fifty percent [08/30/2007 20:24:54]

It's been ten days since I started tracking my personal unit tests, and I now have about half of them passing.

I'm really surprised by the effect it's had on me.

For one thing, I feel much more down to earth. In the past, every time I had an idea, I'd immediately start thinking about how to market it or turn it into a huge project.

Now, I either just file it away (if it doesn't help pass the tests) or else I quickly implement a simple solution and move on. I find myself building things just because I want them, and putting off any thoughts about marketing.

The other major effect I've noticed is an emotional one. Normally, if you were to ask me about my emotions, the most likely answer would be that I'm feeling overwhelmed. It occurred to me a few days ago that I haven't felt stressed out at all. I feel relaxed. Balanced even! (I've also been scheduling and planning my day, and that's a big part of this too.)

Getting these tests to pass has forced me to work inside my circle of influence. That's a concept I read about a long time ago in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, but never really understood until now. Basically it's a venn diagram showing two circles: what you can influence and what you're concerned about or interested in.

I've started to think in terms of a third, inner circle called the circle of control which includes not just those things I have influence over, but those things I'm actively managing. I feel like I'm expanding that circle.

I expect to get all tests passing sometime in September, and then I'll expand my circle of control even further by adding new tests. They'll still be small things, though. One's definitely going to be about keeping my bikes working, and I'm also going to start extending the tests to cornerhost: tracking response time on all servers, managing my marketing campaigns on a weekly basis, and so on.