It is time for a crash course in project management!
Objectives:
Understand and be able to apply major project management methodologies (PMP school, waterfall, agile project management)
Review other methodologies that I already know (design thinking, OKRs, SRE, DevOps, UI/UX)
Formulate resources and learning into distinct repositories of knowledge and simple shortcuts and worksheets that I can use as shorthand reminders and ways to kick off processes
Total time: 4 hours
PART ONE: Master project management (2 hrs)
Section one: Learn, research, and gather (1 hr)
Subsection one: Warm up via listening to videos and gathering resource lists (20 minutes)
Subsection two: Create own practice scenarios and find questions in them (20 minutes)
Subsection three: Consume and build resource repos off of resource lists and answer my own questions (20 minutes)
Section two: Create practice scenarios (30 min)
Section three: Question and answer (30 min)
PART TWO: Review other methodologies (1 hr)
Section one: write down everything from memory basic searching (20 minutes)
Section two: watch videos (20 minutes)
Section three: search for resources and worksheets (20 minutes)
PART THREE: Create and organize resources (1 hr)
Section one: create a structure for folders and docs (20 minutes)
Section two: create resources for project management (20 minutes)
Section three: create resources for other methodologies (20 minutes)
I feel really tired today. I am worried about my sleep cycle. At least I went to bed 30 minutes earlier than I did the night before at 1:30 AM. I really feel I need more sleep than that to be healthy.
I suppose I can commit to taking a nap today.
Something I was wondering, is if I put positive, confident people on a pedestal. I mean, they can’t be that great right? I like how calm I can feel around them, but I can get that anywhere. In fact, one of the ways that I want to develop myself as a coach is to live more by the coaching mindset (you’re in my house, be patient, take risks, be ok with silence). If I live by that mindset 24/7, not only will I get more clients, I will also feel more calm in everything that I do.
Ok now onto the projects:
Goal: Shoot 3 videos, spend 3 hours on each. I have 2 days to do this.
I think today this will be my primary focus.
The videos I want to choose are:
Can AI be used to create a cure?
Today I’m going to try to use AI to cure all diseases.
How do cures work?
What part of the process can AI help?
What skills are still needed in the age of AI?
AI can do everything, write essays, create art, open doors, and even create videos
Where does that leave you?
Today I’m going to figure out what humans still need to know in the age of AI
How can AI be used to develop innovative products?
Let’s say you got a product – reliable, affordable, but a little boring
Today I’m going to use AI to develop an innovative product
Ok, so in doing this exercise I realize that I have to pivot. none of these ideas are going to take 3 hours to make. I need to choose something that is really really fast to make.
My new top 3:
GPT Prompt: Ask AI to explain a really difficult concept to you on a 2nd grade level
Do you want the be the world’s smartest man…or woman?
Today I’m going to use AI to enhance my intelligence with one simple prompt
Explain it to me like I’m in 2nd grade
GPT Prompt: Take everything in your fridge and ask for recipes
Can I cook like Gordon Ramsey with nothing in my fridge?
Today I’m challenging myself to cook like a high dining chef using one simple prompt
Give me a high-dining recipe
GPT Prompt: Take a boardgame and invent new rules
Monopoly is boring
Let’s make it insane with one simple prompt
Use the monopoly boardgame and make it more skill based
Ok time for Goal 2.
UNIT ONE: Focus on my craft – become a coach I would hire for 1000 per month | Day 1 Create plans
1 hr of meditation every day
1 hr of speaking to other people about this every day
A new mentality that I’ve been working with is the idea of chaining kills.
Come up with a play that I want to go for (util, direction, etc.)
Go for not a single kill, but a multikill
Expect more than one
Have a gameplan for getting not one, but 5 kills
It is interesting that taking the offensive makes you much better at being confident. Also, expecting multiple attackers and working on killing as many as possible makes it a lot harder for people to catch you with a trade.
I saw an ad on Facebook. It was talking about making money as an introvert and making money without giving up your inner peace.
I immediately signed up. It was about 20 dollars.
Now I have done a bunch of the exercises for the prework of the challenge and here are my reflections.
Some major questions that I have right now:
What am I willing to give up and how will I go about giving it up?
How do I live my values every day in a way that is in flow and not forced or mechanical?
I have some initial ideas.
First, I was thinking originally about what I wanted to give up in terms of things like YouTube, or socializing. But recently it made a lot more sense for me to think about time. Specifically, I wanted to dedicate my entire morning to succeeding at these goals.
From the time I wake up, I usually am doing what JT Franco calls “buffalo brain” (the idea of being one of the herd that moves without thinking). I listen to audiobooks, and watch YouTube videos. I don’t eat breakfast or drink water. I keep the blinds closed. I feel awful and I don’t feel the feelings.
Someone once said (might be Melinda Gates) that the first few hours of the day are the most important because they set the stage for the entire day to come. If I want to give up anything, I want to give up my mornings to getting up, drinking water, feeling my body, and going downstairs into the lounge to write on my blog and work on achieving my dreams.
Middle of the day has to be reserved for work and for talking to my girlfriend. End of the day has to be reserved for me time. Being alone, taking time, creating art, and letting the magic of nighttime take over.
This is what I’m thinking roughly:
7/8 AM – 9/10 AM: Dedicated to living the magical life
9/10 AM – 12 PM: Dedicated to doing the impossible at work
12 PM – 1/2 PM: Lunch, meditation
1/2 PM – 5 PM: Work, performing at the highest levels
5 PM – 7 PM: Misc time
7 PM – 11 PM: Alone time, creativity, play
During the weekend, work will be removed, leaving more time for dedication to my magical life. I think it will look something like this:
7/8 AM – 12 PM: Dedicated to living the magical life
12pm – 7 PM: Misc time
7 PM – 11 PM: Alone time, creativity, play
With this balance, it seems that my breakdown is this:
Weekday
1-3 hours per day on living magical life
5-7 hours of work
4 hours of alone-time/play
2 hours of miscellaneous time
Weekend
4-5 hours per day on living magical life
4 hours of alone-time/play
7 hours of miscellaneous time
I suspect, I will have to do careful planning during the weekend, in order to perform at the absolute highest levels of work and potentially spend less time there.
In terms of living out my beliefs of empathy, intuition/following feelings, creativity/imagination, and honesty. I’m not entirely sure what actions I need to take to feel that I am in congruence with my values.
My main thought right now is about taking risks, breathing through difficult emotions and sensations, and following connection theory.
I’m gonna try to do something crazy, which is to try to rise from Silver 1 to Platinum in Valorant.
For all of you who don’t know, Valorant is a competitive FPS shooter. Like all popular computer games that are competitive, it is extremely difficult to progress in rank.
When I first started Valorant I was in Iron 1 and after months of playing, I rose to Silver 1. Now I want to make a similar rise from Silver 1 to Platinum 1. But I want to do it faster this time. I want to do it within the course of 2-3 months.
I want to use this experience as a test of my speed learning skills and also how I can make videos for challenges.
I also believe that mindfulness and self-awareness can bring greater success than any brute force tactic, and I want to prove that with my progress in this game (which will be easy to measure and indisputable).
My current philosophy for speed learning:
Embracement of pain
Lower expectations
Process emotions
Try new things
Self-reflection is KEY
Need to see yourself
Focus on fun
Play when you want with things you like
Small steps
Don’t need to do everything in one day
Do tiny steps if possible
Prepare yourself
Create an environment for success
Specifics:
Embracement of pain
Don’t set goals
Assume I’m gonna do bad
Slow down and process when I’m doing bad
Always try new strats
Self-reflection
LOTS of VOD reviews
Focus on fun
Only play comp when you want to
Other days do light practice
Focus on agents you have fun with (focus on agent abilities that are fun)
Small steps
Find ways to practice in aimlabs, spike rush and deathmatch
Prepare yourself
Work on environment
Work on posture
NEXT: What my plan on filming will be.
Also, got recommend How to Fight Thich Nhat Hanh by a friend on how to work on mindfulness.
I’m very much enamored with the idea of changing the way I work in this new world of contracting, freelancing, and entrepreneurship.
In this new world, the certainty of your career and job is no longer there – leaving both an opportunity and a problem depending on how you look at it.
The certainty that was filled by your job needs to be filled in some other way – and I propose that way is via a strong system of habits, routines, and mindsets that lead to strong health (both mental and physical) leading to high energy, happiness, and peace.
I like to think about this as the perpetual retreat – my ideal vacation or workshop where vast amounts of work is done not at the expense of one’s happiness or physical well being.
What I would love this perpetual vacation to look like:
Ideal working conditions (lots of light, spaces, nice temperature, comfy seats and pillows, people with common values)
Constant personal growth (always learning and progressing in areas I care about)
Strong support system (therapists, coaches)
Physical training (swimming, running, martial arts, weight training)
Natural sleep when possible (wake up when I feel like it, nap when I want to)
Next questions to figure out:
How will I balance naps with working enough hours?
How do I balance free methods with paid assistance?
How will I find the kind of coworking/community you would find at a retreat?
What do I bring more learning type energy out of meetings and working on projects that aren’t personal to me?
The initial thought I have about paid assistance is that if it enables me to earn more, then its a no brainer to get it. If it simply makes my experience more vacation-like, then it must fit into a budget.
