February 2018 Review

Moved into an apartment, went on vacation, had my iPad stolen, filed my taxes, finished an online course… February was a hectic month, but I’m pretty satisfied with it.

Productivity

My average work day in February was noticeably more productive than in January. It helps I spent an entire week off, which I think pushed me to leave anything I was working on in an okay state, and I came back pretty refreshed. I also spent a couple days just learning CSS grid which I was very into.

• Productivity pulse of 77 (+4)
• Met All Productive Time goal 11/14 days
• Average 5h 29m (+17m) productive time per day

RescueTime Top 5 Categories:

1. Software Development (42%)
2. Communication & Scheduling (22%)
3. Business (10%)
4. Social Networking (8%)
5. Utilities (6%)

Correlations:

My productivity seems to have shifted toward the end of the week, and I maybe crave protein to help with the more productive days? I was more distracted on Wednesdays - midweek slump, maybe?

• I’m more productive on Thursdays (20%) and log more distracting time on Wednesdays (20%)
• I consume more protein when I’m more productive (23%)
• I receive more emails on Mondays (37%)

Health

I wanted to file my taxes early in the month so I’d get my return by the end of the month to cover costs in San Francisco, but I didn’t get to file them until after my trip, so I ended up overspending by quite a lot this month, but should have no problem making it up in March.

I also did a lot more walking in SF, and because I was on vacation, I slept quite a bit more.

• Average of 9,754 steps / day (+42.3%)
• Average of 2,061 calories / day (+1.8%)
• Average of 7h 7minutes of sleep / night (+12.9%)
• Average weight of 141.7lbs (-0.7%)
• Average body fat percentage of 11.7% (-5%)
• I spent 110.9% of my income (yikes!)

Correlations:

Tracking that I drank coffee correlating with less sleep is not surprising.

• I spend more time asleep when I go to bed earlier (28%)
• I track “coffee” more when I spend less time asleep (35%)
• I have more great days when I spend more time sleep (24%)
• I have a better day when I eat more (11%)

February’s Focus

1. Move!

Tia and I moved! We now live in our own apartment in Queens instead of with her parents on Long Island. It’s taken a few weeks to settle in, but we’re getting there.

2. Have fun in San Francisco

San Fran was awesome! Went to Alcatraz, Muir Woods, Fisherman’s Wharf, rode a cable car, spent a day tasting wine in Napa, and a whole lot more. Bitter and stressful ending when our rental van had its windows smashed in and 5 bags were stolen, including mine which had my iPad in it, but overall the trip was still great.

3. Learn CSS Grid

I completed Wes Bos’ course at cssgrid.io, which I highly recommend! It was a really helpful walkthrough that helped me make progress on my personal site and get things rolling on a project at work. I wouldn’t say I’ve totally wrapped my head around grid yet, but this was the first meaningful step I’ve taken to really learning it.

4. Set better goals for March

I’m publishing this a full week into March and I never sat down to make better goals before March arrived, so I won’t be crossing this one off. I do think my March focus goals are a bit better than February, though.

March’s Focus

1. Publish my new website

It’s nearly finished, I just need to finish writing what I want it to say and call it good enough.

2. Schedule time to watch Layout Land

I attended An Event Apart in Seattle last year, where I saw Jen Simmons present on the capabilities of CSS grid, and since then I’ve been really interested in learning it. Now she’s working on a fantastic series of videos, which I plan to spend some time watching. I’ve blocked off 30 minutes every morning at work to watch a video (or more, if I can fit them) to continuing learning grid. I think this will be a great way to start my day - coffee and Layout Land.

3. Increase automatic savings transfers to 10% of my income

I have a few automatic transfers to savings accounts, both for short term savings and retirement. Currently, those automatic transfers are about 5% of my take home pay, and I make some manual transfers throughout the month. I get paid semi-monthly, so my paychecks come on predictable dates, which makes scheduling automatic transfers really convenient. I can effectively pretend that the money going to savings doesn’t exist and plan accordingly. Eventually, I’d like to reach 20% being saved automatically, but that’s a huge shift so I’m going to start smaller by going to 10% and get used to a budget with those considerations.