Noisy Deadlines

“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” – Douglas Adams

I used to give the same level of importance to a lot of things in my life: a failed brownie recipe, a delayed email reply, missing a phone call, right alongside a critical project deadline or a major construction estimate mistake that could cost thousands of dollars.

Here is something I learned through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that helps me a lot.

I used to have intense reactions to simple things at work, like an email about a new incoming task or project. I would read it and immediately feel overwhelmed, as if I had to finish the task/answer right away. I had a CBT coach who taught me to pause and analyze what I was feeling by asking these questions:

  • How am I feeling? Anxiety, lightheadedness, butterflies in the stomach, sweating, dizziness, a headache.

  • Why am I having these feelings? I think I need to answer right away, but I don't have the answer. I have to stop and search for it.

  • What happens if I don't answer the question or demand right away? The subcontractor won't have the right information, so they won't price it correctly and will miss part of the scope.

  • What happens if a trade misses part of the scope? What will happen to me? I'll hear complaints from a project manager telling me I missed the scope, which makes the project go over budget.

  • Why is that a problem? How much of that is up to you? How would you feel about it? I'd feel ashamed and blame myself for the error. People will think I'm stupid for having missed that.

And that was the realization: I feel so overwhelmed because, in my head, I process any delay as a complete failure and imagine the worst possible outcome: being considered stupid or incompetent.

That was a cathartic moment for me during the session. I was sweating, trying to articulate a comment, and stumbling over my words. It was a revelation.

Then the coach asked me, “What would be the solution?”

He suggested a simple one: just reply to the incoming email with, “I will look into that and reply as soon as I can.” Boom! Simple. Obvious. I felt like an idiot for not having thought of it myself.

That just showed how many underlying thoughts I've had and how much they have been blurring my vision.

The coach had me imagine a good outcome. He said I was having avoidance issues and needed to take steps to overcome them.

A good outcome looks like this:

  1. Reply to the message, saying I'll take a look at it. That way, I get part of it out of my head. It's the first step to taking action.

  2. Note the request. Write down what is needed and the steps required to resolve it. Define the next actions.

  3. Look at all the other actions I planned for my day. Can I move any of them around to focus on this new one? Decide how to prioritize. Maybe I need more time and can wait until the next day or the end of the day to take action. Prioritize.

  4. Realize it's not a big deal! Cultivate a feeling of confidence and self-efficacy. That's how I want to feel. It's just a request. I process it, plan it, and solve it. NO BIG DEAL!

Post 09 of #Blaugust #journal #health #mentalhealth

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

  • ✒️ I've been consistent with both my personal and work Bullet Journals. I'm enjoying the experience! I'm drafting a post about it to be published soon.
  • 📕 I'm so glad that I finished reading The Expanse series with “Leviathan Falls”! I read the first book in 2012 (I can't believe it's been 12 years! 😱). Time is an illusion. It's definitely one of my favorites series of all time. I want to read some of the short stories/novellas now.
  • 📘 I've also finished “Platform Decay” (The Murderbot Diaries #8). This is also a cool series that I started reading back in 2018. I haven't watched the new TV series yet, but I plan to someday.
  • 💼 Work has been crazy busy and it really sucks most of my energy during the day. But I feel I'm managing my energy the best I can and doing my daily shutdown routine has been key to leave work behind and relax.
  • ☀️ I noticed I've been skipping my morning yoga routine in exchange for quick light stretching. Stretching is great, and it is my daily “minimum viable exercise”, if that makes sense. But because I've going less to the gym during Summer, I've not been doing too much strengthening and my knees start to complain. My goal this week is to get back to my 20min morning yoga routine.
  • 👟 Running and walking have been consistent enough, I can't complain!
  • 🧩 I've been having fun with Murdoku!
  • 📅 I got an erasable magnetic monthly planner for our fridge to help my partner and me to plan ahead. My partner barely keeps a digital calendar (he is not great at checking his calendar) so he always asks me about future plans, so now we have a place to share this information in a more visible way.

Post 08 of #Blaugust #weeknotes

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

I've been working in the construction industry for more than 20 years now. It's a traditional sector, very much male-dominated. But that has never deterred me from it. I also went to engineering school, and the majority of the students were male (I think less than 15% were female).

I'm using an outdated binary classification here, I know. If women are considered a minority in construction, wait until you look at non-binary gender data. It's bad.

What inspired me to write about this was a meeting I attended the other day at my company. It was a senior management meetup between my company and a major subtrade we frequently do business with. It was basically for introductions and discussions on future opportunities. I entered the boardroom, and after I introduced myself to everybody and everyone had arrived, I looked around and realized I was the only woman in there!

There were 18 people in total in that room, giving us a 5.5% diversity representation.

I'm not saying there are no women in my company. There are! In my department, there are 17 of us in total, of which 6 are women, so about 35%. I've heard that women make up close to 15% of the total construction workforce across Canada. That's low!

My company is not the worst out there. We have inclusive diversity groups and initiatives, with regular webinars, events, and celebrations (like Pride Month, the Indigenous Employee Circle, and Black History Month, among others) to foster an inclusive workplace.

But I am always surprised when I look at the senior leadership and find it hard to spot a woman.

Anyway, this is a bit of a rant, I guess.

I don't exactly feel excluded, but... do I?

I don't have experience with how other industries are doing in terms of diversity in senior roles and high-level management (or anywhere else, to be honest). But I think we still have a long way to go!

Post 07 of #Blaugust #NoisyMusings #diversity

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

I created a collection page in my Bullet Journal to track and plan my 2026 Blaugust posts.

It's dead simple, with my goal number of posts at the top followed by a weekly plan/log. I am loosely using some ideas from the festival calendar prompts but I'm not following them too strictly.

For writing, I'm mostly drafting posts on a dedicated lined notebook that I set up just for blogging. (I wrote about this notebook here.) I have a page with ideas, and then I just have drafts. When I'm done drafting, I type the post into Write.as and that's where I do some final editing/corrections/add images before publishing.

I don't carry this big lined notebook with me, so I only use it at home. This actually works great because I enjoy having some quiet time to sit down and write without pressure or interruptions.

Very rarely, I will start writing a post while I'm at work. If I do, I just type it in Standard Notes. Sometimes a full post comes out of it, and other times I'll flesh it out later in my notebook at home.

Here is a picture of my current Collection page in my Bullet Journal. As you can see, I've already had to shift some planned posts to a different week, because that second week was a bit crazy for me. So I’m not planning too much ahead, I’m going week by week.

But anyway, that's how I'm doing it. It's a work in progress, but keeping it simple is giving me a clear overview of my progress and keeping me stay accountable.

Post 06 of #Blaugust #Productivity #notes #journal

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

I was talking to my partner the other day about how I am becoming an analog person: paper notebooks, pens, highlighters, etc.

And right off the bat, he told me:

“You are not becoming a paper person, you are just getting back to being one. You were always analog.”

That was interesting to hear from a person I've known and interacted with for 27 years.

So, I'm rediscovering my analog side. I've always been into handwriting, doing lettering and drawing when I was younger.

After university and when I entered the workforce, in the early 2000's, everything was about high efficiency and productivity with these amazing digital tools: emails, computer-aided design tools, messengers, chats, word processors and spreadsheets. Of course that trend continued, and nowadays it has all become digital.

I got fully into digital note-taking around 2013 with Evernote. From that point on I became a bit obsessed with digital productivity. I wanted to have everything digitally, work or personal, from photos to notes, task lists, calendars and books.

But at the same time, I've always kept one single paper notebook with me at work. A notebook that worked as a daily planner where I would just add the day and take meeting notes or list the things I was working on. So even though 99% of my information world became digital, I still kept that one analog piece with me (which I still use to this day).

I would say that my “re-awakening” to the analog world started when I tried Cal Newport's Time Block Planner. I realized how different it felt to write things down with pen and paper. I noticed that re-writing my digital calendar appointments onto paper made me less anxious about my day. It felt more real and manageable.

Then I tried the Happy Planner last year because I was missing having a personal analog place to draft and view my monthly and weekly plans. Even though I use the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology, I missed a visual planning tool. Attempts to plan digitally did not give me the clarity I experienced with paper.

But then I started finding the Happy Planner too bulky to carry around and also too restrictive because of the fixed template. I wanted to have more space to write on some days and less space on others.

And that's how I've landed on Bullet Journaling. It's been interesting to see how paper gives me this contained space, while at the same time providing freedom. With digital tools I became an information hoarder. It's so easy to dump articles to read, actions, websites to visit and random references into a digital list. I end up capturing things that don't REALLY have my attention, they are just noise. Paper acts as a great filter, because capturing becomes slower and more intentional.

I would say that one experience during my recent trip to PEI pushed me towards paper. While I was at the Charlottetown Public Library, browsing the dedicated shelf of the author L.M. Montgomery, I saw that all her personal journals were published as books. I read a couple of entries while I was there, and it really inspired me to have some sort of analog journal. For years I thought that not having paper made me a true minimalist, because why would I create a pile of used notebooks taking space in my house?

You know what? Now I am thinking that handwritten notes and journals are these precious personal things that are worth keeping.

Post 05 of #Blaugust #Productivity #notes #journal

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

  • 📝 I’m participating in Blaugust! And I create a page on my notebook to track my writing. I’ll share that in a different post soon.
  • 📕 I abandoned a book I was reading for my local Book Club. It’s called “Amberlough” by Lara Elena Donnelly. I read up to 19%, which is actually a lot! I always want to give a book a chance, but sometimes I wish I was more ruthless. I pushed through and now I feel bad that I used all that time to read a book I wasn’t enjoying. Anyway, I’m getting better at it. There was a time when I would finish a book just to put on a check mark, even though I was hating the experience.
  • 📘 On the other hand, I’m almost done with the last book of The Expanse series “Leviathan Falls” by James S.A. Corey. I love this series, and I don’t want it to end!
  • 🎭 My energy levels have been a bit up and down these past few days. I don’t sleep well overall during Summer, and I can’t wait for Fall to arrive! It’s my favorite season.
  • 👟 At least walking and running have been consistent this month. I went for a run three times and walked at least every other day.
  • I was searching for a grammar checker tool and I found this open-source one called Harper. Pretty good without being annoying. I added to my browser.
  • 🎬 I watched two movies: “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” and “Masters of the Universe”. The first is just 100% cuteness. The second is funny in this meta sort of way, and since I grew up watching the cartoons, it got me for nostalgia reasons. The plot is not great but it makes fun of itself, and that is what makes it watchable.

Post 04 of #Blaugust #weeknotes

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

I’ve been thinking about AI for a while now, since I am increasingly being surrounded by AI tools at work, with Microsoft adding a Copilot button everywhere I look. But that’s a topic for another time.

What inspired me to write here was the recent controversy within the Blaugust community about the use of AI-generated images and text. And I knew about this controversy after reading Andreas’ post: Are we becoming too paranoid about AI slop? And then the contribution to the topic by Joel: Not paranoid, but respectful.

I read the Blaugust Statement “Use of AI as a Blaugust Participant” and I found it made total sense, allowing AI assistance but not using it to substantially generate text. I believe most bloggers cherish the writing craft: having an idea, a thought, an emotion and putting it all into words for other human beings to read.

I occasionally will use AI to “proofread” a text that I wrote to catch grammar and vocabulary mistakes, since English is not my native language. Other than that, I avoid using AI chatbots. I don’t like chatting with them. And that’s just me, I think the systemic harms these tools are causing to our society greatly outweigh the benefits right now.

It seems the real Blaugust controversy was about the use of generative AI images. The Blaugust Statement actually accepts the use of some AI-generated images:

An AI-generated image accompanying a human-written article is acceptable; a post whose only substantive creative element is an AI-generated image would not meet the spirit of the event.

And that’s okay, since the main work is focused on the text, not on the image itself.

Now some strong opinions.

As of today, I don’t consider that AI-generated images with the use of prompts are human art. Or craftsmanship. Or anything that can be considered art by human standards. There is no soul behind it; there is no human brain that made big or small deliberate choices to craft that image. It’s like using a slot machine to randomly generate something. Can that be considered an artistic choice?

Maybe these artifacts will become something different in the future, but today I feel that AI-generated content, be it image or text, is slop. I don’t like it when I see it; I can recognize this uncanny feel to it, and I basically avoid it at all costs.

And that’s just my personal stand at the moment. I have the power to choose what I consume online, and I just stay away from places or services that “serve” this type of content.

—

Note: I didn’t have time to proofread this with an AI tool before posting, so all mistakes are my own.

Post 03 of #Blaugust #NoisyMusings #AI

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

  • ✒️ I’ve been using a Bullet Journal for 2 months now. I’m starting to get a feel for what works for me, and I realized I don’t miss most of the digital tools I was using before. I still use a digital calendar, email and Standard Notes, but I’ve been very satisfied having my to-dos in analog form.
  • 📘 I started reading the last book of The Expanse series, “Leviathan Falls” by James S.A. Corey. I love to have these beloved series to get back to, and I might be unconsciously taking longer to read it because I don’t want it to end?! 🫣
  • 📕 Another series I’m almost done is The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold. I finished “Captain Vorpatril's Alliance” and I can’t wait to go to the next book.
  • 🥳 I am now closer to being 50 years old than 45 years old, somewhere in between. And I feel great about it, no regrets.
  • 🔎 I started doing the weekly Word Search and Sudoku that comes in a free weekly flyer with local store sales in my neighbourhood. It’s been ages since I’ve done any of these, and I am enjoying the experience. I love that the section on the flyer is called “Your Moment of Zen”. Anyway, I rediscovered Sudoku, and I heard about this thing called Murdoku that I now want to explore!
  • 🎬 I went to see “The Odyssey” by Christopher Nolan in a regular IMAX cinema. I haven’t been to the movies since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, so that was interesting. The movie is great; it was more gory and bloody than I was expecting, but I enjoyed the narrative choices and the excellent sound design.
  • 🤘 I discovered a new metal band! And by new, I mean really new: they have released only 2 albums so far. The band is called Castle Rat, led by a woman, with a sound clearly inspired by early doom metal and Black Sabbath. Also, they use this over-the-top medieval fantasy 80’s aesthetic that is retro and quirky and amazing.
  • 📝 I decided to join the Blaugust Festival of Blogging !! My first post is here.
  • 📺 I’ve been enjoying the series Connections by James Burke on Curiosity Stream.

Post 02 of #Blaugust #weeknotes

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

Andreas from 82Mhz just published he is joining #Blaugust 2026. I remember I joined in 2024 and it was a fun way to keep blogging. I had an introduction post back then, and although most of it is still current, I will do a quick update here:

  • I still work in construction as an estimator, and I am now considered a senior estimator in my team.
  • I still love reading, and it is my main hobby, as attested by the posts on this blog. I am very much a sci-fi and fantasy reader, but I’ve been distancing myself from anything too dark or grim. I balance my reading with some fluffly romances sometimes. I’ve been better at dumping a book when it’s not working for me.
  • Still an introvert and cherishing quiet time and actitivites that bring me calm: running, walking, reading, journaling, meditating and listening to music.
  • I’ve started Bullet Journaling recently and it has been a big change for me. I plan on writing more about this experience. I am becoming more and more inclined to use paper and take notes by hand (I’m actually drafting this post by hand right now).
  • I haven’t been playing a lot of video games lately, most of the time I will just prefer to sit down with a book. But I want to get back to some of the games I’ve started.

So for the 2026 Blaugust I want to go for the Silver Award with 15 posts in August.

I’ve been wishing to write and publish more frequently on this blog, so Blaugust is a great accountability tool to me keep me going.

Some Blaugust references I came across that inspired me to join:

Edit: more participating bloggers that I saw who joined:

Post 01 of #Blaugust #blogging

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

  1. Hyperfocus: The New Science of Attention, Productivity, and Creativity by Chris Bailey, 256p: Great read about focus with enough scientific data and practical insights. The author talks about “attentional space”, which is like our RAM or the available working memory capacity. He argues that because the amount of distraction machines we have available at our fingertips right now, our attentional space shrinks and our minds wander less, reducing the quality of our attention. The author explores “hyperfocus”, which is deep, intense focus on an activity, versus “scatterfocus” which is mind wandering. Both of these modes are important and there are nice diagrams to help understand the concepts.

  2. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order)) #15 by Lois McMaster Bujold, 580p: This time a fun adventure with Miles' cousin: Ivan Vorpatril. It's the Ivan book! It is packed with action and Ivan getting caught in hilarious situations. Miles and Ekaterin make some appearances, but we also see Simon, Alys, Gregor and even Cordelia in some scenes. There is mystery, a fake marriage situation, family secrets and failed engineering with sinking consequences. Tej's family had an interesting mafia vibe without malice, just pure family loyalty and eccentric choices. Overall a funny and lighthearted book, which matches Ivan's eternal optimism.

  3. Children of Strife (Children of Time #4) by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 496p: I didn't find this book as enjoyable as the previous ones in the series. The pacing was off, with these three different timelines alternating. Some chapters felt repetitive, telling the same story already covered in previous books. The First Age chapters with the human terraformers was by far my least favorite timeline. The Second Age with the ark ship was so-so. The only timeline I was invested in was the Third Age with the excellent mantis-shrimp hero called Cato. I missed seeing the octopuses and the corvids. 

#readinglist #books #reading

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

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