Category / productivity

by Ricardo Sanchez

Allowing yourself to try something new

For years, my favorite drink of choice in the mornings and the evenings has been coffee. But occasionally, enjoy a hot cup of tea, specifically chamomile tea. That is the only tea that I would drink.

A few days ago, as I was about to start organizing some of my photos after dinner, I decided to get a cup of tea. To my surprise, the chamomile tea was gone, nada. And for the first time, I decided to try one of the many other teas we have at home. I felt brave, walked to the pantry, and grabbed some black tea. It was wonderful. A few days later, we were still out of chamomile tea, and I again picked a different tea, masala chai. It was even better than the simple black tea.

While taking advantage of different tea flavors is unimportant, this simple activity made me wonder how many other things I have missed for not wanting to try new things. I consider myself open-minded and a person who seeks new experiences, but I could be more of an explorer when it comes to daily life and work.

I noticed that when I’m home, I often eat the same things, watch the same stuff, spend time the same way, etc. When traveling, I often try new things, spend my time out and about, and work is often better. My experience while at home is what we usually call a routine. A routine in itself is not a bad thing. Having a routine helps me stay focused, productive, and happy. But adding some variety to it helps sparks creativity and even happiness.

You can have a routine and still try a new approach to working or spending your day. My goal is not to stay in my comfort zone, at least not in the areas where I want to experience and learn more. It all starts with small decisions, a different tea flavor, a different approach to a problem at work, reading a book on a topic I wouldn’t choose before, etc. Exposing yourself to new things can expand your world and perspective and make life, even the routine, more interesting.

We are still out of chamomile tea a week later, and it is okay.

by Ricardo Sanchez

The Logbook – part 3.

I wrote a brief post about starting a logbook in January 2021 and then an update on April 2021. This is the latest update about my use of the logbook, the tools I use for it, and how I plan to use it this year.

The logbook is a mini daily planner that I use to log daily activities and anything you want or need. There aren’t any rules or templates. Write down what you want each day, and log your day as detailed or briefly as you wish.

My use of the logbook has been very casual. I don’t write on it daily, but I want to change that. However, it’s been helpful, especially when looking back and learning more about my almost daily life. The logbook helps me think and capture data about my everyday life.

This year, I have specific questions I want to answer daily using my logbook. For example:

  • How much money did I spend today?
  • How much water do I consume every day?
  • How many cups of coffee do I consume every day?
  • Ideas and random thoughts

I’ve been doing this for about two years, but casually. I plan on writing casually in my logbook, but questions like the above need to be answered daily, which is my goal.

Why is this important? Writing down this information forces you to think about this and avoid living your life on autopilot. Writing it down on paper is the easiest thing for me. The daily planner I use is small and flexible, and I can carry it with me every day and everywhere. In addition, writing down anything on paper helps you memorize it more than typing it on a keyboard.

Tools I use to capture data about my everyday life:

Good luck and happy logging!

by Ricardo Sanchez

“Just start”

Surely you’ve heard something like “just do it” or “just start,” but in many cases, starting is one of the most challenging tasks in life. In this post, I will share my own experience and struggles when starting and finishing projects.

It used to be easy for me to start and work on multiple projects. I remember staying up late often to work on these projects. Starting these projects was easy then; completing them while challenging was possible in most instances. For example, I developed a website where startups and small businesses could sign up, add their location, and then be shown on a map. Before that, I created a meetup group where I helped people find co-founders for their startups, and both were quite successful.

Those are just two examples, but over the years, I also started a successful blog back in the mid-2000s to talk about anything related to startups and technology in Austin, TX. The blog became a Meetup group that grew to over 3,000 people, and more than a hundred met monthly.

However, over time, I stopped working on these projects for different reasons. And while I thought of new projects and ideas all the time, I ended up with zero projects at some point. And I remember thinking. It’s okay. It is time to focus on my job and dedicate 100% of my time. Well, I got too complacent over the years. Working on a project besides your day job is healthy, and your day job could benefit from this.

Starting new projects is difficult, and there’s always an excuse, such as I need more time, my idea needs to be better, or I need to know where or how to start. The reality is, at least in my experience, that fear plays a significant role here—fear of not feeling capable enough, not competent enough, or not experienced enough. But guess what? Starting doesn’t require any of those things.

Start anything, work on it for some time, and then start something else. Ideally, you’ll finish what you start, but you’ll learn much from that experience even if you don’t. For example, writing my thoughts about an idea is a good start that works for me. The next thing I could do, depending on the project, is to manually create something to help the project, a social media account, a web page, and a list of items to complete. And if you need customers for your new project, start talking to potential customers, one at a time.

If you feel stuck and unable to start or move forward with a project, it may be time to think about why you feel that way. I fear wasting time on something that might not work, but deep down, I know there is value in starting and working on new projects. At the minimum, it is a learning experience, but it takes work to convince yourself of that.

Fear is the reason many dreams never come true. Of course, fear is not necessarily bad, but if you let fear drive your decisions, you’ll end up with many regrets and missed opportunities.

I started a new project a few months ago, the first one outside my regular job in many years. I am taking it slowly and am excited about the journey without overthinking the end result.

Not fearing the outcome of a project or an idea is my goal, and I am not comfortable feeling comfortable anymore. Maybe it’s my age, or my project ideas aren’t as exciting as before. Nevertheless, I will continue to do what I can to keep things interesting with these new projects.

I posted a tweet days ago mentioning that my goal this year is slowing down when traveling, eating, talking, etc.

This does not mean I want to be lazy. On the contrary, I want to focus on each task and give it all my time and dedication as I am doing it. This, of course, will include my new project. Cheers.

by Ricardo Sanchez

Working remotely

Many people have experienced working from home for the first time in the past few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and many want to continue doing it. I don’t blame them. I am lucky to have had the opportunity to work from home (or remotely) full-time since 2014. Before that, I worked from home a few days a week as a software engineer for HomeAway (acquired by Expedia.com) in Austin, TX.

Working from home has enabled me to save time by not having a commute and having fewer meetings to do more things that I enjoy, for example, writing posts like this and many more that I never published—going for long walks, taking road trips with the family, and even traveling abroad for more extended periods. However, not everything has been perfect. I do miss the in-person interactions with colleagues and even strangers. Going out to lunch with co-workers, having to wear more than shorts and flip-flops every morning, and having a clear separation between home and work.

Having a clear separation between home and work was probably the hardest thing to do initially, but it is under control now. It is too easy to end up working endless hours with the excuse of how important work is, and continue doing it all of the time when you are home. The truth is, your personal life will always be more important than any job, but understanding this and separating your work from your personal life requires a lot of discipline when working from home.

Some people are not qualified to work from home, and I am not talking about the people who are needed to be in a place physically to do their job; instead, I am referring to the people who are easily distracted and can’t focus on their work and end up slacking off instead. Working from home and doing it successfully requires discipline and effort.

Working from home is feasible and probably the best way for some people to work nowadays. If you can do your job from a computer, then I don’t see why a company wouldn’t let you work remotely if that is what you desire. At the same time, some people enjoy going to an office, working with others, having in-person meetings, etc. The ideal situation is to have a balance, but it is essential also to be part of a team where there is general agreement about the work location and hours.

I am unsure if I will continue to work from home forever, but I know that it has been a positive change in my life for many years. It has made me more productive as I can focus on my work better, and it has also helped me financially as I don’t require a second car, and I save some money in gas and food by not going out to lunch as often as I did when I worked at an office.

In addition, I am trying the four-day workweek, and so far, it’s been positive for me, my team, and my company. I feel more energetic when I am working, I feel happier, and my work-life balance actually exists. When I am not working, I use the time to pursue my hobbies, which also benefit my job. I like keeping up with technology and changes in programming languages, architecture, etc. And more importantly, I feel that I am no longer in this rat race.

Even when I still have a work routine, it is well-balanced, and I have enough time to decide what I want to do with it.

My ultimate goal is to wake up every day and do what I want, where I want, in the terms I want. That is happiness for me.

by Ricardo Sanchez

Adopting a three-day weekend

For over six months, I have worked four days a week, Monday through Friday, and enjoy a 3-day weekend. I am very fortunate that my current employer, and my team, enable me to do this. A flex schedule is something available to many, but few take advantage of this.

I also work from home and have been doing that full-time since 2014. It took a lot of effort to get used to working from home, especially when you have children and your spouse also works from home. But after some struggle and adjustment, it works. The current flex schedule makes working from home even better. It opens up many opportunities to travel with the family, practice more hobbies, or maybe spend more time on existing hobbies.

Working four days a week instead of five took a while to adjust as well. I still have to fight the need to check my work email, Slack, etc. I still feel guilty for doing this, and while my output and quality haven’t been affected negatively, it is still hard to fully enjoy having Fridays off. But why? I think it has been engraved into my mind that to be productive and fair with your employer and co-workers, you need to work at least five days a week.

Working only four days a week instead of five has opened many opportunities for my family and me. For example, we’ve been able to travel to visit our older kids who live in New York City more often than before. We can take long weekend trips to places like Vancouver, Portland, and even California (we live in Seattle). Having Fridays off has given me the additional time to pursue other interests, such as writing and photography.

Working four days a week instead of five also gives me more time to relax and do nothing. It makes me start the week with more energy, a fresher mind, and enthusiasm every week. In other words, the burnout might still be there, but it is much less than before.

The future of work might be people working at any time and any day as they seem necessary. But while we get there, I think adopting a three-day weekend is feasible for most companies and jobs. Maybe we are on the brink of changing the workweek standard from five days to four weeks. In my experience, it will be better for everyone. It will give families more time to spend with each other, more time for people to pursue hobbies and other activities not related to their jobs, an opportunity to travel more, etc.

A little bit of history… In 1908, a New England cotton mill instituted the first five-day workweek in the United States so that Jewish workers would not have to work on the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. In 1926, Henry Ford began shutting down his automotive factories all Saturday and Sunday due to pressures stemming from the October Revolution, which witnessed the ruling class persecuted for not giving the laborers dignifying conditions. In 1929, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America was the first union to demand and receive a five-day workweek. The rest of the United States slowly followed. Still, it was not until 1940, when a provision of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act mandating a maximum 40-hour workweek went into effect, that the two-day weekend was adopted nationwide.

Maybe it will be in this decade when more people and more companies adopt the three-day weekend as the new standard. It will be a step towards having a more flexible work schedule overall. It is what the future of work will require. Then, finally, people have more flexibility and more time to do more than just one job to earn an income. But only time will tell. I am excited about this.

Have a nice Saturday!