Change is good, right?
A lot of the time, it is! I know I tend to feel excited and curious when I learn a new tech platform. But at the same time, it can feel frustrating and anxiety inducing. Why can’t I keep using my old platforms? What if I am required to use a new one, just for my job? Or what if my old habits/platforms are no longer serving me?
That’s where I found myself when…
- I wasn’t having fun on fka Twitter anymore; also it is no longer in line with my values
- My system for keeping track of those “important but not urgent” to-do’s was falling through the cracks (and I couldn’t remember the last time… or if… I had changed my furnace filter)
- I love tracking my reading, but I’m missing tracking other kinds of media, like podcasts and occasional TV shows (currently watching Yellowstone!)
- I sign up for Substacks from writers who I love, but I never get around to reading them (why??)
- My email response time is lagging, even on things that are important to me
Does this sound familiar?
Let me be pretty candid and say that I think a lot of “productivity hacks” are bogus. Barely disguised self-blaming capitalist “self help” frameworks do more harm than good.
But at the same time, I appreciate the opportunity to reflect on how I can do things differently, (more inline with my goals and values), while also having fun with tech in the process.
So that’s what led me to try out some new platforms and ideas, including:
- Notion (which is kinda a “track anything” app)
- Reddit (which is kinda anonymous message boards)
- and a little bit of time blocking to round things out
I’m going to share more about learning these platforms, why, how, and how it’s going!
im learning Reddit
I know fka Twitter was always a cesspool, but it was a cozy corner of the interwebs for me, personally. I had such a fun time building a professional network where people altruistically shared their learnings and asked for help. I miss the days when I could post there about a weird error message I was getting in Salesforce and have someone I barely knew offer to get on a Zoom with me to troubleshoot. In searching for a replacement for the time I spent on Twitter, I’ve put more energy into paying attention to larger, community Slack instances as well as Mastodon. Both of those platforms have been fun and nurturing in different ways, but neither one quite scratched my itch.
When my partner and I experienced a life changing tragedy, he found some solace and support in various subreddits with people who had gone through similar circumstances. I guess I had a prior misconception that Reddit was mostly for the gamer-type of nerds; plus some intimidation about getting into something new. That all changed when I was introduced to, “Am I The Cloaca” a subreddit spoof on “Am I The Asshole,” written exclusively from the perspective of naughty or misunderstood pets.
I didn’t realize how much I missed hearing from random strangers about subcultures that are important to me until I started spending an hour per day scrolling on these message boards, where I quickly found likeminded individuals who care about the specific brand of E-bike that I ride, the specific breed of cat that I am obsessed with, manicures, scams, and, yeah, Salesforce, too. I think this kind of community is possible on Mastodon (which I enjoy a lot too!) but my Mastodon is full of computer scientists talking about things that I don’t understand, but find vaguely interesting. The strangers on Reddit are talking about somewhat rare things that I am deeply passionate about. There’s a big difference! I’m also really appreciating the culture of forum “moderators” that has kept misbehavior to a minimum. Spending an hour per day reading Reddit is sometimes the best part of my day. My partner finds me laughing out loud; I regale my friends with sordid mishaps on “r/hobbydrama” and I got a heads up about a pricing change for a software contract that I am likely renegotiating soon. It’s been so good for me!
im learning Notion
I already knew that I wanted to dip my toe into “PKM” (personal knowledge management) especially as my life chapter will soon involve keeping track of a lot more info and moving parts! So, once I decided that I wanted to try Notion, I was delighted to look for Notion communities on Reddit (!!!) to learn the ropes. And this strategy did not disappoint.
Many people call Notion a “notekeeping” app, but I think perhaps it is better described as a “track anything app” (at least according to my habits so far) and also a delightful distraction of “shaving the yak.” I’m having at least as much fun designing the pages as I am using the pages to keep track of this and that.
The Eisenhower principle divides to do items into quadrants based on importance and urgency. I personally struggle with the “important, but not urgent” quadrant. The chart above says that we should “schedule” these items. I certainly do not want them on my calendar. The main issue is, it doesn’t matter exactly when these happen, as long as they happen in a general timing range. Here are some examples:
- Getting bloodwork done
- Replacing filters in household appliances
- Deep cleaning random stuff
- Ordering household supplies
- Calling the dentist
- Ordering gifts for friends and fam
- Taking artwork to the frame shop
So I need to organize these task by week (ish), some of them recurring, some of them one-off, all of them somewhat important to me. Having a repository for all of these tasks is enormously useful, but it has to be a repository that I want to use. That’s where the design elements come in!
I have used the drag-and-drop interface to design all of my pages to have the cutest Hello Kitty images, buttons, and general doo dads. I’ve also put in some formulas to count up my progress on these tasks, so that I can celebrate my accomplishments.
In addition tracking things that I need to do, I’ve also begun tracking things that I want to do, such as craft projects, media that does not fit into Goodreads (podcasts, movies, longform journalism), and workout activities.
Lastly, I’m also tracking important life things like notes from my dr visits that are stored in a dynamic format that is better than Google docs.
Notion works for me because I’ve trained my brain to be comfortable with “relational database” structures (list of doctors, list of appts, cross reference!) but I can see how it could be overwhelming and confusing to set up at first. For people who want to track things in a more “straightforward” way, I’ve previously had some good success with traditional project management tools like Asana, Trello, Basecamp, etc. They all have pros and cons but they basically do the same things.
im experimenting with time blocking
I mentioned earlier in this post that there are some internet things that are important to me that I have not been able to prioritize, either because of waiting for the “perfect time fallacy” or because I am just plain, old procrastinating. I am inspired by how my spreadsheet soulmate, Emily, coaches people on these sticky issues in their 5-Shut Down Your Computer Challenge.
I’m trying out a new practice of dedicating 2 hours on Sunday OR Monday to pair these two issues together – catch up on emails I’ve been avoiding AND read my Substacks that I haven’t prioritized even though I want to. I’m keeping this loose, since it doesn’t really matter if I do this on Sunday OR Monday or a different day, or exactly how much time it takes. However, setting an intention to do it and pairing these two things together might give me the motivation I need to really stick with it. (Plus, then, can I track it in Notion?! )
in conclusion
These experiments have been fun, exciting, and meaningful so far! I’m holding myself to low standards, like meeting my “habit forming” goals only 75% of the time (tracked in Notion!) and being generous and not self-shamey about the time I’m spending on Reddit. Even blogging about it here has been useful reflection. I would love to hear if you struggle with the same issues, overlap with the same tools, or have other thoughts to share about internet habits, distraction, overwhelm, and infusing the places where we spend so much time with FUN. You know what to do – leave me a comment!