Holy crap I got a lot done this month.
I’ve made a lot of updates to the processes that help me get stuff done, and I think the results are pretty visible. Inspired by Felix Krause’s implementation of a “your life in weeks” chart, I’ve made my own. I’m a bit too lazy to adequately anonymize what I made, but it’s helped me both visualize my progress and stay motivated to have interesting-enough things to put on that chart!
Speaking of visualizing my life, I’ve created a new way of tracking my daily habits as well. It’s the same deal: I’m even more motivated to not break my streaks, and I’m getting so much done because I’m spending five minutes most nights on my personal projects.
I’m also back in the swing of practicing Japanese! It’s absurdly difficult, but I’m glad I’m getting back in the practice of doing things that are hard as their own reward.
Part of this revamp has involved reorganizing existing routines; without getting into it too much, this month has definitely been the month of “eliminate, automate, delegate.”
I gave a talk on authentication in Next.js this month at the Philadelphia JavaScript Club, and I think it went pretty well! I’m also honored to have been on the same speaker list as my friend Josh. 🙂
I also helped organize an informal get-together of folks who participate in the rands leadership slack. It was a great time!
Speaking of groups, I’ve started a new Slack organization for folks who organize JavaScript (and TypeScript) usergroups. It’s called w3orld — “world-wide web-oriented local developers.” I also created a silly logo for it. Please reach out if you’d like an invite!
If that wasn’t enough, I started a personal IRC network to be able to use as a kind of hub for a few different types of notifications. I’ve plugged in an interface to keep me permanently logged in to rvrb.one to be able to chat with some internet friends. I also made a script that will ping me — and therefore push push notifications to my phone — when a certain keyword is mentioned on Hacker News.
Finally: I built the foundation for a brand-new project: goal.partners. This is the thing on this list that I’m the most excited about — but also, honestly, the most apprehensive! Hopefully I’ll have more to share about this soon.
That’s all the computer stuff. In other parts of my life, I tried and failed to buy a house — the inspection was massively disheartening, so we terminated our purchase agreement. We also bought a very nice espresso machine, so I’ve been drinking a lot of really great drinks — quite a few with decaffeinated coffee — which has been really nice.
(Oh, I also made some tweaks to the script that helps me build this article, too. 🙂)
writing
Here’s this month’s roundup of weekly leadership blog posts:
- Fill up those praise folders
- Learn keyboard shortcuts
- The slower you move, the faster the car moves
- How I manage tasks
- The outlandish idea list
films
This month, I watched 3 films:
- John Wick: Chapter 4 — ★★★★½
- Cast Away — ★★★★☆
- Death to Smoochy — ★★★½☆
Way fewer than last month!
Letterboxd also has limited series, so since I finished my rewatch of Bocchi the Rock! this month, I also rated it:
- BOCCHI THE ROCK! — (rewatch) ★★★★★
Have I mentioned that I love Letterboxd? You can follow me there.
books
This month, I finished 1 book:
- Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis. I wasn’t as much of a fan of it as I thought it would be; it was a bit repetitive, and there are major parts of the core thesis of the book that I’m still not convinced about.
I’m currently reading Joseph Menn’s All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning’s Napster. I’m really enjoying it so far!
failbetter
This month, failbetter published “The Saints of Death Valley” by Laura Newman in two parts: here’s part one, and here’s part two.
stats
This month:
- I typed 874000 keys and clicked 104893 times.
- I listened to 1,508 songs.
