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Priorities

- 3 min read - 600 words
Brett Dargan
Brett Dargan
Principal Solutions Architect (AWS) | Tech Co-Founder | Product Strategy & Business Value

Do you also struggle with those “frog” tasks that are important, but somehow you procrastinate enough to always put them off, till I probably used more time avoiding than it actually takes to complete. :facepalm:

Well I was trying a few ideas, beyond Eisenhower matrix, and came across the low energy task model and the Friction-Sized framework.

Google AI suggested a method to combine, so if identify tasks in md with X.Y.Z, it offered variations depending on tools used and search/filter needs see query

X=Importance (1-2) Y=Urgency (1-2) Z=Friction (1-4)

Z is 1-4 quadrants even though my rule of thumb is to batch the little things for a low energy time. I may sometimes hit those < 2mins immediately and skip the overhead of writing it down, but how many things reallly are 2mins and don’t spin you off distracted elsewhere.

An interesting experiment to help me match my mental energy with different tasks.

The “Friction-Sized” Framework

Because these tasks have deadlines and evoke reluctance, traditional advice like “Eat the Frog” actually backfires. When your mental energy is depleted, staring at a giant “frog” causes Executive Dysfunction—making you freeze and do nothing.To solve this, we must mathematically re-engineer how we measure task weight. Instead of measuring by Time (Duration), we must measure by Friction (Resistance to Start).

Total Effort = Friction (Energy to Start) + Drag (Energy to Complete)

1. The Friction Matrix

Use this 4-quadrant system to categorize both your work and personal life tasks. The goal is to isolate the “Sticky Notes”—tasks that take very little time to complete but have massive mental resistance.

Low Drag (Takes <15 Mins)High Drag (Takes >15 Mins)
High Friction(Reluctant to Start)🛑 The Sticky Notes
• Paying a bill / Renewing a license
• Sending a “difficult” but short email
• Booking a dentist appointment		🐸 The True Frogs
• Tax returns
• Writing a project proposal
• Planning a major trip
Low Friction(Easy to Start)⚡ Quick Wins
• Deleting spam / Sorting mail
• Putting away dishes
• Approving a simple request		🏃‍♂️ The Momentum Builders
• Organizing a closet / Desk
• Exercising / Walking
• Data entry while listening to music2.

2. The 3 Rules of Engagement

To defeat the “Sticky Notes” and “True Frogs” before their deadlines hit, apply these rules:

Rule 1: The “Micro-Leap” (For High Friction, Low Drag)

Never write the actual task on your to-do list. Write the absolute first physical action.

  • Instead of: “Pay car registration” (High Friction)
  • Write: “Open laptop and pull up registration email” (Zero Friction)
  • The Logic: Once the laptop is open and the email is in front of you, the friction drops to zero, and the 5-minute task gets done.

Rule 2: The 10-Minute “Micro-Block” (For True Frogs)

Do not try to “Eat the Frog” all at once. Set a timer for exactly 10 minutes. Tell yourself: “I am allowed to completely stop and quit after 10 minutes.”

  • The Logic: The hardest part of finite mental energy is the anticipation of the effort. A 10-minute boundary tricks your brain into starting. Usually, momentum takes over.

Rule 3: The Work-Life Hybrid Sweep

Never separate your personal and work to-do lists when energy is low. Your brain draws from the exact same central tank of mental energy for both. Batch your “Sticky Notes” (both work and personal) into a single 30-minute window right before lunch or at the very end of the day.

Excalisave for CodeBerg - try out grok build 0.1

- 1 min read - 200 words
Brett Dargan
Brett Dargan
Principal Solutions Architect (AWS) | Tech Co-Founder | Product Strategy & Business Value

I quite like this chrome extension - https://github.com/atharvakadlag/excalisave plugin.

Only problem is the lack of alternative providers.

While having some time to kill (watching a youth volleyball grand final!). I had plenty of time between points to prompt.

I’m trying out different models and providers, so I gave Grok 4.1 with opencode.ai.

Couple more hours Monday morning to get it working. I was hoping to just be in product mode, but I had to go to the codeberg api docs to identify a cause of failure on document create was the incorrect HTTP method. Kinda annoying, it is clearly specified in the swagger docs.

Last iteration it needed network robustness, exponential backoff etc. and a more visual feedback.

It’s cost about $15 in tokens, which idk, I kinda expected it to have been < $10 AUD, going to be more < $20 ($USD 13). Either way it is pretty cheap - I’ll be using this weekly if not daily.

Excalisave fork https://github.com/bdargan/excalisave.

Needed Attention

- 6 min read - 1200 words
Brett Dargan
Brett Dargan
Principal Solutions Architect (AWS) | Tech Co-Founder | Product Strategy & Business Value

Google’s response to prompt “climbing needed attention concept”:

In climbing, “attention” is the mental management of your focus, energy, and perception. Moving from merely “getting up a wall” to expert climbing requires intentionally shifting your attention between the environment, the mechanics of your body, and your subconscious movement. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

The Core Concept: Where You Place Your Attention

Effective climbing breaks down into a spectrum of focus: [3, 6]

  • Outcome Focus: Concentrating on the end goal (e.g., “I need to reach the top”). While necessary, this drains mental energy and causes stress if overused mid-climb. [3, 7, 8, 9]
  • Process Focus / Perception: Paying attention to what your body is doing in the present moment, such as the tension in your core, your breathing, and the precise placement of your hands and feet. [3, 5]
  • Subconscious Execution: Trusting your body to execute complex movements without overthinking every minor muscle twitch. [2, 4]

Shifting Between Effort and Release

Expert climbers constantly manage their attention to prevent burnout and anxiety: [6, 7, 10, 11]

  • Spotlight Attention (Assessment & Analysis): Consciously analyzing a crux move, looking for footholds, or managing risk.
  • Ambient Attention (Sensory & Flow): A relaxed, broad focus where you allow your instincts and muscle memory to take over while climbing through known territory.
  • Transitioning: Knowing when to pause, rest, and assess a situation versus when to commit and move continuously. [4, 6, 10, 12, 13]

How to Train Your Attention

To improve your mental game and performance on the rock, try incorporating these drills into your climbing sessions: [2, 14, 15]

  1. Visualization & Route Reading: Before pulling onto the wall, memorize the route. Deliberately identify your handholds and footholds. [4, 16, 17, 18, 19]
  2. Body Awareness Check-Ins: While climbing, ask yourself micro-questions: Am I pulling too much with my arms? Are my hips positioned correctly? Am I over-gripping? [12]
  3. Breathing and Momentum: Maintain continuous, calm belly breathing and use momentum to keep moving and conserve energy. [10]
  4. Committed Moves Drill: Choose an intimidating move and attempt it with a deliberate setup, visualization, and a simple mantra to eliminate mid-move hesitation. [20]

End Hesitation in Your Climbing: Committing Moves Drill, YouTube · Paradigm Climbing · 2026 M03 9 If you’d like to explore this further, let me know:

  • What specific climbing discipline are you interested in (e.g., bouldering, sport lead, or top rope)?
  • What is your current experience level?

I can share targeted drills and specific techniques tailored to your needs.

[1] https://medium.com [2] https://www.ukclimbing.com [3] https://prowesscoaching.co.uk [4] https://www.ukclimbing.com [5] https://www.powercompanyclimbing.com [6] https://www.maxclimbing.com [7] https://www.researchgate.net [8] https://www.linkedin.com [9] https://www.theclimbinghangar.com [10] https://www.climbing.com [11] https://altaclimbing.com [12] https://www.instagram.com [13] https://www.twostonesclimbing.com [14] https://www.researchgate.net [15] https://www.labyrinthclimbing.co.uk [16] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov [17] https://butorausa.com [18] https://www.safra.sg [19] https://blog.movementgyms.com [20] https://www.youtube.com

additional prompt “‘m interested to contrast with knowledge work, or self-development efforts and just how to intentionally live life. while i like the concept of the 4Cs (cal newport) i feel there is a link to knowledge work and how much time to devote to different aspects of life and software development skills growth. and when to keep persisting and when to save your energy and try another way on another day”:

The link between climbing and knowledge work—specifically software development—is found in the economy of attention. In both fields, you have a limited reservoir of “send power” (the ability to execute at your limit), and mismanaging it leads to falling off the wall or burning out on a codebase. Cal Newport’s 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX)—the “4Cs” framework often associated with Deep Work—serves as the bridge to intentionality. [1, 2]

1. The Strategy of Persistence: Crux vs. Flow

In climbing, you don’t climb at 100% effort the whole way; you “over-grip” during the crux (the hardest move) and relax during the rest.

  • When to Persist: Persist when you are in a “deep work” window (Rule #1) and facing a specific, reachable technical hurdle. Like a climber who has already committed to a sequence, backing off mid-move is more exhausting than finishing it. In code, this is the final 20% of a refactor or a complex bug fix where you have the full mental context. [3, 4, 5]
  • When to Save Energy: If you are experiencing “attention residue”—feeling like your brain is still stuck on the last meeting or an unread Slack message—you are essentially “flash-pumped”. Save your energy when your “lead measure” (time spent in depth) is dropping. In climbing terms, if your form is failing and you’re just “slapping” at holds, it’s better to descend, rest, and try another day with a fresh perspective. [6, 7, 8, 9]

2. Time Devotion and the “Lead Measure”

Newport suggests that even elite performers can only sustain about 4 hours of deep work per day. [10, 11]

  • Software Skills Growth: Treat this as a “Wildly Important Goal” (WIG). Don’t try to “learn everything” every day. Devote your first 90–120 minutes of peak energy strictly to skill growth or complex architecture.
  • The Scoreboard: Track hours of deep work, not tasks completed. This mirrors a climber’s “training log” rather than their “summit list.” [1, 3, 8, 12]

3. Living Intentionally: Transitioning

Intentional living is the “Shutdown Ritual” of life. [13, 14]

  • Drain the Shallows: Aggressively limit “shallow work” (emails, administrative tasks) to specific batches. This is like the approach to a mountain: you don’t want to carry unnecessary gear (mental baggage) that doesn’t help you reach the top. [4, 15]
  • Embrace Boredom: Just as a climber must be comfortable standing on a small ledge for minutes to recover, you must train your mind to handle the absence of digital stimulation. This “productive meditation” builds the capacity to stay on the “wall” of a difficult problem longer. [4, 16, 17]

Summary of the “Knowledge Climbing” Framework

Concept [6, 8, 10, 13, 18]Climbing ParallelKnowledge Work / Dev Application
Deep WorkThe “Send” Attempt2–4 hours of focused coding/learning.
Lead MeasureTime on the wallTracking “Deep Work Hours” on a scoreboard.
Attention ResidueBeing “Pumped”The cognitive lag from checking Slack/Email.
Shutdown RitualComing off the mountainA hard mental break to allow for recovery.

Would you like to see a sample weekly schedule that balances software skill growth with professional output using these “climbing” mental models?

[1] https://medium.com [2] https://frankcjones.com [3] https://www.flashover.blog [4] https://paso.to [5] https://medium.com [6] https://medium.com [7] https://www.parkerklein.com [8] https://medium.com [9] https://medium.com [10] https://wellnessdivision.com [11] https://goalsandprogress.com [12] https://paso.to [13] https://www.youtube.com [14] https://www.jvandemo.com [15] https://towardsdatascience.com [16] https://dansilvestre.medium.com [17] https://medium.com [18] https://avthar.com