Tag: exercise

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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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Don’t Rush – Box Breathe and Chill :-)

How do you get out the bed?

Your technique matters:

  • When you leap, you are on a one-track, emotionally led mindset. When you jump out of bed on Christmas morning or race to catch your international flight, the energy behind them is the same. It’s frantic, and you miss everything except your objective (oooh presents…)
  • When you slither, you are groggy, and you meander. You spend a lot of time trying to orient yourself. Your mind isn’t healthy yet. You hope you don’t crash into anything on your way to the bathroom. It’s not fun, and potentially painful (ouch!)
  • When you do so calmly, you are alert. You smoothly get out of bed as you stretch, check the clock, and yawn. You feel like you have a choice.  This form of waking up is ideal. (Yay!)
The first two ways of getting up are reactive states, either by prompt or circumstance.
The last way is a proactive state, where you have the energy to decide and the head space to think through it.
This mindset doesn’t just affect getting up, but everything we do.  Sometimes the other two states are necessary, but only in emergencies. In life, being proactive is better.

Exercise

  1. Think about the act of what you are doing, is it reactive or proactive?
  2. If it’s reactive, ask yourself, do you have to be?
  3. If it doesn’t have to stop for a second breathe deeply for 4 seconds in, hold your breath for 4 seconds, exhale for 4 seconds, and hold for 4 seconds (if you are curious – this is box breathing, and it’s a Navy Seal technique).
  4. Reassess and get proactive 🙂
 Every once in a while, just ask yourself if you are reactive. If you are, this exercise gets you back into that working space.
Drive slow, homie :-).
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Figure Out What’s Next!

We are here, but what now?

The two-minute rule is fantastic. 

It means nothing if you can’t figure out the process’ next step. 

Use this exercise to help guide you through making the next move.

Exercise:

  • Write out your goal. [mission]
    • Example: I want to eat.
  • Write out a task that moves that goal forward. [task]
    • Example: Make Breakfast
  • Write out the actions associated with the “task” work. [action]
    • Example:  Walk to the kitchen, get bowl, pour cereal, add milk

The Mission, Task, Action Framework is a quick heuristic to find out what you can make the “next step” to carry out the two-minute rule. Later this month, we will talk about this framework at length.

Happy 4th of July :-).

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Build a Not-to-Do List

Those Pesky Things, Write Them Down

A Not-to-Do list can save you overhead and time.

Now that you know that, let’s spend some time building one.

Exercise:

  • Write the following:
    • What are three things that you, in any circumstance, do not do? Think zero tolerance.
    • Why do you try not to do that thing?
    • What happens after you do that thing, how do you feel when you lose?
  • If you typed it, print it out or write it again by hand.
  • Place it somewhere that is visible to you, and remind yourself of those things daily.
  • If something else strikes you, add it to the list.
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The 5 Ways and How To Ask

Say what you need, please.

Asking is difficult for me.

I take pride in doing things on my own. As a result, I often either reinvent the wheel or miss out on opportunities.

Learning how to ask, wherever you are in an organization or community, is powerful because it both tells someone what you need and allows someone to help you.  They feel connected to you, and you, in turn, feel connected to the work you are doing. 

Human beings are social animals.

Below is an exercise that will help you with getting used to asking.

Weekly Exercise:

  • Write down five questions you want to ask someone (a boss, co-worker, significant other).
  • Pick three of them.
  • Choose a day on the calendar that week and ask away.

This exercise goes further than the superficial, allows you to pick what is contextually important, it digs into your thinking, and most importantly, it allows you to ritualize asking the asking of questions.

The normal result is often that people are often on your side and what to help you succeed.

Don’t miss out.

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Contain the Week

A Time Standard

Count the number of meetings, lunches, dinners, dates, etc. you have in a week. Try it for a few weeks and come up with an average and use that as a baseline.

After the baseline, communicate clearly, in writing, how much you want to do per week.

The simpler the better. Each item becomes a catagory.

For example:

  • 5 meetings
  • 2 coffee requests
  • 1 lunch/dinner

As/When people invite you out, mark it and remove one item from that category.

If I got invited to a meeting, I would mark the meeting down and have 4 meetings remaining for the week.

Experiment with the numbers. Once you found a sweet spot (where you have slightly more requests than slots) freeze it, and prioritize. Give the most meaningful items priority.

Use it as standard to mark time, start refusing things that aren’t important.

Communicate this clearly to the people around you.

If you don’t set a standard for your time, no one will. 

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Maximum Engagement, A Checklist

Time is short, I like checklists

We all have 24 hours in a day.

How does one maximize engagement and get purposeful?

There are plenty of ways to do it, but I promised shorter posts :-).

I’ll focus on what you can’t do.

You can’t do it if:

  • You have distractions
    • Turn your notifications off
    • Don’t check email
    • Single task
  • You have too many things
    • Say no ruthlessly
    • Time is the only resource
    • Prioritize
  • You don’t take care of yourself
    • Stop eating junk
    • Exercise
    • Sleep
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Go Get A Drink! (Exercise)

Go grab a drink of water.

Got it? Great.  Drink up.

You notice that slight bump in refreshment after a bottle of water? How you feel a little better? A little more energy?

Fatigue is a sign of dehydration.

Just looking around most of us generally don’t take the choice of water. There is always a little kick to the drink we choose (coffee, soda, liquor).

Water is the lubrication to our system. If you intend on being your best, you need it.

Exercise: Grab some water with every drink you have tomorrow.

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Manage to Action Cycle

So, you are sitting in your room and its time to get the day started.

It’s time to decide, one that is going to make your day.

You begin by asking yourself this question:

“Do I go to the library or stay here.”

You’ve already lost at that point.

Now, this sounds odd but stay with me on this.

What you just did was create a false choice. By closing off all the possibilities down to two things – you’ve started the path of relying on willpower to make a move. Instead of propelling progress, you’ve opened up a door for your fear and doubt to walk in. This is a battle I lose often, and I am betting you’ve too.

The real choice is that you have full reign on your day. Nothing is off the table.

I often work best when I manage the opportunities I have and then make myself have none when its time for action.

  • Manage – Take a block of time, and come up with all the possibilities. List them all out on a notepad, draw them up on a whiteboard, have a brain storming meeting (if you are in a group) whatever floats your boat. Then is the part where you put everything in the middle of the table – no idea is too strange.  Then you spend time chopping them down, slotting, and organizing where you want to go.   There are a ton of methods on how to do this.
  • Action – Then, just action. Follow a plan and give yourself no quarter. Just start blasting all of it away as fast as you can. Fear and doubt have no places to hide when the only thing in front of you is just the action.

This is a cycle. Sometimes the work needs to stop because the plan needs to change.  Sometimes you need just to stop planning and get to the action. All this is on the task at hand. But, the key is you have to choose to do one or the other. Trying to do both on the fly makes things complicated, and it can end up with you wondering where your day went.

 

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