Conversation

Persistent eeriness: I "catch" clocks at exactly 9:41 more often than I "should". I don't look at clocks that often! But every time I do, my dumb brain thinks "you're living in an Apple-designed simulation!!!" engadget.com/2014-04-14-why I'm sure it's just Baader-Meinhoff—but funny.

engadget.com

Why 9:41 AM is always the time displayed on iPhones and iPads | Engadget

If you've ever paid close attention to Apple's advertising materials, you may or may not have noticed that the time depicted on Apple's products is always 9:41 AM. Apple's affinity for 9:41 AM is...

Andy Matuschak

@andy_matuschak

Jun 6, 2021

Makes me wonder if other people with a particularly salient clock time in their lives notice the same thing.

Andy Matuschak

@andy_matuschak

Jun 6, 2021

Reflecting more: the real explanation is simple. I do 40m pomos and keep a timestamped log when starting each block. I start working around 7:45±15m, so each day odds are very biased that a timestamp will land on 9:41 (corresponds to a 7:41 start time).

Adam Zolyak

@azolyak

Jun 6, 2021

Curious - how did you arrive at 40min pomos? 40min for all types of work or specific types of work? Do you do a block ex 3x 40min and then break?

Andy Matuschak

@andy_matuschak

Jun 6, 2021

Just experimentation. The actually-right number depends on the task, but it’s distracting to decide per-task. I do two blocks of 6 35/5 with a long lunch break.

Regretting

@R3gretting

Jun 6, 2021

What do you typically do in your small breaks?

Replying to

and

Ah, this is something I like a lot: entropy-fighting! I walk around the house looking for tiny chores. I pick things up, wipe down surfaces, clean any dirty dishes, maybe do a bit of mise-en-place for dinner. Gets me moving and tames chore burden.

11:22 PM · Jun 6, 2021Twitter Web App

Replying to

and

Ha, same - I’ve found the small breaks to be a great chore tamer too. Generally turning anything into smaller batches seems to make it more approachable for me.