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walkitoutAs long as we’re all staggering around pretending it is an hour earlier than it was this time of day yesterday, so that we are most of the way through the adjustment process in time to do it with something resemblance grace or at least efficiency on Monday morning, I figured I’d do some online shopping, blog, and then write things that might ultimately land in the sequel to the advice book (you know, the thing about how to replace your anxiety with an alternative motivational system).
First up! OK, but after breakfast and at least some tea. I have had on my list of Things to Do, “Buy an apple watch for daughter”. Obviously it does not say daughter. You know how this works.
Why am I buying an apple watch for my daughter? I don’t think you care about this part, but this is actually a salient question for how I am learning to _articulate clearly_ how my motivational system works in detail, so I can explain it in writing, so that I can depict an alternative clearly and then show how that can be modified and adapted in various ways to work well for people who are Not Me.
Back in 2019, I bought a Series 5 Apple Watch. I had previously had a Series 3 Apple Watch (and there was quite probably one before that that I gave to my son, but you know? None of us care and it’s not relevant here. See how I am showing that while thinking about a task, related but NOT relevant thoughts pop up, and must be considered for salience, but can then be sent along on their way if no action is taken?). The Series 3 Apple Watch worked fine, but had developed an annoying habit of doing that Chirp that indicates it is done charging. And it would repeat at random intervals thereafter through the night. Awful! I tried various chargers and did some research online and then said fuck it, I’ll just buy a new one. Then daughter wanted a watch so I gave it to her, because I wasn’t sure if she’d really wear it or for how long, and I did not want to buy a new Watch and have it sit there unused. Well, she uses it all the time, and so when we are on vacation and sharing a hotel room, I am listening to that fucking Series 3 Chirp indicates it is done charging throughout the night.
So on this most recent trip, I came home with an item on my To Do List to buy my daughter a Watch. It is an Important item (because we travel and it keeps me awake) but not urgent (I won’t be traveling for the rest of this month) task, that does have a specific deadline, but not a drop-dead deadline. It’s not like You Have to File Taxes By Date Blah or Pay Tax Money By Date Blah type deadline. It’s like eat the baked goodie before it molds type deadline. You’ll be sad if you miss it, but that’s more or less the extent of it.
Important, Not Urgent, Time Specific BUT Minimal Punishment for missing
Because it has this set of characteristics, I waited for a time when my daughter was around to consult with on aesthetic details, and when I felt like shopping, and when I would be sitting down drinking a beverage and dinking around online. Buying a replacement watch for my daughter has some requirements (consult with her on aesthetic details) and the activity is shopping, sitting down, compatible with non-alcoholic beverage consumption. Note: _non_-alcoholic beverage consumption. Don’t sit down at the Apple Store website with a spirit forward beverage. They have some beautiful shit there, and when it arrives, you’ll have to set it up which can be annoying and time consuming. In theory, you could decide what to buy ahead of time and only buy that while drinking, but as a practical matter, disinhibition is a real thing.
I know that this is complicated. This isn’t something that will be in this form in the final versin of the hypothetical Advice Book 2 I’m writing. I’m just trying to dump what’s happening in my brain out while it is happening so I can get a good hard look at it and start the process of simplifying it _without losing important detail_ that is crucial to helping someone else learn how to do it.
Let’s recap!
I got up and it is Spring Ahead. This is a Classic Nothing Will Get Done Sort of Day. So, I had breakfast and some tea, and then picked a task that is Fun — shopping online — and that I had pre-committed to — buying an Apple Watch for my daughter — and that I had satisfied _all the constraints_ (her presence, mostly) in order to do. It is a task I personally care about _a lot_ (I want fewer wakeups while on vacation).
I went to the online store and picked out what I thought would be the watch she wanted. I went through the measuring process for band size. I confirmed with her what I had selected (she looked at the alternatives, and then she agreed I had indeed picked the one she liked best). We discussed whether to get cellular and I talked about how I used to get cellular on things like iPads, but stopped a long time ago. Then she wanted to know how to use her phone as a hotspot so I showed her how to do that _and also_ how in general to use the settings search bar to find things and also how to adjust options (edit password, turn on compatibility). We decided to NOT get the cellular, which made the shopping process _much_ simpler (no interaction with cellular company! No setup required!).
If I had never shopped online before, this would have been a _terrible_ task on a Spring Ahead morning. If I did not enjoy shopping online, this would have been a less than great task on a Spring Ahead morning, but I might have done it anyway, because Sleep. If I wasn’t sure if she was going to wear this watch, it would have made it very hard to pull the trigger on the buy button (because these things are not cheap in any configuration). (If you are wondering, but you could have bought her one of the cheaper ones; 8 is expensive! I totally agree but I also sort of was excited to have a pulse-oximeter built into at least one Watch in the family. I can leave the stand-alone pulse oximeter at home, then, when traveling.)
You can see how since this task required the involvement of another person, other tasks popped up along the way: “How do I set up a hotspot”. I knew she had an interest in this, but it had not been important enough _to me_ to take any action on it. However, it took less than 2 minutes to _show her_ (most effective teaching method ; talking is so much worse), so I just did it. I don’t ever need to track that item on my list because it never was Important Enough to Me to put it on the list, and it wasn’t Important Enough to Her to ask me to put it on the list, and it was Quick Enough and Possible to just do it when it arose this time.
“Blog” is an every day to do list item. I have satisfied that for today.
“Work on some sort of writing project” is an ongoing item, does not have to be every day, but I’m trying to maintain some amount of momentum. I have satisfied _that_ for today.
And I can edit “Buy daughter Watch” on my Note to be “WF daughter’s Watch ordered 3/12 on apple store”.
Whew! That’s a lot! And that’s just background task management in my head. I knew this was going to be tricky to explain, but holy shit. It’s so much more than I had realized.
ETA:
I tacked this link onto the end of the TOC / structure note so I won’t lose track of it.
There’s a whole amorphous thing I don’t know how to describe that is basically “Reuse / Recycle But For Everything”. It’s Shop Your Closet, Cook Your Pantry. It’s Roll for Sandwich. And here, it’s things like, I blog every day, I want to make progress on a writing project, hey, I can make that the same thing. I can barely function and just want to look at pretty stuff and buy it. There’s a pretty thing I have to buy. Hey, I can make that the same thing. There are people who during lockdown, job went remote, so they took 3 other remote jobs. Sometimes, those people are grifters, and are collecting the paycheck and not doing the work and sticking around until people start to notice then moving on before they get mad enough to PIP you and give terrible references. DON’T DO THAT. But some people figured out that the empty spaces of multiple jobs meant you could match them up. THAT IS FINE. As long as you make sure you are enjoying life as part of your Important Urgent Ongoing.
ETAYA:
A friend asked about WF. Here is my reply:
WF is Waiting For. In a multi-step process towards a goal (like, goal is for daughter to have a new watch), I have nothing _I_ can do right now. WF items capture that status. Usually, I don’t put dates on them, but if it’s expensive and I’m waiting for it and I might forget, I will, and also, if I feel like I’ve been waiting too long for something and I research and ping someone about it, like, I’m trying to schedule something, WF a reply, some time passes, I’m like, when did I send that message? I’ll research, put the date of the original AND the date of the reminder and often a Expected date, so if I see I’m past the expected date, I know to take action, otherwise, it is a reassurance that things are happening and I don’t need to do anything currently.
Having a list of WF is _phenomenal_ for reducing random noise in the brain.
Walkitout adding more here:
I will also note that I almost everything I do with lists is a personalized adaptation / minimization of David Allen’s GTD system. GTD is sort of the overarching, kitchen sink system, but is far too heavyweight for my personality or my level of commitments (also, he’s so paper centric!). If you read _Getting Things Done_, and understand the purpose of the elements of his system, you can figure out what you need and incremental adaptations to come up with something that you enjoy using.
All that said, almost _any_ personal organization / time management / decluttering / wtfery can be adapted. They all have the basic elements present in some form. GTD is useful for me because it’s unusually detailed in explaining the purpose of each component.
That said
First up! OK, but after breakfast and at least some tea. I have had on my list of Things to Do, “Buy an apple watch for daughter”. Obviously it does not say daughter. You know how this works.
Why am I buying an apple watch for my daughter? I don’t think you care about this part, but this is actually a salient question for how I am learning to _articulate clearly_ how my motivational system works in detail, so I can explain it in writing, so that I can depict an alternative clearly and then show how that can be modified and adapted in various ways to work well for people who are Not Me.
Back in 2019, I bought a Series 5 Apple Watch. I had previously had a Series 3 Apple Watch (and there was quite probably one before that that I gave to my son, but you know? None of us care and it’s not relevant here. See how I am showing that while thinking about a task, related but NOT relevant thoughts pop up, and must be considered for salience, but can then be sent along on their way if no action is taken?). The Series 3 Apple Watch worked fine, but had developed an annoying habit of doing that Chirp that indicates it is done charging. And it would repeat at random intervals thereafter through the night. Awful! I tried various chargers and did some research online and then said fuck it, I’ll just buy a new one. Then daughter wanted a watch so I gave it to her, because I wasn’t sure if she’d really wear it or for how long, and I did not want to buy a new Watch and have it sit there unused. Well, she uses it all the time, and so when we are on vacation and sharing a hotel room, I am listening to that fucking Series 3 Chirp indicates it is done charging throughout the night.
So on this most recent trip, I came home with an item on my To Do List to buy my daughter a Watch. It is an Important item (because we travel and it keeps me awake) but not urgent (I won’t be traveling for the rest of this month) task, that does have a specific deadline, but not a drop-dead deadline. It’s not like You Have to File Taxes By Date Blah or Pay Tax Money By Date Blah type deadline. It’s like eat the baked goodie before it molds type deadline. You’ll be sad if you miss it, but that’s more or less the extent of it.
Important, Not Urgent, Time Specific BUT Minimal Punishment for missing
Because it has this set of characteristics, I waited for a time when my daughter was around to consult with on aesthetic details, and when I felt like shopping, and when I would be sitting down drinking a beverage and dinking around online. Buying a replacement watch for my daughter has some requirements (consult with her on aesthetic details) and the activity is shopping, sitting down, compatible with non-alcoholic beverage consumption. Note: _non_-alcoholic beverage consumption. Don’t sit down at the Apple Store website with a spirit forward beverage. They have some beautiful shit there, and when it arrives, you’ll have to set it up which can be annoying and time consuming. In theory, you could decide what to buy ahead of time and only buy that while drinking, but as a practical matter, disinhibition is a real thing.
I know that this is complicated. This isn’t something that will be in this form in the final versin of the hypothetical Advice Book 2 I’m writing. I’m just trying to dump what’s happening in my brain out while it is happening so I can get a good hard look at it and start the process of simplifying it _without losing important detail_ that is crucial to helping someone else learn how to do it.
Let’s recap!
I got up and it is Spring Ahead. This is a Classic Nothing Will Get Done Sort of Day. So, I had breakfast and some tea, and then picked a task that is Fun — shopping online — and that I had pre-committed to — buying an Apple Watch for my daughter — and that I had satisfied _all the constraints_ (her presence, mostly) in order to do. It is a task I personally care about _a lot_ (I want fewer wakeups while on vacation).
I went to the online store and picked out what I thought would be the watch she wanted. I went through the measuring process for band size. I confirmed with her what I had selected (she looked at the alternatives, and then she agreed I had indeed picked the one she liked best). We discussed whether to get cellular and I talked about how I used to get cellular on things like iPads, but stopped a long time ago. Then she wanted to know how to use her phone as a hotspot so I showed her how to do that _and also_ how in general to use the settings search bar to find things and also how to adjust options (edit password, turn on compatibility). We decided to NOT get the cellular, which made the shopping process _much_ simpler (no interaction with cellular company! No setup required!).
If I had never shopped online before, this would have been a _terrible_ task on a Spring Ahead morning. If I did not enjoy shopping online, this would have been a less than great task on a Spring Ahead morning, but I might have done it anyway, because Sleep. If I wasn’t sure if she was going to wear this watch, it would have made it very hard to pull the trigger on the buy button (because these things are not cheap in any configuration). (If you are wondering, but you could have bought her one of the cheaper ones; 8 is expensive! I totally agree but I also sort of was excited to have a pulse-oximeter built into at least one Watch in the family. I can leave the stand-alone pulse oximeter at home, then, when traveling.)
You can see how since this task required the involvement of another person, other tasks popped up along the way: “How do I set up a hotspot”. I knew she had an interest in this, but it had not been important enough _to me_ to take any action on it. However, it took less than 2 minutes to _show her_ (most effective teaching method ; talking is so much worse), so I just did it. I don’t ever need to track that item on my list because it never was Important Enough to Me to put it on the list, and it wasn’t Important Enough to Her to ask me to put it on the list, and it was Quick Enough and Possible to just do it when it arose this time.
“Blog” is an every day to do list item. I have satisfied that for today.
“Work on some sort of writing project” is an ongoing item, does not have to be every day, but I’m trying to maintain some amount of momentum. I have satisfied _that_ for today.
And I can edit “Buy daughter Watch” on my Note to be “WF daughter’s Watch ordered 3/12 on apple store”.
Whew! That’s a lot! And that’s just background task management in my head. I knew this was going to be tricky to explain, but holy shit. It’s so much more than I had realized.
ETA:
I tacked this link onto the end of the TOC / structure note so I won’t lose track of it.
There’s a whole amorphous thing I don’t know how to describe that is basically “Reuse / Recycle But For Everything”. It’s Shop Your Closet, Cook Your Pantry. It’s Roll for Sandwich. And here, it’s things like, I blog every day, I want to make progress on a writing project, hey, I can make that the same thing. I can barely function and just want to look at pretty stuff and buy it. There’s a pretty thing I have to buy. Hey, I can make that the same thing. There are people who during lockdown, job went remote, so they took 3 other remote jobs. Sometimes, those people are grifters, and are collecting the paycheck and not doing the work and sticking around until people start to notice then moving on before they get mad enough to PIP you and give terrible references. DON’T DO THAT. But some people figured out that the empty spaces of multiple jobs meant you could match them up. THAT IS FINE. As long as you make sure you are enjoying life as part of your Important Urgent Ongoing.
ETAYA:
A friend asked about WF. Here is my reply:
WF is Waiting For. In a multi-step process towards a goal (like, goal is for daughter to have a new watch), I have nothing _I_ can do right now. WF items capture that status. Usually, I don’t put dates on them, but if it’s expensive and I’m waiting for it and I might forget, I will, and also, if I feel like I’ve been waiting too long for something and I research and ping someone about it, like, I’m trying to schedule something, WF a reply, some time passes, I’m like, when did I send that message? I’ll research, put the date of the original AND the date of the reminder and often a Expected date, so if I see I’m past the expected date, I know to take action, otherwise, it is a reassurance that things are happening and I don’t need to do anything currently.
Having a list of WF is _phenomenal_ for reducing random noise in the brain.
Walkitout adding more here:
I will also note that I almost everything I do with lists is a personalized adaptation / minimization of David Allen’s GTD system. GTD is sort of the overarching, kitchen sink system, but is far too heavyweight for my personality or my level of commitments (also, he’s so paper centric!). If you read _Getting Things Done_, and understand the purpose of the elements of his system, you can figure out what you need and incremental adaptations to come up with something that you enjoy using.
All that said, almost _any_ personal organization / time management / decluttering / wtfery can be adapted. They all have the basic elements present in some form. GTD is useful for me because it’s unusually detailed in explaining the purpose of each component.
That said
no subject
Date: 2023-03-12 09:19 pm (UTC)Do you think the 8 is worse than the 6?
Date: 2023-03-12 11:11 pm (UTC)I mean, it is PLOS. But it looks pretty legit?
“The AW6 can accurately measure oxygen saturation when compared to hospital pulse oximeters in pediatric patients and provide good quality single lead ECGs that allow for accurate measurement of RR, PR, QRS, and QT intervals with manual interpretation. The AW6-automated rhythm interpretation algorithm has limitations for smaller pediatric patients and patients with abnormal ECGs.”
ETA:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36249475/
Oh here we go:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35329793/
Honestly, how much more data would it even take to convince someone?
Anyway, all that said, I’m not suggesting anyone go get a Watch 6 or later in order to get the pulseox — the fingertip ones you can get on amazon or whatever are much cheaper and they’re probably fine, too.
Re: Do you think the 8 is worse than the 6?
Date: 2023-03-13 02:24 am (UTC)I may have been confusing smart watch oximeters with phone apps.
Sent from AOL on Android
I did find a consumer reports article from 2020 about that
Date: 2023-03-13 02:35 am (UTC)That was in April (they were really on top of this!). The 6 came out in September ish time frame. All the research that I found was on the 6, and all of it came out substantially later than that Consumer Reports article. That article looked at the phone app, but the phone app was quite disciplined about its claims and Consumer Reports found that their very limited claims were supported and one should not assume it could do more than those claims.
It is pretty amazing how much development has happened in smart watches over the last three years. And not just the Apple Watch — there are a lot of amazing alternatives out there now.