Jay Hoffmann

I don’t know what to call this yet

Tag: Organization

  • #39: Transitions

    I heard some good advice once. Never waste a transition.

    Life is full of transitions, big and small. So some, just naturally, are going to pass you by. But I have a big one coming up. My oldest is starting Kindergarten. And there’s a lot that’s about to change. The butterfly effect of his now slightly altered schedule and transition to the bus is going to basically change up my entire routine.

    And that can be a bummer, if I let it be. But I’m not going to let it be. It’s going to be a chance for me to have some 1 on 1 time with him, which is something I don’t get enough of. It’s going to be a chance for him to try some independence. And for me, it’s going to let me move things around in my day so that I can have longer hours of being productive.

    Here I am, putting it out into the universe. A transition is coming, and I’m going to embrace it.

    Kierkegaard on the nature of regret


    If you marry, you will regret it; if you do not marry, you will also regret it; if you marry or if you do not marry, you will regret both; whether you marry or you do not marry, you will regret both. Laugh at the world’s follies, you will regret it; weep over them, you will also regret it; if you laugh at the world’s follies or if you weep over them, you will regret both; whether you laugh at the world’s follies or you weep over them, you will regret both. Believe a girl, you will regret it; if you do not believe her, you will also regret it; if you believe a girl or you do not believe her, you will regret both; whether you believe a girl or you do not believe her, you will regret both. If you hang yourself, you will regret it; if you do not hang yourself, you will regret it; if you hang yourself or you do not hang yourself, you will regret both; whether you hang yourself or you do not hang yourself, you will regret both. This… is the sum of all practical wisdom.

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    Full episode of Never Waste a Transition:

    This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today’s tip is to never waste a transition. When there is a change happening in your life, consider whether there are any other changes you’d like.

    To bundle with it. So I heard this story about advice given to a couple preparing for marriage. They were anticipating several moves in the early years of their life together. Rather than wasting these transitions, they were advised to be intentional about how they wanted to shape their life together

    by reflecting on their norms and routines with each move. I think that is great advice, not just for newlyweds, but in lots of contexts. Transitions create fresh starts, and that makes it easier to start new habits. For instance,

    the start of a new school year or the first day of a new job can both be great times to take on a new morning routine. Maybe you’re getting up at a different time now and the morning is already ordered differently, so it might not be quite so strange to add five minutes of yoga to the mix. Transitions also create natural opportunities for ending routines or breaking

    habits that aren’t serving you any more. Maybe a weekly coffee shop date with your aunt was life giving when your daughter was a new born, but feels stressful now that your daughter is an active toddler. If you’re moving to a new apartment in a different neighborhood, this could be a natural time to find a new way to

    connect with your aunt. Or perhaps this snooze button has been an ingrained habit for years, even if you know it doesn’t do you much good. The transition to a new job, with its new morning routines could create a great occasion to swear off the snooze button too. In addition to being great times to start, stop, or change habits,

    transitions create ideal occasions for reflection. What do you want your life to be like? What are your hopes and goals? Maybe when you start going into an office three days a week, you become more intentional about taking breaks with colleagues in order to build in social time because you

    have reflected on the importance of professional relationships. The truth is, transitions don’t even need to be huge to nudge some sort of changes. If you buy a new kitchen tape that can be a reason to rethink your family dinner routine.

    So try to recognize any sort of transition when it is happening, then decide not to waste it. Anything can be an occasion for building good habits or changing something that isn’t working. Making the most of transitions can help us build the lives we want In the meantime, This

  • #31: Momentum

    This week’s challenge has been momentum. How to find it. How to keep it. How to sustain it.

    I say it because my week was bookended by watching the kids, made necessary by some day care closings and shuffling around. Rewarding days, and one’s that I try not to take for granted. But trying to slide back and forth between dad mode and work mode all the time like that makes momentum very hard.

    The ideal state would be something like flow, where I could build up a bit of inertia and really dig into this thing or that, at home or with work. Flow was easier in my 20’s. These days it’s more about strategies that help me move around and stay productive.

    Breaking things up helps. Blocks of time help (I’ve gotten pretty good at writing in 30 minute chunks). But the most important part is prioritizing everything. I have to make sure that when I get a bit of time, and I sit down and do something, I’m not falling into a trap of making incremental progress on something meaningless.

    I once saw this called procastgress

    Progress is better than perfection, but it’s important to not fall into the trap of what I call procrastgress – little bits of progress that are not getting any closer to done, and in fact are just a form of procrastination. Procrastgress

    One thing I do is keep a list of all of the projects that I’m chipping away at.

    I call it my Incremental Progress List.

    It’s a big list of all of the things I can’t just finish as a simple task. In the larger productivity world, it’s probably something more like a habit, but I find that they have an end. Larger documentation handbooks or internal tools I’m working on at work. Organizing the garage, cleaning out the shed.

    I’ve added a progress bar under each project on the list. Every time I do a bit more, I tick the progress bar up. It’s a manual thing, based on more or less where I think I am. But it helps me to feel like I’m working towards something.

    Sometimes I have a spare 30 minutes, and when I do, I don’t want to have to think about what to do. So I check the Incremental Progress list, grab something doable, and chip away at another 30 minutes.

    The hardest part is getting that list in front of myself at the right time. It sounds a little bit silly, but I need to turn it into a habit that I mechanically reach for. It’s too easy for my brain to get distracted by actual procrastination otherwise. So that’s what’s next for me.

    Marcus Aurelius on choosing kindness.

    Try living the life of a good man* and see how it too suits you — a man who’s gratified by the lot he’s been assigned by the universe and satisfied with the justice of his acts and the kindness of his character.

    Notes

    Check Asana
    Clear out Reeder
    Check Inbox Note
    Read through emails
    Go through “To Sort” In Raindrop
    Film List
    Comics List
    Add to Books
    Revolutions
    Review projects in Obsidian
    Add to collections in Obsidian
    Set a weekly focus
    Read Brainpickings
    Publish Weeknote

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  • #18: Letting Time Use You

    The feeling of being overwhelmed, blocked by stressors of the mind rather than by an immediate physical threat, is uniquely human. And so is the desire to provide some sort of order to that in the form of “time management.” Both of these concepts, born from human ingenuity, more often than not result in a rabbit hole of wasted time, exacerbating rather than alleviating and making everything worse.

    Whenever something like that occurs to me, I think about the book “Four Thousand Weeks” by Oliver Burkeman, an insightful and profound meditation on the meaning of time, existing within it, and learning to except is finitude.

    And its not just phillosphy. It’s an insightful and practical guide to accepting the limitations of time. However, what I find most intriguing is Burkeman’s ability to completely flip around time in your mind (emphasis mine):

    There is an alternative: the unfashionable but powerful notion of letting time use you, approaching life not as an opportunity to implement your predetermined plans for success but as a matter of responding to the needs of your place and your moment in history.

    Burkeman suggests thinking about time a bit differently then we are often taught, and that endless blog posts and books about time management seem to recommend. Instead of viewing life as a canvas to execute our meticulously planned visions of success, he proposes that we should react to the demands of our surroundings and our unique place in history.

    It’s a reminder to focus on our desires, to embrace what we truly want, and to let go of what we cannot control. It’s not about fighting time, but about learning to dance with it, to let it lead us through the rhythm of life.

    And so, this week I feel overwhelmed. Which is simply my mind telling me to be present, to lean into what I want, and to just fucking let it go.

    You get about a halfway through the Count of Monte Cristo and you realize that it is not actually one novel or one story or one tale. It is many stories nested and layered on top of one another that builds the portrait of a man and his time, and the never-ending march of vengeance. And what stories. Such fun. And so many more left.

    I just got to the fulcrum of Steinbeck’s East of Eden, a reflection on the story of Cain and Abel and its potential meaning. After discussing it earlier, one of the characters of the book, Lee, recounts his own experience in subsequent years studying a specific sentence, and even a specific word, in the translations of the Cain and Abel story. It revolves around the Hebrew word tishmel, and refers Cain relationship to sin after he is cast out. In one translation, Lee says, the word “thou shalt rule” over sin, while in the another it is said that “Do thou rule.” In the former, a promise is made, and in the latter, an order is given.

    But after years of study, Lee and the scholars he refers to found a new meaning for that word. “Thou mayest.” Our ability to conquer sin, Lee says, is up to us. It is a choice.

    This is an essential part of the novel, and is a focal point for all of its various characters and motifs. And is interesting because of how profound it could be. But on the other hand, it is possible that it is not even true. All of which warrants some inspection I think. I’ll be reading up on this.

    The meaning of Tishmel in Steinbeck’s East of Eden. (Just an intro, I want to look into it more and write a proper post)

    little project in each area of his life at any given time. It helps prioritize and choose what to work on in that moment:

    I artificially limit myself to having one major and one minor active side project at a time, my agility goes up because I’m not doing ten projects at once, I’m doing one or two. When one project finishes, I move to the next best idea that fits the available slot. I will never be taking on too much and it’s easier to say “no” to new distractions if I have to substitute projects.

    I love the no nonsense approach. I worry that I allow “projects” of my life to go on for too long and simply become routine or habits. But maybe that’s a plus.

    And speaking of one thing, here’s one trick to help with decision making in teams: decide how to decide.

    John Burroughs on what it is to live life:

    We may fancy that there might be a better universe, but we cannot conceive of a better, because our minds are the outcome of things as they are, and all our ideas of value are based upon the lessons we learn in this world.

    Notes

    Add to Revolutions Podcast
    Finish goals as narratives post
    Scorecard review
    East of Eden Quotes
    Add to management and Async colleciton about everything going on with the team
    Read Brainpickings
    Monthly fiiiaces
    expese report
    Check Asana
    Clear out Reeder
    Check Inbox Note
    Read through emails
    Go through “To Sort” In Raindrop
    Set a weekly focus
    Publish Weeknote