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Category: Being Productive

Hold Less; Have More

Published on June 10, 2022

The brain is for having ideas—not holding ideas.

Find an app or a paper to do the holding.

And allow your brain to keep firing.

Getting Ahead

Published on June 8, 2022

One of the greatest time and energy killers is in-the-moment self-negotiation.

  • I shouldn’t eat the donut. Buttt, I have been pretty good lately…
  • I should workout. Buttt, I do have a ton to do today…
  • I should read. Buttt, that new TV series though…

Those who plan their day ahead—get ahead.

Not necessarily because of what they plan (we all have a pretty good grasp on what we should be doing daily) but because of the fact that they planned and there will be less time/ energy wasted on figuring things out as they go.

As trivial as this might sound—even one good decision and a couple of minutes saved every day adds up! …I’ll take 365 minutes of my time back per year thank you very much.

Never leave your important decision making to the moment—it’s an awful time and energy sucking guide.

Do your figuring out ahead of time and focus all of your time/ energy on executing what’s ahead.

…And get ahead.

Keep Refining

Published on April 18, 2022

New rule I’m toying with: no work past 10pm (not even side-hustle work).

Here’s why: nothing past that time (for me) seems to give a higher ROI than sleep.

By that point my focus, energy, and creativity has been generally depleted to the point where the time I invest produces diminished returns—at best.

I’m better off going to sleep and doing the work in the morning when I’m replenished.

This might only save me 5 – 20 minutes.

…But, multiply that by the number of days I have left in my life?

THAT is the power of refinement.

Why So Serious?

Published on March 18, 2022

I like nonfiction.

I like self-improvement podcasts.

Heck, I like all things personal growth related.

But, sometimes…

I like blasting good music, thumb drumming, air guitaring, and forgetting about all of that.

It’s called balance.

Done

Published on March 2, 2022 
When you’ve done your best
Return to gratitude—
Not your to-do list.

Unlocking Productivity

Published on February 18, 2022

Speeding up when you’re busy is like:

  • Flooring it on a car that’s overheating
  • Trying to push mudded pond sediments to the pond floor
  • Opening more applications on an overwhelmed computer

When you’re busy, unlocking productivity happens from slowing down.

Not the opposite.

Optimization Happens Last

Published on February 14, 2022

Optimization is the last step of any process.

Be it building a house, starting a business, creating a new habit etc.—the fine tuning should never happen first.

  • When it comes to building a house, who cares about auto-timed lighting as a means to optimizing the house’s energy efficiency—if there are no walls.
  • When it comes to starting a business, who cares about the color of the checkout button as a means to optimizing clicks—if there is no marketing plan in place to drive visitors to the business’ website.
  • When it comes to creating a new exercising habit, who cares about the exact rest time allowed in-between sets as a means to optimizing workout pace—if you don’t even have the habit of showing up to the gym.

In today’s world, optimization is an obsession.

Many of us are constantly on the hunt for (and are being bombarded with) optimization “hacks,” fine-tuning tricks, and hot trends that can produce any kind of measurable result.

But, without the foundation set—without the “big” things already in place—it’s ultimately just wasted time.

It’s like trying to optimize a lump of coal. You can try to clean, cut, and polish it all you want—it’ll still end up mostly as it started—coal.

If, however, you subjected that lump of coal to enough time under pressure, it’ll eventually transform into a diamond.

And diamond is what gets optimized.