Posts in: 2020s

Seek Out Time for Deep Work

If you’ve never read it, Cal Newport’s book Deep Work should be on your reading list. It proposes a radical philosophy of work: you need time to concentrate deeply on tasks in order to do work that matters. Recently on his blog Cal mentioned that Outlook, the email and calendaring app, has added a focus plan option where you can “establish a daily focus time routine.” If you use Outlook as part of an Office365 subscription, Microsoft’s AI service will try and schedule focus time for you based on your availability.

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Read Why Nerds are Unpopular and sent it to my three teenagers to read. What an article. It’s making me think long and hard about the education system in the US. If there was ever a time to make a big change this is it.

What alternatives to “normal” school should we look at?

Last night’s dinner had all kinds of things from our garden: Thai basil with the chicken (three cups chicken FTW!), sweet potato greens, Chinese celery, and one giant banana pepper. So cool that our garden experiment is producing real food. 🥒

Focus Your Windows to Block Distractions

On my computer I love the option to have a window take up the entire screen. Not just to maximize it to cover the desktop, but filling the entire screen. As I write this I have only one window visible, no menu bar or icons in the dock. Do Not Disturb mode is enabled. Right now this computer is only capable of doing one thing. Knowledge work, the kind of work many of us do all day, revolves around writing.

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Since March my family gets together for a weekly Zoom call. It’s one of the highlights of the week to see each other, laugh together, and catch up.

One good thing that came out of the pandemic!

Giving a first real go at using a mechanical keyboard. I love typing on a typewriter for the feel and noise, and the keyboard I’m using has both. (The little lights that light up as I type are pretty fun too.) Cherry MX Blue switches. Very clacky.

The Applied Physics of Efficient Work

Sometimes we forget how powerful small actions can be. Each time the seasons change and it’s time to switch from heat to cool (or cool to heat) I’m reminded of a simple lesson in applied physics. We moved into our house in December. The heat in our house worked fine. When summer came and we were ready to switch on the air conditioner, I couldn’t figure out why the upper floor of our house was so hot.

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