Tag: Productivity

My COVID-19 Tech Stack: It’s all about Communications and Collaboration

During the pandemic, I’ve been fine-tuning my personal technology stack the whole time. My personal attitude about apps is that the application work for me, I don’t work for the application. So while I’m the first person to experiment with a new application, it needs to be easy to use.

Here’s how my current pandemic tech stack looks:

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A case of the Mondays: COVID-19 edition

I wish I would have written down when my state shutdown because of COVID-19. While I remain thankful that I have a job and career that lets me work from home, It’s getting harder to track the days. I’m setting more reminders, referring to my calendar more, and at peace knowing that I can always ask Alexa what’s the date and time when I wake up.

Anyhow, I blew off this blog last week but for excellent reason. Work got busy. I also had a pitch hit in a new market and had to get writing. Then I had a TechTarget deadline for SearchCloudComputing. Writing is one thing that takes my mind off of being stuck at home because of COVID-19.

Here’s how my Monday went:

  • I woke up this morning and knew what day it was without having to ask Alexa, so I’ll take that as a win.
  • I had a productive Monday at work and made two deadlines.
  • I had the energy, and motivation to exercise before I ate dinner.
  • The governor of Virginia — a politician I can’t respect — alluded to the state might enter the first stage of opening up on May 15th and I hope to the heart of hearts he’s not playing around.

Along the way, my Pandemic beard is really growing in after a few weeks of not shaving. If only I could grow a man bun too, but I think that’s too much to hope for at my age. #JustKidding

How did Monday treat you?

Self-isolation status report: Finding a new pace

Photo by Mr.Autthaporn Pradidpong on Unsplash

As week 5 of self-isolation trudges on, I’m finding a new pace to get work done and to keep moving forward. Last night, I mustered up the motivation to work out with my new kettlebells and plan to up my exercise game yet again today.

Here’s what else I have going on:

  • I won the jackpot last night and was to get an Amazon Prime Fresh delivery through, which made me feel good.
  • I’m still washing my hands…a lot.
  • I’m trying to get better at eating again after the first few weeks of shutdown.
  • I did the author review on my latest article for Opensource.com which should be live soon. There should be another article following up right after that one.
  • My hope at the start of the current shutdown was to get some personal writing projects done and published and I’m moving forward on that plan. I’m still not happy with publishing articles on LinkedIn. In fact, so unhappy that I’m experimenting by publishing the same article to Medium (since it now supports canonical links).
  • I sent out some pitches to new markets and keeping my fingers crossed I can find some extra work.

Tonight, the plan includes getting back to writing for an upcoming TechTarget article and spending more time with my kettlebells.

How goes your self-isolation?

Week 2 ends with some lessons learned

Photo from Pexels by Pixabay

Friday normally represents a changing of gears for me. It’s the end of the workweek. It’s a day off from the gym so my evening is free to fun and other pursuits. I look forward to Saturday morning when I can go to the gym and then go work on personal projects. Well, my gym is still closed but I’ll be writing a new article for TechTarget tomorrow.

Lessons learned during the last two weeks:

  • Go to the grocery store first thing in the morning with a list of items. Be prepared that some of what I want won’t be in stock
  • Keep my airpods charged up at all times
  • Keep a to-do list, even if it’s overly ambitious, and prioritize personal projects
  • Keep to a schedule even for personal projects and tasks
  • Try to take some time for fun even if you have to put the time in your schedule

What are some things you’ve learned during the last two weeks?