Tag: Tips and Tricks

Skipping Thinking

Thoughts that we try to remember end up throttling our brains—like a skipping record that’s stuck playing the same beat.

Here’s how I imagine it going down:

Average thought
Average thought
Average thought
Average thought
Average thought
GREAT IDEA
REMEMBER
REMEMBER
Aver—REMEMBER
Averag—REMEMBER
Avera—REMEMBER
Ave—REMEMBER
GRE—REMEMBER

Essentially all further thoughts get halted as our brains try and remember the one.

We need to write down/record the random thoughts/creative ideas we have so as to free up our minds for smooth, continued thinking.

The more we try to remember, the fewer total ideas we’ll have.

And the fewer ideas we have, the lower the chances we’ll come across (allow) our best ones.

P.s. I use the notes app on my phone for this. It’s simple and easy. Don’t complicate this. You just need an easily accessible place where you can brain dump on the fly.

The Pulls

I aim to upload 2-5ish quotes to MoveMe Quotes (here) every day.

This afternoon, I noticed in myself a real trouble focusing while reading. I felt my mind going a mile-a-minute and felt that modern day pull towards screens and dopamine hits.

I wanted to share posts.

I wanted to check email.

I wanted to refresh and see what I missed.

So, rather than entertain each and every pull, I made a paper and pen list instead.

This strategy has helped me on many occasions by freeing my mind from the “pulling” thought (writing it down means my brain doesn’t have to remember it any longer) and has kept me from rabbit holing—which is precisely what email, social media, and websites are designed to do… keep you there. Even when you only intend to be there for a quick moment.

The next time you’re trying to do screen-free work and you feel a similar type pull, rather than do the digital thing right away, try writing it down with good ol’ fashion pen and paper instead. Create an ongoing list, stay committed to the non-screen task, and finish the written down task(s) later—when it can all be done in one fell swoop.

Non-screen type tasks get increasingly easier the longer you stay away from screens and get increasingly harder the more you give in to the pulls—regardless of how “quick” they end up being.

Push yourself to resist the pulls.

P.s. My website is fixed. My landing page is no longer an incredibly frustrating “404 Error Page.” My apologies to those who landed there.

The Secret To Going Further

The secret to going further isn’t to go faster/harder… it’s to go slower/easier.

I learned this when I ran my first ever ultramarathon. “A pinch above walking” was the mantra that kept me moving all the way through and past that seemingly unreachable finish line (that took nearly seven hours to cross).

I learned this when I added a constraint to my daily writing practice at the end of my first 365-ish days. I was writing around 1000-2000 words daily (and hastily)—including weekends—in an effort to try and prove to my audience (and myself) that I could be a decent writer. Until finally, I realized that I was resenting the process, writing in misery, and trying to prove something that didn’t need proving. And making 280 words my daily constraint (about 1 minute worth of reading) not only dissolved the resentment and misery, but added joy and *length* to my process (on upwards of 1250+ days now with little to no feelings of fatigue).

I learned this when I learned that being in a hurry is an excellent sign that you’re not enjoying the process… and not enjoying the process is one of the biggest mistakes we can make when life—our only life—is exactly that: a process. And sometimes we can get so caught up (brainwashed?) into believing that the ends are what’ll bring us enjoyment that we forget about the means. When in reality, the means are everything and the only place enjoyment will ever truly be found.

P.s. I created a NEW guide that details how you can best apply this principle to your life. I hope you’ll check it out ➜

The Best Way To Stop Is To Go

Loud noises scare my dog.

And when she’s scared, she’ll press into me insistently until she’s cradled and reassured that all is okay.

Leave her un-craddled and it’ll only get progressively worse. Don’t cradle her enough and she’ll persist and press into you until it is enough.

Telling her to stop being scared or pushing her away only exacerbates it.

However, give her a bone with some peanut butter on it? Or take her for a walk that’s filled with stimulating scents and smells? And she’ll forget what she was even scared about because she’s too preoccupied on the new experience / thought process.

…Assuming, of course, that it’s not a persistent loud noise or one that really shook her.

The takeaway here is an important one. Tell your mind or the mind of another to stop thinking or doing a thing—and it can’t help but continue thinking or doing the thing. Give the mind something else to focus on, however—something that’s captivating enough to consume a majority of its available mental resources—and you can’t help but stop thinking about / doing the other thing.

The next time you find yourself having negative self-talk, trouble with self-control, trying to help somebody who’s stuck thinking cyclically about something they no longer want to, etc—use this strategy of going to get them (or you) to stop.

Body Posture and Voice Tonality

I frequently visit schools and speak to students about how martial arts can help in life.

And while one of my goals is to spark an interest in them that might lead to continued, long-term training, part of me knows that the one visit might be the only time I’ll ever get to speak with them. And so I challenge myself to give them something that’ll stick even after one, 30-minute session.

While this often changes depending on the group of students I’m working with and what I see—what I often find myself choosing for the focused takeaway is body posture and voice tonality.

I’ll tell them when they stand, walk, or sit—to do so with their back straight, chin up, and eyes straight ahead. When they speak, to look in the eyes and use a loud, clear voice.

Contrary to what most students think, what formulates our judgements of our peers has very little to do with specific word choice—it’s not about the jokes, knowledge, or witty remarks.

The sweeping majority has to do with body language and tone of voice. And one of the best ways I know to get people to demonstrably hold themselves in high(er) regard—which demonstrates belief in their own worth, potential, and right to be treated with dignity and respect—is by making these select few adjustments.

If you’re reading this and you tend to walk with your back hunched, eyes down, and speak with a soft and quiet voice… maybe you can practice making this select adjustment as well.

Make it a habit and you might be surprised at how different you feel in just a few days time.

The Tasks That Touch Deep Work

One of my most important daily tasks is writing.

Like most deep work tasks, writing is best done in longer, uninterrupted blocks of time vs smaller, interspersed blocks. 1 hour of uninterrupted writing, in my opinion, is NOT the same as four, 15 minute chunks of writing.

That said, one adjustment I’ve made to increase my writing time block is reschedule some of the tasks that touch my writing block.

During a typical 2 hour afternoon time block, for example, I would spend 40 minutes curating content ideas at the outset and 20 minutes meditating at the end—leaving 1 hour of writing time sandwiched in between (on a perfect, uninterrupted, no curve-balls kind of day).

Now I’m working to move my 40 minutes of curating into my morning routine and the meditation into my evening routine so that I can effectively have 2 hours of uninterrupted writing time in the afternoon.

Even if I don’t get this done perfectly, the big takeaway is this: if I move 10 minutes of curating to the morning and 10 minutes of meditating to the evening, that’s 20 minutes of writing—my top priority task each day—back that I otherwise would’ve lost and *wouldn’t* have been able to make up in the morning or evening.

Because, worth saying again, writing in a single 10 or 20 minute block of time is NOT the same as writing in a long block that’s extended by 10 or 20 minutes instead.

Whereas the other tasks I moved—curating and meditating—can be done just as well at any point throughout the day.

Worth considering for the deep work tasks in your day as well.

The Analog Strategy

One of the downfalls of digital: it’s easy to hide and ignore…

Those habit tracker apps? Can easily get lost in the million other notifications coming at you from your phone.

And the same is true for whatever else you might be trying to productively get done via screen.

A physical calendar on your fridge that has BIG “X’s” on it for days you successfully completed your task?

…Is much harder to ignore, swipe-hide, or pretend not to see.

Digital is great. But, sometimes, analog is better. Worth considering.

P.s. Something like this. With big “X’s” on it for every day you complete the task. Placed strategically where the task is supposed to happen each day. For me? By my bed. So that every day I get out of bed before a certain time, I can “X” that puppy and get a streak going.