Productivity tool: race!

wwa

Inspired by recent batch of productivity posts, I wrote my short story down. To a reasonable extent, this story is real.

2:00	As usual, I put my breakfast into the microwave and set it to 2:00.
1:58	It took two seconds for a train of though to start:
	"Waste, again. Again!"
	"What am I supposed to do this entire time? Stare at the clock?"
	"Useless and boring, but can't start any serious work or thought in time-frame this short"
	"Why don't I switch to Soylent, hire a maid or just eat the damn thing cold?"
1:53	It took me five seconds to notice and derail that train on the basis of "Been there, done that, nothing significant changed since"
	But this time something went differently.
1:52	"What do I get to lose if I just try to do something, anything?"
	"Food's gonna get cold. Also you can't multitask that much, so no thinking either."
	"So what. If I don't make it in time I'll just reheat that food and at least one other thing will be done already. And didn't I just say I can't think of anything serious that fast anyway?"
	It took me 16 seconds to scan today's TODO for anything I had any chance to accomplish within ninety-something seconds.
	"Work. Takes too long to start, hardware limitation"
	"Read... what? Would take a while to find something new and short enough. I could prepare next time, not now"
	...
	"A shower. Usually takes me at least 5 minutes... but why?"
1:36	I rushed to the bathroom.
	"Skip everything that can be skipped, but nothing important"
	Leaving clothes where I stand.
	"No time to fiddle with the faucet. Just turn it on roughly around the point where it's supposed to be"
	A bit too cold. So what.
	"No time to select soap/shampoo/gel. Just apply top-to-bottom whatever comes up first."
	Blargh, hair conditioner. Bad idea.
	"Note to self: sort this stuff"
	Top-to-bottom, fast moves, keep accurate.
	"Come on, come on, come on! I can't believe the microwave didn't finish yet!"
	Head too. Don't skip anything important, remember? One last jet of water and I grab the towel.
	"No need to dry the hair so much, you're not going out anytime soon"
	I throw the towel back on the hanger and run to the kitchen. Did it beep already and I didn't hear it? Did it broke?
0:42	"What?!"
0:41	- What?!
0:20	For 21 seconds of my Saved Time I allowed myself to stare at the clock to make sure time flows at the same rate it used to.
	"It took me 54 seconds to take an okay shower. A minute and 40 seconds ago I didn't believe it was possible."
	"Not productive."
	"What else can I do?"
	"Now we're talking!"
0:001	I spent the last 20 seconds to build a mental model of what just happened and store it for later experiments...
BEEP!
	... and then it hit me, again. I made breakfast, took a shower and thought of something new and possibly significant, all within the time-frame so short I didn't believe possible. I could multitask that much. And I will do better with training.

Inspired by recent batch of productivity posts, I wrote my short story down. To a reasonable extent, this story is real.

2:00	As usual, I put my breakfast into the microwave and set it to 2:00.
1:58	It took two seconds for a train of though to start:
	"Waste, again. Again!"
	"What am I supposed to do this entire time? Stare at the clock?"
	"Useless and boring, but can't start any serious work or thought in time-frame this short"
	"Why don't I switch to Soylent, hire a maid or just eat the damn thing cold?"
1:53	It took me five seconds to notice and derail that train on the basis of "Been there, done that, nothing significant changed since"
	But this time something went differently.
1:52	"What do I get to lose if I just try to do something, anything?"
	"Food's gonna get cold. Also you can't multitask that much, so no thinking either."
	"So what. If I don't make it in time I'll just reheat that food and at least one other thing will be done already. And didn't I just say I can't think of anything serious that fast anyway?"
	It took me 16 seconds to scan today's TODO for anything I had any chance to accomplish within ninety-something seconds.
	"Work. Takes too long to start, hardware limitation"
	"Read... what? Would take a while to find something new and short enough. I could prepare next time, not now"
	...
	"A shower. Usually takes me at least 5 minutes... but why?"
1:36	I rushed to the bathroom.
	"Skip everything that can be skipped, but nothing important"
	Leaving clothes where I stand.
	"No time to fiddle with the faucet. Just turn it on roughly around the point where it's supposed to be"
	A bit too cold. So what.
	"No time to select soap/shampoo/gel. Just apply top-to-bottom whatever comes up first."
	Blargh, hair conditioner. Bad idea.
	"Note to self: sort this stuff"
	Top-to-bottom, fast moves, keep accurate.
	"Come on, come on, come on! I can't believe the microwave didn't finish yet!"
	Head too. Don't skip anything important, remember? One last jet of water and I grab the towel.
	"No need to dry the hair so much, you're not going out anytime soon"
	I throw the towel back on the hanger and run to the kitchen. Did it beep already and I didn't hear it? Did it broke?
0:42	"What?!"
0:41	- What?!
0:20	For 21 seconds of my Saved Time I allowed myself to stare at the clock to make sure time flows at the same rate it used to.
	"It took me 54 seconds to take an okay shower. A minute and 40 seconds ago I didn't believe it was possible."
	"Not productive."
	"What else can I do?"
	"Now we're talking!"
0:001	I spent the last 20 seconds to build a mental model of what just happened and store it for later experiments...
BEEP!
	... and then it hit me, again. I made breakfast, took a shower and thought of something new and possibly significant, all within the time-frame so short I didn't believe possible. I could multitask that much. And I will do better with training.

You people are all weird. Showers are time I enjoy spending.

It's the drying up that I need to optimize, and that's not dependent on how long I was in the shower.

Drying optimization: Leave the bathroom door open and the shower curtain partway pulled so humidity doesn't collect in the room. Have an oversized bath sheet in reach (you can get good ones at Costco). When you're done showering, towel-dry hair, then the rest of you, then comb your hair so it doesn't stick. Without humidity in the room, you don't keep sweating so you don't feel clammy. You can get dressed immediately if you're pressed for time. If you're like me and hate putting dry clothes on damp skin, find something you can do for ~15 minutes at the com... (read more)

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Productivity tool: race!

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Productivity tool: race!

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