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Category: Being Productive

Seasons of Optimal

Published on May 5, 2023

I obsess over finding ways to do things optimally. If there’s a way to save even a pinch of time, energy, or money… I want to know about it and I want to make it a part of my lifestyle asap.

Because of this obsession, I have a very redundant typical day. I have optimal:

  • Sleep and wake times
  • Chore and personal care days
  • Workout strategies and regimes
  • Eating windows and food choices
  • Work flows and compartmentalized work times

…If there aren’t any extenuating circumstances or unique variables in the day, I could very well live the same day, day-in and day-out without missing a beat. And I would be totally fine with it because in my mind, I’m doing things in an optimal way… why change things to a less than optimal way?

…Here’s the catch.

It isn’t very long until an extenuating circumstance intervenes or a unique variable interrupts.

These past several weeks in particular have thrown my normal, redundant schedule for a loop. I’ve travelled to California and Pittsburgh; attended Martial Arts tournaments and music festivals; slept in cars, at friend’s houses, and in hotel rooms; etc…

Optimal exits the conversation real quick under circumstances like these.

And what I’ve had to remind myself these past few weeks is that optimal doesn’t have to be defined within the confines of one day. Optimal can be defined within the context of seasons.

Some days you reap; some days you sow…

Some days you produce; some days you recharge…

Some days you get it all done optimally; some days you’re better off optimizing for one thing in particular based on the season you’re in… like sow, recharge, or rest.

Never Done

Published on May 2, 2023

There’s always something that can be improved.

Which means there’s never going to be a time when the work will be “done.”

Understand this and remember to do just what you can today. And when you’ve done what you can within the confines of your allotted time for work that day—and this is the important part—leave the rest for tomorrow.

Go home, rest, invest time with friends and family, decompress, explore hobbies, and create art… go and do what you need to do so you can return to work the next day recharged and ready.

Better that than trying to fix it all immediately and having nothing left give the next day—especially when there are countless days of work yet ahead.

Get Some Rest

Published on April 30, 2023

It’s amazing how seamless doom scrolling is for me when I’m tired.

I’m sitting here trying to catch up on work after a long weekend and it’s like… I can’t help but scratch every damn itch for distraction that peeps into my mind. It’s as if the self-discipline and focus has been drained right out of me. And auto-play videos? Forget it. It isn’t until the stupid things end that I realize they had my full and undivided attention the whole time they played. I was shook how long it took me to get out of that hole and finish the work I had at hand.

Don’t get it twisted: Being well rested is top tier productivity advice.

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

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.