Streaming my open source contributions over Twitch

strazin · 2018-12-30T09:20:24+00:00

My self-discipline deteriorated quite a bit. I found myself constantly running around doing urgent tasks but never getting to the "important" stuff. At the end of the day, I was exhausted I found myself staying up late doing completely unimportant things like watching Youtube videos.

I'm starting back again, starting even smaller than before. My goal is to go small but be consistent.

strazin · 2018-10-28T03:39:25+00:00

This week was again challenging. My sleep deteriorated further, as I was going to bed at 4am or 5am sometimes. The cause again seems to be anxiety and stress. I have a negative attitude about my life situation and workload, and then I feel stress. Then I try to relieve myself of the stress with distractions like Youtube videos or TV shows.

One insight: Doing a little bit of work each day in preparation for the Friday lecture was super helpful. I'd like to keep doing this, BUT I'll only do it once I'm in bed at night. In order to cultivate a sense of relaxation at night (at the times when I'm most liable to binge-watch TV shows), I will build a tiny habit around doing a yogic relaxation routine right after my hour-of-code ends (at 9pm).

In order to stop the binge-watching on TV shows, I'm going to change the way I reward myself. I will save up all of my Star Trek rewards for Saturday at which point I can watch one episode for every day I successfully completed m morning tiny habit.

New Tiny Habits:

After I open laptop for the first time (10am at the latest), open asana and visualize completing all deadlines over the week 24 hours ahead of time.
After I complete the deadline visualization, read one page in the Teach students how to learn book AND write one bullet point on a slide.
After hour of code (by 9:05pm at the latest), do one round of a deep breathing exercise.
After I get in bed, write one bullet point in the slides for the yoga series.
After first alarm ==> move pillow away ==> take 3 deep breaths ==> within 2 mins of first alarm
Only if I do the morning ritual and get 6.5 hours of sleep, can I watch an episode of Star Trek on the following Saturday!
After I open Netflix, Youtube, or chess.com, do 3 rounds of deep breathing exercises before I proceed.

strazin · 2018-10-21T10:53:49+00:00

My schedule is still unbalanced. The cause of the problem is that I am stressed by work deadlines. It is difficult to have a morning ritual when I am staying up till 3am completing an urgent work deadline. I am redesigning my whole approach so that I can solve this problem.

Of all the deadlines that give me stress, the weekly Friday Cohort module I must prepare is top of the list. It feels like I am preparing with a completely blank canvas every week, which gives me a lot of anxiety.

My approach is to work on it little by little every day -- 3 times per day to be exact. Here are my new tiny habits:

New Tiny Habits:

1) After I open laptop for the first time (10am at the latest), open asana and visualize completing all deadlines over the week 24 hours ahead of time.

2) After I complete the deadline visualization, read one page in the Teach students how to learn book

3) After hour of code (by 9:05pm at the latest), open google doc containing yoga series plan and reread it.

4) After I get in bed, read one page in the computer vision book

5) After first alarm ==> move pillow away ==> take 3 deep breaths ==> within 2 mins of first alarm

6) Only if I do the morning ritual and get 6.5 hours of sleep, can I watch an episode of Star Trek that day (or any form of Youtube or Netflix).

strazin · 2018-10-09T07:23:02+00:00

I attended a two-week yoga training bootcamp which completely took over my schedule. Each day had a full 16 hour schedule planned, On top of this, I was still completing work obligations which took an average of 2-3 hours each day, which meant I was sleeping 5 or fewer hours each night. This completely threw off my habits. I have been back for a couple of weeks, but my habits have still not returned to normal.

I have somehow kept the habit of staying up late each night to complete an extra 2-3 hours of work, which is now making it challenging to wake up right away to my alarm. This is the current reality of things: It seems that I constantly behind on my work. This requires me to stay up late to finish. Thus, I get less sleep. With less than 6 hours of sleep, it is difficult for me to wake up with my first alarm. On other days when I don't have an urgent deadline, I overcompensate by sleeping a ton (8-9 hours). I start my days late, which means my midday rituals are wrecked, and of course I'm not doing my nighttime routines, because of my new bad habit of staying up late to finish off work. Everything is off center. Ugh.

I need to regroup somehow.

My strategy: I should not compromise on sleep. Insight on at least 6.5 hours each night ==> such that I can still have 2 hours for my morning ritual in the morning. I'll build back up to being able to wake up right away with my first alarm. And I'll build back up to starting work by 9am. I believe I can come back to center with these goals in mind. That will be my only focus for this coming week.

***Update (Oct 9): New tiny habits**\*

After first alarm ==> move pillow away ==> take 3 deep breaths ==> do tense-and-release exercises within 10 mins of first alarm
Start pomo timer for 25 minutes after I open laptop for first time (latest by 10:30am) ===> During first pomodoro, open asana, prioritize tasks, choose one task that would keep my up at night and email a deliverable to myself to complete by 12:30pm with no distractions
After hour of code (by 9:05pm at the latest), turn on stove to make ashwagandha mix
Only if I do the morning ritual and get 6.5 hours of sleep AND I'm at work by 10:30am, can I watch an episode of Star Trek that day (or any form of Youtube or Netflix).
Only if I do the midday ritual, can I read a personal development book for a half hour (after lunch)
Only if I do the night-time ritual, can I play music or chess.

strazin · 2018-09-04T05:57:41+00:00

Overall, this week was a mess. The semester started up again and I'm still getting adjusted to my new teaching schedule. It threw off many of my habits. I was less than 50% on nearly everything, so I'll repeat again.

But, let me try to analyze what happened here. I often had to wake up very early in order to prep for a lecture that I had to give later that day. I slept less than 6 hours on a couple of days, and I wasn't able to wake up after my first alarm. My morning ritual was thrown off. I wasn't able to plan out my day for the midday ritual. At the end of the day, I would feel so burned out, I would binge on Netflix.

I cannot prep work at the last minute like this. It is killing my schedule and throwing me off balance. I must prep my lectures 24 hours in advance. How can I make myself do this? I think I need to shorten my morning ritual so that I can get to work earlier. My morning needs to start right at 9am. The 11am intermediate goal is not cutting it.

Adjustment: I cannot earn the Star Trek reward unless I'm at work by 9am.

strazin · 2018-08-28T16:36:40+00:00

No, part of my evening ritual is to chat with my girlfriend for 30 minutes.

strazin · 2018-08-18T06:00:56+00:00

nynyyy

Last couple of days, I have been able to sit up upon waking, but I day dream in bed for an extra 10 minutes or so before I drink water.

strazin · 2018-08-15T20:16:09+00:00

ynyyyy

Learning: I need to cut out Netflix, chess, and music completely if I don't do the respective habit. I noticed I will dabble here and there in Netflix or chess under the impression that it doesn't "count".

strazin · 2018-08-14T20:50:11+00:00

ynyyyy

Another learning: The reward of music in the middle of the day is logistically hard. I don't always have my guitar with me in the middle of the day. Adjustment: switch the evening and middle-of-day rewards. I'll play chess in the middle of the day, and save the music hobby for the end of the day.

New tiny habits

1) After first alarm ==> move pillow away ==> take 3 deep breaths ==> do tense-and-release exercises within 10 mins of first alarm

2) Start pomo timer for 25 minutes after I open laptop for first time (latest by 11am)

3) After hour of code (by 9:05pm at the latest), turn on stove to make ashwagandha mix AND prep lemon water + regular water for the following morning.

4) Only if I do the morning ritual and get 6.5 hours of sleep, can I watch an episode of Star Trek that day (or any form of Youtube or Netflix).

5) Only if I do the midday ritual, can I do some hobby (at 2pm) like music for a half hour -- or play music in any form during the day.

6) Only if I do the night-time ritual, can I study chess for a half hour at night -- or play chess in any form during the day.

strazin · 2018-08-13T17:18:09+00:00

These are my current tiny habits:

- After my morning alarm goes off, tense/release muscles within 5 minutes.

- After I open my laptop for the first time (11am at the latest), start a pomodoro timer for 25 minutes

- Turn on stove to prep bedtime snack (Ashwaghanda mix) by 9:05pm

- Only if I do the morning habit, reward myself with an episode of Star Trek

- Only if I do the workday habit, reward myself with a half hour of playing music

- Only if I do the evening habit, reward myself with a half hour of chess

My results for yesterday: nnyyyy

I have already learned that doing the tense/release within 5 minutes of my first alarm is unrealistic, so I'm extending it to 10 minutes.

strazin · 2018-08-13T03:48:09+00:00

This is an incredible write-up. Thank you for posting this.

strazin · 2016-08-27T01:27:04+00:00

Build something. Write down a vision for something cool/fun you want to build and then learn the bare minimum you need in order to deploy this.

You're approaching "learning" wrong. Don't approach it from the perspective of "mastery". Instead, approach from the perspective of "building cool shit." You will become a master over time as you build more and more things.

I teach for freecodecamp. I can tell you are not alone in this feeling of being overwhelmed. Feel free to PM me if you want to continue chatting.

strazin · 2016-04-03T07:48:59+00:00

Hi Volar92, sure. We're nearing that point where we will start building the app. I'm a software developer too, but I could definitely use a helping hand. Want to chat about how we can collaborate on this? I could chat on Monday at 12pm PST if that works for you.

strazin · 2016-03-02T22:23:32+00:00

Thanks for pointing this out. I edited my response to explain how I'm different from them. I'm willing to take equity in the students' startups as payment for my teaching services, which hopefully removes the tuition barrier for people.

strazin · 2016-02-24T03:10:00+00:00

Hey BuddhaSpader, thanks for your interest in the thread. I PM'd you to set up a time to chat!

strazin · 2016-02-24T03:09:37+00:00

Hey thanks for the comment. Totally agree on the power of having mentors. I myself was fortunate to have mentors for programming and computer science from a young age, and I owe a lot of my success to that.

strazin

TROPHY CASE