- LEGO Pomodoro Counter: It’s going great. Having the tactile feedback of completing a pomodoro is very satisfying, as is seeing the tower of completed pomodoros growing throughout the day. I also leave the tower built until the next day, so when I start the day I get a reminder of how much I did yesterday, which seems like it also can be motivating. Success so far!
- Multiple YouTube accounts: A problem I’ve had with YouTube is that there are multiple modes I’m in when I’m using YouTube, but YouTube doesn’t know it. Sometimes I’m just looking for entertainment. Sometimes I want to learn something. Sometimes I want to develop my career skills. Etc, etc. But all YouTube wants to do is show me the most tempting videos possible. I think I’ve found a solution by creating separate YouTube accounts, one for each goal. So I can tailor my subscriptions based on the specific account, and tell YouTube I’m not interested in videos not related to that account. So far it’s working super, super well! It also means that when I start watching YouTube, I have to choose a mode, and there’s friction to changing modes if I start out wanting to learn something but then later get an urge to binge entertainment videos instead.
- Iterative Slope Adjustment: I’ve started adjusting my slope by very small amounts (usually +/- 0.1) when I add a data point to a goal on desktop. I’m not doing this for all my goals, but it especially makes sense for new goals where I’m not sure what the right rate is. I can home in on the correct rate over time as I use the goal.
- Turquoise swath: I turned on the swath on a few of my goals where I was doing the iterative slope adjustment, and it seems like it may make it easier to see the trend so I can compare it with the slope of the road. Neat!
- Microblog: I started a microblog on the forum as a place to post little things I find that I think the Beeminder community might like. It would be super awesome if other forum users started doing this, too!
New Goals
- Water filter cleaning goal 'cause I haven’t cleaned our water filter in who knows how long.
- Spanish goal using Duolingo 'cause I just found out that an old friend is super into Duolingo, so this is a way to help us reconnect.
- Gratitude goal 'cause people were talking about gratitude on the meetup and I need more of that in my life.
- Morning pages 'cause Tim Ferris recommended it. I’ve done the morning pages once so far and it was great! Felt like those brainstorming sessions you have when you’re taking a shower, except even better, and you have a detailed record plus a list of next actions when your done.
