity-personal-development/ Tue, 22 Oct 2024 12:03:51 GMT visual-book-notes productivity https://sachachua.com/blog/2024/10/2024-10-21-05-atomic-habits-visual-book-notes-productivity-personal-development/

2024-10-21-05 Atomic Habits #visual-book-notes #productivity #personal-development
2024-10-21-05 Atomic Habits #visual-book-notes #productivity #personal-development

Text from sketch

Atomic Habits - James Clear (2022) - Notes by Sacha Chua 2024-10-21-05

  • time vs results: valley of disappointment: (we expect linear progress)
  • Achieving a Goal only changes your life for the moment.
  • In order to improve for good, solve problems at the system level.
  • Fall in love with process rather than product.
  • Not "what do you want to achieve?", who do you want to become?
    • prove it with small wins
      • habits
  • Problem phase
    • Cue: Make it obvious.
      • point & call: raise level of awareness
      • common cues: time, location, other habits
      • Manage your environment
    • Craving: Make it attractive.
      • Temptation bundling
        • anticipation, dopamine, action
      • Social groups
      • Reframe
  • Solution phase
    • Response: Make it easy.
      • Make it easier to do the right things
      • Motion != action
      • Repetitions, automaticity: habit line
      • Make your habits so easy that you'll do them even when you don't feel like it
      • 2 minutes
    • Reward: Make it satisfying.
      • Immediate
      • Visuals: paper clip strategy, tracker
  • Habits can be easier to change in a new environment. (old cues gone)
  • You have to fall in love with boredom
  • Habit stacking
  • My take aways:
    • Processes, not products
    • Analyze & redesign:
      • habits I have
      • habits I want
    • be thoughtful about helping the kiddo learn

In my life

Habits I'm tinkering with:

  • Tidying and listening: When the kiddo watches videos in the afternoon, I'll get dinner started (unless W- has taken care of it already), and then I'll listen to a podcast while tidying.
  • Reading: It turns out I can export my highlights from Libby, even from a returned book. That means I can do a little reading at night or when I have a spare moment on my phone, then look at the highlights when doing a sketchnote. This makes it easier and allows me to feel like I can squeeze it in whenever..
  • Shuffling my to-do list: I'm experimenting with shuffling my unscheduled tasks to add some variable rewards to my someday/maybe list, increasing its attractiveness.

I like the focus on process rather than product. I was briefly enamoured with Big Hairy Audacious Goals but it turned out that wasn't really that motivating for me. These days, I'm more curious about enjoying life, making sense of things, and making incremental improvements to my processes.

I don't quite agree with the thought that you have to fall in love with boredom. I think part of continuous improvement is being able to find more things to be curious about, even with the basics, and to enjoy your progress and consistency. Maybe "fall in love with boredom" isn't quite the right wording for me. I think the author meant that you've got to be able to keep doing the routine stuff, which makes sense, but I hope I can still occasionally find interesting things in it. My brain probably just doesn't like the idea of boredom very much and has a bit of a visceral reaction to the word.

I am also iffy about streaks (they're not that motivating for me), commitment contracts and punishment (definitely not the way my brain likes to work), and never missing twice. My approach of being curious and gentle with myself might be suboptimal, but that's okay with me.

Parenting

When it comes to parenting and helping the kiddo learn habits, the approach I'm gradually coming to feels a little different from the bonus chapter he posted on his website.

I like explicitly talking about figuring out how to work with our particular brains and bodies, including habit mechanisms and dopamine. The kiddo is eight and quite capable of co-experimenting. She likes to alternate homework with snuggles, Minecraft, or Youtube videos. Sometimes I feel a little twitchy about alternating, like, two minutes of homework with twenty minutes of videos, but she's managed to get all her work done so far.

That also means I talk about how I'm figuring out my brain. When I forget something, I talk about how I'm going to change the cues for it so that I remember.

I want to develop intrinsic motivation and pride more than using praise, since I don't want her to rely too much on other people's evaluation of her. I try to focus my verbal feedback on enthusiastically observing what she's doing and how she's feeling. ("You worked on your homework and got that part done, and it's not even 9 AM! Does that feel so satisfying?") Now she occasionally talks about wanting to do certain things (ex: walk home instead of riding in my cargo bike) because of the satisfaction she'll feel, so I think it's working.

Identity and pride are helpful for habit formation, but it can be easy to develop a fixed mindset ("I'm smart") instead of a growth mindset. It's also easy to focus on results that might not always be within her control. I want to focus her attention more on what she does and how she does it. It's like not focusing on "being a good student" or "getting good grades", but on figuring out how to work with her brain. Assigments and grades are part of the feedback mechanism, but they're not the most important thing.

Links:

You can e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.

]]> Visual book notes: Influence is Your Superpower - Zoe Chance (2022) https://sachachua.com/blog/2022/08/visual-book-notes-influence-is-your-superpower/ Wed, 17 Aug 2022 14:16:20 GMT visual-book-notes parenting https://sachachua.com/blog/2022/08/visual-book-notes-influence-is-your-superpower/ It was interesting to read Zoe Chance's book Influence is Your Superpower (2022) with a focus on influencing A-, who is 6 years old and definitely more reachable via her Gator brain than her Judge brain. Shining is easier because I have to connect with just one person who really wants to connect with me. Creating space with the "No" challenge is a little tougher, since she's pretty wise to the way I try to soften nos. ("You always say later!") But I'm definitely going to try to practise doing aikido with her mind, accepting her resistance and exploring it with questions. I can work on using my relaxed voice most of the time, especially since she's sensitive to my tone. I also like the tip about using the Zeigarnik effect to invite her curiosity and get her to ask, maybe by using things like "I might know something that could help. Would you like to hear about it?" instead of jumping in with advice. Paying attention to how we frame things (monumental, manageable, mysterious?) and challenging ourselves to do bigger and better might be fun, too. She's old enough that I might even be able to ask her, "What would it take?" I'm sure she'll pick up that behaviour quickly and ask me that when she wants something, so I'd better be prepared for that!

2022-08-16-01 Influence is Your Superpower - Zoe Chance 2022 #visual-book-notes #psychology #influence
2022-08-16-01 Influence is Your Superpower - Zoe Chance 2022 #visual-book-notes #psychology #influence

You can e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.

]]> Visual Book Notes: Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals - Oliver Burkeman (2021) https://sachachua.com/blog/2022/08/visual-book-notes-four-thousand-weeks-time-management-for-mortals-oliver-burkeman-2021/ Fri, 05 Aug 2022 14:26:59 GMT visual-book-notes parenting experiment https://sachachua.com/blog/2022/08/visual-book-notes-four-thousand-weeks-time-management-for-mortals-oliver-burkeman-2021/

2022-08-03-01 Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals - Oliver Burkeman 2021 #visual-book-notes #philosophy #time-management #life.png
2022-08-03-01 Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals - Oliver Burkeman 2021 #visual-book-notes #philosophy #time-management #life.png

I liked Oliver Burkeman's 2021 book Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. It covered many of the things I've been working learning on for the past 10 years on this experiment with semi-retirement and parenting. Learning to sit with anxieties and uncertainties, accepting my limits and working with them, being here now… These are the lessons I find myself practising every day.

Some things have gotten easier. I've become comfortable with an ever-growing task list that I know I'll never clear. My default task status is SOMEDAY, and I treat the list like a buffet of ideas that I can choose from when I want to. Which is hardly ever, since I'm still living on kid time and have very little focused time for myself. Most days I'm okay with this, as childhood is fleeting and my main challenge is to really be here for it. This is tough. I've been learning that I'm very human. I turn into a hangry ogre if we're out too late. I grump at A- if I get too tired. I work on separating the shark music of my anxiety from what's really going on. We joke about my squirrel brain and find ways to deal with its limits. I've given up many of my illusions about control. Knowing that I still have lots to learn even though I'm almost 39 makes it much easier for me to appreciate A-'s being 6. My journal helps me see how the days build up into months and years. I'm still on the anxious side, but W- helps balance that, and developing resourcefulness and resilience will help too.

While the book is mostly about confronting and working with the limits of being mortal, it also had some interesting thoughts about the value of being in sync with other people. Tangling my life up with W- and A- has helped me learn about things I would never have stretched myself to do on my own. I can see how A- enjoys playing with her friends. We've decided to go with virtual school for Grade 1 to minimize COVID risks (and I've been keeping an eye on monkeypox news too, ugh). I wonder if we can get a full synchronous exemption again this year. It's been nice following A-'s interests. But we did kinda miss out on group experiences of music and dance, and I'm not sure I'll find outdoor classes for those within walking distance. Online classes exist, but then we'll need to sync up with someone else's schedule. Maybe someday, if A- wants it strongly enough. Here I remind myself not to worry too much about her future, not to try to orchestrate things too much. It is enough to observe, support, and join her in learning. Besides, we can still have fun with clapping games and tea parties.

Anyway. Mortality. Cosmic insignificance. I can attest that thinking about these things can be surprisingly reassuring. All we can do is what we can do, and that's enough. Tomorrow I will dress and eat and brush teeth and play and tidy and do other things that I do every day. Against this backdrop of mostly-sameness, A- grows. If I pay attention, I may even notice it–for just as unexpected lasts sneak up on you, unexpected firsts do as well. If I pay attention, I might notice I'm growing too.

You can e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.

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