Sunday 9/29/2019 4:20 pm -- I'm at the halfway point of my sabbatical, and have realized that the past three weeks has been heavily focused on just three areas: writing, fitness, and getting my LinkedIn profile squared away. I also managed to pursue lots of other goals that would best be described as either general quality of life improvements, or silly things that don't belong to a category. Below is a list of some of the various things that I think are pretty cool.
Stuff I've done that makes me happy
- Seriously reduced my back pain
- Sat in my favorite chair for long periods of time
- Recommitted to eating 4-5 meals a day + several snacks + lots of applies + a multi-vitamin
- Uninstalled the news app from my phone, and removed as many alerts as possible
- Grew out my mohawk
- Set up a personal AWS account for experimentation
- Set up Screentime limits on my daughters' phones
- Clipped the dangling spoke off my rear bike wheel
- Cleaned the rooftop gutter trap
- Made biscuits and pancakes on several occasions
- Made 6 pounds of Korean ribs one afternoon, and ate them all myself
- Deep-cleaned the bbq grill
- Requested an estimate from a sound proofer
- Canceled all of our unnecessary monthly bills
- Unsubscribed from several stupid email notifications
- Transferred all our family videos and photos on Amazon Photos
- Posted 8 short shorts as blog posts, many of which have undergone small rewrites
- Spoke with various people about my story idea, enough to have finally worked out what it's going to be about
- Selected a primary care physician, and arranged for a full medical check-up
- Wrote 5 LinkedIn recommendations, and received 2 recommendations
- Joined Toastmasters, and successfully handled being in the hot seat during "Table Topics"
- Attended jiu jitsu at least 3 times a week, and have worked especially closely with a few of the brown and purple belts during randori
- Increased my forward planche lean tilt to 35ยบ
- Did an arm-only 15 foot rope climb with 20lbs attached
- Established a baseline of strength for my primary lifts (deadlift, military press, weighted chin-up, bench press)
- Ratcheted up my weekly running mileage to > 20 miles
- Arranged visits with my dad and my sister
- Completed enough coop shifts so I don't have to work again until March
- Agreed to do an interview with a prominent online tech publication
Key Insight
The things that increase my happiness the most are very simple:
- Writing, and having periods of solitude + boredom
- Being able to exercise (without pain) as much as I want in 4 categories: jiu jitsu, weights, gymnastics, running
- Helping my daughters with their homework whenever they need help
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