October sprint is going to be a little shorter ending on 2020-10-31. Since we're nearing the end of this half this half we will stay true to the theme of the half which is laying the foundations.

The goal of this sprint will be foundations.

Events

• Might take a single day off somewhere.
  • Not entirely confident on this one, might want to save up my leave to go back to Australia.
• Attempting to move more of my messenger conversations to video calls. Not sure how this will go but I'm always down to experiment.

Australia?

Original plan was to go back to Australia end of this sprint. A few complications have turned up.

• Can't seem to find non-stop flights from SFO to SYD. Only option is 1 stop in Vancouver totaling 21 hr flight time + 3 hour stop. I hate flying as is already but if this were the only complication I'd be okay.
• 14 day quarantine is now in a hotel.
  • Cost of $3000 AUD
  • Not sure whether or not I can work. <- this is the main deal-breaker

As much as I'd love to go to COVID free Sydney and spend Christmas with my family this is a pretty hefty price to place. Along with I shouldn't be travelling anyway. I will wait to hear from FB to see if AWA gets extended or not since at this point I don't think it's worth it to go back then fly back to SF by EOY. The increased travel is not worth the risk.

Tentatively, delay going back to Aus until Jan / Feb when things are hopefully a bit better. This means I'll start saving up my paid leave at FB since I might not be able to use my AWA.

Sprint KRs

The theme of the sprint will be foundations. Although, in the half KR I put being consistent with mindless are a very key overall goal I think we need to handle some tech debt first. I think the major mistake I've been making trying to build my habits is trying to build habits whilst also doing something else. Therefore, this sprint we are going to focus entirely on habits.

Here are the ordered KRs based on relative importance.

[P0] Key Result 1: Develop a consistent sleeping pattern

My arch nemesis - sleep. I very much value sleep, almost too much. Leave me be and I will sleep 12 hours straight. Anything less than 9 hours of sleep I will start to feel grumpy. Last sprint sleep was not a priority and it utterly ruined my productivity and mood.

Success Criteria: Sleep within 1 hour of of 9pm.

It feels so stupid that I have to write this goal down. Feels like I'm talking to a child. However, that's the whole point. Making the success criteria so simple that even a child can understand removes the chances for excuses or wiggle room. Thinking as if you were a person that was responsible for taking care of yourself what guidelines would you put in place.

I'm not doing anything crazy like I used to which is waking up at 4am (or even 2am). We want something consistent and stable. Waking up at 6am will allow me to do my morning routine before tennis or exercise at ~7am.

This does mean saying no to any activity that takes me out over 9pm (in fact over 8pm due to night routine). Typically, this would be pretty bad for my social life but with COVID I'm not going out anyway. We're going to have to be a bit more sensitive with our time here and be prepared to say no or reschedule (which I am always so bad at).

[P1] Key Result 2: Morning and Night Routines

Self explanatory. Let's get this routine up and running.

I have a whiteboard with the days + the routine goals.

Success Criteria: Miss fewer than 1 / 6 routine goals per week.

As I say every time I try to stick to a routine: I have a good feeling about this!

[P1] Key Result 3: Reading

This should simply fall in using my night routine. Calling it out explicitly anyway.

Success Criteria: Finish Essentialism + write a post it.

I was going to add finish two books but its a shorter sprint.

[P0] Key Result 1: Execute on Critical Features

As our main goal we will stick to work as our focus. Let's get the routine in place and then start slotting in more mindless development.

Success Criteria: Execute on work plan. This means don't sign up for more than you can chew.

Bit of a subjective exit criteria but I guess that's the nature of the work.

[P0] Key Result 1: Exercise

We're ramping this one up a little. I want to move to start the day, nothing intense like tennis, but some kind of simple movement (yoga, quick walk/run around the block, core work). This should align with the goal of stability (e.g. if tennis gets cut out of the equation it doesn't mean I have no other way to exercise).

Success Criteria: Some kind of movement 5 days a week (tennis will fill 3 days, meaning something misc for 2 days)

[P1] Key Result 3: Reflecting (Mental Health)

Journal + Meditation. As with my physical health I need to continue to exercise my brain.

Success Criteria: Daily journaling and meditation.

Summary

A little bit of a lean plan this sprint. Partially because it's a shorter sprint but also partially to keep lazer focused. We much rather execute 110% on a few plans than 70% on many.

Looking forward to a great month!