Day 1 of #48Days

Before you embark on an adventure, get a notebook, preferably one small enough to tuck into your back pocket. There is a sense of commitment in writing things down, almost like having a pact with one’s self.

I have several digital note-taking devices and services like Google Docs, Evernote and OneNote synced to the digital ether called the “cloud” and replicated on my phones, computers and laptop.

But digital, no matter how omnipresent and accessible, seems so fleeting, so deletable.

A recent study shows that people remember notes better if these are taken by hand rather than with digital tools.

I bought three yesterday – P49 cahiers from National Bookstore – for idea journals and notes.

Notes to an adventure.

Notes to an adventure. Looking forward to filling up these pages during my 48-day sabbatical from my day job.

Starting today and until June 20, I will be leave from business editor duties with Sun.Star Cebu to work on projects of my startup, InnoPub Media. These are primarily Digital Tourism projects. I also want to jumpstart ideas we’ve had to set aside for years now because of the lack of time and resources.

One thing I learned in starting up our Digital Tourism project is to muster the courage to pursue an idea. For years I have had several ideas about how to use tech to deliver certain types of information but I did not pursue these.

My wife, Marlen, and I finally decided to give it a go on our own with Digital Tourism and this has paid off for us. Digital Tourism has exploded this year and we’ve been expanding like crazy. People and groups now regularly send us messages asking when we could implement the program in their areas. Many approach us for help in digital and mobile projects. This 48-day sabbatical will allow me the breathing space to work on all these projects and pursue new ones.

I’ve also set some personal goals to learn new things, read a lot, blog and write more and run regularly.

The #48Days challenges I’m taking on during my break from my day job are:

  • Build my first iPhone app
  • Create 1 Android app a week for the entire break
  • Learn to build a Windows Phone app by myself
  • Build a news app
  • Finish reading at least 3 books
  • Run at least 200 kilometers
  • Write at least 5 articles and blog posts a week
  • Jumpstart 2 projects that have been percolating for years

My first entry on the journal is a challenge by Peter Brock, “Bite off more than you can chew and then chew like hell.”

That will set the tone for the next month and a half.

The post Day 1 of #48Days appeared first on Leon Kilat : The Tech Experiments.

Day 1 of #48Days

Before you embark on an adventure, get a notebook, preferably one small enough to tuck into your back pocket. There is a sense of commitment in writing things down, almost like having a pact with one’s self.

I have several digital note-taking devices and services like Google Docs, Evernote and OneNote synced to the digital ether called the “cloud” and replicated on my phones, computers and laptop.

But digital, no matter how omnipresent and accessible, seems so fleeting, so deletable.

A recent study shows that people remember notes better if these are taken by hand rather than with digital tools.

I bought three yesterday – P49 cahiers from National Bookstore – for idea journals and notes.

Notes to an adventure.

Notes to an adventure. Looking forward to filling up these pages during my 48-day sabbatical from my day job.

Starting today and until June 20, I will be leave from business editor duties with Sun.Star Cebu to work on projects of my startup, InnoPub Media. These are primarily Digital Tourism projects. I also want to jumpstart ideas we’ve had to set aside for years now because of the lack of time and resources.

One thing I learned in starting up our Digital Tourism project is to muster the courage to pursue an idea. For years I have had several ideas about how to use tech to deliver certain types of information but I did not pursue these.

My wife, Marlen, and I finally decided to give it a go on our own with Digital Tourism and this has paid off for us. Digital Tourism has exploded this year and we’ve been expanding like crazy. People and groups now regularly send us messages asking when we could implement the program in their areas. Many approach us for help in digital and mobile projects. This 48-day sabbatical will allow me the breathing space to work on all these projects and pursue new ones.

I’ve also set some personal goals to learn new things, read a lot, blog and write more and run regularly.

The #48Days challenges I’m taking on during my break from my day job are:

  • Build my first iPhone app
  • Create 1 Android app a week for the entire break
  • Learn to build a Windows Phone app by myself
  • Build a news app
  • Finish reading at least 3 books
  • Run at least 200 kilometers
  • Write at least 5 articles and blog posts a week
  • Jumpstart 2 projects that have been percolating for years

My first entry on the journal is a challenge by Peter Brock, “Bite off more than you can chew and then chew like hell.”

That will set the tone for the next month and a half.

The post Day 1 of #48Days appeared first on Leon Kilat : The Tech Experiments.

Day 1

I’m setting 30-day challenges this month. Today is day 1. The challenges I chose are meant to help me improve my writing and fitness:

  • Run at least 5 kilometers every day
  • Blog every day

To start the month, I just finished a 21K run today, my first long run for a long time. One thing I realized that I really missed in running is the meditative state you are in when running longer distances. I used to be able to think out and outline column pieces during long slow distance (LSD) runs. In my solo run tonight, I was able to come up with several ideas for new projects as well as improvements on current ones.

I’ve been able to run nightly for 13 straight days and I hope to keep that up for this month’s challenge.

RUNKEEPER. The app for iOS and Android not only allows you to keep track of the distance of your run via GPS, it also serves as training log, resource and social network.

RUNKEEPER. The app for iOS and Android not only allows you to keep track of the distance of your run via GPS, it also serves as training log, resource and social network.

It’s a challenge to find the time to run but I realized it’s something I need to make time for not only to improve my fitness but also my writing. I’m able to think better after a run. Ideas come out, without fail, in my nightly runs.

As with anything I do, I use tech as a crutch. RunKeeper allows me to keep track of my runs while Lift reminds me of habits I want to build or change and keep track of these. You cannot change what you cannot measure, someone at Lift wrote (I can no longer find that link).

LIFT. The app allows you to sign up for challenges and keep track of your progress.

LIFT. The app allows you to sign up for challenges and keep track of your progress.

I’ve also decided to resume blogging – really blogging and not just making this site a repository of my newspaper articles and column. By working to be able to blog everyday, I hope to sharpen my craft (writing coaches tell you the best way to improve your writing is to keep doing it) as well as discipline myself into writing regularly.

Day 1 is about to end, a whole month awaits.

The post Day 1 appeared first on Leon Kilat : The Tech Experiments.

detechifying update

Success:

No more tech “work” outside of the job. No more side projects. (Which part of me regrets, since side projects are a key to staying sharp and up-to-date.)

Fail:

Must reduce Twitter, Facebook, and social networks so far – optimize, but not remove completely.

Reading non-tech books… still slow.  Reading news/articles/blogs online is much more tempting, but isn’t that a junk diet?


Obsession

Now I think I’ve been hard on myself in getting myself to write in this blog. Hard on myself, like I am on many other things. So I’lll relax a bit, and be happy even if some of the stuff I’m writing remains in drafts. I should be satisfied that I get to empty my head.

I saw my psychiatrist last Saturday. (It’s a “checkup” for most doctors, but a “talkup” for those like me who can’t be examined with physical evidence.) I told him about some recent problems with obsession. I was fanatically obsessed about being perfect in something. I was getting very angry with myself for falling short.

So in writing, I shall let go.