Category: Being Productive

Schedule, Eliminate, Delegate

Published on March 28, 2023

Dear busy person,

It’s best to stop worrying over everything you have to get done… and just start getting something done. If you can manage it, block out distractions and get going on the most important thing, first. This will give you the “it’s all downhill from here” feeling that’ll carry you through the rest of the day. If starting feels cripplingly hard, do the easiest task first and snowball some momentum from there. Either way, get some momentum. And do everything you can to maintain that momentum one task to the next. It’s the easiest way to get it all done. Remember, it’s the starting that’s hard. And it’s the worrying over everything you have to get done that makes starting feel cripplingly hard. Play “start; stop; start; stop” all day and you’ll only add unnecessary resistance to your task load. Less think; more do. And at the end of the day, do your future self a favor and schedule, eliminate, and delegate every possible task you can before the start of the next day. Pick apart a giant snowball enough and it eventually collapses back into snow. Same is true when you have a giant snowball of tasks weighing on your shoulders at the start of a day. Pick it apart enough (by scheduling, eliminating, and delegating) and suddenly, there’s no giant snowball to focus on anymore. Only a day blanketed with snow that you can manage one shovel full at a time.

Sincerely,

Your inner work person

P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.

The Tasks That Touch Deep Work

Published on February 7, 2023

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.

Happy IS Productive

Published on February 5, 2023

An indicator of productivity that isn’t discussed enough: happiness.

Did the day make you happy? Then it was productive—regardless of how few “productive tasks” you finished.

Did the day make you miserable? Then it wasn’t productive—regardless of how many “productive tasks” you finished.

P.s. I also published 9 Timeless Lessons from Tuesdays With Morrie.

The Analog Strategy

Published on February 1, 2023

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.

Don’t Fight Yourself

Published on November 7, 2022

Not every awake moment is created equal.

In some we’re more focused, in others we’re more playful.
In some we’re more creative, in others we’re more bland.
In some we’re more gritty, in others we’re more lax.

The trick, is aligning the ideal tasks with the matching naturally occurring state. Some examples:

Plan your workouts when you’re feeling gritty/focused. For me, this is usually first thing in the morning at around 7-9am.
Plan your deep work when you’re most focused/creative. For me, this is usually 1-3pm each day.
Plan social interaction/family time when you’re most playful. For me, this is 4-7pm each day.
Plan mindless, low barrier tasks when you’re most bland/lax like dog walking or reading a book. For me, this is at the end of the day 9pm – 11pm.

If I tried to do my social interaction in the morning and my workouts at night—there would be an extra layer of resistance in both.

Flipping them works significantly better for me—which means not only am I in a better state for both, but I’m much more likely to continue doing them because the resistance is significantly less.

The opposite might be true for you. Self-awareness is required and that’s not something I can give you.

The bottom line is this: don’t fight yourself. Align with your natural rhythms and reduce resistance in every way you can.

P.s. I asked: What’s one small thing you’ve done that has had a big impact on your mental health? I received a ton of great answers. I hope they inspire you to start doing something small for yourself.

Information Swimming

Published on October 28, 2022

Information is an ocean—and most of us are drowning.

Those who get ahead, are the ones who learn to swim.

They take the ocean seriously and never mindlessly wander into its depths.

They learn how to float; how to tread; how to stroke; how to dive; how to navigate.

Similarly, proficient swimmers in today’s information-based world learn how to:

Focus. So they don’t recklessly flap, twist, turn, and click with every distraction (i.e. Turning on an ad-blocker or putting notifications on silent).
Refine. So that each stroke/ click gets them better at future swimming (clicking)—not worse (i.e. Utilizing the Unfollow/ Mute/ Block buttons and more mindfully choosing who to follow and where to click).
Reflect. Because sometimes the ocean gets the best of even great swimmers. And maybe they take in a bunch of salt water through the nose or get caught under a big crashing wave (sucked into a YouTube rabbit hole). It’s in those moments that you have to figure out how you might handle the same situation from repeating in the future. Those who don’t reflect—don’t improve.

Being in an ocean when you don’t know how to swim is terrifying because the water is in control (and can lead to drowning).

Being in an ocean when you do know how to swim is incredibly refreshing and rewarding—because you are in control (and you get to swim in the ocean).

…And what a beautiful opportunity it truly is to swim confidently in the ocean.

P.s. Here’s an article I wrote on better managing your information diet: How to Upgrade the Quality of Your Life in 1 Hour.

Selective Tension and Relaxation

Published on September 15, 2022

In Martial Arts, one of the goals is to learn how to maximize the creation of power while minimizing the expenditure of energy.

Essentially, it’s the practice of learning how to fully press the “gas pedal” while fully releasing the “brake pedal.”

Pressing the gas and brake pedal at the same time is wildly inefficient for driving. And so is it for moving the body. Yet, this is the default when it comes to moving the body with any degree of intensity.

Both the protagonist and antagonist muscle groups tense which, in effect, slows down the attempt to speed up all at once.

…And wastes a bunch of energy in the process.

The art then becomes learning how to selectively tense certain muscles while selective relaxing others in real time. And the challenge, of course, is that there isn’t only one gas and one brake pedal—there are hundreds.

And so it is for life.

The question to consider is this: in each task that you’re trying to complete, what resistance could you simultaneously reduce?

Sometimes we focus so much on the doing that we forget about the un-doing. Because while a 10% increase in speed for “doing” is good, a 20% decrease in resistance is better.

And this isn’t a question that’s asked and answered only once—it’s an ongoing awareness.

We’ll never get this perfect—for our bodies or for life. But, progress—any progress—makes the effort undoubtedly worth it.

P.s. This became the introduction for: 23 Greg McKeown Quotes from Essentialism and How To Live Better Via Less