Tag: technology

Posted on
by

Recently I watched Joshua LaPorte’s video on his time mapping for 2014.

I was so inspired, I decided to do something similar but using the 30/30 app instead of an Excel file.

This is the first of a 2-part series on my system, hope you like it.

The background

As I mentioned, I recently watched LaPorte’s video:

Being the nerd that I am, I immediately opened up Excel and began mapping my own day.

I was surprised to find that, like Joshua, I only had around 2 hours a day of free time.

Obviously I’ve over-allocated some of the tasks eg. I don’t need 15 minutes to feed the cat. But over-estimating is always better than running over time.

This time map is also overly optimistic. I’ve never had any regular exercise regime and I don’t think I have been able get to bed before midnight for years.

But this really showed me why I go to bed so late; I’ve always assumed that I have more free time than I did and before I know it, it’s 3am.

For this new year, I hope to increase my sleep and exercise time by following this time map.

But I knew I wouldn’t be working with Excel. It’s too rigid; tasks are all allocated in time-specific slots and it doesn’t easily adapt to changes, eg. dinner might get rescheduled to an earlier or later time.

Introducing the 30/30 app.

The 30/30 app is a colourful little app designed by Binary Hammer.

The idea is you trick your mind into completely focusing on one task for 10 minutes, after which you reward yourself with a 2-minute break to do whatever you want.

You repeat this four more times and an hour of your work day would have passed, and four tasks would have been moved forward towards completion.

If you are a person who needs some help with getting past their procrastination, whether at work or at home, I highly recommend reading Merlin Mann’s article on this hack.

30/30 app + Time Mapping

So when looking for an alternative way of keeping track of my time map, I figured that the 30/30 app would be just what I needed.

To start, I enter in all the tasks that need to happen between when I get home from work till when I begin winding down for bed.[^I’ve [discovered](http://psychcentral.com/lib/12-ways-to-shut-off-your-brain-before-bedtime/0006577) that having a pre-sleep routine (like reading for 15 minutes in bed) helps slow my mind down, so it’s not buzzing around when I’m trying to sleep.] I don’t plan on using a time map during work; that goes into my asana task manager.

Now on the top left of the app’s display (marked by a blue frame in the screenshot), you can see how long all your task would take.

When you actually start the timer, this number on the top left turns into real time; the time it will be when all your tasks are done.

This is perfect for my time mapping, because I can see – as I complete tasks early, or delay the onset of the next task – what time my day finishes.

Since I aim to sleep at midnight, the screenshot on the left shows me I pretty much on target, as long as I follow the schedule I have left on the screen.

App Options

The app has a few options that really works to customise the way I track my time map. The screenshot on the right shows how I set up my 30/30 app.

Sounds: As the name suggests, this lets you select the type of sound for your notifications[^In the old version of 30/30 (version 2.0.1) there was an issue with the app’s notification sound being quite soft when you have the app running in the background. This issue has been fixed since version 2.1, you just need to make sure that sounds is turned on in your Settings -\> Notification Centre.].

Show Duration: This ensures the total duration of all your tasks shows up in the top left corner of the app

Show Time: This toggles the display of the start and stop time of each task still remaining on your list of to-do’s.

Auto-Pause: If this was turned off, once one task is completed, the timer for the next task would start. I usually leave this on; I rather manually start the timer for the next task, confirming that I’ve actually moved on to the next task. This keeps me accountable for whether I stay on track or not.

Auto-Loop: This is similar to auto-pause, just that if you have it off, your list would automatically restart after it’s completed all the tasks in the list. I usually keep this off.

So that’s the introduction to the system, in the following posts I would explain how I set up the time map and how I use it on a day to day basis.

Posted on
by

If you never heard about kickstarter then I really do suggest checking them out.

Kickstarter is the world’s largest crowdfunding platform. The amount of cool gadgetry and innovative ideas there are astounding. Of course there are some projects there that can be a bit “less polished”, but if you use your common sense you’ll easily see which project is worth backing and which aren’t.

The project that I want to tell you guys about today is Orbitkey.

You wouldn’t know it, looking at the state of my room, but I like my daily carry bag to be quite neat and tidy (if only to make finding things easy). But one thing I could never really tidy up were my keys. Sure, I’ll have them on a keyring, but no matter which pocket in my bag I put them in, the keys always end up poking a hole in it. For men I’m assuming the same is true for your pants or jacket pocket.

Along comes Orbitkey.

According to their website, the Orbitkey would keep your keys organised and away from your precious smartphone screens. So no more scratched screens or wallets.

And the way they store the keys means that the keys won’t rattle either. Sure, shaking my bag is the way I can quickly determine whether my keys are in the bag in the first place. But if the keys stay in the pocket I put them in (instead of breaking a hole in the lining and swimming in the inner lining of my bag), I wouldn’t need to go deep sea diving to find them.

This project has already reached its monetary goal, so this is a definite go-ahead. There’s only 7 days to go, and for only $24 for the plastic (Active Elastomer) version or $29 for the leather, this would be a great Christmas present.

The product isn’t due to ship till March but the Orbitkey team has provided a way to print out a Christmas card letting people know that you’ve purchased an Orbitkey for them and that it would be on the way soon.

I’ve personally got one for me and one for the Boy. Can’t wait to get my hands on one.