August Diary

Posted on by

My main goal in August was to carve out an extra 20 hours per week to increase my focus on my family.

Three changes made that happen: (a) remove social media from my phone; (b) remove a web browser from my phone; and (c) take a break from publishing.

It worked exactly as I expected.

What I didn’t expect was I spend a large chunk of my “freed time” driving around Colorado. We hit a number of wilderness areas and summited our 1st Family 14er. A “14er” is a peak over 14,000 feet.

Good times.

In the end, our local schools didn’t open up but our university did.

Positives across the state trended down for August.

Good news and, yet another, reminder of the unpredictability of the virus.

The improvement got me thinking that imperfect mitigation measures might create strong results.

Something I’ve seen => successful COVID mitigation measures leave people with risk-fatigue in the rest of their lives. I’ve seen an increased willingness for (non-COVID) risk-seeking behaviors.

Might be a bit like the limits of willpower reserves.

Home school re-started last week.

The first 72-hours was the worst block of time I can remember since I was living with toddlers. The kids didn’t mind but I really struggled.

I wrote this down. It’s worth reviewing if you find yourself frustrated with your household…

When you start to think your solution is your problem, you need to reset your thinking. The easiest way to do this is via positive actions and spoken words.

My actions were to stop making things worse and clean the house.

Better this week and I’ll leave it at that.

August was the closest I can come to a cyber vacation. My screen time was down more than 50%.

Didn’t miss the chatter and, yesterday, nuked my Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Gone.

A question I asked myself, repeatedly, across the month…

Where do I want to be in five years?

August saw me reading more and exploring Colorado with my family.

A better use of time => iterate towards better.

The market is back at an all-time high.

Now is the time to write down your strategy for the next crash.

Mine hasn’t changed – I wasn’t able to fully execute my plan during the early COVID panic.

Wait and watch.