It’s about an hour earlier than when I usually call it a day.
And yet, now that I am checking, I have ‘worked’ fewer actual hours than usual.
And I have gotten a bit of exercise and housework done too!
(This does not usually happen on a normal study day)

What I did

• Set a timer for 30 minutes.
• Got to work. Butt in seat.
• If I got distracted, I’d reset the timer to 30 minutes and start again. The aborted session would not count.
• Tried to be patient with myself. Realised that doing things over, was not really a negative, if it meant that in the long run I’d be able to focus better.

How I fared

• I did six, 30 minute sessions of Django.
• I did three, 30 minute sessions of Postgres.
• Don’t think I could have lasted this long, if it was just Django.
• Had to scratch and start over six times.
• Ended up doing close to 4 and a half hours of focussed Deep Work.

What I learnt

• Learnt about tables in Postgres and did basic commands with a single table
• Learnt about forms in Django and how they are built and all the niceties Django provides.
• Worked through some exercises in Django, where I built forms and then hooked it up to models using Views.
• Then learnt just how much time and effort Django saves me by using generic ClassViews.
• Also got into a rhythm of doing stuff, blowing Django up, looking at the error, figuring it out and then going on the next blowup.

What I feel

• Did a whole day today, after yesterday’s run
• Tired, but not exhausted.
• Still feel energetic enough to write this blog post
• Actually love this time, when I can sit peacefully and write. All I need now, to complete this setting is a glass of cheap Goan port.
• I don’t feel rushed.
• At four and a half hours, it might feel like I spent less time, but I got much more done than I do in a eight hour day. I realise that the tiny rest periods in between are doing me good. The first few breaks, I kept checking all my feeds. By afternoon, I had settled down to either doing small chores or just enjoying the solitude as I did gentle physical stretches

If I can do 30 minute stretches at will this week, I’ll increase them to 45 minutes next week.
Here’s to hoping, this is a sustainable way to focus and learn lots daily.

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As amazing as Dr. Chuck and Brian Yu and Reuven Lerner are, I find myself falling asleep as I learn web development.
I look at the videos, I seem to understand things, and then I zone out.
A while later, 30 minutes have passed, three videos are over and I am wondering, just what the heck Dr. Chuck is on about.

I find myself struggling like this over and over.
I have days of intense focus. But those are draining.
I then need a couple of days to recover, for every day, that I can study like that.
I realised that I need something sustainable.

So I decided to do a few things differently today onwards

1. I studied more than one thing.
   While my focus remains learning Django, I realised that I cannot make that the entire day’s focus.
   My mind can no longer process information like this.
   While I want to focus on one thing and get it out of the way as soon as possible, to get on with the next thing, my mind refuses to cooperate.
   So I studied Django for the most part, but also interspersed it with writing and exercising Python code (which I am sorely in need of) and learning some PostgreSQL.
2. I started interval focus training.
   I realised that the phone is doing me no favours, but I do need to check it.
   So I started working in 15 minute bursts since Friday.
   15 minutes of no interruptions, followed by a minute or two of stretching my legs and responding to messages (no email, no social media.)
   Today I did 30 minute sessions, which I’ll continue the whole of this week.
   I hope to build up my focus muscle to where I can work in 90 minute stretches. And if I get in 3-4 such stretches on a daily basis, I’ll consider that a day well spent.

And as I write this at the end of the day, to my mind, I have made more progress, than I usually make in two days without being exhausted at the end of it all.
I’ve no idea how long this will work for me.
But I’ll report back on how this is going next week.
And probably write again, on when the well has dried up and I’ll need to change tactics.

Until next time …

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Ok, I cannot completely blame Django.
A dental procedure has left me in quite a bit of pain and unable to focus.

So I was wondering what else I could do, instead of Django and decided I’d learn PostgreSQL.
I was tickled pink when I read that Postgres is actually Post Ingres.
I am old enough to remember Ingres databases that ran on computers I supported as a junior hardware engineer in the late 90s. I was warned not to ever touch the database machine unless I was supervised :P
I also attended seminars for another ‘Post Ingres’ database called NonstopSQL in the early oughts when I worked with Compaq as a support engineer for their laptops. Engineers would have open sessions. But what did a boy servicing laptops have to do with Tandem machines? How did they let me attend? That I will never know. Just that I found them fascinating :)

Now it all comes full circle when I actually need to learn about databases.
And what better database to learn than Postgres? :)

All those random videos about Postgres the other day, led me to the University of Michigan’s, PostgreSQL for Everybody Specialization.
Dr Chuck Severance is an engaging instructor, so I promptly signed up.

I’ll log the journey and what I learn, here in the days to come.

So long, for now!

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