2026-w05 ill
The word that sums up this week is: ill: I was fighting a cold for quite a bit of the week. A top moment for me was actually managing to go for a (very short) run for the first time since about July. It felt awful but I was very proud of myself! Something I’m looking forward to next week is trying to get some intentionality back in my routines.
I need to think hard about what’s happening when I frequently slip into urgent or reactive stuff at work: I sometimes even distract myself intentionally using email and Teams. Today my sponsor helped me see that I could be procrastinating from the open-ended, unsettling strategic thinking that I ought to be doing. He reminded me of the Personal Craziness Index concept that I spent a little time on through recovery. In essence: it is a series of behaviours that, while not necessarily bad, are (especially in a cumulative sense) early warning signs that life is getting off-kilter—a helpful call to action. I recommend everyone has a go at this: example pdf worksheet here.
Headlines
February w/c 2026-01-26
Understanding. What it’s like to do a team salary review at work. Kinda upsetting on one level.
Creating & cultivating. Finally got to assemble and glue some mdf tabletop gaming scenery I bought about a year ago. I have shifted to TickTick for task management now. I enjoyed tying out the shift to Markdown files as posted here but it’s more friction than simply using a purpose-built task manager. I don’t like the idea of not owning the data in plain text, but tasks are—mostly—transient anyway.
Consuming. Finished Wheel of Time book 7! A bit too much reading of depressing news from the States. I got way sucked into the YouTube algorithm of video slot machine-ness. I must leave my work mobile in the car or something!
Connecting. Felt a bit rubbish this week for connections. I had some encouraging conversations with junior colleagues though. Felt a bit of personal conviction that I hide away from the kids too quickly.
Pen & ink combo: Pilot Custom 74 (SFM) with ⬛ Sailor Ink Studio 023.
For my future self: extra push this week to get to sleep at a good time