Productivity tool: race!
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. |
Halloween thread - rationalist's horrors.
This is a kind of "X files" thread.
Post experiences which spooked you, which made you doubt reality, mathematical or physical laws, your sanity, memory or perception. The more improbable the better, but no second-hand legends please, share only what you personally experienced. If you had the event later explained rationally please use rot13 to avoid spoilers.
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