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Tucker Cummings
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Posts by Tucker Cummings
Easy, Clever Ways to Prevent Dehydration
Jun 9th
According to my local weather forecast, today’s highs will top 95 degrees. For my little corner of New England, that’s brutally hot (and rather early in the year for such high temps, all things considered.) Factoring in the humidity, I can assure you that I will be hot, cross, and concerned about staying hydrated all day today.
Which brings me to the main point of today’s post: how to stay hydrated during the hottest months of the year.
Staying properly hydrated ensures that all of your bodily functions are…well…functioning. You can only go three days or so without water, and as your body loses its hydration, you will experience all kinds of awful side effects. Dehydration can cause irritability, lethargy, dangerously low blood pressure, rapid heart rate, headaches, shock, and even death.
The average adult can usually maintain proper levels of hydration by drinking enough water. That being said, extreme heat or exertion can be draining on even a healthy adult. Kids and senior citizens are more susceptible to extreme dehydration than the average adult…so if you have kids or older adults in your life that are important to you, the tips outlined below can be especially important for them (and for you!)
1. Pick the right water.
As a general rule, I try to avoid hydrating beverages that have added sugar. In addition to having fewer calories, I think it’s also important to choose hydrating beverages that don’t have sugar in order to prevent spikes in insulin levels. Going into a sugar crash compounded with the already-unpleasant sensation of dehydration? Count me out. Plus, if you happen to be sick with diarrhea during a hot summer day, sugary beverages can actually worsen your symptoms.
I’m a fan of electrolyte-enhanced waters: SmartWater and Metroelectro are my go-to brands, but there are many options out there. I also really dig flavored waters such as Hint Water (which is all-natural and has zero calories) and Ayala’s Herbal Water. The waters from Ayala are USDA Organic, and come in unique flavor combinations like Lemongrass Mint Vanilla, Lavender Mint, and Lemon Verbena Geranium. If you hate the taste of plain water, these all-natural, zero cal waters are a smart choice (and taste so good you’ll actually WANT to drink them.)
2. Snack on the right foods
Fresh veggies and fruits are good snacks this time of year, and not just for dieters. Fresh produce has a very high water content, so it’s a great way to hydrate without having to drink a ton of water. For example, an apple is up to 85% of water by volume.
Pickles (and pickle juice) are higher in electrolytes than beverages like Gatorade or Powerade, and have been shown to reduce cramping cause by exertion in high temperatures. The acetic acid in pickles and pickle juice are considered superior to the citric acid found in commercial sports drinks, at least when it comes to rehydration properties.
Another food you should add into your diet when staying properly hydrated is a concern are chia seeds. In addition to being high in protein, the seeds themselves help you to retain water by absorbing many times their own weight in water. If you can’t find the actual seeds, you may be able to find a chia seed gel at runner’s/sporting good stores or health food stores.
3. Drink constantly, not occasionally.
You should be constantly drinking fluids, rather than guzzling multiple liters of water all at once.
Let me put it this way: when you go to the hospital and get an IV drip, it’s a DRIP… meaning that you get a slow but steady introduction of fluids. You never see anyone getting an IV drip at the speed of a gushing fire hose.
It is better to have frequent, small amounts of fluid…especially if the dehydration is severe. Too much fluids at once can induce stomach upset or vomiting.
The amount of water you need in a given day depends on the environment, your activity level, and what other food and drink you have consumed. That being said, work towards drinking 2-3 liters of water per day.
Break up that amount of water into a cup or so every hour, and you’ll have a good, healthy intake of water. Drinking too much water in a very short period of time can put too much strain on your eliminatory processes, so finding the right balance is important.
4. Avoid diuretic behaviors.
By which I mean, don’t do anything that you know will dehydrate you. In addition to exercise, also watch out for alcohol and caffeine. You might feel groggy when you get to the office… avoid your usual cup of coffee and go for a large glass of water. You might be surprised at how much more effectively the water perks you up.
5. Make it easy on yourself.
It’s hard to stay hydrated when you don’t have water nearby. Keep a couple bottles of water in the fridge at work, or in the trunk of your car (you never know when you’ll be stranded somewhere in hot weather.) Pick up a small sports bottle that will fit in your purse or briefcase, and you’ll always have water close at hand. When the water is close to you, you’ll actually remember to drink it. (And don’t be afraid to set an alarm on your watch or phone every 30 minutes to remind you to drink!)
Closing Thoughts
The Dos Equis spokesman, “The Most Interesting Man in the World,” has a catchphrase: “Stay thirsty, my friends.”
Friends of Stepcase Lifehack, we hope that you’ll ignore his advice, and stay hydrated instead.
How do you stay hydrated in the summer? Tell us in the comments below!
Holiday Weekend Grilling Hacks
May 25th
Memorial Day. July 4th. Labor Day. Heck, maybe even Thanksgiving if the weather is exceptionally balmy.
In America, holiday weekends mean just one thing: time to grill! After all, It’s just not a party unless there’s meat sizzling over charcoal.
But anyone can grill. It’s rarer to find someone who can grill like a master, who knows every tip, trick, and grilling hack in the book. If you want to dazzle your guests at your holiday BBQ, here are some pro tips you need to add to your repertoire.
1. Keep Food From Sticking to the Grill
Left Eye has a quick, easy, and flavorful hack that helps to prevent food from sticking to the grill, while also imparting additional flavor to the meats or fish you are preparing.
Left Eye’s advice specifically related to fresh salmon, but can be used for other foods as well: “Cut two pieces of a large onion and cook a small fillet between it. It will keep the fish from sticking to the grill without using a ton of oil. It helps keep the fish moist and tells you when to flip it — when the bottom onion is cooked through.”
2. Avoid Carcinogens
The website Healthcare Hacks warns fans of the holiday weekend BBQ that backyard grilling can be bad for your health.
When red meat is cooked over high temperatures, this “results in the formation of heterocyclic amines (HCA), which have been found to be carcinogenic in animal models, and may increase a person’s risk for numerous forms of cancer…When grilled meat is cooked to the point of char-broiling, it can lead to the formation of something even worse: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). PAHs are the same cancer-causing compounds found in tobacco smoke.”
So how do you avoid the formation of these carcinogenic compounds?
Well, there are two schools of thought, but they both come down to added flavors.
The team at Healthcare Hacks suggests that certain spices contain known antioxidants that reduce levels of HCA in cooked meats, sometimes by as much as 40% when they are added before cooking.
“The spices in question include cumin, coriander seed, galangal, fingerroot, rosemary, and turmeric,” they explained. “The last three had the highest level of HCA-inhibiting activity, with rosemary being the most effective.”
Left Eye suggests that you “marinade any protein (meat, chix, fish, etc.) for at least 15-minutes before throwing it on the grill. A quick dunk in simple sodium solution will reduce HCAs — cancerous byproducts of searing by almost 90%.”
A related article on Shine adds, “Marinating can reduce HCA formation by as much as 92 to 99 percent, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR). One study in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry showed that marinating red meat in beer or wine for two hours significantly reduced HCAs. “
3. Give Your Grill Plenty of Time to Preheat
You need to preheat your grill before cooking on it for best results; a hot grill will cook food faster and more evenly.
The amount of time that you should be preheating your grill depends entirely on what sort of fuel you prefer. If you’re rocking a gas grill, 15 minutes should suffice. However, if you are using charcoal briquets or hardwood chips, up that time to a full half hour for best results.
Oh, and make sure you keep that lid on tight while you’re preheating. Otherwise, all the heat will escape.
4. Don’t Squander The Residual Heat
The grill is gonna stay warm for quite a while after you turn it off, and it’s a shame to not take advantage of that residual heat. One great tactic is to keep burgers, dogs, buns, and other nibbles on the covered grill to keep them warm.
Another use for a hot grill is for making desserts. Try campfire favorites like S’mores (laid out over a foil-covered grill) or a banana boat: cut a banana (in the peel) lengthwise, stuff it with marshmallows and chocolate chips, and wrap the whole thing up in aluminum foil. Leave it on the grill, and 30 minutes or so later, you’ll have an ooey gooey treat that will get the kids out of your hair and take very little effort.
Do you have any grilling hacks or tips? Share them in the comments below!
6 Luxurious Timesaving Services That Are Cheaper Than You Think
May 12th
It must be great to be rich. After all, it’s a lot easier to be productive when you can pay someone to do all the menial things on your to-do list. But these perks aren’t restricted to trust fund kids. Some of the timesaving services that seem the most luxurious are surprisingly affordable, meaning you can boost your productive hours each day without crippling your cash flow.
Time is money…so why not spend a little cash to reclaim precious hours in your day? Here are some common services that seem indulgent but are cheaper than you might have thought.
1. Valet Parking
The Problem: You want to go out to dinner, but after you spend 30 minutes trying to find a place to park your car, you’ve missed your reservation.
The Solution: Valet parking seems like an indulgence (and a drain on your wallet.) The thing is, a ton of restaurants offer free valet parking, saving you time and keeping you from shelling out quarters for the parking meter. Make reservations at a place with free valet parking, and you’ll make a good impression on your dining companions, and be a lot less stressed out.
2. Personal Assistant
The Problem: You. Are. Swamped. But you don’t have the budget to hire another employee, and your personal life is just as frenetic as your professional life.
The Solution: A virtual personal assistant. Your employer would definitely frown on you outsourcing your job to a virtual assistant, but if you are self-employed or need an assistant for purely personal reasons, hiring a virtual personal assistant is a great way to get items checked off your to-do list. Rates vary by company/individual, but can be as low as $1 an hour…and plenty of companies offer free trial periods as well.
3. Grocery Delivery
The Problem: Driving to the store takes time. Picking out your purchases takes time. Clipping coupons (if you’re into that sort of thing) takes a lot of time. And let’s not forget the drudgery of waiting in line behind the old lady who’s buying cat food with a combination of pocket change and personal checks.
The Solution: Okay, no one’s gonna give you free groceries (unless it’s a charity org.) But, plenty of delivery services offer free shipping on your first order, low flat rate shipping, and competitive rates on their grocery items, so it doesn’t really cost you anything extra to shop online. Peapod, for example, offers free shipping for the first two months you use the service. Most services offer automated shipping as well, so you can have a constant stream of staples delivered to you at regular intervals.
4. Personal Accounting/Tax Prep
The Problem: You don’t want to have to manage your own money, but you don’t have enough dough to pay someone to do it for you.
The Solution: More like solutions. Free programs like GnuCash can help you track your spending year-round. H&R Block offers FREE audit support and representation from an enrolled agent when you file your taxes with them. The IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) and the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) Programs offer free tax help for taxpayers who qualify. The VITA Program offers free tax help to low- to moderate-income (generally, $49,000 and below) people who cannot prepare their own tax returns.
5. Laundry Service
The Problem: You hate doing laundry almost as much as you hate shelling out the dough for detergent and the coin-op laundry. And nothing bugs you more than spending a precious weekend afternoon washing and folding.
The Solution: Dry cleaning is definitely expensive, but washing the rest of your clothes can be surprisingly affordable. Rates vary by geographic location, but can be as low as 79 cents per pound. If you don’t have a home washing machine to begin with, laundry service might be a good choice for you.
As an added bonus, a lot of places that offer wash and fold services will also throw in free repairs for whatever you bring in, whether its a missing button or a fallen hem. And let’s be honest: those are the kinds of repairs you’re just gonna keep putting off.
6. House Cleaners/Maids
The Problem: Your house is starting to look like an audition tape for Hoarders. But to make a dent in the cleaning, you’d need to dedicate a whole month’s worth of weekends.
The Solution: Maid companies can be a little pricey, so you might want to try advertise on Craigslist or in your local paper. You can try having different providers bid like contractors for who gets the privilege of working for you. Also keep your eyes peeled for deals on sites like LivingSocial or Groupon, where there are occasionally deep discounts on maid services.
What “luxury” time-saving services are you most likely to splurge on? Tell us in the comments below!
Hack Your Muscles: Comparing the Best Post-Workout Beverages
May 9th
It’s May, and for most people that means its time to get serious about getting your body into better shape. Prime beach weather is closer than you think, and you’re probably starting to get serious about hitting the gym regularly. But overdoing your workout can do more harm than good. In fact, your athletic performance starts to suffer once you lose about 2 percent of your body weight due to profuse sweating…and that takes less effort than you might think.
If you plan to work out for over 60 minutes, you need to drink something more substantial than water afterwards. Lose too much water from exercising, and you can start to experience cramps, dizziness, and headaches as your body has to go into overdrive to keep your core temperature stable and your heart functioning normally as your blood begins to thicken to dehydration. And if you don’t rehydrate properly, you might find that your muscles are weak the next day, impairing your ability to lift weights.
If you’re trying to sculpt a beach body, it’s important to drink the right post-workout beverage to rehydrate, replenish lost nutrients, and consume adequate protein to promote muscle growth. Plain water is good, but some other product might be better. But the diet aisle of your local supermarket has got dozens of post-workout hydration beverages to choose from. So which one is right for you?
NOTE: The assessments below are based on my own opinions, personal experiences, and research. None of the products/companies mentioned below provided samples for review or have otherwise influenced the content of this article.
Milk
Okay, so maybe suggesting milk after a workout makes you think of Will Ferrell in “Anchorman,” moaning “Milk was a bad choice!”
And while the idea of chugging milk after a hard workout on a hot day might sound miserable, it has been argued that milk is a great beverage to quaff after hitting the gym. In a lot of ways, milk has it all: carbohydrates, electrolytes, calcium and vitamin D…and the all-important protein.
According to Emma Cockburn, a lecturer at Northumbria University in northeast England, “The damage caused by exercise leads to a breakdown of the protein structures in your muscles, but that doesn’t happen until 24 to 48 hours later.” If you drink milk right after training, it will be digested and absorbed by the time your body needs it to repair muscle damage. It’s worth remembering that Michael Phelps famously chugged milk between events at the Beijing Olympics.
Sports Drinks
There are as many types of fruity flavored sports drinks as there are brands of soda, and sadly, they both often have similar amounts of sugar. While they can replenish vital electrolytes, vitamins, and fluids, all that sugar post-workout can leave you feeling more jittery. Whenever possible, opt for a reduced calorie sports drink over the regular kind, as this will have less sugar, and therefore fewer calories.
Cheribundi
Cheribundi’s “Whey Cherry” tart cherry juice contains phytonutrients, anthocyanins, phenolic acids…in other words, compounds that refuel a tired body, reduce inflammation from over-exertion, and aids in muscle recovery. Whey protein is added for an extra muscle building benefits, and the cherry juice gives you 100% of your daily needs for a number of B vitamins. An 8 oz. serving has 160 calories. The taste takes some getting used to, as it is very tart, but the health benefits are worth it.
SmartWater
If you want electrolytes after a workout but are trying to reduce your caloric intake, consider zero calorie SmartWater, which consists only of vapor distilled water and electrolytes (Calcium Chloride, Magnesium Chloride, and Potassium Bicarbonate, to be specific.)
It doesn’t contain any protein, as in some other sports recovery beverages, but for exercise that is less about building muscle and more about maintaining tone or losing excess pounds, it can still be a good choice for rehydration, and is still superior to plain tap water.
Beer
According to a study at Granada University in Spain, a pint of beer is better at rehydrating the body after a workout than the same amount of water. Researchers argue that the carbon dioxide in beer helps quench thirst faster than water, the carbs in the beer replace calories (generally between 90-150 calories per serving in beer) burned during exercise, and trace salts and sugars in the beer replace lost nutrients.
On the other hand, alcohol can have diuretic properties, so don’t rely on beer alone. If you want to experiment with beer as a post-workout beverage, perhaps try a beer after having a small amount of water, and follow the beer directly by an equal amount of water.
Conclusion
To stay well hydrated for exercise, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends that you:
Drink roughly 2 to 3 cups (0.5 to 0.7 liters) of water during the two to three hours before your workout.
Drink about 1/2 to 1 cup (0.12 to 0.23 liters) of water every 15 to 20 minutes during your workout. You may need more the larger your body is or the warmer the weather is.
Drink roughly 2 to 3 cups (0.5 to 0.7 liters) of water after your workout for every pound (0.5 kilogram) of weight you lose during the workout.
How you choose to hydrate is completely up to you. Whether you need low-cal refreshment, or a heavy dash of protein to aid in muscle recovery, the good news is that there are plenty of post-workout recovery beverages for you to sample.
What do you drink after a hard workout? Tell us in the comments below!
Sleep Hacks: Tips for Getting Those Crucial 40 Winks
May 4th
Sleep is a weird thing, an elusive state that is crucial to maintaining our health and sanity. And yet, it can be so easily interrupted. If you’re like most people, you have difficulty with sleep, whether it’s falling asleep, staying asleep, or getting enough quality sleep. So what sneaky hacks can you use to get better sleep?
Understanding Sleep
Your body is programmed to fall into a natural sleep rhythm, known as a circadian rhythm. This “internal body clock” regulates your body’s metabolic processes: everything from sleep schedules to hormone production to blood pressure. The circadian “clock” in humans is located mainly in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which is a group of cells located in the brain.
When daylight hits your eyes, cells in the retinas signal your brain, which in turn can help to keep your circadian rhythms running according to schedule. As you age, the cells in SCN part of the brain may start to die off, causing disruptions in sleep, whether its a hard time getting to bed, or more frequent sleep interruptions.
Other things can cause interruptions in your ability to sleep include working late or irregular hours, pregnancy, jet lag, or new medications. There are also a number of sleep-related disorders that can affect a person, including Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS), a disorder where a patient will fall asleep at very late times and then have difficulty waking up in time for work or school.
Tips and Tricks for Better Sleep
1. Chill Out
You need to control the temperature of your sleeping environment, and also be aware of the changes in your own internal body temperature. Generally speaking, your brain will cue up your sleeping desires as the air temperature dips, causing you to sleep the most soundly during the cold hours in the morning before sunrise. So, make sure that your bedroom has plenty of fans or air conditioners in hotter months to help you nod off.
It’s also worth noting that your body temperature tends to rise in its own circadian rhythm each day, usually nudging you back towards wakefulness between 6 and 8 in the morning.
2. Fast
Starving yourself is never healthy, but one of the best ways to reset your sleep-wake cycle is to abstain from food for between 12 and 16 hours. This trick is a great way to combat jet lag, as well as to reset your sleep schedule when you work the late shift, according to a study from the Harvard Medical School.
This hard reset of your biological clock takes just one day, making it better than exposure to light or day to trick your sleep-wake cycle into doing what you want it to. Once you start eating again, your internal clock will be reset as though it is the start of a new day. Your body will consider the time you break your fast as your new “morning.”
3. Invest in a Dimmer
If you live in a big city, chances are that you sleep with heavy curtains to help block out the light from buildings and signs. But with such heavy curtains, you’ll also block out the sun as it rises, increasing the likelihood that you will oversleep.
To combat this, invest in a timed dimmer switch for your bedroom that will gradually increase the amount of light in your bedroom, mimicking the gradual rise of the sun over the horizon.
4. Keep it Simple
Sometimes the simple tricks are the best ones. Try dampening a washcloth with warm water, and then place it over your forehead and eyes. The darkness will help your brain to switch off, and the gentle heat can help to relax any tension you might be holding on to after a long, stressful day.
5. Try Something New
Specifically, try out a brand new style of sleep. Dustin Curtis has a great chart that breaks down the differences between polyphasic sleep, normal sleep, Everyman, and Uberman sleep patterns.
You don’t necessarily need sleep, at least not in the traditional sense. What you need are REM cycles. Just because you are asleep for 8 hours doesn’t mean you get 8 hours worth of sleep, since you really only need four or five 20 minute REM cycles. If your work schedule allows for it, you might want to try sleeping for 6 hours, and then taking a 90 minute nap in the afternoons, or going whole hog and sleeping 90 minutes a night and taking 4 20-minute naps throughout the rest of the day.
Conclusion
Our own
">Seth Simonds once gave some excellent advice when it comes to reclaiming 10-12 hours of productive waking time each week. By sleeping on an uncomfortable bed, you’ll be less likely to sleep in, and tired enough from early rising that you will fall right to sleep at night.
Ultimately, getting a good night’s sleep is about setting up a routine, avoiding alcohol and caffeine, and trying to minimize the amount of bright lights that you are exposed to after sundown. The method that works best for you may take some trial and error to find, but hopefully these tips will help you to get a good night’s sleep tonight.
What do you do to get a good night’s sleep? Tell us in the comments below!
Extreme Minimalism: Andrew Hyde and the 15-Item Lifestyle
May 2nd
Last week, Andrew Hyde made headlines after doing an interview with ABC Radio News.
If you aren’t familiar with Andrew Hyde, he’s a technology mogul and consultant. Like many in his field, he’s constantly on the move, working out of New York and Silicon Valley in equal measure. He is also the founder of Startup Weekend, and organizer of the TEDxBoulder conference. He mentors young companies and is working on a new business venture that will create art out of discarded vinyl records.
Sounds like a pretty typical business professional, right? Well, Hyde does have one other claim to fame that sets him apart from his competition.
Andrew Hyde only owns 15 things.
Hyde is intentionally homeless. After leaving his job as community organizer for the New York-based start-up incubator TechStars, he sold all of his posessions and decided to travel the world. And for Hyde, everything is coming up roses.
Minimalism is something I’ve been intrigued by for years. In fact, one of my first posts here at Lifehack was about 100-item minimalism. And while I’m making a concerted effort to through the clutter in my own life, paring down all my belongings to 100 items is something I’m not sure I could ever achieve, let alone the incredible challenge of selecting just 15 items to live on. So one has to wonder…just what 15 items would you choose to live with?
In this picture of Hyde, you can see him and all his worldly possessions. In addition to the clothes on his back, you’ll see two pieces of outerwear, some workout clothes, an orange backpack, a pair of socks, a pair of sunglasses, a phone, a laptop, and a few other sundry items. In other words, everything he needs for a tech job on the go. (You can read the full list of Hyde’s belongings circa 2010 here.)
And while not having a permanent home certainly helps to limit the number of possessions a person can have (unless you’re investing in a long-term storage unit), just 15 items seems crazy to most people, especially to anyone who likes fashion and wants to have more than 1 pair of shoes.
But it’s worth remembering that just because you don’t own any given item doesn’t mean that you can’t ever access one, should you need it. The larger your network of friends is, the fewer items you need to own. You can always borrow what you don’t own from friends or colleagues, whether it’s a suit for a formal occasion, a casserole dish for cooking dinner for your in-laws, or even a whole house while your friends are on vacation.
And while you might think that there are just some things a person can’t live without, there are decent alternatives for most of them.
Cooking basics like pots and pans aren’t needed if you are traveling and either eating out for every meal, staying in a hotel, or staying in accommodations provided to you by your employer.
You don’t need furniture if you don’t have a home or apartment.
You don’t need a TV or a cable box to watch your favorite shows, as long as you have a laptop. Same goes for video games, books, and magazine subscriptions.
And think of the savings. No car payments, no mortgage, no cable or utility bills. Without those burdens, you could probably afford to go our to dinner every night and travel extensively.
So how would you go about paring down all your belongings to just 15 items? For Andrew Hyde, it was a slow process: “I started with my clothing basics: 2 shirts, 1 pant, 1 short, 1 sandals, 1 sunglasses and underwear. I added a few ‘must haves’ for me like an iPad and camera. I added a backpack, toiletries kit, towel, and a few random things (pen, connector cable, chargers) and tried it out. After five weeks of the trip, there is more that I have not used in the bag than there is in the bag.”
Socrates once said, “The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.” For a guy who lives with only 9 pounds worth of personal belongings, Andrew Hyde is living a Socratic ideal that meshes surprisingly well with our modern perceptions of what a person needs to be happy.
Could you ever live with just 15 items? What 15 things would you choose? Tell us in the comments below!
Creativity vs. Productivity: How to Make Progress When Making Art
Apr 29th
For many of us, a large chunk of the creative process can involve just staring into space, waiting for our muse to send us a bolt from the blue. Trouble is, the better you get at your chosen art form, the less time you have to wait around for that pesky muse. As you begin to make a name for yourself in your chosen artistic field, you start to have more projects with deadlines, forcing your muse to meet your project’s expiration date.
Whether you are a writer burning the midnight oil to meet the deadline for a fiction contest, or a visual artist who’s been hired to create a mural for a public building, you become more accountable for your artistic output as you increase in skill. And with that added success comes added pressure, a need to still create great work without the luxury of navel gazing.
No matter what artistic field you specialize in, the following tips will help you to stay at your most productive when working on your creative pursuits.
1. Set Daily, Weekly, or Monthly Goals
Having deadlines isn’t always a bad thing. While it is impossible to force yourself to be creative, having a date in mind by which you need to complete your project will help your brain to focus on creative problem solving to bring your project to a close.
Pull out your calendar. Mark your due date. Work backwards from that due date to today’s date, and develop a progress checklist for each day. Also include end of the week goals and monthly progress goals as well, if you are planning that far in advance.
If you have a plan, a structured plan, it’s far easier to be productive every day when you are working on creative projects.
2. Keep a Journal/Sketchbook Handy
Never go anywhere without some method of recording flashes of inspiration, whether it is a journal, a sketchbook, or a note-taking app on your smartphone. This is helpful for recording ideas as they come to you, so that you don’t have to wrack your brains later and waste time “being creative” to come up with a new idea. You’ll be surprised just how much time you can save yourself by keeping an idea notebook for future projects.
3. Outline EVERYTHING
This sort of goes hand in hand with setting progress goals. And it probably seems a little weird to intentionally set up restrictions for creative projects. But actually, creating a detailed outline for your project keeps you focused on the task at hand, and minimizes the chance that you will distract yourself during a brainstorm. Open-ended creative projects have unlimited possibilities…and that level of freedom can sometimes prevent you from making progress in a single, unified direction.
4. Don’t Skip Meals
Between 20 and 30 percent of your daily caloric intake is used to regulate your brain functions. Skip a meal, and you’ll have to struggle to meet your creative goals. It can be hard, of course, to walk away from your studio when you’re in the zone, comfortably cruising through your creative project. So keep snacks on your studio or at your desk, whether its fresh fruit, trail mix, protein bars, or whatever.
5. Structure Your Brainstorming Sessions
In order to manage your time more effectively, setting clear goals is paramount during brainstorming sessions. It’s easy to start wool-gathering when thinking creatively, so setting goals like “I want to come up with 5 article ideas to pitch to my client in the next 20 minutes.”
In situtations like this, you might want to try time structuring tools like the Pomodoro Technique.
6. Master Your Tools
As our own Leon Ho covered previously, mastering your art form’s basic tools means that you can maximize your creative output.
“When I’m not competent enough with my tools, I can’t enter the flow state,” the post stated, with Leon quoting Steve Pavlina. “Despite using Adobe Photoshop for many years, I never invested the time to master its complex interface because I only used it intermittently. Consequently, I seldom achieve the flow state when using Photoshop because I spend too much time consciously thinking about the low-level action steps. This stunts my creativity because I remain stuck in my left brain instead of shifting into my right brain.”
How do you maximize your productivity when working on creative projects? Tell us in the comments below!
Breaking Bad Habits in 28 Days
Apr 28th
I was watching “The Big C” on Showtime the other night, and one of the characters mentioned off-hand that it takes 28 days to break a bad habit. A quick Google search showed me that this wasn’t just a bit of silver screen writing, but a fairly well-accepted theory.
Some people argue it’s more like 21 days, or 30; still others say that it takes 30 days to create a pattern and 90 days to create a habit. Obviously, some habits are easier to break than others. For example, if you are both a smoker and a nail biter, it’s probably more feasible to break the nail biting habit in a month, but less reasonable to think that quitting cigs can get done in 30 days or less.
But how realistic is it to try and break any habit in 30 days? And where did this idea of habit-busting in under a month come from in the first place?
In the Beginning
The 30 day habit-breaking plan has come under many guises over the years and has been backed by many different experts. But most people agree that the genesis of this theory dates back to a 1960 psychology book: Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz. In addition to putting forward the 30-day habit breaking theory, the book also postulated that a person must have an accurate and positive view of his or her self before setting goals; otherwise he or she will get stuck in a continuing pattern of limiting beliefs.
Getting In the Right Mindset
Getting ready to break a bad habit is tough, and getting in the right mindset to break a habit in just a month is even tougher.
“We often psyche ourselves out of getting started by mentally thinking about the change as something permanent — before we’ve even begun…But what if you thought about making the change only temporarily — say for 30 days — and then you’re free to go back to your old habits? That doesn’t seem so hard anymore. Exercise daily for just 30 days, then quit. Maintain a neatly organized desk for 30 days, then slack off. Read for an hour a day for 30 days, then go back to watching TV.”
Its important to make sure that when you attempt to break a habit in 30 days, you’re picking a bad habit that you actually engage in on a daily basis. Seems obvious when you think about it, but if you try to break a habit that you don’t do on a daily basis, its a bit harder to gauge your success in a limited 30-day window.
Tips and Tricks
Hiram of Balanced Health Blueprint has a clever trick for tracking your daily progress in your quest to break a bad habit. Take 3 coins (or tokens or buttons, but really, coins are best) and label them 1-30 with a washable magic marker. For every day that passes and you don’t indulge in your bad habit, drop a coin in a jar.
If you make it to 30 days, buy yourself something small, but symbolic, with the coins to celebrate your triumph. But if you backslide, Hiram says, “Start over. Take your container and hold it up so you can see it clearly. Take a close look at all the coins inside representing your progress. Now dump out all the coins and start over.”
Conclusion
You should think of the habit-breaking process like a marathon. Every step you make towards your goal over a 30 day period gets you closer to the finish line.
What’s your bad habit? And do you think you could ever break that habit in 30 days? Tell us in the comments below!
Pets and Productivity: Does Having an Animal in the Office Make You a Better Worker?
Apr 27th
Hanging out with man’s best friend is a huge part of our daily routine, and for many families a dog or cat is like another child. But as much as we pamper our furry friends, we can’t take them everywhere with us. And when it comes to those 8 hours (or more) we spend on the clock, it seems like our family pets are just never welcome to spend time with us while we are at work.
But not all professions believe in working without their trusted animal friends. For centuries, cats have been prowling breweries and farms to kill rats and mice. K9 units couldn’t function without their canines, of course, and many hospitals and nursing homes have on-staff dogs or cats to comfort patients. Even some bookstores have cats prowling the stacks.
And increasingly, “regular” offices are encouraging pets to become a part of the work day. But are animals in the office a source of distraction, or a legitimate tool for increasing productivity?
The Drawbacks
If anyone in your office suffers from allergies, bringing a pet to the office would be inconsiderate, even if you are at the top of the food chain. But respiratory conditions aside, there are plenty of other problems with having an animal in the workplace that could severely impact your productivity.
For one thing, an ill-behaved pet can cause havoc in all kinds of ways, from “accidents” to jumping up on your desk and knocking over your computer or stacks of papers. An animal that is too energetic should not be constrained to an office environment, for the sanity of you, your co-workers, and the pet itself.
Sick pets should stay at home; no one wants to walk into your cube and see a pet dragging its back end across the floor. And it should be obvious that animals with aggression problems should not be in an office….unless you want to get sued.
Therapy animals or service animals, on the other hand, should always be welcome in an office setting.
By the Numbers
According to one study conducted by Christopher Honts and his colleagues at Central Michigan University, dogs in the office can help to boost productivity.
And according to a survey conducted by the American Pet Products Manufacturers, 17 percent of Americans work at pet-friendly companies and 23 percent believe pets should be allowed in the workplace. The survey also found that 70 million Americans believe having pets in the workplace reduces stress, and 46 million believe having pets in the workplace creates a more productive work environment.
Since 1996, people have been celebrating Take Your Dog to Work Day every June, with over 10,000 companies participating in the United States. The next Take Your Dog to Work Day is June 24th, so start buttering up your boss now to get them to take part.
Success Stories
In Portland, Oregon, the local opera company has a resident cat named Nerissa. The Opera’s general director ">Christopher Mattaliano also allows dogs at work.
“I feel a happy staff is a productive staff,” says Mattaliano.
“During stressful times here, I get people coming in from a different floor just to connect with [my pet]” adds Noelle Guest, the director’s executive assistant.
Elsewhere in the country, Linda Goldstein Dunay, president of a marketing and public relations firm, is also a fan of pets in the workplace.
“From the beginning, I wanted my company to feel like a community,” she says. “I find that having dogs around, and allowing people to have their pets with them, is a big morale-booster.”
Murray Low, director of The Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Center at Columbia Business School, adds that allowing employees to bring pets to work can be an inexpensive way to bolster productivity and reduce stress. “If the pet’s at work, it’s not as difficult for the employee to stay till 10 at night.”
Would you ever bring a pet to work? Have you ever worked in a pet-friendly office? Let us know in the comments below!
How Many Times A Day Should You Check Your Email?
Apr 25th
In my last post, I talked about six of the most common work habits that sabotage your productivity. The first offender on my list was how frequently you check your email. As I was writing my last article, I found that there was a ton of information on that topic, and it was really deserving of its own dedicated article.
When it comes to our work email, most of us see it as a ball and chain. We’ve constantly got to be checking it, or risk the wrath of the bosses and co-workers that are trying to communicate with us. If we don’t respond to an email within 5 minutes, we’re seen as lazy or unproductive.
But according to some experts, checking your email too frequently is actually a major factor that can contribute to diminished productivity. If you are one of those “every time my phone dings I must check my email immediately” sort of people, read on to discover why you may have become your own worst enemy.
How Often is Normal?
So just how often does the average person check their email in a given day? It’s hard to track down reliable statistics. According to one poll, about 40% of people surveyed that they thought they checked their email between 6 and 20 times per day. Of course, it’s hard to say how accurate a person is when gauging their own email habits.
Another survey says that 56.4% of people only check their email between 0-5 times per day. However, that study is from 2009, and arguably quite dated.
“Never Check Your Email in the Morning”
Oprah’s favorite organizational expert is a woman called Julie Morgenstern, author of “Never Check Email in the Morning.” Guess what she advises?
According to Morgenstern, checking your email first thing when you get into the office each morning is problematic because it can a false sense of accomplishment. You answer 40 emails, and you feel like you’ve done a lot of work, but in reality you probably still have piles of paperwork, meetings, and phone calls to make. Answering email is essential to doing your work, but it isn’t always something that is actively making money for you or your company.
Productivity expert Sid Savara also agrees with Morgenstern. “When it comes to email, ignorance is bliss. That’s why if you’ve got something important you want to make progress on, I have these four words for you: Don’t check your email. As soon as you get up, work on something important for 30-45 minutes, and only then check it. If you can stand it, wait even longer. Some days I don’t check email at all until after lunch…Any new information you get can cause you to get distracted. I can’t control everything, but I can control my own self made distractions.”
The 24-Hour Method
Other people argue that rather than check your emails starting later in the day, you should just check them once per day, in the morning. Among the members of this camp is productivity expert Elizabeth Grace Saunders. She generally clears out her inbox during the first 1-2 hours of her day, and formulates her game plan for the rest of the day after that. After that, she doesn’t generally look at her email again for the rest of the day, allowing her to focus completely on business development and client projects.
This is harder, of course, if you are at the bottom of the food chain at your company. But if you are in upper management or you are self-employed, setting this routine can be a great way to boost your productivity.
When in Doubt, Check the Chart
Scott Scheper checks his email twice a day, and has created a handy flow chart for helping you to blow through all the unread messages in your inbox.
Every time you open a new email, ask yourself 3 basic questions:
1. Is this relevant?
2. Can I solve this?
3. Will it take less than 2 minutes of my time to deal with this?
By following his handy flow chart, you’ll develop a new way to bust through your inbox more efficiently.
5 A Day
And just in case you hadn’t had enough conflicting expert opinions, here’s one more. Rod Kurtz of Business Week argues that you ought to be checking your work email five times per day.
“Check your inbox only five times daily–first thing in the morning, mid-morning, after lunch, mid-afternoon, and end of day. Or even less if you are capable. This works when you turn off the automatic send/receive function, allowing you up to two hours to focus on your work, rather than to be continually interrupted. It works when you group the sorting of your e-mail, making you more productive and efficient in dealing with it.”
Conclusion
There’s a difference between being busy and being productive. Make sure that you schedule your email time in such a way that you avoid confusing the two. If you approach your email with the correct attitude, you can boost your productivity by leaps and bounds.
In the words of Scott Scheper, “A day filled with shooting the breeze with employees, answering questions, staring at emails, checking social networks and chatting with colleagues won’t make you rich. It’ll make you busy.”
What’s your daily email routine? Do you plan to try any of these tips? Let us know in the comments below!