Finn Schubert

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Casual experiments in productivity

I don’t know what I believe anymore about getting things done. I’m writing this while my toddler pushes trucks around on the floor, so I have one eye on him and an awareness that I don’t know how long I’ll have to work on this before

“What would it mean to be done for the day?”

Just as I was going to resign myself to not writing this evening (a huge disappointment, as I’m surprisingly susceptible to the smiley faces in this low-key habit tracker, I opened an email about being done for the day from Oliver Burkeman (author of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management

What is it about a good workbook?

That satisfying feeling of turning to the first exercise, with that virtuous thrill of embarking on a journey that will no doubt transform you in the exact ways the book’s title promises.

New tools, new formats, new thoughts

Today I learned how to make slides using Advanced Slides in Obsidian, and how to make diagrams using Mermaid. Both of these involve making something visual with just text commands. Instead of dragging shapes and text around, in Advanced Slides, you identify where you want it in relation to the

What does a good nonfiction book do (and how does it do it)?

Why a book and not a pamphlet?

“The detritus of our validation-seeking”

Tara McMullin’s post on overcommitting and the validation spiral was exactly what I needed to read today. She makes wonderful use of simple diagrams to show how we begin to overcommit, and then we don’t have enough resources to fully meet our existing commitments (disappointing ourselves and others)

Remember when “habits” were bad?

My first habit tracker app was called HabitBull and I think it was on my very first smartphone. It had a grid of habits, and you could select how often you intended to do them. It didn’t have to be daily, it could be three times a week, or