What I do

_{This is a now page. · Quick update: see most frequently changing section · See also: about me}

I am not my past. Not my past mistakes or accomplishments.
I am not my future. My promise or lack thereof.
I am not the things I own.

I live in a small town.

In the rural south of Brandenburg, in the middle of nowhere. I live very close to a forest. It’s quiet and peaceful.

I walk every day.

Usually for one hour. Sometimes less, often more. I make heavy use of my local forest, which I mostly have to myself.

I wear barefoot shoes. They are much more comfortable and support a healthy way of walking.

I exercise.

My fitness is not at the level where I would like it to be. Accordingly, my exercise routine is still a work in progress. Currently I do:

• Sun salutations in the morning, as stretching and to warm up my body (see: challenge & conclusions)
• Kettlebell swings for strength
• Trampoline jumping ^🇩🇪 in between tasks

I prepare fresh meals daily.

Theses are some principles I eat by:

• prefer unprocessed ↔️ avoid sugar and bad seed oils
• prefer uncooked
• aim for: min. 50% of a plates calories come from vegetables ➡️ salad with every meal
• savory breakfast
• order matters¹
• keep blood sugar level in mind
• 16-8 intermittent fasting

I write.

For this website. For myself. Writing is thinking on paper. It’s part of every facet of my life. I use it to build up an idea, enhance my work output and the quality of my relationships, deepen my understanding about something I read or heard, communicate how something works or how I feel, automate tasks by writing scripts².

95% of this writing happens digitally. And the 5% that I write on paper are digitized afterwards. ^🇩🇪

I do a challenge every week.

This could be anything from trying visualizations, experimenting and understanding the tool Neurostreams or applying a learning like “eat the frog first” to my life. This is an effort to integrate the things I read about into my life.

I write a newsletter.

It covers my weekly challenges and give readers an idea of what is going on in my life in the absence of social media.

I read non-fiction.

Not as much as I used to, but much more purposefully now. I get the most out of a book if I approach it with a question to be answered or problem to be solved.

I keep detailed personal accounting.

Every euro I spend is accounted for³. This allows me to do budgeting in virtual pots, irrespective of where my money is actually stored⁴. It’s great for a quick overview and subsequent analysis.

I contribute to OpenStreetMap

OSM is an open-sourced map of the world. I add missing paths, amenities, details and fix speed limits.

I track my time.

Every minute is accounted for. This makes me more conscious of what I am doing and a few other benefits. A guide (why and how) will follow.

I spend time with my wife, friends and family.

Because of where I live, face to face interactions are limited to multiple times per month (except with my wife, of course 😂.) This is by design and in-line with my needs for social contact. I like calls, so I have a few long ones every week, mostly while walking.

I am present.

As much as I can be. Inspired by the Power of Now. Here are some of the things I do to be present.

Business #

I am employed as a Software Engineer.

Three days a week I work on a Symfony-based (PHP) project, on the same team as my wife. I work on maintenance tasks: bug fixing, code/performance improvements, documentation. Improving our API documentation is my current focus. In the big previous project, I completely overhauled the technical documentation.

I co-run JobDirecto.

Together with Wilfredo. I oversee the technical direction and do full-stack development.

Computer #

I maintain my note-taking system.

I have built-up an elaborate note-taking system⁵ for myself, which requires regular maintenance. Every week I wipe the slate clean. I go through all new emails, notes, unread messages, GitHub notifications, the downloads directory, accumulated paper scraps and remove or file them in accordance to my system.

I continuously update and enhance my Linux setup.

I built up a system tailored specifically to my preferences and needs and I add improvements regularly (whenever I find a better way to do something.)

I use the terminal for many things. Because of it’s potential to be automated and customized it is my preferred way to interact with a computer.

I maintain a few software packages.

These packages make it easier for users to install software on their system.

I torrent.

In order of frequency: audiobooks, books, music, manga, movies, documentaries and courses. In self-managing my media I can tailor the experience much more to my preferences.

I administrate a sever at home.

Through it I provide useful services to myself and my extended environment. Services include media streaming, Dropbox-like file sync, document management, video processing, website analytics and many little helper functions[^apps].

Projects #

I’m working on a stock market strategy.

To achieve consistent returns, with the money I’ve put aside. Project definition ^🇩🇪 Right now I am:

• Cleaning up my notes and extracting the principles of the field.
• Doing some work on my mindset.
• Engaging with a local community of people doing the same things.
• Soon, I’m attending a workshop series of a guy presenting the strategies that he profiably employs (option selling, Stillhaltergeschäfte.)

Moving to Emacs

Last year I became aware of some problems with my Neovim setup.⁶ Emacs presented itself as the solution. All my concerns addressed. The migration of all of my workflows is a big project though. Now, I’m in the process of first moving my note-taking over, followed by some programming tasks.

What I don’t do #

I purposefully do not do things that would have a strong negative impact on my life.

• alcohol
• video games
• social media
• the news
• TV/YouTube
• worrying
• complaining
• negative discouraging people