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Weekly Experiments


WorkInProgress

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Weekly experiments (1.1.2017-5.1.2017)

Welcome. It doesn't matter if you are an old timer or a new reader of my content. I am happy that you found your way here and will answer to any question you'll write down here or as a personal message. 

My Name is Mario but you'll maybe recognize me better as WorkInProgress which is my account on gamequitters. After quitting games I sticked to the forum, because I like to help other people and also realized that this community was a great inspiration to improve my own live. I am currently finishing my master thesis at chemical engineering and work towards a job as an embedded software developer. For this purpose I inform myself about software testing, embedded systems and programming in different languages besides my "main job" as a student.

I try to keep things simple and just write down what I did and why I did it every week whilst explaining one experiment every week. If the experiments are successful I'll integrate the tools/habits into my life. I do hope that this posts will inspire you to try out new things  along  with me and share your experiences.

Tools that I currently use on a daily base:

Workflowy, kanbanflow, headspace, gamequitters, my laptop, a handwritten journal.

What are the things I am experimenting with last week?

 kanbanflow.com,  workflowy.com, intermittent fasting, writing a handwritten journal.

Tool of the week: Kanbanflow.com

Kanban is an productivity system which can be used not only in industry but also in your personal planning. It is a simple concept and here is explained how it works. Kanbanflow.com is a website where you can use the Kanban system with a web application instead of a traditional white board and sticky notes. I personally find that attractive, because I don't want to have a physical white board standing around at my apartment (even if it is surely a good reminder of your todo's!). I experimented a bit wiht trello which is another kanban tool but what I like at kanbanflow is the better design and the included Pomodoro timer which automatically creates a log of the time you spent at different tasks. The method I use to plan my week is described in this video where I copied it from.

Result of the week:

I felt more effective but more importantly did I realize how less I effectively do everyday. I am pretty confident that the combined power of measuring my activities and the consequent use of the pomodoro method will increase my productivity quite a bit in the future if I get used to the system. Things I'll work on next week is the tendency to break pomodoros for distraction and to increase my pomodoro count on an average beyond 10. I'll like kanbanflow so far and think this will  the tool  I use for planning my week in the foreseeable future. I feel like this approach is more flexible then using a google calender which makes it usable for me.

 

Next week I will explain how I use my handwritten journal and what lessons I have learned there. I'll hope you enjoy and reply if you have things to add or thoughts about kanbanflow. Also questions are always welcome.

See you next week or on the journal and always remember: It is a Work in Progress.

 

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Weekly experiments Ep.2

Welcome. I am glad that I have you are reading this because this could change your life to the better. Today I will talk about my experiences with an handwritten journal.

I personally never thought that I was a person who would enjoy or get anything out of a daily Journal. For me this was something teenage girls did to write about their tragic love into a handsome sportsteam caption. You amy ask yourself if you read my Journal on this site: Why the hell did you write then for the last 8monts almost everyday in a online Journal?

The answer reads as following: I found Cam and Gamequitters and the members of this forum told me storys how this "journalling-thing" has been the most important part of their detox. At this point I was pretty dissapointed in my own abilities to judge things because I wasted so much time on gaming and was never able to stop even if I tried as hard as possible. So I said: "Fuck it!" and just started my journal without considering privacy problems or anything. I just started it. And this decision to "fuck it" was a wise one. I learned a lot about myself reflecting and challenging myself at this journal. But with time and after some discourses wiht my wife I got my doubts about spending so much time on a basically public place and to bear my heart out. That wass when I started to think about a private journal. Almost two weeks ago I bought an empty one and started this experiment.

Tools that I currently use on a daily base:

Workflowy, kanbanflow, headspace, gamequitters, my laptop, a handwritten journal.

What are the things I am experimenting with last week?

 kanbanflow.com,  workflowy.com, intermittent fasting, handwritten journal. ,

Tool of the week: Handwritten journal

I use a lined DINA5 Journal and write one page per day. On top there is the the actual date because I want to be able to look at it later and learn from my past experiences. On the bottom of the site I always put the time I finish in. I journal every day before I meditate which I do before my workday starts. I write freely over topics which are in my mind right now. It ranges from productivity over personal problems and strong feelings or I just write what I did the day before. The beauty at this that I don't have to consider a potential read or of beeing to vulnerable becasue noone except me will read this! And I still feel like I am processing my experiences and emotions in a helpful was. Sometimes I don't know what I feel before I talk about it and talking wiht a journal is a great way to clarify your mind. I like the limit of on page per day because this is manable to do everyday. It also evades the possibility of loosing too much time while overthinking my life. And the last positive point I have is that it makes me more Independent from my Laptop and the Internet.

Last week I had sometimes Problems to be consistent with this ahbit but I barely managed tow rite every day but at very different times. This week I managed to do it every time through fixing it infront of my meditation habit. I can imagine that it could be hard to stick with it if you haven't build a General Habit of journaling. So my advice to you would be to start with an online journal here (while keeping privacy in mind) and after you amde this a daily Habit I would Switch on the self-relian Handwritten journal.

Result of the weekly experiment:

Handwritten journalingl is awesome and not just overly romantic teenage girls should do it! I definitely will continue.

Next week:

I will talk about daily meditation and why I choose this habit as my main priority

I try to keep things simple and just write down what I did and why I did it every week, whilst explaining one experiment every week. If the experiments are successful I'll integrate the tools/habits into my life. I do hope that this posts will inspire you to try out new things  along  with me and share your experiences. If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to post them here. I am happy to help if I can.

See you next week or on the journal and always remember: It is a Work in Progress.

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@Cam Adair

I actually had not many of good ideas on how to make a custom diary. I personally like the free writing part. But If you haven't allready you could check out Tim Ferris 5min journal. I think that the limitation of space is one important factorfor me which shouldn't be neglected. But what works for me must not work for everyone. Best of luck with  that project.

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@Cam Adair

I actually had not many of good ideas on how to make a custom diary. I personally like the free writing part. But If you haven't allready you could check out Tim Ferris 5min journal. I think that the limitation of space is one important factorfor me which shouldn't be neglected. But what works for me must not work for everyone. Best of luck with  that project.

Cool thanks. If any other ideas come your way just let me know. Will keep them all in mind.

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Weekly experiments Ep.2

Welcome. I am glad that I have you are reading this because this could change your life to the better. Today I will talk about my experiences with an handwritten journal.

I personally never thought that I was a person who would enjoy or get anything out of a daily Journal. For me this was something teenage girls did to write about their tragic love into a handsome sportsteam caption. You amy ask yourself if you read my Journal on this site: Why the hell did you write then for the last 8monts almost everyday in a online Journal?

The answer reads as following: I found Cam and Gamequitters and the members of this forum told me storys how this "journalling-thing" has been the most important part of their detox. At this point I was pretty dissapointed in my own abilities to judge things because I wasted so much time on gaming and was never able to stop even if I tried as hard as possible. So I said: "Fuck it!" and just started my journal without considering privacy problems or anything. I just started it. And this decision to "fuck it" was a wise one. I learned a lot about myself reflecting and challenging myself at this journal. But with time and after some discourses wiht my wife I got my doubts about spending so much time on a basically public place and to bear my heart out. That wass when I started to think about a private journal. Almost two weeks ago I bought an empty one and started this experiment.

Tools that I currently use on a daily base:

Workflowy, kanbanflow, headspace, gamequitters, my laptop, a handwritten journal.

What are the things I am experimenting with last week?

 kanbanflow.com,  workflowy.com, intermittent fasting, handwritten journal. ,

Tool of the week: Handwritten journal

I use a lined DINA5 Journal and write one page per day. On top there is the the actual date because I want to be able to look at it later and learn from my past experiences. On the bottom of the site I always put the time I finish in. I journal every day before I meditate which I do before my workday starts. I write freely over topics which are in my mind right now. It ranges from productivity over personal problems and strong feelings or I just write what I did the day before. The beauty at this that I don't have to consider a potential read or of beeing to vulnerable becasue noone except me will read this! And I still feel like I am processing my experiences and emotions in a helpful was. Sometimes I don't know what I feel before I talk about it and talking wiht a journal is a great way to clarify your mind. I like the limit of on page per day because this is manable to do everyday. It also evades the possibility of loosing too much time while overthinking my life. And the last positive point I have is that it makes me more Independent from my Laptop and the Internet.

Last week I had sometimes Problems to be consistent with this ahbit but I barely managed tow rite every day but at very different times. This week I managed to do it every time through fixing it infront of my meditation habit. I can imagine that it could be hard to stick with it if you haven't build a General Habit of journaling. So my advice to you would be to start with an online journal here (while keeping privacy in mind) and after you amde this a daily Habit I would Switch on the self-relian Handwritten journal.

Result of the weekly experiment:

Handwritten journalingl is awesome and not just overly romantic teenage girls should do it! I definitely will continue.

Next week:

I will talk about daily meditation and why I choose this habit as my main priority

I try to keep things simple and just write down what I did and why I did it every week, whilst explaining one experiment every week. If the experiments are successful I'll integrate the tools/habits into my life. I do hope that this posts will inspire you to try out new things  along  with me and share your experiences. If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to post them here. I am happy to help if I can.

See you next week or on the journal and always remember: It is a Work in Progress.

Thank you for sharing this with us! Can't wait for the next week update!

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If keeping a handwritten journal, it is a good opportunity to work on handwriting. I really enjoy using a fountain pen and a refillable cartridge (black ink rocks!!), LAMY has some good entry models with interchangeable tips (~20-30€ in Germany). It is not just what you write - but also how. Pay attention to paper quality. Good handwriting makes messages more meaningful. Western Calligraphy can also be relaxing.

Just some tips!

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I've started with a handwritten journal before I joined GameQuitters. Initially I used it to keep interesting thoughts I had, but over the time it changed into a journal about self-improvement and self-reflection. I find it amazing to revisit old thoughts and to check the developement of my own thought process. Now with my journal here at GameQuitters, I still use my handwritten journal, but only for important and private stuff. I mostly write before I go to bed, cause that is the time when I'm most creative.

@destoroyah For me, perfectonism has been a big obstacle at starting a journal. I wanted to write only amazing thoughts in perfect handwriting. This held me back for a long time. I had the best results with just writing whatever came to my mind not caring about scratchy handwriting. But it surely is a good opportunity to practise handwriting this way, especially in times of electronic writing devices.

You mentioned intermittent fasting. How do you do it? Do you just skip breakfast / dinner? Do you have a special diet too?

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My handwritiing is really crappy. And I sort of lack the Determination to improve at that Point . But I actually bought a Lamy Diary with included ballpointpen for around 25€. Maybe I invest later on in a better fountain pen. But in "real" life I will more often use a ballpoint pen anyway. So it may be more use to learn to write readabel with the Tools I have :)

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  • 1 month later...

Interesting approach with Kanbanflow. I'll give it a shot! Personally, I also use MS Todoist as well as the Forest App in order to increase productivity. I tried Habitica as well but I soon discovered that gamification does not work for me. Well, good luck with your project!

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