Doing What Matters Most To You (Getting Things Done)

When you keep desperately and constantly failing to complete a task:

  • And you have freed the most possible time
  • And you have attained the greatest mastery for that task
  • And you have received the most help you could possibly receive
  • And you have prioritized everything and this remains

Then do less of everything else.

Eventually you’ll be left with a list of what matters most to you. And it will be smaller than when you had started so it might be easier to finish.

How Fast Can You Tangle In Org-Mode?

Last year I converted my Emacs Literate Configuration File from a complicated document full of out-of-order noweb objects to a simple sequential document that took the tangle times down from 3-10 minutes (because of how I set up my document not because of Org-Mode itself!!!) down to 30-90 seconds. But who doesn’t want more speed? I didn’t at least until I read this article which led me to reading this article and this page on garbage collection.

I tangle my config files what feels like every few minutes at least when I am playing around with stuff. So here is some code to effectively avoid garbage collection when tangling. It speeds up tangling on my computer when I tangle the same document in a row five or ten times so I’m happy but that clearly isn’t a detailed analysis.

Here is the code:

(setq help/default-gc-cons-threshold gc-cons-threshold)
(defun help/set-gc-cons-threshold (&optional multiplier notify)
  "Set `gc-cons-threshold' either to its default value or a
   `multiplier' thereof."
  (let* ((new-multiplier (or multiplier 1))
         (new-threshold (* help/default-gc-cons-threshold
                           new-multiplier)))
    (setq gc-cons-threshold new-threshold)
    (when notify (message "Setting `gc-cons-threshold' to %s"
                          new-threshold))))
(defun help/double-gc-cons-threshold () "Double `gc-cons-threshold'." (help/set-gc-cons-threshold 2))
(add-hook 'org-babel-pre-tangle-hook #'help/double-gc-cons-threshold)
(add-hook 'org-babel-post-tangle-hook #'help/set-gc-cons-threshold)

The Opposite of Forget Is Mindful Not Remember

When you forget a «person/place/thing/idea/though/memory», that which previously sat in your cognitive field is there no longer. When you become mindful of that «person/place/thing/idea/though/memory» again, it returns to your cognitive field. We call this “forgetting and remembering” something. But remember is the wrong word.

Continue reading “The Opposite of Forget Is Mindful Not Remember”

Somatic Experiencing Therapy

From Wikipedia:

Somatic experiencing is a form of alternative therapy aimed at relieving the
symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental and
physical trauma-related health problems by focusing on the client's perceived
body sensations (or somatic experiences). It was created by trauma therapist
Peter A. Levine.