Gain Focus
Watch this to understand why:
- Having “just” goals can slow you down
- Consistency matters for the long-term
- Three words on the board can catapult your work
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Tag: consistency
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Supercharge with Forcing Functions
Forcing Functions Push You Further
I’m not a betting man, but I bet parachutes aren’t on your mind.
In fact, I’m sure that you haven’t thought about parachutes in a long time. I am betting that you are like me in a sense that you don’t ever think about parachutes.
Well, rarely.
The only time I think about parachutes is when I am on a plane.
You know what would make me obsess about parachutes?
If I jumped out a place.
That is a forcing function.
A forcing function is a tool that forces a decision some kind. And they are powerful.
They don’t have to get to life or death though for effectiveness.
Let’s bring the camera in a little more to something that isn’t so extreme; your alarm clock.
Alarm clocks force you to decide as they go off. It isn’t a life or death decision (most days), but it is useful in making you decide.
You might select snooze, but you do decide.
There are frameworks like the LEAN Framework that build on this concept to help people do amazing things.
I want to make things even simpler.
There are two tools that you can build into your starting small toolkit that will push you further. They both work with reminders and deal with uncomfortability.
Exercise:
Forcing Deadlines:
For your idea, select a date for you to do something public with what you learn. (Reminder)
When you decide the time, tell your friend that remembers EVERYTHING (we all have one, it was the person you didn’t want to tell when you read “tell”). (Forcing Function)
ex. I want to learn how to write HTML, I promise to make a website for my photos by November, I am going to tell Bobby along with the date.
Forcing showing your work:
When you work on something, use a Porodomo timer. (Reminder)
During the “long break,” snap a picture of what you are doing and put it on Social Media. Start an anonymous Twitter handle if you worry about identity. (Forcing Function)
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Small Time Chunks Better Than Big
Time is the secret weapon
Yesterday we discussed why your time commitment has to be the inverse of your passion for the project. No one wants to look like a liar or a failure. If you internally commit to an idea and your time commitment isn’t there, then there you are. By swinging for the fences too early in terms of time, you kill your drive.
So, you’ve set aside 10 minutes to get started Monday morning, and it goes well.
What’s next?
You commit to at least 10 minutes tomorrow.
And you do that every day after that.
Small, controlled consistency is compelling.
A few reasons:
- It forces you to make smaller milestones, which makes you more likely to make something happen. We feed off of small wins. The more small wins you have, the easier it is to get up for the next one.
- You spend more time thinking about the idea. After you walk away from the “office,” your subconscious doesn’t quit. It continues to tinker with the notion. All the inputs that happen to you interact with it providing you with inspiration for tomorrow’s work.
- You don’t have to work for just 10 minutes. By making the barrier to entry so low, you know you can take care of the work without making yourself feel like a liar. All the work after that 10 minutes is a useful bonus.
So, your idea is starting to get compelling. You got it off the ground, and you are spending time on it daily. There is one more piece of this that makes this framework very potent.
We cover that part tomorrow!
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Good Morning, Today!
A New Opportunity!
Every day presents an opportunity to try two things:
- Do your best work
- Try again
Finding where those two ideas intersect is where you find consistent growth.
It’s worth the time to know if you are skewing one way or the other. Leaning too heavy on one (perfectionism) or the other (no skin in the game) can create meaningless work.
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Some Things Professionalism Is
Professionalism has a wide berth
Yesterday I went over some byproducts of professionalism, but not professionalism itself. I did that because I am a huge fan of subtraction. Getting rid of the stuff around you is a great way to increase focus, and by focusing on what professionalism isn’t is a chance to increase the focus.
So, once you’ve read that post, take on this one.
The great thing about adding things with focus is that you can experiment. I’ve seen professionals in a lot of disciplines, and a lot of their habits are different. Since I have that experience, this is by no means an exhaustive list. There are just too many things I see professionals do. With that said, I consistently see these three behaviors.
These are the three behaviors
Rituals – Rituals get professionals in a mood to work. The great thing about rituals is that they are anything you want. Maya Angelou famously got a hotel room to sit in and work. Twyla Tharp gets a cab every morning to work out. George Gershwin wouldn’t take off his pajamas when he sat to compose. Rituals work – because they get you to execute without expending precious willpower. [Read this: Daily Rituals: How Artists Work]
Questions – Professionals question as often as they need. Questions bring understanding, allowing the professional to see boundaries. If you take what someone gives you without investigation and you allow fear to creep in and take over your decision-making (by not asking questions) then it’s the opposite of professional. [Read this: A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas]
Respect – Professionals use respect to build relationships. Respect people’s trust, time, and energy. Saying thanking, having gratitude, keeping negative energy away, and most importantly, listening all give professionals the chance to keep the people around him feeling and working well. [Read this: Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone]
It takes some time
I’ve had trouble with all three of those behaviors throughout my life. I am striving to add more professionalism in my life daily. They aren’t easy to maintain, especially when trouble strikes. I’ve noticed, though, if I follow those three things, I get through troubling situations with much less headache. To keep them up, through, I have to stay vigilant and recognize that when they do fall apart, how can I get back on and get back to work.
The great thing is, this isn’t an exhaustive list. Some professionals are big on calendars, some are big on assistants, some need to run every day, and some need to get some Call of Duty gaming time in. There are a ton of behaviors that make professionals tick. That gives you a wide berth to try things out, understand your own ticks, and build on this list to make your own professional chart.
But, there is no better place to start than the list above. If you want to become truly professional start here.
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Why You Should Meditate Everyday
If there is one thing I am bad at, it is temper management. I often find myself in a bad mood and like most things in life, the mood tends to gain steam the more I think about it. I have gotten calmer over the last few weeks, and I’ve been asked why this happened. For me it was meditation. I think that meditation is a key competent to anger management, so I have decided to pursue it every day. Like most habits, it needs support with environment as well as consistency.
Meditation isn’t a mystical thing that is out of touch. It is a habit, and like all habits, it needs consistency. Whenever I try something, I notice I can’t stick to it if I don’t do it everyday. I find that it easy to let go. When aiming to do it everyday, you don’t need to make it complicated. As a matter of fact, I often do my best work when I keep it simple. I allow my brain to ratchet up the difficulty, because after a while, it will get bored. If you force yourself to do it everyday, the brain will have no choice but to improve, because there would be no way to quit.
To help that process along, you have to make sure you have the right environment. Put some thought into where you will meditate and then do it there consistently. I find a nice seat, in an air-conditioned room that is very sparse helps. In the kung fu movies, you see them meditating in a room that is uncomfortable. I would avoid that, because who wants to sit in a torture chamber when just starting out. If you make it comfortable, then it becomes easier to do everyday, and you will begin to look forward to it.
Meditation is hard work and doing it everyday has done wonders for my mood. Dealing with my anger felt like falling through a sink hole, and I didn’t like the aftermath. After working with meditation on a daily basis, I have seen the benefits, and recommend them to anyone reading this post.
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Start to Finish
Consistency is a goal to strive for when you make things, and I mean consistency in the entire process.
If I start things then build, then close, and then ship – I gain lessons that improve the world around me.
Stopping at one of those things can leave most of the lesson on the table, and while you may not have wasted all of your time, you certainly squandered much of it.
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War of the Road
The most interesting work you can do demands you take the road less traveled and walk it consistently.
Reading the War of Art yesterday[Artist / Entrepreneur READ IT] was a recharging experience.
Main take away – if you want to make it you have to show up consistently and there isn't a way to make it easy.
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Consistency
Doing something everyday is a challenge in itself.
From the desk of Adam Thomas 