between breath and wind

[bubblingbeebles]

alright, i am trying a new tactic today. i realised after i got back from running that i could feasibly take the rest of the day entirely off without the world ending, though it would hurt my coming weekdays. so, while i'm not taking the day off, i will make like anything worthwhile i get done today is bonus points. maybe if i can do this even just

Comments

[joshua_]

I think this is related to what I call the 'snowblower problem'. When you feed a snowblower far too much snow by going too fast, it bogs down and becomes even slower than it was, and becomes even less capable of dealing with the mass of snow that it is now forced contend with. The solution to this is to feed it just a *little* bit less snow at a time; by backing off to just before the point where the hysteresis kicks in, throughput can be maximized.

I think my work curve behaves similarly -- I have to back quite a ways off to get out of the post-hysteresis decline, but once I do, I'm good.

[bubblingbeebles]

good name for it.

there might also be some confirmation bias to it afterwards; i find now i feel better if i think "i got a bunch of bonus points yesterday!" and "i am recharged from my day off!" than if i think "i spent all day yesterday getting shit done..."