Less Less Less
Sometimes you need less.
That’s all.
Tag: movement
Categories
Every Action has a Story
What is your next move?
Have you ever thought to yourself, what’s next?
Sure. We all have.
Are you aware that each action we take has a story behind it?
It doesn’t matter if it is conscious or unconscious, every decision we make has a beginning, middle, and end.
Sounds simple, until you realize that story your action creates is different for everyone else.
- If you are reacting, afterward, think about the consequences after flow and learn how to deal with them.
- If you decide? The opposite, think about how your action affects the people around you.
Makes the next move question a little more interesting, doesn’t it?
Categories
Priorities Help With Recharge
We aren’t robots; we need to recharge
Producing all the time would be great.
However, we can’t.
We have to eat, sleep, and watch House of Cards.
No, I am not knocking you for enjoying one of the best shows on Netflix, just letting you know that it is normal. Set some priorities because they help you do that with no guilt.
We need time to recharge.
Let it happen.
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The Ideal Self Delusion
The Ideal Self doesn’t have to “deal”
The initial shock of dropping something you like hurts.
It hurts like hell.
The reason: on the other side of something we like is our ideal selves.
We, in our heart of hearts, are that marathon runner that works in soup kitchens while building a national nonprofit and makes our “significant other” swoon with our romantic gestures.
However, we can’t do all these things at once. In the face of too many options, we freeze due to the consequences.
The “ideal self” doesn’t deal with consequences.
We do.
So:
- Forgive yourself for it.
- Pick one and knock it out the park.
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We Work Better With Transparency
Be open and transparent
When things fail, we snap. Getting angry, sad, or depressed is natural. However, it isn’t worth it to vent. When we vent, we just rehash those feelings into a feel good “game” we can use to hide. We flood.
However, it’s just as bad to keep things bottled inside. Suppressing your feelings, so we can avoid dealing with them, is the same as hiding. There are countless families broken apart by faux-stoicism.
Venting and suppressing are both awful. Venting triggers the repeated, intense expression of our upset feelings; suppression makes us harsh, and we tend to unleash without warning.
The better option is to acknowledge and support.
If something bad happens, lead an open discussion. Make sure you give people context. Then, give them space to move forward.
It is ugly at first. Know that transparency helps to build the foundation for great teams.
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Don’t Find New Holes
Superficial progress keeps us in place.
When you start digging, it’s easy to notice progress.
The divot in the ground is visible. It’s easy to point to it and tell people “Look, I did that.” At the beginning, the change is visible and easy to share.
The hard part is after you’ve dug for a while. When you tell people about your progress and people say “It looks the same as yesterday.”
It is discouraging.
It’s tempting to start digging another hole and say “I’ll get to that other hole too.”
Odd are, you won’t. The new hole feels better than the other one. Also, the praise is coming in, and it’s easier to show your work.
Resist this temptation, because digging new holes becomes addictive. Whenever you get to the point of the first hole, and the praise starts to level off, you will start a new hole.
Eventually, you have a bunch of holes and nothing constructive to do with them.
Categories
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!
Categories
Ready…Set…Go
Put a timer on it
The next time you have a mundane task set a timer and make it a game.
I bet that you’ll be done faster.
Why is that?
There is a part of us that leaves energy in the tank, and because of that part, we slow down. Putting stakes on anything tricks the body into releasing energy that makes the hour-long shower into a seven-minute one.
Being deliberate about what you’ll rush will open up time in your schedule, giving you plenty of opportunities to rest.
PS Trying this in 5 minutes 🙂
Categories
Happy First Of The Year
Also known as National Hangover Day! As such, I am avoiding posting because it might hurt your eyes (and mine 😉 ). We will resume our fun tomorrow!
If you have a day off, I give you permission 😉
I never got that ‘prepared’ thing
Being prepared never struck me as something that I needed to do. I loved the idea of playing the game off the cuff. Preparing is for people who aren’t in it for real, B players who think they got it, but they don’t.
I am glad you get older, so you learn how you get to see how wrong you were when you were younger.
I made this blog completely ahead of schedule this month. I cut my videos ahead, and I did my newsletters ahead of schedule. Just that alone allowed me to batch my work and experiment, which I think created a better blog to follow (hey…pictures and big type). Being prepared facilitated the change.
That was the big lesson this month, that preparation allows you freedom. I never would have come up with that idea unless I prepare, which gave me time to sit back and look at this blog holistically, instead of trying to create posts. So, come prepared.
Wins for the month
- Production Time – Wow, I didn’t notice how much time you add by doing things early. I got a chance to take a holistic look at the things I did, and they came out better.
- Lesson: Try to get as much out as early as possible, and take a look at it before you get it into the world.
- Questions – Being prepared leads to better questions. Do the reading and get that much more effective.
- Lesson: Ask questions constantly. Ask questions before, during and after if you can. They make you sound better, and you learn a lot more.
- Content–I saw everything get better.I opened up new avenues (hello Tumblr,LinkedIn,and Instagram), and learning every day through experimentation.
- Lesson: A holistic view gives you a wide berth, then you connect. Content also feeds on itself. Produce more and more gets produced.
Losses for the month
- Calendar – I still haven’t done this one yet. I kicked it for a few days, but then I lost it again.
- Lesson: Try different angles. There is more than one way.
- Buffer–I got weird about this. I don’t know if it’s the right way anymore, but I never pursued this.
- Lesson: Take more time to focus on the things that don’t feel right.
Important Posts
- What Steph Curry Teaches Me About Confidence Willpower and Preparedness
- Learn Through Habit By Going Slow – Don’t Rush It
- Choice, Notifications, And PUT THE CELL PHONE AWAY!
- Understand Why You Get Defensive
- Negotiation Works Both Ways For Buy In
- Don’t Apologize Too Much
- Procrastination and Preparation
- Negative Visualization & Life In Moments
Books
- Positive Intelligence: Why Only 20% of Teams and Individuals Achieve Their True Potential and How You Can Achieve Yours
- 101 Things I Learned ® in Engineering School
- The Thank You Economy
- A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas
- Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition
- What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful
- Team of Teams: The Power of Small Groups in a Fragmented World
Videos
- Life As Usual VBlog #4 – Lessons and Message
- Life As Usual VBlog #5 – Preparation
- Life as Usual VBlog #6 – Accountability
- Life As Usual VBlog #7 – Habits
- Life As Usual VBlog #8 – New Years Resolutions
Note: Still experimenting with this post. I took out the notes for the other themes. Thinking about how do I add them here with more value than just a list. Added videos….so version 1.3?
From the desk of Adam Thomas 