2024-09-20
It's Friday, and I have now recovered from the alcohol last night - I was a little hungover, or just tired, this morning, and required a bit of a lie-in. Hey ho. It was alright.
I've noticed a couple things so I just to write here.
Reading Visa's blog, I stumbled across his blog entry on psychofauna, where he states they they are traps for people, and are to be avoided, passed by, not tackled... stepped around. This is similar to what I wrote before on introversion in 0063, and what is my view on depression, and other psychological terms. I think they have a tendency to become psychofauna in that sense, and should be circumvented entirely.
Also saw from Visa's Youtube channel (that I do not normally watch) that 1,000 reps of anything is worthwhile. Of course, that is related to him starting the wordvomit project he did, and what has given me the inspiration to... copy him outright. I wonder what else I would like to do a thousand reps of. For instance, a thousand reps of guitar. Or a thousand drawings. Or a thousand times to the gym. I think I may actually count up how many times I've been to the gym... See, it would be good to be able to get at least just know basic statistics on these things, and of course I do not have that. It would be good to collect those statistics, perhaps as a thing I do just once per week, or when I draw to write the number on the drawing (I think I do that already), for instance. In terms of guitar, I would need to actually track that somewhere. Likewise, for the gym reps, I could (when I track what I do in the gym) add the actual index of the session at the start. I will actually, now, go through and find the count of sessions to track this. I think it makes sense, really, and gives a resumption of motivation after each important number (e.g. fifty) whilst also giving smaller indexes to work towards, and preventing losing track of where I'm at.
It's 33 times I've been to the gym; it'll be a bit more as there was a month and some, between 2024-06-12 and 2024-07-29, where I did not track anything, though I did not go to the gym much, instead preferring to swim most days.
The number is... less than I want. It feels almost like it is nothing. But, of course, I will increase this number every other day if I go, and so increases by at most three per week. That is 12 a month - and so between now and April when I started there are about sixty. But of course, two of those months almost were spent either swimming almost every day or aren't valid to count (estimates) so really I'm looking at about a max of 36. I've missed 3, in that case - not too terrible. I'm doing as best as I can. By the end of the year, I'll have over fifty. By the end of 2025, if I continue it, above 150. There will be serious changes at that point.
I wanted to do the podcast as well, too, but I have only gotten to the fourth episode. I think I'm happy with slow progress, but I really do want progress. If I do not measure it by the actual ability that I have (which will always feel lacking), but instead just measure it by the amount of times I've done it, I can always have the power to improve this: just one more, or, just hit fifty, or sixty, or one hundred. That kind of thing.
I'm experimenting around with different mental models of action, because I want to both feel good about what I do, and have a way to ensure that I am getting better at things, and also not be depressed by the fact. I don't want to have it be a kind of constant not-good-enough, like what work is. Having individual atoms that can be completed (e.g. half an hour of guitar, or, a drawing, or, one thousand words) and where I know that it is done, and where I can then tell myself that I have done a certain amount, would be good. There are probably though tasks that can't be atomised. I'll need to think about it, but it could well work.
I could even do it in terms of movies. I can just note down all of the movies that I watch. Tracking could become difficult, and I could end up tracking things too much. I will also need to consider whether there is a happy middle ground.
I also think it is important to not tie the productivity aspect to anything relating to the actual process. Otherwise, it will induce burnout with the actual acts being performed; if I tie the productivity aspect to just doing it, then there is no link between them; all the productivity part is ends up being a goal I create myself based on the number, and is not tied to what specifically I want to do for the thing. For instance, I can practise whatever in terms of guitar; I can drop songs or swap around songs or just practise chords or do whatever, but as long as I do the half hour, I have then a single extra point to add towards my thousand: the time invested is the measure of productivity.
I think that would be sensible.
Have a good one.