Today I experimented with doing a digital sabbath. I was facing the prospect of another day of working on a job application (and was feeling kind of excited about it), but then I remembered my friend who is currently in Israel had talked about the sabbath recently, and I thought it’d be an interesting thing to try, as it’s a Sunday.

I turned off my devices and put them in a different room, cleared my desk, got my typewriter out and a pile of books, and had a great time.

I wrote a little bit, read a bunch (probably 3+ hours!), went on a long walk, lay on my yoga mat.

I ended it at 18:30 because I wanted to make sure that I’m ready to start my week tomorrow morning - I want to clear the decks, get everything in order. This feels very repeatable - a weekly sabbath for a big chunk of Sunday. Feels great.

Below is what I wrote on my typewriter:

Typewritten note

I’m scheming about all the different things I could do with my tech sabbath day

Do I want to do it the Jewish way (“it’s a day for ‘being’, not ‘doing’”)

Or do I want to do it in a modern, secular way (“it’s a day for ‘no technology’”)

Things I could do include:

  • Drafting a message to my friend who I’ve been procrastinating on replying to
  • Writing out the application questions for the job application, but via my typewriter
  • Writing letters to family and friends
  • Reading
  • Tidying

I think really, I’ll have time for all of the above

I do feel somewhat averse to doing the job application stuff - would be nice to have a true day off to regenerate energy.

I wonder if I need to return to the era where all I was doing was job application stuff. Like 6 hours a day, 12 pomodoros. I think I should, because maths/upskilling is a longer game, as is world model stuff. Infinite vs finite games.

Look for jobs, apply for jobs, that’s the two-pronged approach. 12 poms a day, starting early.

  • 12 poms a day. Ambitious!
  • Up at 5am. Sets a much different tone than “start working by noon, after exercising and doing math academy and etc”
  • Getting a great job as number 1 priority. Maths, world model, meditation, weights, reading, it’s all secondary

And it’s not like I’ve “fallen off” and should fee bad (re: having not done 10+ poms/day on job application stuff for the last ~2 months). I’ve:

  • Learned vim
  • Learned about the nuclear safety field
  • Refined my learning stack (stored it!)
  • Created this website
  • Created my stealth blog
  • Revived my 2021 learning website
  • Made my “learning to think” website
  • Got stuck into math academy (and finally found the correct difficulty level)
  • Visited to Vajryana buddhist place
  • Continued my diet
  • Continued weight lifting and jumping rope
  • Read books
  • Attended the Effective Altruism Global conference
  • 50+ hours of John Boyd study – marking the total end of my “I haven’t learned any new intellectual things in years” thing
  • Wrote my shame blog
  • Etc

March 2025 began a period of full-time sprinting re: jobs

  • Probably a full month for AISI + Open Phil CoS + Cate pitch + Kairos + Longview
  • Longview - made it really far. Whilst waiting 2.5 weeks, didn’t apply for other stuff, did upskilling instead. Didn’t get it – went to EAG, after a call with 80,000 Hours, met CEA and 80,000 hours people, leads there. CEA interview. Kairos call to get feedback on their hiring round, positive feedback and super useful constructive feedback. Validation from Kairos and Longview that I’m on the correct path here

A lot of skill is required to navigate all this well, to maintain energy levels, to take good actions. No doubt a more skilled strategist could have parallelised much more, focused on the most high leverage actions. But I think I’ve been doing pretty well! E.g., a friend who has done a lot of hiring said that my CV is one of the best he’s ever seen (as did Alex H-T, and Kairos hirer, at least re: selling myself & layout). Longview thought I was ecxellent. Kairos would have hired me if it weren’t for a few other people who applied

Keep going!