On Time

Time is a curious thing. When I began independent studies around 2003, it was pretty easy to bag low-hanging fruit, because the gaps in the syllabus were pretty clear.

After 22 years, it takes a lot more focus to dig into niche areas. Here's how my time is going.

A typical study day is 8 hours down, 16 hours up - I prefer 10 down, 14 up, or even an irregular 10 down per 16 up, but whatever. Main interruptions to study are food ( prep, consumption, cleanup ), and bits of physical resistance for dopamine - each of these happens about half a dozen times a day.

It take a few days to switch context into new subjects, without disturbing unstable memories from prior studies. So to minimise context-switching I don't do normal weeks either, rather I move all the down time to the beginning of the month, and take a week away from mainstream study. During that week I do chores, more rest, and peripheral projects which would require a huge context switch during mainstream studies.

Over the years my projects have ranged from two to ten years in forward planning. The current project is for ten years only, and I have done that before.