Sprint Retrospective - April and May

Merging April and May since I didn't do any planning for May.

Metrics

• Sleep Score - 78 -> 78

• Activity Score - 79 -> 85

• Readiness Score - 77 -> 76

• Meditation Sessions - 1 (?) :(

• Books read this month - 0

• Deep work blocks - ???

  • Did this occasionally but not robust enough.

What Went Well

Personal Improvement

• Writing
  • Trying to write something weekly (mostly internal).
• Personal Project - Magic Mirror
  • Finished up my magic mirror! I can now hang it :)

  

Health

• Tennis
  • Joined a tennis club and tennis league!
  • Playing with lots of different players now!
  • Coach is in the works...

Work

• Tech Lead ~ April 23rd
  • This was a bit of a surprise but a welcome one :)

MISC

• Money
  • Finished organizing my money for the rest of the year (Roth IRA contribution for last year/this year, after tax mega backdoor, paying taxes etc)
• Fully Vaccinated!
• Full Motorcycle License!

What Could Be Improved

• Overly focused on money specifically GME.

  • I started playing around with the stock market due to quarantine boredom and an attempt to learn about an area that I have zero context in. The best way to learn is to have a stake in the game. When you have something to lose you're much more motivated to understand the process behind it. GME felt like a good fit since it was a strange phenomena which I though would be a month fiasco. The first few weeks were a great learning experience about the wild world of the stock market (options and all).
  • However, a simple learning experience grew a little more into a ritual whereby I'd wake up and read + watch the stock. I had a slightly uncomfortably large stake in the game now. That said, I was no longer learning but rather just staring at the screen akin to gambling. Frankly, I could care less if I lost everything tomorrow since I only staked what I was willing to lose (though the amount I'm willing to lose is absurdly high). What I do care about is the effort it's consuming for something that I don't value.
  • At this point I could exit my position, make a modest profit and forget about the whole thing. Though, I dislike the idea of giving up on my plan of execution just because it's taken a little longer. Instead, I want to be able to work on suppressing the distraction that is GME whilst still maintaining the plan. The GME stakeholder meeting is in June which should be the be all and end all.
  • If I do end up making any profits here, I'm giving a good chunk to my family and then sticking the rest into index funds :P. This behavior is a little too close to gambling to my liking and the last thing I want to do is get the positive reinforcement for it.
  • As they say, extreme people get extreme rewards aka play stupid games and win stupid prizes :).
  • AI: The plan is simple - follow the strategy but minimize the energy spent on it. Let's end this saga with a good story :)

• Adaptability

  • When I start doing something I tend to overdo it. I end up going all out and lacking balance. This is both a blessing and a curse. Examples include: GME (see above!), Tennis (For example, this long weekend: Friday Morning (Singles - 90min), Sat Morning (Singles - 2H), Sun Morning (Singles - 2H, Doubles - 2H), Sun Afternoon (Singles - 90min)).
  • Blessing
    • I am a big believer that the overhead of context switching is detrimental. Even when you're not actively processing something it's happening in the background. I'd rather spend a majority of my energy on one thing then spread across multiple things. Don't peanut butter your time!
  • Curse
    • Going all out on one thing has it's downsides. It leads to both burn-out and also neglecting other areas.
    • Neglect: There's a mental model I have with life which is there are certain buckets that need to be filled to a certain level in order for me to function. I need to fill these buckets using the resources I have. However, there is left over resources which I can distribute into whatever bucket I like without having negative impact on the other buckets. A relevant bucket that has been dipping below the minimal requirement is long term sustainable personal development. It's the category of tasks in the non-urgent but important that often fall to the wayside.
    • Burnout: Going all out on an activity without balance is a surefire way to burnout. This is not just for work but all aspects of life. A clear example is for tennis I've been playing a ton but my knee has started to be slightly irritated. Without investing in strengthening it and continuing to play at this rate will quickly result in an injury. This will overall decrease my tennis time! This is evident at work as well where there will be days when the weekend ends and I simply just want to consume media.
  • There are a few major pieces that have come up in the recent weeks:
    • Tech Lead
    • GME Saga
    • Tennis
    • Meeting people again now I'm fully vaccinated
  • I need to be cognizant of these changing demands and understand that I can't simply fill up a bucket without taking something from another bucket. I need to maintain the foundational levels in the key buckets such as working on my mental health (meditation + journaling).
  • AI: The world is forever changing - adapt instead of trying to continue the same thing in a different environment. Plan accordingly :)

Review

[P0] KR: Have a daily deep work block

• I somewhat did this (maybe 2/5 days). Need to be stricter!

[P1] KR: Sleep score >80 and Readiness Score >80.

• Sleep score went sideways and readiness went down. This is clear due to the lack of routine. That said, I'm suprised it didn't decrease more!

[P1] KR: 90 sessions of meditation.

• N/A :(

[P2] KR: Complete the morning/night routine for 90 times

• N/A :(