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The year of optimizations

· 3 min read
Jessica Huhnke
Jessica Huhnke
Infra • privacy • open source

I’m calling this year the year of optimizations.

Not in the productivity-hustle sense, and not as a rigid self-improvement overhaul. More like a series of small, deliberate experiments, one per month, aimed at improving different areas of my life and health.

The rules for the year of optimizations are simple:

  • Try one focused change for a month
  • Measure how well it actually goes
  • If it works, it stays and if it doesn't, it goes

Why I’m doing this​

Like a lot of software developers, I spend most of my days with my butt glued to a chair.

Long hours sitting. Deep focus. Context switching. Coffee as a baseline requirement. Snacks that appear during late-night debugging sessions. Alcohol as a social decompressor. All this bad stuff adds up.

I feel both physically and mentally fine now, but will I in several years? Who knows. It's often easier to make changes before they are needed rather than when you are forced to.

Instead of making a huge, vague goal for the new year's (i.e. “be healthier”), I’m running smaller, scoped experiments each month.

January: cutting stimulants and sugar​

January’s experiment was intentionally simple:

  • No sweets or desserts
  • No alcohol
  • No caffeine after 10 AM

No calorie tracking. No macro optimization. Just removing a few high-calorie and low nutrient items and seeing what happens.

What I’ve noticed so far​

  • I’m down ~3 lbs, without other efforts to lose weight
  • No sleepiness post lunch, but I crave bubbly drinks
  • My Garmin says my resting heart rate while asleep has slightly decreased

To be honest, I'm realizing I don't actually like desserts that much. It is a bummer not to be able to have a beer during Indiana football's historic playoff run though.

So far, this experiment will likely stay in the keep pile except for the occasional craft beer. At a brewery, after I did something to earn it.

February: sleep optimization (TBD)​

February’s experiment isn’t fully defined yet, but it’s centered around sleep.

Some ideas I’m considering:

  • No screens after a certain hour
  • White noise
  • Sleeping in a cooler room
  • Weighted blankets and eye rests

I still need to do some research here as what could be the highest impact item. It could be one of these, none of these or all of them.

The bigger idea​

This isn’t about becoming perfectly optimized.

It’s about treating life changes that may suck a bit more like a system:

  • Observe
  • Change one variable
  • Measure the outcome
  • Keep what compounds

I’ll write occasional updates as the year goes on, partly for accountability and partly as notes to future-me. If nothing else, it’ll be interesting to look back and see which changes actually stuck.