I've recently written a post for SuperYesMore, the subject of my post and the project being productivity. I've been reading the other posts, and, wow, can Alex get impressive people writing for him and his projects. Impressively impressive.

I wrote up my process, how I stop the daily churn of tasks, while moving towards my long-term goals. The process works for me, I like it, I derive comfort from the process, I find it effective.

Yet, reading the other posts in the series, and wow, am I tempted to change things up. Sorta. I find some of the processes that others have, less effective for me. I've tried them and either dropped them because they weren't effective, or tossed them into a bag of poo and lit them all on fire. There are things that work for others and just do not work for me.

And that's okay.

These are personal productivity systems, they need to be personal.

One of the things I find consistently puzzling, however, is the insistence of scheduling the next day at the end of a day.

I don't do this. I stopped doing this years and years ago, before we had scientific evidence showing how dopamine and serotonin affects decision making. The effectiveness of morning planning over late afternoon / evening planning supports my viewpoint on this.

What triggered my switch from end-of-day to morning planning was the recognition that when I put out clothes the night before to streamline my morning, I so rarely as to be nearly never wore the clothes I chose. They were always strange choices. When I told myself to be brave and wear the clothes, everyone including teachers would comment on my choices. When the Russian says stop drinking, you stop drinking, or at least take note of how much you're drinking. If you're somewhat aware, you consider what's up.

Biology is what's up. We make horrible decisions at the end of the day. You've had the whole day to bask in the serotonin your body is making, you feel good (relatively speaking), and you're going to be as optimistic as your personality and optimism set-point allow you to be. Now why would you schedule anything the next day that involves estimating times for tasks? Sure, things like "commute" and "appointment" those are fixed times, and yes, schedule away on those, but for "finish programming feature B" and "analyze logs for trends of feature Y" those tasks you just aren't going to be able to estimate well. And for tasks that you need to do but haven't really committed to them? Oh, no, scheduling them the night before, high on the day's progress, what the hell, those tasks you don't really have to do are going to be horrible drudgery the next day.

I avoid all of those "what was I thinking when I scheduled this?" moments by planning in the morning.

I was feeling kinda meh about my morning planning after reading some of the SuperYesMore posts, all of these smart people planning their next days at the end of a day, knowing what they are going to get up and do the next day, wow, hooray, go them, and here I am planning my day in the morning what am I doing wrong?

"Exactly nothing," was the conclusion I came do.

While they might be planning the day before, there's no sense of their comfort in their processes, nor the effectiveness of their processes. I have no idea if they even like their processes, or are still struggling to find their groove. Maybe what they do works for them, that's fine. It doesn't work at all for me. So, I decline to change that part of my process.

When I realized I'm in the company of Benjamin Franklin on this when he "contrived the day's business" in the morning, well, yes, I was more than a little delighted.

I did a 24 hour fast yesterday, having eaten Friday night and not eating on Saturday until the evening. I think I managed about 900 calories around dinner time, eating slowly from about 5:30 until about 8. Around 8, I started again.

Yesterday's fasting was easier than I expected to be, but knowing both what the experience is like and that I can endure the hunger for one f'ing day, made the day not particularly difficult.

What has surprised me about today's fasting, however, is the lack of hunger I am feeling. I was expecting today to be incredibly hungry, but, nope, not really. When I think about the question, "Am I hungry?" the answer was no until about 4pm. This surprised me a bit, until, well, I realized the body adapts to many things, and hunger is one it is evolved to withstand.

I'm uncertain how many days I'll do this. I suspect tomorrow will have a huge hunger backlash and I will want to eat everything in sight. I might switch to every other day if that happens. We'll see.

Tonight, however, I'm having buttermilk cornbread from a new-to-me recipe, and chili.

In the Great Grand Purge of 2017 (well, at least the first part of it), I finally let go of some papers I've had since 1998. I am cracking up more than I should be, I suspect.

On one of the pages, I had three sticky notes, things to do in Los Angeles, things to do in San Francisco, and things to do daily.

Things to do daily cracked me up, mostly because, wow, apparently I've been doing pretty much the same for the last two decades. Not quite, but really close:

• clarinet
• aerobic
• situps
• pushups
• weights
• programming
• no purchase
• floss
• donate
• vitamins
• scales
• daily check?
• long term
• foot stuff
• stretch / yoga
• reading

The clarinet was the interesting musical instrument of the year. Unsure which I'll pick up, having moved away a bit from learning the next one. At some point, I expect to prioritize music higher, but right now, it's low. I walk 10k steps a day, adding back in running for that "aerobic" part. The situps and pushups and weights are part of my daily routine, building them back in. Was easier on the burpee challenge, might need to restart that. Programming, well, yes, every day. No purchases are harder, but I'm tracking my expenses, which makes the goal of "no purchase," which is awareness of what I'm spending, and spending consciously on things I need, not the things I want at the moment to sooth some discomfort. Donation has been happening non-stop, as I purge before the big move. Vitamins I've stopped with for the most part, choosing to eat more vegetables and wander out in the sun naked for 15 minutes a day. Scales went with the instrument, so I'm not doing that any more. Oh, boy, do I do my daily check and long term goals viewing. I'm happy for my productivity processes surrounding those. The foot stuff, and stretching, those I do not as much as I'd like, the foot stuff being part of recovering from the copious injuries I had during my ultimate career. As for reading, yeah, I'm covered there.

San Francisco

My San Francisco list remains, to this day, uncompleted.

• Muir Woods
• Pebble Beach
• Chinatown
• Coit Tower
• Lombard St
• Ghiradeli
• Ferry under Golden Gate Bridge
• Chicago
• Marina Safeway

I've been to Muir Woods, lovely awesome place to hike, highly recommended, especially during the week when fewer people go. Pebble Beach I'm not likely to visit. Been to Chinatown, people live there. Haven't been to Coit Tower. Have walked down and up Lombard Street. I'm not a fan of Ghiradeli chocolate, but, yes, have been to the square. Have been on a ferry under the Golden Gate Bridge, Chicago isn't playing any longer on stages, and, well, the Marina Safeway is a Safeway. Clearly I am not the intended participant of the Marina Safeway scene. I think the hiking parts of San Francisco are more enjoyable than the tourist parts, but I'm biased by being a local at this point.

Los Angeles

• UCLA ultimate
• Off Vine
• Saddle Peak Lodge
• Mount Wilson
• Gabrielo Trail
• South Pasadena → Fair Oaks Pharmacy

Went down to Los Angeles a couple weeks ago. I didn't go play ultimate at UCLA, nor go to Off Vine, or Saddle Peak Lodge, or Mount Wilson. Last Off Vine and Mount Wilson adventures were with Jonathan, I will likely repeat both of those adventures, they were so great. Saddle Peak Lodge is another yes yes yes. I don't really recall the Gabrielo Trail, but will hike it next Pasadena visit, and, well, let's be honest, I had to look up Fair Oaks Pharmacy and Soda Fountain to figure out why I would want to visit next time I was in Los Angeles.

Funny.

So, yeah, apparently I'm more consistent than I realized.

"But if he’s going to get saved, he’s going to have to do it himself.” She pushed away a betraying tear. Jim took a half step toward her. “He’ll have to do it himself,” she said again, her voice a degree harder to keep him from touching her or saying something soft and consoling. “Same as everyone.”

- Babylon's Ashes, Chapter Thirty-Nine: Naomi