The Jumpstarter: A 5-Point Framework to Align Value and Passion

Or... How the alignment of what you desire with what makes you valuable can drastically increase productivity.

Daily Stand-Up Report: A New Framework for Productivity and Honesty

I’ve been working on a new format for my daily stand-up report, something to structure my thoughts and capture ideas during downtime—like when I’m driving or walking the dog. It’s a five-point framework I’m calling Action, Progress, Challenge, Intuition, and Strategy. I might tweak the names later, but for now, this is the gist: What did you do? How’s it going? What’s the biggest challenge? What do you want? What are you going to do? Here’s how it breaks down.

The Five-Point Framework

1. Action: What did you do yesterday? Specifically, what technologies, methodologies, or ideas did you work with? This keeps it general enough to avoid privacy issues with client work or protected IP while still being concrete.
2. Progress: How’s it going? What did you accomplish or learn? This is about tangible outcomes or insights gained.
3. Challenge: What’s the greatest challenge you’re facing right now? This is where I might drill into technical details, but only for one key issue to keep it focused.
4. Intuition (or Desire): What do you want to work on most? I’m leaning toward renaming this “Desire” because it’s about being honest with yourself about what you’re passionate about, even if it’s not practical right now.
5. Strategy: What are you going to do today? This is about setting realistic goals, even if they don’t align with your desires, to keep moving forward.

The framework is inspired by typical Scrum stand-ups, but I’ve made it broader and more general so I can share it publicly without getting bogged down in proprietary details. It’s designed to be a Jumpstarter (or maybe Kickstarter—I’m still deciding) for my creative flow, especially during “lost time” like dog walks or commutes.

Why This Matters: Capturing Lost Time

I came up with this because I realized I’m wasting hours every week—driving, walking the dog, just letting ideas slip away. One day, I was walking the dog, talking to myself, and had a bunch of great ideas. By the time I got home, they were gone, lost to distractions and work demands. That was the final straw. I thought, there’s real value being generated here, whether I capture it or not. So why not leverage voice memos, transcription tools, and LLMs to turn these rants into something useful?

This framework isn’t just about time management or project planning (though it helps with both). It’s about turning a curse—my tendency to ramble and go down rabbit holes—into a gift. In professional settings, I struggle to stay focused and avoid tangents. Here, I lean into that chaos. The LLMs clean up the redundancy and organize my thoughts later, so I can maximize the randomness, novelty, and passion in the moment.

The Power of Separating Desire and Strategy

The most critical part of this framework is splitting Intuition/Desire and Strategy. It’s about being honest with yourself about what you want to work on, even if it’s not what you can work on today. This is harder than it sounds, especially if you have kids, come from poverty, or carry heavy responsibilities. Society often makes us feel guilty for pursuing our passions—like it’s selfish or ungrateful when you should just be thankful for a paycheck and a plate of food.

• The stigma of desire: Some people are so pathological about it, they act like admitting what you want is inherently counterproductive. If you dare say it out loud, you’re made to feel like a piece of shit. This is especially true for less-educated folks or those from tough backgrounds—it’s like double jeopardy.
• The cost of crushing dreams: It’s easy to table your dreams, but keeping them alive when you can’t act on them? That’s torture. Daily, miserable agony. So most people just kill their dreams, let them die, and move on. That’s a tragedy.
• The balance: You have to strike a balance. Be honest about what you want, but realistic about what you need to do today. Codifying this in a daily report forces you to face both truths without letting one destroy the other.

Why Honesty About Desire Is Productive

In my field—software development and technology—things are changing fast, and AI is making it impossible to ignore. If you can align what you’re passionate about with your financial goals, business strategy, and personal relationships, you’ll be exponentially more productive. Here’s why being honest about your desires pays off:

1. Mental and emotional health: Just stating what you want out loud makes you feel better. It’s like a weight off your shoulders, making you healthier physically, mentally, and spiritually.
2. Small steps forward: Once you identify your desires, you’ll find small ways to move toward them—jotting down ideas, reading an article, or having a 10-minute conversation with someone who shares your interests.
3. Attracting opportunities: Being public about your passions puts you on other people’s radar. You become a beacon for collaboration and opportunity. Someone might notice and say, “Hey, I’m into that too—let’s work together.”
4. Avoiding self-pity: Daydreaming without action can lead to distraction or feeling sorry for yourself. By codifying your desires alongside your strategy, you stay grounded and increase the odds of eventually achieving those dreams.

The Realism of Strategy

The Strategy point is obvious but crucial. Setting daily goals is day-one stuff for time management and project planning. If you can’t set goals for the day, you’re done—you don’t pass go, literally or metaphorically. Everything happens one day at a time, so you have to know what you’re doing today, even if it’s not your passion project.

This framework keeps me realistic. I can say, “I want to work on X, but today I’m working on Y because that’s what pays the bills.” That honesty prevents me from falling into the trap of daydreaming or resenting my current work. It also ensures I’m persistent, making short-term sacrifices for long-term gains. The greatest accomplishments in life often require grinding with no immediate reward until an opportunity arises. If you don’t put in the work now, there’ll be nothing to reap later.

Gratitude and Privilege

I don’t want to sound like I’m whining. We all need to have gratitude—for our health, safety, food on the table, and the privilege of living in a prosperous, secure country like the U.S. Even if you’re here illegally, crossing that border puts you at a huge advantage. But gratitude doesn’t mean resigning yourself to miserable, meaningless work. It’s about finding a balance: appreciating what you have while still pursuing what you want.

Too many people give up, go back to the factory, stack boxes, and sell hours of their life for someone else’s profit. That’s not living—it’s just surviving. This framework is about surviving and prospering by keeping your dreams alive while doing what’s necessary today.

Final Thoughts: The Jumpstarter

I’m calling this the Jumpstarter for now (though Kickstarter is still in the running). It’s not just a productivity tool—it’s a way to capture the value of lost time, turn my rambling into something useful, and stay honest with myself. By asking the same five questions every day, I trigger creative tangents, evaluate my work, and keep my dreams alive without losing sight of reality. It’s a small daily practice with big potential.