After completing all the missing monthly reviews, I am now back on track for February review. Let's do this!
Accomplishments
I published one blog post, How to Generate OpenAPI Definitions From Code. I don't want to go into specifics at this time, but I've seen the first sign that my reckoning that these posts help my personal brand seems to be true!
Highlights
While my clients keep me busy, I also managed to carve out some time to continue work on CloudObjects, but I haven't released anything. Outside of work, the month had the right mix of social evening activities that, as usual, included meeting friends and family, playing board games and a meeting with the EA group. It was also carnival season. I'm not a big carnival person. Therefore only the fact that some friends with kids came over made me watch the local carnival parade.
Productivity
Time for the percentages from RescueTime, based on 202h 40m of logged time:
- 33% Software Development (up by 6 points from 27% last month, the highest number so far!)
- 17% Social Networking (unchanged from last month)
- 10% Utilities
- 9% Communication & Scheduling
- 8% Business
I'm happy to see I have spent more time doing Software Development, more than in any month since I've started tracking my time in this way. Still, the Social Networking is too high, I'd love to see this fall back in third place, but continously checking all those sites which are designed to be engaging is a habit that's tough to break. The total productive time, according to focus booster, was 102h 4m.
Mood
The average daily mood in Exist was 3.81, nearly identical to last month.
Daily Routine
The Daily Routine section was absent from the last reviews. I had already left it empty in October with the promise to have it return the next month, which obviously didn't happen …
I realized that staying away from the Internet and screens at night before sleep is an excellent practice, whenever I do this I feel better, however, it's challenging for me to follow this routine. To try to do that again, I've re-enabled the filter on my router to cut me off from WiFi at 21:15 every night.
Entertainment and Media
I followed Star Trek: Discovery until the last episode. Unlike some others, my general opinion on the show is favorable, and I'll definitely watch the second season, but even I felt that the last episode was too abrupt for an ending of a war. I also hope that the next season will be less about war and more about exploration. My serial watching took a bit of a break from Star Trek, and I caught up with the second season of Sense 8.
On a movie night with my sister, we watched Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, since she just loves owls!
Habits
I track Using social networks in the morning as a negative habit, but I'm considering to change this a little bit. My problem with social media is mostly when I use it when I'm tired, because in that state of mind I find it difficult to filter the information and everything feels "not urgent, but important" so I end up with too many bookmarked posts on my reading list. As an experiment I'm changing this habit and try to stay away from social media in the evening (past 19:00).
Goals
It's not too late to set some goals, but considering that I haven't done this lately and it's already the 13th of the month I'll start small with a single goal. I've already mentioned some things I want to implement regarding my routine and staying away from distractions so I'll add one actionable thing on top of that: I want to treat me to one "offline day". Not a day where I can't go online because I'm travelling or busy outside, but a deliberate and mindful day that I can use for things that do not require access to the Internet.
Final remarks
Review, planning and writing this post took me four pomodoro sessions. Please note that some of the links to tools I use are referral links so if you sign up through them I get a commission or rebate.