A simple habit that saves my evenings
alikhil.dev
A simple habit that saves my evenings
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Re: A simple habit that saves my evenings
#2I think in a similar way, though from a slightly different angle. For me, the value of stopping on time isn’t just about avoiding overtime — it’s also about not waiting for a clean break.
When I wrap things up too neatly, the next day feels like a cold start, and that makes it harder to dash into new work. But if I deliberately leave a task half-finished, then the next day I can just pick up where I left off and get moving much faster.
Re: A simple habit that saves my evenings
#3[dead]
Re: A simple habit that saves my evenings
#4I've been doing this for a long time and find it's also a good way to get yourself out of ruts and tar pits; when a project gets really gnarly, you can end up spending most of your time just re-establishing context every day. Never thought of it as a permission structure for closing my Macbook at the end of the day!
Re: A simple habit that saves my evenings
#5The habit is in the 7th paragraph, after 2 images:
> Rather than trying to complete your task in 20 minutes, take this time to write down your thoughts, and a step-by-step action plan of what you think you need to do to finish your task. Then go home. Rest. A feeling of incompleteness will motivate you to come back and finalize your work the next day. Only you will be full of energy, together with a settled plan. No doubt you’ll accomplish your task before lunch.
Re: A simple habit that saves my evenings
#6I think in a similar way, though from a slightly different angle. For me, the value of stopping on time isn’t just about avoiding overtime — it’s also about not waiting for a clean break. When I wrap things up too neatly, the next day feels like a cold start, and that makes it harder to dash into new work. But if I deliberately leave a task half-finished, then the next day I can just pick up where I left off and get…
You've got good company. Hemingway famously said he always stopped writing for the day at a point where he knew where his story was going next.
Re: A simple habit that saves my evenings
#7Sure, write a step-by-step action plan and leave it for
a next fresh new 1M tokens context window.
Re: A simple habit that saves my evenings
#8Yeah well, what can I say ... totally resonates, except that for me, the "getting in the zone" part is most definitely not two hours, rather tends to stretch to 4am if not worse.
And the "write down everything and go home" is:
a) extremely frustrating
b) cant get anywhere near to dumping the amount of context that's flying in my head while I code/build. Most of it evaporates if I don't get to the end.
So ... agree with the problem, really not sure I agree with the solution.
Re: A simple habit that saves my evenings
#9During my previous jobs, i used to use a sort of "end of day review" to see both what i accomplished that day (which made me feel good when i completed things), plus also get allowed me to get ready for what i need to do the next day. I suppose its similar to the habit denoted in this piece; pretty cool!
At my current job, things are messier and shall we say not sustainable - culture is simply toxic. I actually can not do a review...because the moment someone sees that i am still logged on, i get bothered...Mostly this is from folks in other time zones (who don't care that its my end of day...like i said, its toxic here). So, i started doing the review offline, but saw that i needed to be logged on to review stuff...i started jumping through too many hoops to still access info as inputs for review and next-day prep...but appear to be offline...so, instead, nowadays, at a very strict time, i log off, and have abandoned my formal end of day review...I mean i still review my thoughts...but its not as structured, and i don't write anything down...and, i see the difference (sadly)...but, mostly, i just don't like my current job. ;-)
Re: A simple habit that saves my evenings
#10During my previous jobs, i used to use a sort of "end of day review" to see both what i accomplished that day (which made me feel good when i completed things), plus also get allowed me to get ready for what i need to do the next day. I suppose its similar to the habit denoted in this piece; pretty cool! At my current job, things are messier and shall we say not sustainable - culture is simply toxic. I actually can n…
Does your chat client or whatever is making you visible logged on have an “away” mode?