Monthly report: December 2017

The most important thing to note is that I was away from my desk literally for three weeks, on a wonderfully relaxing holiday. Of course, there were still work-like things to be done, and they got done, but mostly I wasn’t thinking or doing much “work”. Ever hopeful, I entered a podcast for the James Beard Awards, although the expanded duration allowed, one hour now as opposed to 30 minutes before, is a worry. I also set up some direct payment options so that people can support the podcast. Take that, Patreon.

Exist.io

I've now been using Exist long enough that it can tell me about things that relate to my mood. The non-surprise is that my mood is generally good (22%) or great (27%), with nothing below an occasional "OK". That reflects a conscious decision I made a fair while ago. As for insights, no great shakes there either. My mood is worse when I record a back-ache and when I don't walk as much. It's better when I spend less time in bed.

The "words per rating" is fun but not very helpful, as I currently use that as a kind of daily diary, rather than anything specifically related to mood. If I return to journaling (see Itches below) I'll either give up or rethink this element of mood tracking.

Another new bit of analysis that has cropped up for me is comparisons with other people who use Exist. According to this, my steps, time asleep and time I go to bed are "much" better (my characterisation) than average, while my wake-up time is close to the global average. It would be fun to see these data presented as percentiles, if only to compare people who use Exist with those who use Garmin.

I'm really rather happy with Exist, which is why I have no hesitation in recommending it. Use this link to sign up and we'll each benefit. No prisoners, no dilemma.

Work

Yup, I did some.

Pomodori 8.2 (49 in 6 working days)

A little higher than November (7.5) and still not too taxing. I did try to forecast the time I would need for each task, but not very consistently. On some, I way underestimated, others slightly overestimated, and just one was spot on. If there’s a pattern, it is that I underestimate. If there’s a lesson, it’s that I need to be more consistent in trying to estimate.

My overall approach to time management is a combination of scheduling and priority tasks. Each day starts with emails, catching up with RSS feeds and other little things, including setting my top three most important activities for the day. For some, I estimate how long it will take if completion is in sight. For others, I allocate time, but then I over-run because I think I can complete. A bit more discipline is required here.

Toggl 56% admin, 18% podcast, 26% everything else

I didn’t track time doing the short episodes of the podcast while I was on holiday. But hey; I was on holiday.

Goals

My goal for this site is to write one new post and bring in five old posts a week. I managed four new posts and 18 old ones; good, and not bad.

The old posts (just to give them a bit of a boost)

• Taste Test: Dunkin' Donuts' Fake "Artisan" Bagels vs Real Artisan Bagels
• Sardinian bread-making video
• Belated thoughts on sustainable development
• Calling Adam Mars Jones ...
• Adam Mars Jones responds
• Mything tips
• White asparagus blues
• Dustbowl
• Map THIS!
• De-cluttering the photo boxes
• Chronicle of a death foretold -- mine!
• Might not be something in the water
• Cultured
• You are what you eat -- junk food edition
• New camera, new learning curve
• Make your visitors comfortable
• Capers are another food of the gods
• Broadchurch is not The Killing

Now that I no longer use Grav's Admin interface to add old posts, it doesn't take nearly as long, unless there are images involved. Nevertheless, as I have not yet managed to meet the goal for old posts, I'm not going to increase it just yet.

New goals

None yet, but if I can get into the habit of recording all walks and other "exercise" in Cyclemeter and Strava, I'll add them to Exist. I should make that a goal. I also need to stand at my desk more often. And I want to read more, probably by stepping away from my desk at 6pm, no matter what.

Activities

Steps 100% (325,106/325,205) and 84th percentile

Actually 99.969%, but let's not quibble. Down on November, but as much of the month was holiday in the land of the automobile, not entirely surprising.

Sleep 8 hours 30 minutes and 49th percentile

Holding very steady. Garmin's bins are 15 minutes wide, and the only change is up one percentile. Maybe this means a fractionally higher true average. I don't much care.

Itches

I made absolutely no progress scratching any of the itches I recorded in November. I'm beginning to warm to the idea of actually paying for a Day One subscription; nothing else seems to come close, and the journaling aspect of exist.io just doesn't cut it for me. Not going to add any fresh itches.

Final remarks

I've had a lot of fun compiling this second monthly report, and reading other people's annual reports. I don't think I'll try a comprehensive annual report for 2018 because the data are just too patchy, but I may try to do something with the data I have. I need to consider whether there are other things I want to track (moving around the planet?) and maybe do something for the first six months of 2018.

I spent four pomodori compiling this report.