Systems, infrastructure, automation, and tool-building
Technical
Operating systems, infrastructure, scripting, agents, hosting, and the urge to make the machine do more with less friction.
Structured memory for deep dives
Remember what happened the last time you went all-in on something.
HyperFocus DB turns intense interest cycles into a browsable archive: what triggered them, what you bought, what worked, what fizzled out, and whether it was actually worth it.
Browse by category
Start with the lane, then follow the pattern.
Making things, practicing taste, and chasing craft
Creative
Creative interests that pull toward expression, style, making, and the gear or routines that support that work.
Hands-on, mechanical, repair, and real-world skill loops
Physical
Physical hobbies and projects that involve vehicles, tools, repair work, outdoor activity, or tangible systems that demand hands-on learning.
Systems about systems
Meta
Frameworks, workflows, databases, life systems, and the recurring tendency to build the control layer around everything else.
Ways of selling, packaging, and finding demand
Business
Side hustles, digital products, pricing, market research, and the recurring cycle of trying to build leverage that actually compounds.
Equipment, kits, and the objects that promise leverage
Gear
Equipment-heavy interests where the tools, workspace, or supporting gear can become their own parallel hyperfocus.
Recent rabbit holes
Sample focus entries
Abandoned Deep depth
Planner stack experiment
An endless series of notebook, planner, and index-card setups that each felt like a breakthrough for about nine days.
7 cycles $460 spent Waste outcome
Active Deep depth
ADHD systems audit
A long-running effort to understand what actually helps: medication notes, planner experiments, capture systems, and how to design for inconsistent energy instead of pretending it does...
6 cycles $540 spent Life-changing outcome
Abandoned Deep depth
Linux distro and self-hosting loop
Repeated cycles of distro hopping, Docker stack planning, and wanting a perfectly controlled setup that ended up creating more maintenance than leverage.
5 cycles $420 spent Neutral outcome
Dormant Deep depth
Guitar gear and routine loop
Started as 'learn a few songs' and kept turning into gear comparison spreadsheets, pedalboard planning, and brief streaks of real practice.
4 cycles $1,850 spent Useful outcome
Active Deep depth
AI workflow lab
Less about hype and more about turning AI into an actual workbench for writing, synthesis, product architecture, and low-cost leverage.
3 cycles $190 spent Life-changing outcome
Dormant Deep depth
Mirrorless photography reset
Photography kept cycling between genuine joy, editing backlog, and the urge to fix motivation problems with a new body or lens.
3 cycles $2,460 spent Useful outcome
Lessons
What repeated itself
Buy the starter setup, not the identity upgrade
The expensive version of a hobby rarely fixes the fact that the routine itself is still fragile.
Research depth feels productive, but output is the real checkpoint
A deep research spiral can hide the fact that nothing has been shipped, repaired, written, or practiced yet.
Reusable systems beat heroic bursts
The best result usually came from friction-lowering templates and checklists, not motivation spikes.
Tools
Resources that stayed useful
Notion
Useful for notes, databases, planning systems, and structured dashboards when a topic needs more shape than a pile...
ChatGPT
The main AI workbench for everyday chat, writing, synthesis, planning, coding help, and image generation.
ChatGPT Atlas Browser
Adds browser context and agent-style capabilities to ChatGPT, which makes it more useful for live research and practical...
Perplexity
Best for quick factual lookup and broad research, basically filling the role Wikipedia used to play for a...
Special views
Built into the data model now
Highest ROI
AI workflow lab
Abandoned but valuable
Affiliate Niche Site Idea Loop
Random rabbit hole
Camera Gear Kit Optimization
Expensive lesson
Jeep build and trail planning