I really liked this post, is full of good advice on how to implement big changes, like having small, bite-sized goals where performance is easy to evaluate. The networking part was very well done, forcing himself to engage the community, it puts him out there and provides positive value. And finally, building a very simple website for someone was a great idea, there's nothing like getting experience from a real world project. Joshua, congratulations!
Yes, small bite-sized goals is so important for keeping going in long-term discouraging projects - as let's face it, programming can be infuriating and tedious! lukeprog calls the focus on small bite-sized goal "success spirals" http://lesswrong.com/lw/58m/build_small_skills_in_the_right_... and I think it's definitely important.
I just noticed your username, and I have to say thank you for your detailed articles and specially for your melatonin study. It personally helped me in improving my sleeping habits when I was having a lot of stress-induced sleeping issues. Thanks again!
You're welcome. I think the melatonin suggestion is particularly valuable for HNers as we all tend to spend so many hours staring at bright white/blue lightbulbs called screens...
(I think my recently finished Redshift self-experiment will show this effect dramatically.)
