habits on S Anand

My Goals Bingo as of Q2 2025

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 03:43:00 +0000

In 2025, I’m playing Goals Bingo. I want to complete one row or column of these goals. Here’s my status from Jan – Jun 2025.

🟢 indicates I’m on track and likely to complete. 🟡 indicates I’m behind but I may be able to hit it. 🔴 indicates I’m behind and it’s looking hard.

Domain	Repeat	Stretch	New
People	🟢 Better husband. Going OK	🟡 Meet all first cousins. 8/14 🟢 Interview 10 experts. 11/10	🟡 Live with a stranger. Tried homestay - doesn’t count
Education	🔴 50 books. 6/50	🟡 Teach 5,000 students. ~1,500	🟡 Run a course only with AI. Ran a workshop with AI
Technology	🟢 20 data stories. 10/20	🔴 LLM Foundry: 5K MaU. 2.2K MaU.	🟡 Build a robot. No progress. 🟢 Co-present with an AI. Done
Health	🟢 300 days of yoga. 183/183 days	🟡 80 heart points/day. Far from it 🔴 Bike ~~1,000 km~~ 300 hrs. Far from it	🟢 Vipassana. 2 Jul 2025
Wealth	🔴 Buy low. No progress.	🔴 Beat inflation 5%. Not started.	🟡 Donate $10K. Ideating. 🔴 Fund a startup. Not started.

At the moment, there’s no row or column that looks like a definite win.

Observations:

New goals goals seem likely. I like doing new things.
Stretch goals are least likely. I’n not so good at follow-up or scaling
People goals seem likely. Mild surprise.
Wealth seems least likely. No surprise. I haven’t started doing anything about it 🤷🏽‍♂️.

Nibbling

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 23:05:34 +0000

This is the third post in my “Nasty habits” series following Licking and Scraping.

Nibbling is biting, but only with the incisors. Not the canines or molars. And it’s a delight.

Nibbling is not uncommon. People tend to nibble on all kinds of stuff. Pens, erasers, straws, gums, clothes, buttons, spoons, rubber bands, paper, toothbrush, cups, bottles, cables, gadgets, books, chalk, coins. It’s a long list.

But I don’t do those. I nibble only food and body parts.

Food

Grapes. I love grapes. You can peel off the skin with your teeth, you see. It’s a slow process, but that’s the point. The food lasts longer. It’s a bit messy since the grapes start watering. That makes it hard to type while eating. But that’s what food breaks are for, right?

When you peel the skin off the grapes, it forms strips. Catching that next strip without biting off too much of the flesh is the art. That way, you have the thinnest peels and the largest amount of flesh.

Large grapes are best for this. Unfortunately, most of them tend to have seeds. The large seedless ones are a delight (though a bit expensive).

Of course, you finally get to eat the flesh at the end. But I’m not sure that’s the best part. Sure, they’re juicy and sweet. But they give me less than 5 seconds of enjoyment. Unlike the peel which can last a minute per grape. Sure, they don’t taste as good. But after four decades of eating grapes by peeling them with my teeth, I’ve grown to love the peels more.

Almonds. It’s the same with almonds. They peel off less easily, but that’s part of the challenge. Soaking them in water spoils the fun. That makes it too easy. You’ve got to soak them in your mouth for a few minutes, soften them, and then peel them off. Doing this while the almond is in your mouth requires some oral gymnastics, but I’m sure it builds character.

Almonds are better than grapes in some ways. The peel is bitter. The flesh is mostly tasteless. They tend to dry the palate. So there’s less temptation to eat more. An almond typically takes me ~3 minutes, compared with a grape - which I can’t stretch for more than a minute. It’s not about the calories either. An almond has ~3 times the calories of a grape. So that evens out. It’s just that I’d feel like eating the almond again less often. Good for the waistline.

Bread crusts. That’s another great food to nibble. You can start at any corner, gently nibble the crust, and peel it off. The trick is getting the right amount of crust out. Biting at the exact edge. The remaining bread should be white, but the crust you peel out should only have the brown. Obviously, this doesn’t work with toast - so I avoid that. It works great with the sandwiches they provide on flights.

(This liking for crusts went to the point where my family would use a knife to cut off the crust. I’d eat all the crusts. It turns out I actually like them better than the bread. But - that doesn’t count towards nibbling, so I’ll stop here.)

Raisins. Not bad, but too small. I peel them off with my teeth only if I really feel like nibbling.

Apple. Again, not bad, but hard to peel, usually. I used to do this earlier with the softer apples, but haven’t done it for a long time.

Chocolate. Most chocolates are not nibble-able. But there are a few exceptions. Protien bars, 5-Star, etc. are OK. You can keep them in the wrapper and nibble on them. But Kit Kat is better. You can nibble at a chunk. Then soak the chocolate in your month a bit. Then bite off the first wafer and eat that. And then the second wafer. You can even lick the chocolate off the wafer while it’s in your mouth, then nibble on the wafer.

Boba. This is my new discovery in Singapore. Tapioca pearls that are so nibble-able. They have just the right texture and chewiness - firm enough to bite, solid enough after biting, and small enough to fit in my mouth. Only slightly more in calories (when cooked) than grapes and a lot cheaper. I’m planning to buy a few kgs and boil them. (I don’t know why I bother about the cost of boba. I can afford it. But it’s a habit of a lifetime.)

Actually, biting is more fun than the eating part.

Body parts

This is the grosser part.

Nails. I’ve been biting my nails for as long as I can remember. Along with the skin around them. So much so that, after repeated requests, my mother settled on, “Anand, when you bite your nails, leave a little bit behind.” That resonated a lot. I mean, I’d like some nail to bite tomorrow, right?

My father introduced me to nail cutters. I tried them for a while (by cutting the nails and then nibbling) but the shapes they produce aren’t as interesting, nor as controllable, as when you bite them.

Nails have a side benefit: fiddling. The shape and texture of nails is such a delight! You can roll them in your fingers, run your fingers along the edge, press against the sharp edges, squeeze against the blunt edges, bend to see how far they’ll go without breaking, tear the layers to see how thin a layer you can get without breaking it, poke at the sharp corners, poke with the sharp corners. Oh, they’re pretty good at removing hair and dead skin from the keyboard, too. So much more.

In fact, I preserve nails for quite some time. I remember the shape and texture of some nails from childhood and truly miss them. In fact, there’s one really good specimen from last September that I kept for a few months before destroying it by fiddling too much. (I have a semi-secret hiding place for nails that prevents anyone cleaning my room from stealing them.)

But I digress…

Skin. Great in many ways, but after a point, they bleed. That pain was not worth the price. (Actually, the pain was OK. I’m just scared of blood.)

Lips. Same. Great texture. But they bleed.

Hair. Now that’s something. Like nails, they’re replenishable. (So far. Though I seem to be running out a bit near the top of my head.)

But the quality varies a lot depending on where you get the hair from. Chest hair is the best. It’s thick, rough, and sometimes has interesting kinds that are fun to iron out by nibbling. Eyebrows are interesting - they’re pretty thick, too, but not as long. Hair from the head is OK. It’s moderately thin, so it’s good for a nibble or two. The best is when the hair has a natural knot. Pulling at the knot while nibbling is fun. Ear hair is too thin. Armpit hair needs washing, which is quite inconvenient.

Um… I’ll stop here.

My Year in 2024

Mon, 30 Dec 2024 16:29:58 +0000

Here’s the report card for my 2024 resolutions:

Compound long-term goals, daily. PASS. I managed to work continuously build on 6 areas in 2024:
- Blogging about 50 posts on my blog and on LinkedIn
- Weekly notes of things I learned
- Teaching Tools in Data Science (repo)
- Reading only Manga
- Experimenting with LLM applications
- LLM Evangelization through LLM Foundry, Straive’s LLM portal.
Hit 80 heart points, daily. FAIL. I stopped exercise in the second half and gained 7 kgs.
Be a better husband. PASS. My wife confirmed that I was “definitely worse in 2023 than 2024.”

My most memorable events in 2024 were:

Declaring myself the world’s first and only LLM psychologist
Evaluating 600+ real-life projects with LLMs (project, hacks, analysis)
Creating my own Calvin & Hobbes strips

I also turned 50. (It felt no different.)

In 2025, at my daughter’s nudge, I’ll play Goals Bingo instead, That is, complete one row or column here:

Domain	Repeat	Stretch	New
People	Better husband	Meet all first cousins Interview 10 experts	Live with a stranger
Education	50 books	Teach 5,000 students	Run a course only with AI
Technology	20 data stories	LLM Foundry: 5K MaU	Build a robot Co-present with an AI
Health	300 days of yoga	80 heart points/day Bike 1,000 km	Vipassana
Wealth	Buy low	Beat inflation 5%	Donate $10K Fund a startup

Some goals are Repeats - something I’ve done at least once before
Some are Stretch goals - things I’ve been doing, but at a bigger scale
Some goals are New things I’ve never done or even tried before

I won’t try them all. I’ll try to cross off one row or column and compound any one aspect.

What are YOUR plans?

Comments

My Goals Bingo as of Q2 2025 - S Anand 1 Jul 2025 9:14 am (pingback): […] In 2025, I’m playing Goals Bingo. I want to complete one row or column of these goals. Here’s my status from Jan – Jun 2025. […]
My Goals Bingo as of Q1 2025 - S Anand 1 Apr 2025 9:03 am (pingback): […] In 2025, I’m playing Goals Bingo. I want to complete one row or column of these goals. Here’s my status from Jan – Mar 2025. […]
“Wait, That’s My Mic!”: Lessons from an AI Co-Host - S Anand 9 Jan 2025 1:02 pm (pingback): […] an AI was one of my goals this year. I tried several […]

My Year in 2021

Sun, 02 Jan 2022 08:06:25 +0000

In 2021, I made 3 resolutions.

Lose 10 kgs. I lost 5 kg in 3 months. But gained it back by the year-end.
Fail big. I practiced confronting people – and failed. I still run from fights. Even when important.
Calendar integrity. I stuck to my calendar 90% of the time. But personal commitments slipped.

On learning, I discovered network clusters. My PyCon talk on movie networks is the start of a fascinating exploration of actors that I’ll write more about.

On training, I designed a Tools for Data Science Course for IITM’s Bachelor’s in Data Science. I’m now a “faculty” at my alma mater, and no longer scared of it.

On self-improvement, I completed a Landmark course and continued Pranayama. Both helped my resolutions.

I also continued 2 habits from last year.

Walk 10,000 steps daily. I averaged 10,200.
Read 50 books. I read 52. Here are my reviews. (Which did you like? What would you recommend?)

In 2022, I plan to:

Run 50 experiments. I’ll learn by disproving my beliefs with measurable tests.
Speak at 10 global forums on data stories, and spread the beauty of data.
Be 10X more effective. I’ll measure the impact and stop low-impact work.

I’m curious – what’s ONE thing you’d like to do in 2022?

Comments

My Year in 2022 - S Anand 31 Dec 2022 8:42 am (pingback): […] integrity. Stick to my calendar. Especially the time I block for myself to work. (This is a 2021 habit I’ve slipped […]
Learning to speak better - S Anand 17 Oct 2022 9:40 am (pingback): […] of my year’s goals is to run 50 experiments. I’d been doing well until April, and then fizzled out. Partly motivation. Partly a lack of […]
Pratyush 2 Jan 2022 7:08 pm: I’d like to learn native mobile development. I want to try out Flutter, Kotlin and Swift. I have been developing websites for the last 15 years. But those skills suddenly feel so outdated. The new hardware provides so many exciting opportunities. I’d like to explore them.
Increasing calendar effectiveness by 2X - S Anand 25 Jan 2022 1:31 pm (pingback): […] took a 2022 goal to be 10X more effective. In Jan, I managed 2X. Here’s […]

Time management

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:00:00 +0000

Some years ago, a friend asked me to write about how I manage my time. It seemed to him I was doing a good job of it, given that I had time to pursue my interests.

It’s something I tried to do consciously. Every few years, I used to go down the route of “time management”. I’d read stuff and try it out.

But over time, I’ve come to believe that “time” is not really “manageable”. Think about it: are most of your actions planned? Me, I just react out of habit, no matter how well planned I try to be. What I do is largely driven by what I’m in the habit of doing.

Not that time management advice is useless, but you’ll end up not following most of it. You act on a fraction of what you read. A fraction of that turns into a habit. That’s still useful. But the point is, rather than pick up 10 tips on time management, it’s more useful to pick one or two pieces of advice that you like, and are likely to act on. (You won’t do things you don’t like anyway.)

So time management is about acquiring habits that save time (and is not about reading tips that are tough to habitualise).

That begs an obvious question and a subtle one. The obvious one is what habits save time? The subtle one is why save time?

Why save time?

You’ve probably heard the phrase “time is money”. For a while, I took that statement literally. I tried to act by assigning monetary value to my time, and by doing the most profitable thing.

I was making Rs 10,000 a month at that time. That’s about Rs 50 an hour. So I figured I wouldn’t do anything that earned me less than Rs 50 an hour outside of work. I mean, if I’m making Rs 50 an hour at work, why should I make any less outside?

One small hitch. I wasn’t making any money outside of work. In fact, I was spending money. So unless I took up a night job, or started freelancing, that rule of thumb was useless. (Besides, I didn’t want to spend time outside of work working. I wanted to have fun. Watch movies, for instance.)

So I needed a different way of handling this. If I spend 3 hours at a movie for Rs 60, that could be a benchmark. If something’s more expensive than Rs 20/hour, I’d rather watch a movie. If it’s less expensive, I’d do that. Take books, for instance. A typical novel would cost Rs 180 and I’d finish it in 12 hours. At Rs 15 / hour it’s a more economical way of spending time.

Except that it doesn’t quite work that way. How much fun I had, had nothing to do with how much I paid for it.

Frankly, in daily life, I don’t think you can treat the phrase “time is money” literally. Time has nothing to do with money.

Time is like money in a different way, though. By itself, it isn’t worth much. Think about it. What can you do with money? Buy stuff you like. And if you can’t, it’s useless.

If all you need is onion soup, why throw it out for sesterii?

Time’s like that. What can you do with time? Do stuff you like. And if you can’t, it’s useless.

There are usually two reasons people want to manage time. One is where they don’t enjoy something, and would rather spend as little time at it as possible. But look, if you don’t enjoy that stuff, time management isn’t your problem. You need to get out of your job or whatever. Managing time more efficiently is simply going to let you efficiently waste your time. (Though in the short run, that’s probably the best you can do – efficiently get rid of nuisances. I’ll talk about that shortly.)

The other reason is where they have too many (enjoyable) things to do, and can’t do all of them. But hey, if you have too much enjoyable stuff, you don’t have a problem! In a way, this is like wanting to buy many things and not having enough money. With money, you can earn more or wish for less. With time, you just have to wish for less. (Living longer may not be a practical option.) Just pick anything you like to do. Don’t regret the stuff you can’t. You only have 24 hours, and you’re among the lucky few who can fill it with things you enjoy.

So, I’m effectively saying, there’s no point trying to do things more efficiently in the long run. Picking what you do is more important than doing it efficiently. (That roughly correlates to the third habit in Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits: Put First Things First. It’s the key to time management.)

So, how do you pick what to do? You’d probably want to pick something that you like, or something that’s good for you.

But it’s tricky to predict what you like.

We don’t know what we want. Sometimes, it’s as simple as that – we just don’t know what we’d like to do.
Too much of anything… I love watching movies, but I’ve never managed to watch more than 4 a day. I’ve tried breaking that record many times. Just doesn’t work. At the end of the 4th movie, I’m sick and my bum is sore. Do I prefer movies to cleaning up? Usually. But by the end of the 4th, I’d rather clean up.
Preferences are not consistent. I prefer a 7 megapixel camera to a 2 megapixel one. I prefer a cheaper camera to a more expensive one. So between a $100 2MP camera and a $200 7MP camera, I’m just making a wild guess.
Preferences are not static. If I’m tired, I’d rather watch a movie I’ve seen before. If not, I’ll experiment with an art film. There’s no telling beforehand what my mood is going to be at any point.

It’s just as tricky to figure out what’s good for us. We have no clue what will happen tomorrow. We have no clue what consequences our actions will have. (Read The Black Swan to get a flavour of that.) So we’re really guessing and groping – though sometimes with a lot of confidence.

On the whole, it’s difficult to figure out what to pick. So what do you do?

This is completely outside the realm of time management. This is about choice. I have a few (bad) habits that guide me.

Follow your moods
Work less
Procrastinate

Those are my principles. (But like Groucho Marx, I do have others.)

Follow your moods

There are times when people do certain things better. I’ve heard some people study best early in the morning. Others study best late at night. I don’t know if there’s any physiological benefit one way or the other, but even if it’s psychological, it makes a huge difference to study when you think you’ll learn better.

Sometimes I’m in a mood to write articles. When I do, the article usually writes itself. If not, I could spend days at it without any progress.

If there’s any reality to this, then the best thing to do is to do what you feel like doing. You’ll naturally accomplish this faster. That’s typically what I do when I’m given any work. I usually wait until I just feel like it. Then it’s usually a matter of a few hours before the job is done. Sometimes the mood doesn’t quite arrive before the deadline, in which case there’s always inspiration.

Seriously: do what you feel like doing the most at the moment. That’s a great way of becoming more efficient.

In fact, I would go as far as saying, mood management is more important than time management. Moods are more precious than time. If you’re in a mood to call people, pick up the phone and talk to folks you’ve been out of touch with. That mood is rarer than the time to make calls. (At least for me, the reason I am not in touch is because I’m not in a mood – not because I don’t have time.)

Optimise that mood. Do what you’re in a mood for. And when your mood changes, go with the flow. Do a lot more of what you feel like doing. You’ll do more (which is probably good), and of what you like (which is certainly good).

Work less

I’ve talked about this in Less is more. At the end of the day, 90% of the stuff you do is useless. So why do it? Just focus on the 10%.

Procrastinate

I can’t put this better than Paul Graham’s article on procrastination.

Good procrastination is avoiding errands to do real work.

You won’t know what the important 10% until much later, so you may as well wait to find out if it’s important, and then do things.

So what am I saying?

Time management is about habits, not tips
Picking what you do is more important than doing it efficiently
But it’s difficult to figure out what to pick
So avoid doing stuff until you know it’s worth doing
Work when you’re in the mood – it’s faster that way

Think about it.

Comments

Chandoo 31 Mar 2008 12:00 pm: Wow.. this is so well written. You are bang on when you said Time management is a meaningless phrase. How often we get in to to the trap of doing more and end up not having good time at all. come to think of it, “not having good time / fun in what we are doing” is one of the reasons why we (couple of frens and me) started a web company. I think in the long run what matters most is how you have spent your time than how you have saved it…
Gagan 31 Mar 2008 12:00 pm: Amazingly written and immensely practical. I seriously find your tips more useful and implementable than some of the few self-help books that I have read. There you have it, maybe something you would want to do after you hang up your boots. You have one reader already. :) Cheers.
deepan 31 Mar 2008 12:00 pm: Time has become so important to manage ever since the onset of the Industrial revolution.We are so used to a mechanical life defined by time that The world seems to stop if we loose sense of time. These days Timeliness is more important than Timely. The book i read recently “About time : speed, society, people and the environment / edited by Tim Aldrich"Sheffield : Greenleaf , 2005 discusses various issues abt time in vivid detail -was intersting one aswell. Timely inspiration for me; to diligently work on my thesis. regards
Binny V A 31 Mar 2008 12:00 pm: I got five words for you - Interest Based Priority Arrangement System.
Shreyas 31 Mar 2008 12:00 pm: Fantastic article, Anand! I completely agree with you when you say - “(At least for me, the reason I am not in touch is because I’m not in a mood – not because I don’t have time.)” This always happen to me and I wonder as if it’s some kind of a monthly inventory-cleaning of backlog calls. But, then I realize that’s the mood I am in and that’s what I should follow, instead of being guilty about not managing “properly”! Lot of fodder for thought here. Thanks!
Vasant 31 Mar 2008 12:00 pm: Hilarious, I particularly liked the mood bit. What if I’m never in the mood to work ? :D
edgar dantas 31 Mar 2008 12:00 pm: hey nice post really enjoyed it really good blog really appreciate it. with regards edgar dantas www.gadgetworld.co.in
jake 31 Mar 2008 12:00 pm: my man, stud article. well thought out, and well presented. i have often realized that while most of the things that I have to do pile up, i often do my best work, and do it fast and neat, when I feel like doing it. unfortunately though, this happens when the mood kicks in. and like the last panel of the calvin comic you left out says, this mood is ’last minute panic’. sigh.
bala 31 Mar 2008 12:00 pm: Some resemblance to the ideas proposed by Dan Gilbert. Very clear, nice train of thought!
THAKUR JUBEN M 31 Mar 2008 12:00 pm: HEY THE NOTES WERE REALLY COOL AND I REALLY LIKED IT AND THE TOPIC IS REALLY INTERESTING………