Automating my life - Samuel Pitonak (@sampittko)

The time has come to optimize some of my personal and business workflows. In todays post, I document 2 automations that I've done recently so I can end repetition and move to another level.

I’ve been tracking my habit streaks and daily mood for 2 and a half years. This had been done purely on paper but over time, I’ve introduced a hybrid system so I can leverage compute power to my advantage. Eventually, I wanted more insight, so I started duplicating information paper + digital. Paper has friction and allows to build strong intentionality. Digital has compute power that provides useful insights.

There are two things:

My 6 item habit framework that I also documented on my YouTube channel. There is conditional logic that I need to apply every day to determine habit status.
Mood with metadata that I need to translate into a number 0-4.

I had been doing this for a while and the time has come for me to think about how to improve my efficiency during my evening reflection routine. I am going to mention the video again because it describes my process in a more depth.

One more thing

I also want to talk about n8n and one small automation I came up with today. The thing is that I set strict boundaries to tech so it empowers me instead of enslaving myself to it (thats what free with tech is about btw — my online brand to empower others to digital freedom).

So if you are wondering what this is, it’s just a little utility that forwards Slack message to my private communication channel. I could also just turn on notifications for mentions only for Slack on my phone not to miss out. However, there is a downside to that: I have to keep Slack installed on my phone.

I’ve decided that it is better for me not to keep it there or have it hidden. I like having this clear separation of concerns for my devices so I don’t accidentally end up doing something I didn’t intend to. Technology tends to suck me in and this is just prevention. That’s why my automation forwards the message that mentions my Slack app to my priority communication channel.