by Salvador Dali I sat down today knowing exactly what I wanted to write, but when I finished the post it still felt incomplete. It was frustrating to be 70% of the way there—to be able to list pretty much paragraph by paragraph what I wanted to write—and yet feel like it wasn’t the right thing to send into the world. I’d slept terribly last night (~4 hours) and was too tired to do good work but too wired to nap. I wanted to lay in bed for two hours scrolling on my phone and call it a throwaway day.
This is such a great post - it really resonated with me. I really like the idea of keeping your inventory low. One precondition I never consciously thought about, but always had, was this need to want to do something before I did it. It's sort of strange. For instance, I don't actually have to want to get up early to fit in some writing before work, in order to get it done. All I have to do is get up early, and write. So when I do wake up early, and all I can think about it how much I don't want to get out of bed, it's like, that's okay - because the wanting is not actually a precondition to getting it done. I don't know if that makes sense. (Of course, sometimes the lack of wanting is your mind/body trying to tell you something important, and you should honour that feeling. You can't spend all your time only doing things you don't want to do! But on the important stuff, it helps me to think that wanting is another precondition that I could become aware of and question).
Last week:
1. Write 250 words per day - last week: nearly! Managed 6/7 days.
2. Journal every day - 4/7. Not bad!
3. Pilates - 1/3 - but I did do a lot of walking? So maybe hit the spirit of the goal, if not the letter :)
Same goals for this week. This is really helping, thanks for setting it up!
I feel you 1000% on the writing something and knowing exactly what you want to write paragraph for paragraph and it’s just...it just doesn’t *feel right* It’s annoying like “just resolve out to be something good!” is the mood for me. Throwaway days is a good descriptor. The way I see it is with throwaway days, you could either toss it aside or follow through and take a shot at the basket. So what if you miss? You practiced your shot!! My hunch is that it’s one of the big separators between the greats and the average.
1. Write 500 words/day or 2 hours a day
4/5
Last week I hit this goal on 4 days and the writing all felt scattered and clunky. This week, it’s been a lot better. Pushed on and hit 2 hours of writing on 6 days. Switching up to just hand-writing helped get some words flowing.
2. Work out 4x a week
3/5 Mostly light workouts. I went a little crazy on my last run and took on uneven ground/trails. I felt like Murakami when he was talking about getting his body warmed up to run and then the random pain coming and going. Amusing. I should probably stretch more.
3. Thread post on Twitter 2x a week
4/5 Pretty well. Not super intensive or themed like last week’s. Breezy.
5/5 I feel awesome about this!!! Much better than last week, I did 5 out of the 7 days.
This week overall was pretty solid. It was an improvement over the last week. I do think that I could do more and get a little more power if I fixed up my sleep schedule a little more. Working earlier in the day releases a lot of my stress for the rest of it.
1. Workout 6 days per week: split days between lifting weights and HIIT workouts on elliptical.
I worked out 6 days this week and also added some new equipment to my home gym (90 pound Power Block adjustable dumbbells) which should help me increase the intensity of my workouts going forward.
2. Meditate 30-60 minutes every day.
I ended up meditating 5 days this past week, so a little less than my goal but a little bit better than last week. I was reminded once again of how meditating first thing in the morning makes a big difference in the rest of my day. I was less reactive, as well as more clear thinking and optimistic than I was last week.
3. Journal every day.
Journaled 6 days this week and added a new topic to write about: what concepts have I come across in books I read this past year that I could start to better implement into my daily life? I read a lot of books and I often rush off to the next one, without taking any action on ideas from the current book.
Didn't meet either goal, worked for about two hours on each. I'm going to scale back my goals since I'm spending this month in NYC and there's so much to do all of the time here - enjoying my time here takes priority over writing and coding.
Joining late -- I only have one goal: writing every week.
Last week I published my monthly newsletter: https://twitter.com/adanguyenx/status/1399470176660123649. I thought of the idea for it on Tuesday, and spent two days fleshing out the idea + editing. There are some parts I still don't like about it, but in the spirit of this post I did finish and publish it! It never feels right: there are always many things to improve on, so something that helps is telling myself that I will improve the things I don't like in the next post, one at a time.
Doing pretty good on this front. Went running last sunday and again yesterday as well and the week just started. Maybe I will go for a run three times this week instead of the two I normally do. On top of this I can still feel how I am improving in terms of the distance and/or speed I am able to run which is really encouraging and motivating.
2. Work on my side Project everyday:
5/5
Finally finished my first project and uploaded it to Github, which kinda feels like my first tangible accomplishment in terms of learning to program, because it's not just some small math-like programming problem I managed to solve, but a small application which is quite useful. If some of you would like to check it out: https://github.com/Mxngls/Gmail-Cleaner
Now the more difficult part is to figure out what to work next on. I am a bit scared that I might slack again while try to find something new to work on. But as usual in life it's best to take one step at a time and don't worry too much.
At such times I find myself coming back to some encouraging words from Charles Isbell: 'Start small and work your way up from there.'
3.
Learning 10 new Korean words every day:
5/5
Don't have that much to say here. I am still sticking to my schedule. As I plan to take a language exam in the mid of October there is an additional factor that keeps me on track besides this group here. I feel like I finally absorbed the structure of Korean as a language and have now a solid foundation when it comes to vocabulary.
1. Sleep 8 hours a night: 6/7, stayed up til 3am on Saturday re-reading the hunger games (which has aged like fine wine imo).
2. Write 2 hours a day: maybe 4/7? my deadline has moved until this Saturday, but i'm on that terrible part of a writing project where nothing makes sense! i know struggle is normal, but it still makes me avoid the project whenever I have to to sit down and write for more than half an hour.
3. Read 3 books a week: yes! got through the hunger games, the anthropocene reviewed (quite good) and the great gatsby (i'm not american so it's my first time reading it and though it gave me immense white boy summer vibes, it's also pretty beautiful)
I spent last week grudgingly thinking of how i didn't feel like i could finish the song i'd started last week. Because of N number of excuses and how tired i felt. But i managed to take the songs own motif as advice (get out of the way) and let it happen. This won't have a traditional song structure, which is cool - i've done this before with another song and i find it creates an atmosphere of movements and a loose narrative.
I also write very concise song briefs where i try to distill out the core of the song - this helps me hone in on what the song is actually about and where to take it from a production standpoint. Avoids the endless cycle of record song -> produce song -> it sounds wrong -> realize the song is not what i thought it was -> redo.
It's rough but it _feels_ like the right direction to grab a hold of and i can feel more confident picking a path and going down the road. Let's see if my pace picks up for the next couple of weeks or if i need to readjust the goal of a demo a week because i'm currently far off.
Nice post, I have always delayed doing things and at the end I never managed to follow through. Being a perfectionist is a habit that helped do well in school, and now I think I am using it the wrong way.
Glad you are doing well with your progress. I love the idea of having a personal trainer, I think I would do the same.
Week 3 progress:
1- spend two hours per day to learn data science
0/5. This week my rotation started (I work 3 weeks on 3 weeks off). My shift starts from 6 am to 6 pm. By the end of the day, I don’t like writing code. For me it is still something I don’t joy. I think this could change once I become better at it, but for now I would rather read/ watch a movie or just use my phone exploring the internet. This week I was heavy on TikTok and Reddit.
2. Be present during the 5 prayers per day
3/5. This week during some prayers I was distracted. I don’t why some days I feel relaxed and prayers are amazing, other days I just want to get over with it and do anything else.
3. Exercise 4 times per week
5/5. After work, I usually have time to workout. Currently I either exercise with a friend or just go for a short run. I think I want to have more well rounded routine to be more healthy and improve my shape.
4. Fixed sleep schedule
5/5. I slept 7-8 hours daily, and also had some short naps at noon. I love sleeping enough, I feel I have high energy throughout the day.
Loved this post! I've definitely struggled with setting myself way too many preconditions. Also I relate so much to the strength imbalance in the legs!! I figure skated growing up and did too many sit spins and not enough back sits :') I also have a stronger right arm > left arm from volleyball. SHould deffo sort all this out at some point
This is such a great post - it really resonated with me. I really like the idea of keeping your inventory low. One precondition I never consciously thought about, but always had, was this need to want to do something before I did it. It's sort of strange. For instance, I don't actually have to want to get up early to fit in some writing before work, in order to get it done. All I have to do is get up early, and write. So when I do wake up early, and all I can think about it how much I don't want to get out of bed, it's like, that's okay - because the wanting is not actually a precondition to getting it done. I don't know if that makes sense. (Of course, sometimes the lack of wanting is your mind/body trying to tell you something important, and you should honour that feeling. You can't spend all your time only doing things you don't want to do! But on the important stuff, it helps me to think that wanting is another precondition that I could become aware of and question).
Last week:
1. Write 250 words per day - last week: nearly! Managed 6/7 days.
2. Journal every day - 4/7. Not bad!
3. Pilates - 1/3 - but I did do a lot of walking? So maybe hit the spirit of the goal, if not the letter :)
Same goals for this week. This is really helping, thanks for setting it up!
Week 3 Check-in
I feel you 1000% on the writing something and knowing exactly what you want to write paragraph for paragraph and it’s just...it just doesn’t *feel right* It’s annoying like “just resolve out to be something good!” is the mood for me. Throwaway days is a good descriptor. The way I see it is with throwaway days, you could either toss it aside or follow through and take a shot at the basket. So what if you miss? You practiced your shot!! My hunch is that it’s one of the big separators between the greats and the average.
1. Write 500 words/day or 2 hours a day
4/5
Last week I hit this goal on 4 days and the writing all felt scattered and clunky. This week, it’s been a lot better. Pushed on and hit 2 hours of writing on 6 days. Switching up to just hand-writing helped get some words flowing.
2. Work out 4x a week
3/5 Mostly light workouts. I went a little crazy on my last run and took on uneven ground/trails. I felt like Murakami when he was talking about getting his body warmed up to run and then the random pain coming and going. Amusing. I should probably stretch more.
3. Thread post on Twitter 2x a week
4/5 Pretty well. Not super intensive or themed like last week’s. Breezy.
Apple HAS to do this with iOS screenshots. Short thread of my idea did better than I thought it would: https://twitter.com/EashanKotha/status/1398335109082730498
I started another line to just to log things that other people made that I enjoyed. I was tapping into my curator persona lol
Thread of things other people made that I enjoyed: https://twitter.com/eashankotha/status/1397619332482408449
4. Volunteer 1.5 hours/day
5/5 I feel awesome about this!!! Much better than last week, I did 5 out of the 7 days.
This week overall was pretty solid. It was an improvement over the last week. I do think that I could do more and get a little more power if I fixed up my sleep schedule a little more. Working earlier in the day releases a lot of my stress for the rest of it.
This was my progress on my goals this week:
1. Workout 6 days per week: split days between lifting weights and HIIT workouts on elliptical.
I worked out 6 days this week and also added some new equipment to my home gym (90 pound Power Block adjustable dumbbells) which should help me increase the intensity of my workouts going forward.
2. Meditate 30-60 minutes every day.
I ended up meditating 5 days this past week, so a little less than my goal but a little bit better than last week. I was reminded once again of how meditating first thing in the morning makes a big difference in the rest of my day. I was less reactive, as well as more clear thinking and optimistic than I was last week.
3. Journal every day.
Journaled 6 days this week and added a new topic to write about: what concepts have I come across in books I read this past year that I could start to better implement into my daily life? I read a lot of books and I often rush off to the next one, without taking any action on ideas from the current book.
Last week's goals:
1. Work on a plot outline for 3.5 hours
2. Work on a coding project for 7 hours
Didn't meet either goal, worked for about two hours on each. I'm going to scale back my goals since I'm spending this month in NYC and there's so much to do all of the time here - enjoying my time here takes priority over writing and coding.
This week's goals:
1. Work on a plot outline for 2 hours
2. Work on a coding project twice
Joining late -- I only have one goal: writing every week.
Last week I published my monthly newsletter: https://twitter.com/adanguyenx/status/1399470176660123649. I thought of the idea for it on Tuesday, and spent two days fleshing out the idea + editing. There are some parts I still don't like about it, but in the spirit of this post I did finish and publish it! It never feels right: there are always many things to improve on, so something that helps is telling myself that I will improve the things I don't like in the next post, one at a time.
During this month I plan to publish short notes I write weekly here: https://www.adanguyenx.com/notes.
Week 3 Check-In:
1. Run 15 miles every week:
4/5
Doing pretty good on this front. Went running last sunday and again yesterday as well and the week just started. Maybe I will go for a run three times this week instead of the two I normally do. On top of this I can still feel how I am improving in terms of the distance and/or speed I am able to run which is really encouraging and motivating.
2. Work on my side Project everyday:
5/5
Finally finished my first project and uploaded it to Github, which kinda feels like my first tangible accomplishment in terms of learning to program, because it's not just some small math-like programming problem I managed to solve, but a small application which is quite useful. If some of you would like to check it out: https://github.com/Mxngls/Gmail-Cleaner
Now the more difficult part is to figure out what to work next on. I am a bit scared that I might slack again while try to find something new to work on. But as usual in life it's best to take one step at a time and don't worry too much.
At such times I find myself coming back to some encouraging words from Charles Isbell: 'Start small and work your way up from there.'
3.
Learning 10 new Korean words every day:
5/5
Don't have that much to say here. I am still sticking to my schedule. As I plan to take a language exam in the mid of October there is an additional factor that keeps me on track besides this group here. I feel like I finally absorbed the structure of Korean as a language and have now a solid foundation when it comes to vocabulary.
hi everyone, week 3 here:
1. Sleep 8 hours a night: 6/7, stayed up til 3am on Saturday re-reading the hunger games (which has aged like fine wine imo).
2. Write 2 hours a day: maybe 4/7? my deadline has moved until this Saturday, but i'm on that terrible part of a writing project where nothing makes sense! i know struggle is normal, but it still makes me avoid the project whenever I have to to sit down and write for more than half an hour.
3. Read 3 books a week: yes! got through the hunger games, the anthropocene reviewed (quite good) and the great gatsby (i'm not american so it's my first time reading it and though it gave me immense white boy summer vibes, it's also pretty beautiful)
Week 2 for me.
Impressed with the amount of workout from everyone.
1. I did my cardio 3 times last week - 2 runs and one soccer in the rain in NYC
2. Did GRE test preparation for 5 days out of 7
3. Finished one book!
4. Did my first tiny bookclub. If you are in East Village in NYC - come and lets talk about books you are reading.
5. Discovered this amazing old BBC documentary - Connections by James Burke. Absolutely incredible
Loved Ghost in the Throat, my favourite book of last year. Ní Ghríofa is a brilliant poet herself and I'd really recommend her collections.
This week:
1. 1-hour writing per day
2. 4 runs
3. 1 assignment piece for my course per day
lmao, very topical indeed.
Week 2(?) - i think i joined a week late.
Write a demo quality song a week
I spent last week grudgingly thinking of how i didn't feel like i could finish the song i'd started last week. Because of N number of excuses and how tired i felt. But i managed to take the songs own motif as advice (get out of the way) and let it happen. This won't have a traditional song structure, which is cool - i've done this before with another song and i find it creates an atmosphere of movements and a loose narrative.
I also write very concise song briefs where i try to distill out the core of the song - this helps me hone in on what the song is actually about and where to take it from a production standpoint. Avoids the endless cycle of record song -> produce song -> it sounds wrong -> realize the song is not what i thought it was -> redo.
Brief: https://www.notion.so/Out-of-the-way-8d289fdd92c343439770897a4157ad13
Recording: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7ju8oztmfqnofmu/OOTW%20-%20Scratch.m4a?dl=0
It's rough but it _feels_ like the right direction to grab a hold of and i can feel more confident picking a path and going down the road. Let's see if my pace picks up for the next couple of weeks or if i need to readjust the goal of a demo a week because i'm currently far off.
2/5 for now again.
Nice post, I have always delayed doing things and at the end I never managed to follow through. Being a perfectionist is a habit that helped do well in school, and now I think I am using it the wrong way.
Glad you are doing well with your progress. I love the idea of having a personal trainer, I think I would do the same.
Week 3 progress:
1- spend two hours per day to learn data science
0/5. This week my rotation started (I work 3 weeks on 3 weeks off). My shift starts from 6 am to 6 pm. By the end of the day, I don’t like writing code. For me it is still something I don’t joy. I think this could change once I become better at it, but for now I would rather read/ watch a movie or just use my phone exploring the internet. This week I was heavy on TikTok and Reddit.
2. Be present during the 5 prayers per day
3/5. This week during some prayers I was distracted. I don’t why some days I feel relaxed and prayers are amazing, other days I just want to get over with it and do anything else.
3. Exercise 4 times per week
5/5. After work, I usually have time to workout. Currently I either exercise with a friend or just go for a short run. I think I want to have more well rounded routine to be more healthy and improve my shape.
4. Fixed sleep schedule
5/5. I slept 7-8 hours daily, and also had some short naps at noon. I love sleeping enough, I feel I have high energy throughout the day.
Loved this post! I've definitely struggled with setting myself way too many preconditions. Also I relate so much to the strength imbalance in the legs!! I figure skated growing up and did too many sit spins and not enough back sits :') I also have a stronger right arm > left arm from volleyball. SHould deffo sort all this out at some point