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January 2 - January 8, 2020
building a rock-solid daily routine, taming your tools (before they tame you), finding focus in a distracted world, and sharpening your creative mind.
Through our constant connectivity to each other, we have become increasingly reactive to what comes to us rather than being proactive about what matters most to us.
audit the way you work and own the responsibility of fixing it.
Routines help us do this by setting expectations about availability, aligning our workflow with our energy levels, and getting our minds into a regular rhythm of creating.
This means blocking off a large chunk of time every day
for creative
work on your own priorities, with the phone ...
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But it’s better to disappoint a few people over small things, than to surrender your dreams for an empty inbox.
dedicate those valuable periods to your most important creative work.
Never book a meeting during this time if you can help it.
Limit your daily to-do list. A 3” × 3” Post-it is perfect—if you can’t fit everything on a list that size, how will you do it all in one day? If you keep adding to your to-do list during the day, you will never finish—and your motivation will plummet.
Train yourself to record every commitment you make (to yourself or others) somewhere that will make it impossible to forget. This will help you respond to requests more efficiently and make you a better collaborator.
Frequency makes starting easier.
Frequency allows us to make use of these short windows of time.
Every time you’re doing something, you’re not doing something else.
(1) that the world around us tries to tempt us; (2) that we listen to the world around us (e.g., choice architecture); and (3) that we don’t deal very well with temptation… if you put all of those things together, you have a recipe for disaster.
Self-control problems are all about “now versus later.”
the Stanford study,7 children were given an option to eat one
marshmallow right away, or wait a few minutes and receive two marshmallows. The children who were able to delay their gratification employed positive distraction techniques to be successful. Some children sang; others kicked the table; they simply did whatever they needed to do to get their minds focused on something other than the marshmallows.
Write down every invading and negatively distracting thought and schedule a ten-minute review session later in the day to focus on these anxieties and lay them to rest.
self-control is not genetic or fixed, but rather a skill one can develop and improve with practice.
One of these strategies is to develop a seemingly unrelated habit, such as improving your posture or saying “yes” instead of “yeah” or flossing your teeth every night before bed.
Entertaining activities, such as playing strategic games that require concentration and have rules that change as the game advances, or listening to audio books that require
attention to follow along with the plot, can also be used to increase attention. Even simple behaviors like regularly getting a good night’s sleep are shown to improve focus and self-control.
Keeping track of when energy levels rise and fall will help determine a schedule for alternating between mindful and mindless activities.
thinking—my creativity and imagination—reached a new velocity as soon as I unplugged.
When you tune in to the moment, you begin to recognize the world around
you and the true potential of yo...
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Develop the discipline to allow for serendipity.
Become more aware of the insecurity that pulls you away from the present.
Create windows of non-stimulation in your day.
Book time on your calendar for uninterrupted, focused work—and respect those blocks of time as you would any client meeting.
Tackle the projects that require “hard focus” early in your day. Self-control—and our ability to resist distractions—declines as the day goes on.
we need to understand how we’re motivated to use it and why. Without self-awareness,
setting boundaries for how and when we use our technology, and then checking in with our intentions when we feel compelled to use it differently.
Is it necessary to share this? Will it add value to my life and for other people? Can I share this experience later so I can focus on living it now? Am I looking for validation? Is there something I could do to validate myself? Am I avoiding something I need to do instead of addressing why I don’t want to do it?
Am I feeling bored? Is there something else I could do to feel more purposeful and engaged in my day? Am I feeling lonely? Have I created opportunities for meaningful connection in my day? Am I afraid of missing out? Is the gratification of giving in to that fear worth missing out on what’s in front of me? Am I overwhelming myself, trying to catch up? Can I let go of yesterday’s conversation and join today’s instead? Can I use this time to simply be instead of looking for something to do to fill it? Do I just want to have mindless fun for a while?
partnering online, meeting
at events offline, and giving those people their full attention when they do connect.
you need to challenge the worries that keep you reacting compulsively instead of engaging consciously: the fear that you’re missing out on connections or information available somewhere else; the concern that you’re not really being heard; or the suspicion that other people are somehow doing better and you’re getting left behind.
Post your complex, long-term goals by your workstation to keep them top of mind when prioritizing your tasks.
behaviors. Are you acting out of boredom or blind habit when you could be serving a higher goal?
Make a ritual of unplugging on a regular basis. Turning everything off is like hitting the “reset” button on your mind—it gives you a fresh start. DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH Be conscious of your body. Breathing deeply and regularly can decrease your stress levels and help you make better decisions.
