I previously mentioned that I had taken a break from my side projects because I was feeling a bit burned out. Then, I came across this short but useful article: Make a List In short, it suggests that creating to-do lists for your goals and tracking your progress might help you achieve them. I actually tried this before on my side projects: I decided which project to work on and what to do; I broke the tasks down into small pieces and started progressing step by step. But in the end, I still felt exhausted. Sure, the project wasn’t the only reason for this. Therefore, I would need a different solution that does not bind me to these projects when I’m already overwhelmed with other things.
I’ve now decided to take a slightly different approach. I’ll only do these tasks when I sit down at the computer, and I’ll keep a daily log every time I open it. For example: “Today I planned the onboarding screen,” “I created the data model,” or “Today I researched action cameras.” So, actually, I don’t abandon them, but if I already lack energy, I don’t do them. If I have it, then I log my progress.
There’s another important reason for keeping a computer log: I think it will help me use my time more efficiently because it will allow me to question how I spend my time. This is also really important because when I don’t question how I plan my time, I end up spending too much of it online.
Workshops
Last week, a two-day workshop was held at my company and we had a great time. I believe that the best way to improve team spirit within the company is to hold events such as workshops and hackathons frequently. Regardless of the topic, working as a team with people outside my own group, communicating closely with them, and seeing new things are factors that increase my motivation and happiness at work.
A hackathon was held a few months ago, and we designed autonomous agents together. We worked on Screeps, a game where you control a colony by writing scripts. The topic of this workshop was AI. Of course, everyone has different experiences, knowledge, and opinions; however, these types of events are also very useful in terms of creating a common knowledge ground. In other words, they create a common sense on a topic for any discussion.
I had never used an AI CLI tool before. In this workshop, we worked on some ready repositories with Claude Code on the first day, and we developed our own web project from scratch on the second day. Writing a web project, using different AI models and modes such as “plan mode” was a new experience for me. At the same time, experiencing this as a team, interpreting and discussing what we saw together was also very beneficial.
500+ km on gravel
When I returned from my trip yesterday, I realized that I had already exceeded 500 km in total on my gravel rides. I was pleased that my enthusiasm before buying the bike matched what I did afterwards. Every week—mostly on weekends—I try to go on at least one ride between 50 and 80 km. During this time, I started developing a much healthier lifestyle routine and had a great time.
When buying the bike, I was uncertain about choosing between a gravel and a road bike. I thought road bikes required more maintenance and had more limited use, while gravel bikes were more durable on rough roads and therefore more comfortable. I also liked the idea of being able to pass through beautiful parks on my routes.
After riding only on road trails for a long time, one day I ventured onto a gravel trail and regretted it: my black bike was covered in dust by the end of the ride. Now I mostly stick to road roads; I only go on gravel trails when the ground is not full of dust.