Tag Archives: journaling

A case for reading (and especially libraries) in a crisis

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This week there has been a slow tip on a personal level towards things getting back to whatever ‘normal’ might be now. I’ve returned to work, albeit not on a full time basis, which has allowed me to get a sense of how I can finally plan this quarter and the summer season successfully. Not knowing when/if I would be going back led to a lot of procrastination and uncertainty. True, if things stay on track it will change again in October, but I’m happy with that marker as I’ve since realised it lines up nicely with planning out the final quarter of the year.

Side note: I can’t even begin to imagine how my yearly review is going to look at the end of December!

The other thing was that for the first time since the beginning of March, I had an email to say that I had a reservation to collect from the library. It seems like a whole lifetime ago when I placed the order (The Body by Bill Bryson, if you’re interested). As someone who still isn’t really embracing the ‘freedoms’ of post-lockdown, the thought of actually going into a library feels funny, but what doesn’t these days?

I have not read as much as many people during lockdown, but I have managed to stay on track with my two books a month goal I set for myself at the beginning of the year. When scrolling leads to nothing but anxiety and uncertainty, a good book is a solid reminder that this is but a snapshot in human history and suffering.

But more than that, I have always argued that the public library is one of the greatest democratising forces we have. Even if you don’t meet the requirements for borrowing in a specific library, you can go in there for free, sit in the warm, dry chairs and absorb whatever you feel like reading. It is easy to forget that in our current internet age and it is true that there is an entire generation who have not been taught to appreciate the library system. Under threat before, I wonder how many will fail to survive once this pandemic is over?

It’s also no surprise that despite their value, they opened after pubs and were prioritised less, which tells us something damning about our society I think.

I guess I am contemplating this more because it intersects with the current book I am reading, Digital Minimalism, by Cal Newport. I’m in a phase of seeking a more intentional life, one akin to the pre-child years, although I realise that will never entirely be the case again. Reading hard books and being able to lay my hands on them without having to worry about the financial outlay right now is a part of that. Academic texts are not exactly known for having a low price tag.

In fun stuff, I have identical format Moleskine and Leuchtturm pocket notebooks turning up next week. It’s been a while since I’ve tried the Moleskine one and now seems like a good time to do a direct comparison. I’ll be using them as my idea books (different to my daily carry list and notes book, which is usually a Field Notes, or my writing ideas and long form notebooks, which I prefer to be A5). Hopefully there will be enough differences that I’ll be able to write something about them here that could be helpful to people wondering which one is best for them.

Here’s to a happy and productive week!

Preparation and Planning

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So, after several months at home, I am gearing up to return to the world of work. I’m not going to lie, it feels strange.

I’ve been very fortunate in that I live in the UK and have been furloughed. This has allowed us as a family to tick along from a financial perspective and for me to take on a significant role in childcare so my partner (who works in healthcare) can work as and when has been needed.

With that all about to change, it’s time to think about how to plan and prepare for a return to work. I did take a moment this morning just to sit outside with my coffee as the sun came up and most normal people were still in bed to quietly think about how to do this.

Coffee in silence

Schedules

We still have reduced childcare for the foreseeable future, so planning out our hours and time-blocking means we will hopefully manage the logistics of work without sacrificing too much combined family time. In the early stages of lockdown it felt like we were tag-team parenting which is not sustainable or healthy in the long term. I’ve been listening to Cal Newport’s podcast to get ideas from a fresh perspective.

Meal Planning

I’ve been doing this on a more ad-hoc basis during lockdown, simply because I enjoy cooking and the kitchen has been more accessible than when I was working full time out of the house. It’s time to think about batch cooking and quick and easy healthy meals – more of a challenge than it should be when you have a toddler under dietician supervision.

Downtime

I’ve struggled with relaxation the most over the past few months. We don’t have a large house, so there is a sense you’re never far away from other people or lego blocks. I have a lengthy commute to the office (usually an hour each way) so I am planning audio content so that it feels like there is some greater pleasure and purpose than simply getting from A to B. I also need to make sure to schedule and protect that alone time without feeling guilty (easier said than done).

Habits and Routines

I live my life by my habits and routines, but it’s worth noting that any significant change is an opportunity to review what you currently do and question whether or not it is still fit for purpose or if it could be done better. I’m thinking of moving things around to make it more likely that writing will get done. It’s likely that something will have to be sacrificed to make room for that, but I’d like to make it a conscious choice rather than anything else.

As more of us return to work, it’s clear that there will be a new normal for much longer than many politicians are willing to admit. It’s how we adapt to these changes without damaging our physical, social and mental health that will determine our success in the long term.

Getting out is harder than getting in

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Here in the UK, or should I say specifically England (yay government unity… *massive eyeroll*), we’re definitely moving into the latter stages of re-opening our economy. From the 1st August even higher risk businesses will be allowed. Not soft play though, which is confusing given that everyone in government keeps banging on about the lower risk in the younger ages. Not that I’ll be going anywhere near one for quite some time.

So with that in mind, all I can keep thinking about is Jurassic Park. Just because you can do something, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should.

The daily act of risk assessment is exhausting. As is the constant battle over the perceptions of others. Are you being too cautious and wasting your precious hours on earth? Are you being too complacent and therefore recklessly risking yourself, your loved ones and the whole of society? It’s far too easy to just swing from extreme to extreme, especially when you’re sleep deprived and a small child wants the door both open and closed and is having a meltdown until you manage to defy the laws of physics for them.

So… I am going to try a few things. They are all things that I was doing perfectly well before this happened, so I know that it’s possible.

  1. Keep writing. I actually completed what could be considered a beta version of a manuscript this week, done in small pockets of time during naps and before 5am. It felt good.
  2. Stop looking at the news. I hadn’t looked at the news for a very long time before this happened and now I’m always doom scrolling. It’s not good for my mental health and definitely pushes me towards the take no risks or we’ll all die! side of the spectrum.
  3. Avoid social media. Again, something I had mostly done, but somehow Twitter scrolling (if not posting) has snuck back in. I’d like to keep Instagram, but I have to make sure I only look at my following feed, rather than hit the explore button and have the algorithm feed me endlessly scrolling horror.
  4. Get outside more. The weather hasn’t been great here and it only takes a vaguely cloudy day for me to talk myself out of exercise. But then the autumn will be here before I know it and I’ll be kicking myself.
  5. Read more. I’m getting better at this again. If you’re taking bad habits out of your life, then you have to be proactive about what you replace them with. Nature abhors a vacuum. Reading is becoming my default replacement.

In keeping with my attempts at more control and optimism, I’ve finished yet another notebook that is mean and moody

and I’ll be replacing it with something more bright, optimistic and with a reminder that there is a world out there:

Have a good weekend everyone. Stay safe, stay healthy and stay sane!

Pandemic Planning Mindset

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Everyone who knows me or reads this site knows that I’m a planner. One of the most relaxing things I can do is sit down with my physical planner, some nice pens and a coffee, and work through what’s coming up and what I want to achieve. This most recent quarterly review really made me consider mindset and much as actions.

I’d actually blocked a time aside in my calendar at the end of June and arranged to not be in charge of the small, loud tornado that is my toddler. I was looking forward to it, but when the day actually arrived I was feeling nothing short of meh. Instead of ploughing on with it, I decided to reschedule. Not once, but twice.

kikki.k planner

Current planner and essential mildliners

This isn’t like me, but given the current situation, it seemed like the most logical choice. It’s so hard to plan and dream when there are so many unknowns. Sure, the UK is coming out of lockdown, but so was Florida and Texas. Coming out of lockdown basically requires people to be sensible and thoughtful of others. I don’t have much faith in other humans at the best of times, but throw alcohol and new-found freedom into the mix and I can’t help but be prepared for a bumpy ride. Going into a planning and dreaming session with such a negative mindset is a recipe for disaster.

Add into the fact I was coming off a month of sleepless nights (my own fault for mentioning that a certain child had started sleeping through at last, thus causing some slapback from the universe), and I was struggling with the reviewing part, let alone the planning for the future.

Just grateful for coffee I guess

Quite simply, mindset matters, much more than the day of the week. It’s easy when you have a perfectionist, upholder streak to do the review at the set time and place because that’s the best way and what you always do. In reality, it won’t matter if your quarterly review isn’t complete until a week into the new quarter (I finally finished the detail of mine this morning). What matters is that you’ve set some goals and plans that you feel enthusiastic about and hopeful for and that are within your control. This isn’t the time for massive stretch goals, not unless you have no family responsibilities and a higher than average autonomy over your surroundings. The pandemic planning mindset is about incremental progress forwards and celebrating the small wins. We’re in this for the long haul.

Work with what you have right now

Anyone who wants a good framework on how to do effective reviews should sign up for Sarah Hart-Unger’s email list and get her free planner download. It’s pretty much exactly what I’ve done for years (although she uses a very interesting quintiles system rather than quarters), but her template looks much nicer than anything I have right now! Her blog is always worth a read, especially her current pandemic blogging streak.

And talking of email lists, it came to my attention that mine had been disabled for a week or so. It should all be sorted now (thanks to mail chimp for the speedy customer service), so if you’ve tried to download a template and it failed, then please try again. If you still have problems, feel free to get in touch and I’ll take a look as soon as I can.

How are you doing during the apocalypse?

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Wow. It’s been over a year since my last post. I think that’s the longest break I’ve taken on this blog since 2014. It’s hardly surprising though, given that since then I’ve:

  • had a toddler who waited until he was 23 months old to sleep through the night without a 2-3 hour stretch awake every night
  • had an office relocation which has added 2 hours to my daily commute
  • experienced a 9 week persistent cough that wiped me out from mid February requiring antibiotics (didn’t work) and a subsequent chest x-ray, but at the time wasn’t a concern because I hadn’t travelled to China or Italy (I still don’t know if it was actually an early case of COVID-19)
  • experienced a pandemic that has changed my role from full-time worker to furloughed main parent while my other half carries on as a key worker

As I write this, we are on day 74 since the UK went into lockdown. Even though restrictions have now been eased, as someone who used to work with healthcare data, I’m overly conscious of the statistics being presented to fit a narrative, so we’ve not really changed things that much. I haven’t been inside a supermarket since the 23rd March. I’ve not filled up the car with petrol since the day before that, so 2020 is doing wonders for my mile to the gallon. I know all of this because I’m keeping a few scribbles about each day for posterity in a specific pocket notebook.

My daily coronavirus notebook. Depressingly far through.

Despite all that, it has been a chance to reset. The first 8 weeks of parenting were the toughest (there’s a reason that this introvert isn’t the full time carer usually), but we’ve both settled into a groove now. It has taken me until the last 10 days to actually feel recovered from the commute and two years of getting by on 5 hours of sleep rather than my usual 8. Now, finally, I have enough mental capacity to step back and think about what life could look like in the future and even – *gasp* – write this post.

Several things have kept me grounded and allowed me to get here. The first is a gift that was technically for my son, but has kept me engaged and invested for hours – butterflies! We set them free today and it was a good reminder that life is both fleeting and fragile, but can also be full of wonder if you let it.

Podcasts have given me perspective, even though the amount of time I can listen has drastically reduced now that I’m not commuting. Favourites have been What Fresh Hell, The Mom Hour and Says Who? In fact, every time I listen to a UK politician right now, I hear Maureen Johnson’s voice: These are not bright guys. Things just got out of hand.

Thankfully, we’ve made our way through the food stuffs that we would never normally have in the house, purchased because, well, there wasn’t a lot of choice and with no guarantee of when we could get the next food delivery in the early days. And there is nothing quite like the fear in a parent’s heart when the nappy shelves are empty day after day, let me tell you. That will stay with me for a long time. But I’ll also be very, very grateful if that was the biggest hardship. Millions out there haven’t been so lucky, and I know it.

Stay sane. Stay safe.

Rhodia notepad – my best analogue capture device

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Sometimes the best things come to us in life entirely by mistake. That’s exactly what happened to me with the Rhodia no 12 pad and it has turned out to be one of the most useful analogue tools I use.

Unlike my digital task management systems (which are separate for work and personal), this can be used for everything. A story or character idea? Check. A task I need to complete for a client? Check. Topping up the coolant levels in my car? Check. I just write the thought down, tear off the sheet and throw it in my inbox to be processed at a more convenient time.

A frequent thought right now

I didn’t realise how small this was when I brought it. I’d heard people talk about how fountain pen friendly the paper used by Rhodia was and saw it at a reasonable price. Thanks to the one click simplicity of the internet, I’d paid for it and it was being delivered before I really looked any further. Initially I was disappointed, but at 85 by 120mm, it sat unobtrusively on my desk and was always at hand when a rogue thought popped into my head.

As part of the Getting Things Done methodology, David Allen talks about the benefits of writing down a single thought on a full size sheet of paper. Despite the recycling options now available, that feels wasteful to me. Post it notes don’t work out either, because although they are a similar, more convenient size, they stick to everything else in your inbox and inevitably get lost on the back of a letter that you filed.

The tear off perforations on the pad are sturdy but easy to rip. I’ve never had a sheet come loose, but nor have I ever had a ragged half-piece of paper where it got stuck and wouldn’t cleanly come free.

I never have to worry about what writing implement is already in my hand when the bolt of lightning strikes either. I’ve had a felt tip, a gel pen, a pencil and a nice juicy stub-nibbed fountain pen and none of them have bled through to the sheet below or smeared. When it comes to getting ideas out of your head so you can get back to what you’re meant to be doing, silly frictions like having to swap to a ballpoint will stop you from writing it down at all. I’m super lazy like that and, if you’re being honest, I bet you are too.

It’s even small enough to hide behind a Field Notes

So, for the perfect little desk or pocket notepad, it ticks all the boxes. I usually try to do a pros and cons list when I write about physical tools, but for this little buddy I can’t think of any cons. And with such high quality for such a low cost, it’s worth giving a go, no matter how high or low tech your system is.

MD Diary Notebook pros and cons

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2018 was a busy, complex year. In 2019 I’m going simple.  As simple as possible whilst still being effective. So when searching for a paper planner, that was my main focus. After a wide range of searches, I settled on the MD Diary Notebook and now we’re a few weeks in, it’s serving me well.

Why simple?

In 2018, my morning routine was too much to handle. Becoming a new mom meant I needed less if I wanted to get any real work done, but instead I somehow started to hold onto the morning routine as being work in itself. In short, I used it for procrastination, whilst still checking boxes and feeling good about myself. When doing my yearly review it was abundantly clear how little work actually got done. This year, my goal is to simplify everything in order to focus on what matters.

To give you an idea of how much I need to simplify things, here is a list of all the paper based products I used last year as part of my ‘routine’.

  • A one line a day memory book
  • A Leuchturrm weekly planner
  • Trigg Life Mapper
  • Midori Travelers Notebook and inserts (x3)
  • Pocket notebooks, e.g. Field Notes (x5)
  • A5 notebooks for journaling (x8)
  • A5 notebooks for creative projects (x1)

It’s no great surprise that traveling this year was nothing short of impossible unless I only wanted paper in my hand luggage. For this year, my goal is to stick with the following:

  • A one line a day memory book
  • MD Diary Notebook
  • Pocket notebooks for ideas on the go
  • A5 notebooks for creative ideas

That’s a serious cut and I still want to keep the elements that work. Journaling has kept me sane after countless sleepless nights and full time work days, so I don’t want to let it go completely.

So why choose the MD Diary Notebook?

Firstly, the majority of the book is lined pages, with slightly darker lines splitting the page into quarters. It allows me the free form elements to control the pieces of my practice, but the structure allows me to limit it to a single page per day. That in itself reduces the procrastination time. I’m not artistic enough for a fancy BuJo, but as Ryder Carroll himself pointed out in his recent post, it’s not about prettiness and social media likes, it’s about serving a purpose.

This gives me the pages I need without requiring me to brush up on my calligraphy, or having to draw out calendar pages. If you do like artistic and pretty, then the lined format is much less likely to work for you.

I use the first quarter to write down three things I’m grateful for, a positive affirmation and my main goal for the day. That then leaves me the remainder of a page to do a brain dump and get any nagging thoughts or events I want to remember in the future off my mind.

Monthly Calendar View

The MD diary allows me to combine my planning and routine together so that when I travel, everything is in one place. Each month has a square for each day, with a wide right-hand margin and further space at the bottom of the page.

Admittedly I have to keep my writing small and neat to make this work. Many would argue that it doesn’t leave much space for a whole month’s worth of planning, but again this forces constraint. Is it really going to get done this month or is it more of a wish-list item? I use a digital app as my actual task management system because I’m very granular (a typical GTD-er) so don’t need that space for long lists.

The Year View

The year view is also compact. Perhaps a little too compact for most people.

Again there is space down the side for important notes, but I’m guessing this section will work with different coloured highlighters and a key to what they actually mean in the margin.

Of course, form factor isn’t everything. There still needs to be sufficient quality and that is something I’ve always found to be the case with any Midori product. The paper works well with every fountain pen I’ve thrown at it, including a 1.5 stub nib with reasonably wet ink. Due to the space restrictions, the majority of users are likely to be writing with a medium nib at most, so I don’t see this being a problem.

General planner-procrastination observations

Last year I spent far less time on creative ideas. There were probably fewer A5 notebooks in comparison to previous years, but the ones I did fill were packed with naval gazing more than actual work. Similarly I used a LOT less pocket notebooks. Looking back, that was because I was firefighting for much of the time and my old GTD habit of capturing thoughts and ideas to put into my system began to slide.

So far I can completely recommend my new setup as a way to control the start of your day, but as is the case with these things, the true test is if it is still working for me by the time that second quarter of 2019 rolls around.

Field Notes Still Hanging Around: Black Ice

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Just to be clear, this edition has now sold out on the Field Notes website. Where it’s hanging around is on my desk, never getting used as part of my creative writing or planning routine. So I thought it was time to do a Field Notes Black Ice review and work out why.

I was really excited when I first saw the Field Notes Black Ice edition. One of my favourite things about Field Notes is their constant push towards innovation. Not only was this a beautiful looking edition with its shiny cover, it was also a brand-new way of binding the Field Notes.

This edition was found more like the Write notepads. Having tried Write notepads before this edition I was slightly dubious from the start about how this functionality would fit within my life. One of my favourite things about a Field Notes notebook is its ability to lie relatively flat on the desk. This is only a small thing for some people, but I find it very easy when the book is close to ignore the tasks inside. Having the book open on my desk means I am more likely to achieve what I need to do during that day as part of my creative/productive workflows. This, in the end, was one of the biggest downsides for me, along with the line drooling inside. However I did love the orange colour of the lines and thought them a beautiful compliment to the binding.

I know for many people these two features combined won’t really be a problem. But for me this turns a beautiful looking edition into something I really struggle to use in daily life. Normally I can get through a fieldnotes notebook in approximately three weeks. Sometimes, if it is particularly busy I can complete one in two weeks. if things are less busy it can take four to five weeks. However on my first run I used the Black Ice edition for over six weeks now and it was only half full. I simply did not find myself reaching for this edition like I normally do with the Field Notes in my pocket. Instead I began to scribble my notes on pieces of paper and dream about the next release. I also started using other notebooks to record my ideas and small tasks began to get recorded in my paper planner. Eventually it got put into my Dudek Modern Goods pen and paper stand and it has been there ever since.

So why would anyone like this edition? The one thing I can’t deny is that Black Ice looks beautiful. The cover somehow remains shiny metallic looking even after the six weeks of use. The cover also crinkles nicely in the pockets. One of the many reasons people enjoy using Field Notes is how they look once used and have a slightly distressed finish. The use of new binding as opposed to the traditional three staples means that this edition is slightly thicker than usual. This makes it harder to bend and tear when in the bag or in the pocket so along with fewer signs of wear and tear, the pages stay very much intact. Some of the editions of Field Notes immediately prior to this (I’m looking at you Two Rivers) had definite issues when it came to keeping the paper inside the cover. Given how much I enjoyed holding the book open and cracking the spine, I expected this to also be in edition where the pages fell out easily, so was pleasantly surprised when they didn’t.

I often see Black Ice for resale, so it seems I wasn’t the only one that couldn’t make it work for them. Given that I’m in the process of re-shaking up my routine and productivity system again, it was time to clear the desk. Sadly, the half-finished Black Ice will be consigned to the drawer with the completed notebooks.

Maybe one day I’ll want to pull it out again.

The Blackwing 54 – A Writer’s Pencil

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Whether you’re more of a fan of digital or analogue, I’m a firm believer that the more attractive a tool is, the more likely you are to use it. When it comes to getting things done, that also means more gets done.

Palomino are known to make beautiful, unique looking pencils that make people willing to step up to the relatively expensive price point. If people are prepared to do that for the standard issue, then they are more than willing to buy into the limited edition concept.

Which leads me to…. the Blackwing Volumes Edition 54: The Exquisite Corpse. A pencil unlike anything they’ve released before and possibly the fastest selling quarterly release ever.

Look

I’ve yet to see any photograph that really does justice to the colour of the 54. That goes for the rose-coloured body and the teal stamping. Truly gorgeous. I’m in two minds about the colour of the eraser ( a fairly standard blue), but as they’re interchangeable then I know that if another colour comes along in the future then it will be easy enough to swap.

Feel

For me – and many others – the real selling point is the core. The Blackwing 54 has the extra firm core that has so far only been made available in limited edition releases. As the Blackwing 24 has been my favourite edition of all time, I’m happy to see a release that has the same innards.

As you would expect from a premium pencil, the graphite just slides over the page regardless of how hard it is, making it an absolute joy to write with.

Point Retention

It is the point retention of the Blackwing 54 that makes it a writer’s pencil. When writing longform pieces, there is nothing worse than having to stop and sharpen your pencil every three minutes. It’s possible to write with the Blackwing 54 for longer than a standard Blackwing 602 (and certainly longer than the affectionately named MMX), but without sacrificing a nice dark line in the process.

Comparison

Although there are three volumes editions with the extra firm core, in my experience they are not actually identical. The 530 was lighter than the 24 (something other people noticed too), which was a bit of a disappointment. In my test below, you can see how they all line up – with the majority standard favourite, the Blackwing 602 – included for comparison.

The overall verdict? I love this pencil. It makes me want to get out my notebook and write for hours. The 24 is still my favourite, but from a writing perspective, the 54 has to come in a close second.

Five ways to create a flexible planning system

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As you may have noticed, there haven’t been many new posts here lately. It would be so easy to say that life got ‘busy’. In reality, life changed and the systems I had in place weren’t flexible enough to handle it.

Is your productivity system flexible enough to handle change?

Many people from a GTD background spend years getting their system to work just the way they want it to. One of the major strengths of the Getting Things Done system is that it is inherently flexible. There is no preferred tool and you can customise the set up to suit your needs and circumstances.

But once we find a way of doing things that feels right to us, humans develop an overwhelming resistance to change. The system might be flexible, but we become inflexible. Without realising it, I had found myself in this trap. Setting aside the time for creative thinking and writing of posts fell through the cracks as a result.

So how do we make sure that our systems are flexible enough that changes don’t bring everything to a grinding halt?

Don’t be wholly reliant on a system that isn’t transferable.

Whilst we all have our favourite tools (both digital and analogue), there is an inherent danger in being completely tied into one. It may have the best features in the world right now, but when it stops being supported and you can’t export your tasks and projects, you’re in big trouble. Frictionless access to your next actions is vital.

Separate life and work

For many years, people argued that when it came to life and work, it was all one and therefore only one system was needed. Whilst in some ways this is true, ‘work’ changes at a much faster rate now than when GTD was originally published back in 2001. Not only do we change employers much more frequently, many of us now have developed side hustles to cope with a crazy economy in a crazy world. If your system is all nicely integrated to your day job but that changes every few years or even months, then it can be a painful process to routinely unpick it all. With constant data breaches, companies are getting more and more antsy about accessing different tools on their systems.

Letting go is not the same as giving up

We can become deeply wedded to an idea of something we want – or think we should want – to do. When circumstances change, it may no longer be relevant. Sometimes it can hurt to let something go, or feel a sense of failure for not completing it. The end result is a system full of junk that you once wanted to accomplish, but now have no real intention of taking action on. Over time, this clutter can slow everything down until you stop noticing the things that remain important even once life settles down again.

Attractive tools that are easy to use

It’s a simple fact that the more you want to play with your toys, the more time you’ll spend with them. A task management system you don’t like will be a task management system you ignore. The same applies when things change. It might be that your app worked fantastically with email input at a time when most of your tasks appeared that way. But if it is cumbersome when you have to add a task manually and that becomes your new normal, you’re going to stop looking at and updating the tool pretty quickly.

Don’t be a chronic-optimist

When your circumstances change, the new tasks you need to complete take their toll on other items, even if they are seemingly unrelated. Learning new things and using your day in different ways tires you out in the beginning. This means a task you have been completing in 30 minutes at 6pm for years can suddenly take double that amount of time when you’re forced to push it back to 8pm and your brain is extra tired. Before you know it, you’re in backlog with tasks that you haven’t got round to. Like writing this post, for example…

So, after nearly six weeks of tweaking my system after my third major change in two years, I think I’ve made it slightly more adaptable.

Only time will tell.