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Posts tagged productivity
Ask the Entrepreneurs: 11 Bloggers to Follow for Lifestyle and Productivity Tips
Apr 15th
Ask The Entrepreneurs is a regular series where members of those involved in the Young Entrepreneur Council are asked a single question that aims to help Lifehack readers level up their own lives, whether in a area of management, communication, business or life in general.
Here’s the question posed in this edition of Ask The Entrepreneurs:
Name one productivity/lifestyle blogger that you follow for advice/tips on staying balanced. Why are they so great?
1. Marie Forleo
I heart Marie Forleo’s weekly Rich, Happy & Hot videos. Not only do they provide actionable suggestions for creating a rockin’ business, they also illuminate how to shift from working hard to working smart in order to integrate work with the rest of one’s life. I appreciate Marie’s “everything is figure-out-able” attitude and her belief that the best entrepreneurs are multi-passionate.
-Alexia Vernon, Catalyst for Action
2. zenhabits
Leo Babauta runs zenhabits, one of the most popular blogs on productivity and lifestyle. The content is amazing and the design makes it such a pleasure to read.
3. Tim Ferriss
Tim Ferriss took productivity and lifestyle hacking to another level with his ideas in The 4-Hour Work Week and The 4-Hour Body. He publishes an exceptional blog, with the subtitle “Experiments in Lifestyle Design.” His ideas are eye-opening and his interviews with entrepreneurs are fascinating. I highly recommend following his blog for motivation on being the best you can be.
4. Seth Godin
Seth Godin’s posts are short on word, but pack an amazing punch. His direct, to the point blog posts really help me to stay focused on the important things in life and see things from a different perspective.
5. James Altucher
If you’re looking for a brutally honest and straight forward thinker, James Altucher’s blog is a must read. He is the author of several books and has sold several companies he personally founded. The blog provides many great resources for entrepreneurs and a unique insight into his thoughts on both personal and professional relationships.
-Evan Kirkpatrick, Wendell Charles Financial
6. Cal Newport
I really appreciate and share Cal Newport’s philosophies on pursuing excellence and enjoying life in the process. Although his blog, Study Hacks, started out geared toward students, it has evolved into a place to find relevant information for anyone interested in the pursuit of being remarkable without burning out.
-Elizabeth Saunders, Real Life E®
7. Sean Ogle
Sean Ogle graduated college and entered the work force as a financial analyst. He quickly realized this wasn’t for him, quit his job, moved to Thailand and built an online business. Sean’s blog posts on Location 180 are inspiring and provide practical ways on how to build businesses that can be run from anywhere and, most importantly, how to achieve the independent lifestyle of your dreams.
-Anthony Saladino, Kitchen Cabinet Kings
8. Jason Fried
Jason Fried has built an incredible business around making projects more efficient. He blogs about his company’s lessons learned at “Signal Versus Noise”. It’s not simply about the company’s tools, but he shares amazing insight into building a positive culture.
-Aaron Schwartz, Modify Watches
9. Yaro Starak
Yaro Starak of Entrepreneurs-Journey.com not only gives really good online marketing advice, but he teaches people to build businesses that support their lifestyle and value system. Yaro is from Australia and lives the life of a true entrepreneur.
10. Chris Guillebeau
Whenever I need a little inspiration, I head to Chris Guillebeau’s site, The Art of Non-Conformity. His posts never fail to get me fired up, whether he’s written about business, travel or something else entirely.
-Thursday Bram, Hyper Modern Consulting
11. Mayi Carles
Mayi Carles has great weekly videos, but more importantly she’s designed a set of weekly and daily “Life Is Messy” planners to help keep you focused. She gives great advice for creative people, who tend to be all over the place when it comes to ideas and productivity. Her attitude is really upbeat and her advice is spot on.
-Nathalie Lussier, Nathalie Lussier Media
(Photo credit: Keyboard BLOG Caption via Shutterstock)
The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. The YEC promotes entrepreneurship as a solution to unemployment and underemployment and provides entrepreneurs with access to tools, mentorship, and resources that support each stage of their business’s development and growth.
The Bliss of Airplane Mode
Apr 13th
The following is a guest post by Amy Holms of FormFire Glassworks. She’s a part-time blogger, part-time residential designer, part-time jewelry creator and a full-time mom of twin teenage girls. She focuses on modern design, tech and current culture. You can follow her on Twitter @formfireglass.
How many times have you sat down to get to work on a project, only to have the phone ring moments after you ‘got into your groove?’ Or closed your eyes for a quick catnap only to have a text message or email buzz through the haze?
Airplane Mode to the Rescue
For the first couple years of life with my iPhone, the only time I put it into Airplane Mode was on the plane, of course. That’s what the name says, right? I could read books, check my calendar, jot down a note, all without fear of FAA reprisals.
It took me another couple of years to truly appreciate the beauty that is that seldom-used Settings button. Now it’s a part of the phone that I wouldn’t live without. But why use this setting when you can just turn off your phone?
Years ago, your phone was just that, a phone. Maybe you had text messaging, perhaps a sad, difficult-to-use calendar and a contact list. Early smartphones gave a bit more, but the advent of the iPhone and Android phones has changed the way we use this piece of technology. When we turn off our phones, we turn off access to our own information, not just the connection with others and the Internet. We lose the ability to take a photo, see our calendar, browse through our task list, or show a picture to a friend.
The Best of Both Worlds
Sitting down to really focus on a project, but still want to use your Pomodoro timer? Airplane Mode lets you keep apps and your alarms on while limiting distractions from others who want to make requests of your time.
Taking a power nap for 20 minutes? Now you can hear that alarm without finding out about your latest Twitter mention.
Working with people around the world or those next door that insist on texting whenever they think of it, even if it is 2:00am? All those notifications are now off until you decide you’re ready to access them again in the morning.
Having a lunch with a friend and the phone won’t stop buzzing? Turn on Airplane Mode and visit in peace while still being able to share photos and schedule your next get-together. It’s the polite way to go.
I use Airplane Mode multiple times a day, and don’t miss out on a thing. Everything waits there until I choose to let those distractions in. It makes all those down times a lot more focused, and when I plug back in, it is with intention, and responses are given more attention because they are no longer an annoyance to tend with.
Try sliding that little button the next time you’re in a situation where distractions are causing you grief. You might find that Airplane Mode gives you an oasis of calm, if only for a few minutes.
Question: Do you use Airplane Mode? How do you handle smartphone distractions?
5 Ways to Immediately Regain Control of Your Day
Apr 12th
How often do you begin your day with this thought:
“Ugh. I’m too tired for this. I wish I could get settled before the nonstop hassles start?”
How often do you end your day with a thought like:
“I’m exhausted…I can’t remember what I accomplished today, but I feel like I slogged uphill carrying my desk?”
For many of us, the answer is “far too often”.
There are many things that could contribute to those feelings, and many are beyond our control – immediate or otherwise. However, there are several things we do to ourselves that contribute to ending a day with such work exhaustion that it guarantees the next day will begin with it. This starts a self-reinforcing cycle that will end in burnout.
Fortunately, there are several things you can immediately implement to start gaining control of some of your day and give you the perspective to seize control of as much of the rest of it as you possibly can. Here are five things you can do…beginning today.
1. Stop scheduling meetings for first and last thing
You just gave yourself three hours right there. If you have a 9-hour workday, it just became a 6-hour (normal) workday with three hours at the beginning and end to review your plans for the day and revise as necessary, identify whether meetings need to be scheduled or rescheduled since yesterday, and finish out your day by making any final notes (either in your calendar or in your daily notebook) about what transpired and any required follow-up actions.
2. Schedule breathing room
Don’t allow incursions. Really. How many times have you tried to schedule a meeting with someone to find their calendar completely full from beginning to the end of the day, and possibly with overlapping or conflicting appointments? Annoying, isn’t it? And completely counterproductive. No one can possibly hold all of those meetings, and if even just one or two slip, the remainder are usually slipped later in the day rather than killing or rescheduling one meeting in favor of saving the others. Protect your ability to remain effective: schedule islands of meeting prep and recovery time (for assembly of briefing materials beforehand and documentation afterward) to start gaining control of your day. A fifteen-to-thirty minute hold on your calendar around most meetings will suffice.
3. Schedule lunch
Protect it. Lunch is important, even if you don’t eat. But, eat. Skipping a meal guarantees you’ll crash sometime during the afternoon, and almost certainly overeat at dinner. Lunch is also a crucial middle-of-the-workday decompression time. If you don’t want to spend half an hour or an hour in a restaurant, take your lunch to a nearby park, picnic table, or somewhere else that will get you outside if the weather is good, and away from your desk regardless. If you aren’t eating lunch for some reason, at least take time for a constructive break.
4. End meetings with clear expectations of what’s next
“What’s the next action?”
David Allen’s Getting Things Done espouses this principle as one of the most crucial to being productive. I happen to agree, and practice it almost constantly. Ending a meeting with no clear expectation of what is owed to whom guarantees something – or everything – will be late. Declaring “I need something” does not equate to issuing an action. Identify the action, the desired result, the expected delivery timeframe, and the person who is responsible. Ensure they understand this information…have them repeat it back to you. The trick to gaining control of your day is not to assume they understood you simply because you think you were clear. Meetings that are scheduled to end at 5PM and do not include a time before the end of the agenda to review action items are not properly-scheduled meetings. It doesn’t matter if you have a great GTD tool you use, or are using a paper planner, capture the next actions in a way that allows you to find them again.
5. Make daily notes
Do it more often than once a day! Waiting until the end of the day to make all of your daily notes will virtually guarantee that you will have forgotten an action or an important detail, and it will frustrate you when inevitable interruptions occur during your carefully-constructed end-of-the-day notetaking time. As much as possible, jot down memory-jogging notes about your meetings and decisions as you make them, or very quickly thereafter. An easy way to do this is to add notes to calendar appointments, or print the calendar and take it with you; you can then simply add it to your notebook with the appointment “pre-populated” and the notes written on it, automatically placing them in context.
(Photo credit: Man Holding Clock via Shutterstock)
Andrew writes at 360 Minutes, where he shares his best advice on becoming more productive and effective, so you can gain the time to do the things that you love. Get his RSS feed directly, and take a look at his Getting Started page if you're looking for ways to get your head above water at work.
How to Be Productive Where You Least Expect It
Apr 11th
Is your productivity limited by where you are?
Or are you able to be productive wherever you find yourself with downtime?
Ironically, it has never been easier to bring your work and tasks with you.
With smartphones, tablets, or even a good notebook, you can be productive almost anywhere.
Be Prepared
No matter where you are, you can be productive.
The catch is that you need to be prepared to take advantage of the spare time that you encounter in your day.
What surprises me is when people head into known downtime without being ready to get some things done.
“Sometimes you know you will have to wait,
Other times you may be caught off-guard.
Being productive is all about being prepared.”
People sit haplessly in the doctor’s office waiting room. Or at the car dealership. Or on their commute.
Instead, bring the books. Bring the technology. Or bring both.
Don’t underestimate the power of ten minutes, no matter where you are.
How to Be Productive Anywhere
If you have your todo list or materials with you, you can be productive anywhere.
You can reclaim the time that would have otherwise been lost to waiting.
Here are some tips to be productive no matter where you are:
- During the Commute – How long do you sit in traffic? Listen to audiobooks or podcasts. Make calls as long as you do it safely with a headset.
- On the Plane – Not many people prepare to work during air travel, but there are lots of things you can get done on a plane. Bring reading materials for take off and landing. Bring work to do on the flight. Or just be prepared to get some sleep if that is what you need. Otherwise, you will end up reading the inflight magazine.
- On the Business Trip – When you are on the road for work, don’t just pack your clothes. Pack your work, too. I get some of my best writing done while travelling. Instead, of watching TV or the in-room movie, get your work done.
- In the Waiting Room – The waiting room is one of the few things in life that is aptly named. You wait and wait. You even know going into it that you will be waiting. So, bring your tablet. Or your phone. Or your notebook. Many a doctor has walked in the exam room to see me fully camped out working. While he/she is surprised, I am like, “I have been here for 45 minutes!”
- At Home – Do you keep a todo list for home? Many people keep detailed lists for work, but not for home. And then you wonder why you haven’t gotten to fixing that door or cleaning up that extra room. Track your home todos, as well as your work ones.
- In Meetings – Wait, you are not telling me to work during meetings, are you? No, but I am talking about being prepared for meetings so that you don’t waste time. How often have you been to a meeting where half of the meeting is spent scrambling to get ready or to brief everyone about what they should already know?
- Anywhere - You todo list should be with you all the time. When you have a moment of downtime, look at your list to jog your memory of what you might be able to get done. It could be as simple as responding to a message or calling someone.
Productive Not Passive
Always bring your productivity with you.
Don’t let life’s downtime steal your time.
Instead, leverage those spare moments to get things done.
That way, you can have more time on your schedule.
Question: What are your best tips for being productive no matter where you are?
Yet Another Getting Things Done Article (with 11 Useful How to Tips)
Apr 10th
If you are a regular reader of Lifehack, I bet there have been times when you have had this reaction:
“Oh no not another Getting Things Done article.”
But I also bet you read them anyhow.
Why is that? Maybe it is because our lives revolve around getting things done. From the moment you wake in the morning to the time you close your eyes at night, you spend the day fulfilling responsibilities, completing tasks and working towards goals both big and small.
For some this revolves around home life, cooking, cleaning and looking after children. For others it’s buying and sell stock or painting magnificent paintings. Regardless of the type of work you do, it is usually go…go…go!
There is a body of people out there that believe we should toss productivity out and live life more in the flow. Some believe that we cannot control life’s outcomes and we shouldn’t even begin to try. Although there is some merit in not trying to control and over engineer a life that could be fluid and carefree, but at Lifehack we believe in productivity. We believe in its merits and its potential. We believe that there are ways and means of managing your daily and weekly workload that will help you to get “it” done more quickly, reducing your stress and allowing you to do what it is you do when you are not in work mode.
Learning
When we read an article it is usually to gain more knowledge about the subject area — to see if there is anything we can learn that will enhance and improve our lives. So if you find you are reading article after article on getting things done, I will pose to you the following question: How much of what you have learned have you implemented?
Be honest now — do you have a successful workflow system set up? If your answer is “yes” then you are excused to go back and get some stuff done. If your answer is “no”…well, then you are also excused to go implement some of the stuff you have learned to date and start getting things done.
Doing
There appears to be a huge gap between knowing and doing. How much longer will you wait to get started? How many countless books do you read before you heed their lessons? Are you subconsciously hoping that the changes will happen in your life without your input?
I urge you again to stop reading and start doing. Because productivity systems are nothing without action. Ideas without action amount to nothing.
So if you are still hanging around and haven’t gone to take action, here are a few suggestions to get you started and create a little bit of momentum.
- Revisit your goals for inspiration to act (if you don’t have any, create some today!).
- Commit to doing 10 minutes of something a day, create new positive and productive habits to help you on your way.
- Block process emails, a maximum of three times a day.
- Start the day with your worst task first (“eat your frog”); the rest of the day will be sweeter.
- Get up an hour earlier and exercise; this will give you more energy.
- Declutter your environment. A clean desk allows you to focus more easily.
- Be clear about what you want to achieve every day.
- Always leave time in your schedule for contingency; this way you won’t be disappointed if things don’t go to plan.
- Eliminate distractions, close email programs, switch off email notifications. In fact, switch off the phone when you are trying to get important work done.
- Implement the Pareto Principle (80/20 rule) and identify your 20% that adds value to what you are trying to achieve.
- Smile and be optimistic about life. Optimistic people are healthier, happier and more productive.
It is time to stop learning and start doing. Ask yourself what one thing could you do this week to get you closer to your personal success. What one thing have you been procrastinating on that will have a major impact when complete? It’s time to take action, my friends.
It’s time to finally get things done!
(Photo credit: Handwritten Motivational Note via Shutterstock)
Ciara Conlon is a Personal Productivity Coach and author. Her mission is to help people achieve their best through working efficiently and being positive and present. “With Productivity and Positivity there is little you can’t achieve” Find out more about Ciara and sign up for her tips, articles and links at Productivity & Positivity
Hack Your Mind to Get Motivated
Apr 10th
Let’s face it. Most creative people and knowledge workers have to perform in their jobs and personal lives at a moment’s notice. With constant pressure coming at us to produce more, better, and faster, it can be a hard to get motivated through all of the work that we have to do on a daily basis.
SEE ALSO: How to Stay Motivated
If you find yourself “slipping through the cracks” and becoming unmotivated day-in and day-out, use mind hacks to get motivated.
Insert a daily review into your life
Something that I have been playing with for a couple weeks now is having a “mini review” every morning, thanks to Peter Bregman and his 18 Minutes framework. Peter suggests before we do anything else in our day to take 5 minutes to decide how our day will be “highly successful”. This consists of me opening nothing else but my task management suite and looking over my available actions for the day and marking what I want to get done.
This small but important time slot in the beginning of the day can help me get motivated by giving me a purpose. Without a purpose for my day I will surely slip into an unmotivated state.
Taking small breaks and refocusing
Another awesome way to get motivated is to make sure that you are giving yourself much needed breaks throughout the day. These don’t have to be the “normal” two, 15 minute breaks with a lunch hour in between. Oh, no. We are talking about small breaks through out the day that can last a few to five minutes.
The idea is that rather than forcing ourselves to work, that we stop every so often to give ourselves the permission to read our favorite blogs, update our twitter status, etc. so we can push our concentration back to our work. This idea of giving ourselves small breaks throughout the day allows us not to build resentments against our work, and can keep us motivated and focused for longer periods of time.
Go to a higher altitude
We talked about how you can insert a daily mini review into your life to find you motivation for the day, but what about motivation for your life? This is where David Allen’s altitudes come into play.
David Allen (you know, the GTD Guy?) talks about 6 Horizons of Focus. Basically, these are different levels that you can look at your life and they range from “pickup milk on the way home” to “be the father that you always wanted”. What you want to do is at least monthly (if not weekly) take a look at your higher Horizons of Focus. These would be your 30 to 50k feet Horizons. This is the range between where you are going for the next 12 to 18 months to the reason that you are on this planet.
It’s a good practice to sit down and get creative with these horizons as a way to get motivated to do your life’s work. The mini daily review is great for daily grind and trench work, but if you don’t step back and go to a higher level, you will spend your life living in the trenches where the chances of becoming unmotivated are much higher. Give your life meaning by looking at the big picture instead.
Become mindful
So, reviewing and breaking throughout your day are good ways to get motivated, but one of the best ways is to make sure that you are staying mindful. Being mindful is the key to doing the work that you are supposed to be doing.
Like I mentioned before, it can be really hard to “come out of the front-lines” or work. When you finally do you may look at what you are doing and think to yourself, “what’s the point of this?” Chances are if you are thinking that you aren’t being mindful of your work and life.
Becoming mindful not only helps you find the work that you should be doing but it helps you get motivated to do that work. Once you find the things in your life that need to stay and the things that you can let go of through mindfulness, having motivation will be the last thing you need to worry about. As your clarity of mind increases, your motivation for work will happen naturally.
I wish I could tell you the key to getting motivated is to quite whining, and just do your work. But, sometimes we have to use “tricks” to get motivated. Practice the above recommendations and you shouldn’t have too much trouble with staying motivated through your day and life.
(Photo credit: Motivation via Shutterstock)
Lifehack Deals: The Omni Group Bundle Giveaway
Apr 9th
Mac productivity app fans rejoice! Lifehack Deals has a bumper crop of apps that will help you become more efficient and effective with your Mac — and in your work and life. We’ve got a great giveaway that we’ve lined up where you’ll have a chance to win a bundle that contains all of The Omni Group’s top Mac apps.
The total value of all of the apps in this bundle is $580 — and considering that The Omni Group is one of the premier developers for Mac productivity software, you’ll want to get in on this today!
Here’s all of the apps that are part of the Omni Group Bundle Giveaway:
OmniPlan
OmniPlan is designed to help you visualize, maintain, and simplify your projects. Break down tasks, optimize the required resources, control costs, and monitor your entire plan—all at a glance.
OmniFocus
We’re big fans of OmniFocus here at Lifehack. OmniFocus is designed to quickly capture your thoughts and allow you to store, manage, and process them into actionable to-do items while helping you to work smarter via powerful tools for staying on top of all the things you need to do.
OmniGraffle
If you need a diagram, process chart, quick page-layout, website wireframe or graphic design, OmniGraffle can help you by keeping ines connected to shapes even when they’re moved, providing powerful styling tools, importing and exporting Microsoft Visio files, and magically organizing diagrams with just one click.
OmniOutliner
Another favourite here at Lifehack. Use OmniOutliner’s document structure to brainstorm new ideas, drill out specifics, and line up the steps needed to get everything done. It’s more than just an outlining tool—you’ve got multiple columns, smart checkboxes, customizable popup lists, and an über-innovative styles system at your disposal. Use OmniOutliner to draft to-do lists, create agendas, manage tasks, track expenses, take notes, plan events, write screenplays . . . and just about anything else you can think of.
OmniGraphSketcher
OmniGraphSketcher helps you make elegant and precise graphs in seconds, whether you have specific data to visualize or you just have a concept to explain. Specifically designed for reports, presentations, and problem sets where you need to produce sharp-looking graphs on the fly, OmniGraphSketcher combines the data plotting power of charting applications with the ease of a basic drawing program.
How to Enter
Simply enter your email address on our Lifehack Deals page to give yourself a chance to win. Remember that you’ll want to act on this giveaway offer now — you’ve only got until April 30 to enter. The official rules for this extremely rare type of giveaway are available here.
So enter today — and start lifehacking with your Mac better than ever before!
Mike Vardy is the Managing Editor at Lifehack. An independent writer, speaker, podcaster and "productivityist", you can read more of his writing at Vardy.me. He is @mikevardy on Twitter.
2×4: An Interview With Brett Terpstra
Apr 8th
2×4: One series that examines two topics, creativity and productivity, by asking those who make things on the web the same four questions on both subjects.
There is a day in every Apple geek’s life that leaves a permanent mark; it’s a day we all remember. It’s a moment in time where things change, and get better. Tasks that once seemed complicated become easier. You discover new tools that make your work on and for the web more efficient.
That day is the day you discover Brett Terpstra.
To discover Brett is to want to learn more about what you can make for your Mac. You start going down rabbit holes that you never imagined yourself going down. For the uninitiated, Brett is the developer of Marked, the Senior Dev at AOL, he is a frequent blogger on both his own site and TUAW and as Brett it himself said, “I create elegant solutions to complex problems.” He also creates exceptionally useful tools such as nvALT and helpful resources such as his library of TextExpander tools. Brett is generous with his time and his creations and even though those of us who are not deeply technical will occasionally find ourselves in over our heads, his creations are useful for all levels of geek, including all of us productivity and “lifehack types.
Without any further ado, here’s an inside look at how Brett Terpstra manages to do in a week what many of us would find to be impossible in a lifetime.
Creativity
Have you always considered yourself a creative person?
Not really, but not for lack of desire.
My younger brother is an amazing artist; even his toddler scribbles were always fridge-worthy. In my single-digit years, I was a bit competitive and constantly assured myself I was just as creative as he was. It wasn’t true, at least not in the fine arts disciplines, but I maintained a shaky confidence for a while.
In a parallel story, my father brought home a PC Jr. when I was six. I started experimenting in Logo and BASIC and solving Kings Quest games. I didn’t realize at the time that these were creative pursuits.
After coming to terms with the fact that drawing and painting were not my fortes, I pursued my technical interests. I built my own PCs, started a BBS and continued programming. I also acquired a used Tascam 4-track, a keyboard and an acoustic guitar and began piling up cassettes full of compositions. Once again, I didn’t really piece together the connection between all of these things.
I went to college at the University of Minnesota for Computer Science, failed Calc 2 and–for some reason– decided to try art school. I went to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design for a BA in Interactive Multimedia. It was there that I finally came to understand that my technical and creative sides were tightly intertwined; I realized I’d been creative all along.
What mediums and inspirations do you gravitate toward to realize your creative goals?
Computers. My peers often espouse starting on paper, but my creative flow is much smoother when I have a keyboard and trackpad in front of me. I brainstorm in digital mind maps, record in DAWs, outline and build solutions in text editors and design in vector and photo-editing applications. I know that more analog mediums are better for some people, but they don’t click for me the way that digital solutions do.
If you had to point to one thing, what specific posts or creations are you most proud of and why?
I think an app I wrote in 2006 called MoodBlast would be my pride and joy. MoodBlast was a way to update 6 of the most popular micro-blogging services simultaneously from a HUD you could pop up with a keyboard shortcut. Everyone’s forgotten about it by now, but it was the attention that it received that made me start thinking that some things that came easily to me were less obvious to others. It may not have been the best work of my life, but it was a turning point in my awareness of my own capabilities (and limitations, but that’s another story).
Any suggestions for those who feel they may not be creative enough to unlock their inner artist?
I think the takeaway from my own story is that you might not be creative in the areas you initially want to be, but by examining the things you are good at (or at least drawn to), you might find that you’re already creative— and exceptional. Embrace those talents and constantly explore and develop them. All creativity comes back to solving a problem, whether it’s putting ideas on paper or canvas, making physical objects do something useful or beautiful or making bits and bytes ease a workflow???.
Productivity
Can you describe your current personal and professional responsibilities?
I head up the team of developers behind tech blogs including Engadget, The Unofficial Apple Weblog and Joystiq. I work mostly on front-end code and design, and provide a communication bridge between the platform developers and my team. I also develop and support Marked and other Mac applications in my “spare” time.
How do you go about balancing the personal, professional and digital?
I ran my own business for a few years, freelanced for a bit and have worked from home for quite a while now. The one thing I’ve learned is that areas of responsibility need clear time divisions. I won’t say I’m the best at it, or that I always honor the time slots I set for myself, but when there’s no geographic division between home, work and play, I need specific times–and often physical spaces–to keep things separate. Failing to do so typically leads to an imbalance for me. I’m good at quitting my day job around five, but when it comes to the rest of the day I tend to be less precise. I have a very obsessive personality; I’ll stay up all night working on a project that I’ll often discard by morning. That was a waste of time I could (should) have spent with my family (my wife, our two dogs, three cats and a parrot) and a lack of sleep that will affect my productivity for at least the next 24 hours.
Creating obligations is sometimes the only way I enforce those separations. I hate flaking on promises, so making plans to be somewhere with someone is usually the motivation I need to stop what I’m doing and switch modes. Even if it’s just a plan to watch a movie in the living room with my wife, it’s usually enough to force that division.
What tools and techniques do you find yourself counting on to get through your workload?
I use plain text for a lot of what I do, from writing to note-taking to programming. I even use plain text for certain task management purposes (TaskPaper), but I rely on OmniFocus to handle my overall daily todos. My text editor is the tool that gets the most use on any given day. That’s always been TextMate, but I’m really starting to love Sublime Text 2 as well. When writing, I usually use Byword and always work in Markdown.
My own applications are often designed to fill a specific need in my own workflow, so a good portion of my toolset is of my own design. nvALT (a fork of the incredible Notational Velocity) is in constant use and all of my projects rely on notes and lists stored within it. Marked is a major part of my writing workflow. Launchbar and FastScripts, along with a slew of my own AppleScripts and shell scripts, fill in the missing holes. Working without these tools is slow and tedious for me.
As far as techniques go, I’m a fan of the Pomodoro technique. I find it works well with my need for allotted times for specific tasks, and it provides the structure I find important in my time management. A grid to work within. I don’t use it religiously, but whenever I sense the need for it, I pull up a Pomodoro timer (usually on my iPhone).
What is the best starting point for the unproductive amongst us, who are looking to get more organized?
Outlining and planning is important, but it doesn’t really produce anything. I always think it’s going to be the best way to get rolling on a large project, but it’s a “fiddling” stage. I’m not advising against it, just don’t depend on it to help you actually begin accomplishing the work part. The most important step for me is writing the first paragraph, coding that first function, drawing the first lines on a blank page. Then things start to fall into place. For me, outlining and mapping can eventually become an avoidance of actual work.
I’d attribute most of my own productivity to being fortunate enough to get paid for doing what I love, and often having the flexibility to work on what I’m in the mood for at any given moment. That’s a luxury that I don’t think many people have. If you have the option, though, allow yourself to work on what you feel most motivated to accomplish right now. It’s far easier than concentrating on a task while thinking about another project entirely.
Michael Schechter is a Mac geek who rambles about how technology impacts our productivity, our creativity and our lives. You can connect with him over on his blog Schechter or as @MSchechter on Twitter.
Lifehack Presents: The Mindfulness Meditation Mini Guide
Apr 7th
We as knowledge workers, creatives, and entrepreneurs have a lot on on our plates like numerous projects, meetings, ideas, phone calls to make, and decisions to come to. Not only that, but there is an entire other side of our life; the personal one. In our personal lives we have a family to take care of, difficult decisions that have to be made about friends and family, as well as making sure that our family is set up for the future.
If you have been reading Lifehack for any length of time then you probably already have some kind of productivity system in place and have taken advantage of our tips on how to get more and better work done. But even after getting things done, sometimes things don’t feel right. We feel like we are robots. We feel that our lives our unbalanced, that we spend too much time at work and not enough with the ones that we love. We feel that the work we are doing isn’t what we want to be doing. We end up with a feeling of dread and dissatisfaction in our lives.
This is where the practice of being mindful comes in. Rather than running the rat-race of getting things done in your life; you have to stop and understand what your life really is by becoming and staying mindful.
What mindfulness is and what it isn’t
Being mindful means “inclined to be aware” and mindfulness is the act of that. Some would say that practicing mindfulness and using forms of meditation to become more mindful is a Buddhist “thing”. While that is somewhat true, you don’t have to practice Buddhism to practice mindfulness meditation. In fact, there are many members of other religions that practice forms of meditation that moves them towards mindfulness. Practicing mindfulness means that you have to have an open mind and have to be open to a new experience as well as a different way of thinking about things.
Becoming mindful does not mean that you go into a trance, become god-like, learn to levitate, or some other crazy thing you may have heard of. Becoming mindful allows you to see yourself and the world around you just as it is without any preconceived notions of what it “should be”.
It’s hard to talk about becoming mindful without speaking about some form of meditation. What we will discuss here is a sitting meditation that is concentrated on the breath. We won’t delve into the ins and outs of meditation but there are some good resources for that:
The Benefits
There are many benefits to practicing mindfulness through your day. Some of these benefits have to deal with overcoming stress and overwhelm, but there are even links from mindfulness meditation to lowering one’s blood pressure, improving memory, and ridding yourself of depression and anxiety.
These aren’t all of the benefits that we as knowledge workers are looking for (although they are a great to have). What mindfulness meditation gives us is a place we can go to re-frame our world; to accept our current situations and therefore understand ourselves and our surroundings. This is the first step we need to make the right changes in our lives. We see the reality in front of us and based on that new found reality we can make the decisions of where we should be spending our time and attention.
Not only that, but mindfulness meditation will lower our stress as we try to get things done throughout our day which makes work feel much more natural and less threatening.
Get started
Getting started with mindfulness meditation is easy. Find about 15 minutes of spare time, a quiet room or place you can go to with the least amount of distractions, a pillow for sitting on the ground (or a chair if that isn’t possible), a timer of some sort (there are a lot of good ones for your smartphone), and no expectations of what will or won’t happen. We need to approach meditation and the practice of mindfulness with as little preconceived notions as possible. The less we expect from practicing and being mindful, the better it will “work”.
Sit down in your quite room in a comfortable position, set your timer, and close your eyes. All you need to do now is be aware of the breath that is coming in and out of your nose. Breath in slow through your nose and concentrate on how the air feels hitting your nostrils. While breathing in, breath deep through your stomach, not your chest. As the breath in starts to slow down concentrate on the split second between the end of your breath in and the beginning of your breath out. Then feel the breath going out of your nostril. Once again, concentrate on the split second that your breath changes from going out to coming back in.
The reason that you concentrate on your breath is because it is something real; it is reality. You will notice as you sit there for an extended period of time thoughts will enter your brain like crazy. The idea is not to “block” or “stop” your thoughts from happening. That will lead to frustration. Instead, concentrate on the reality of your situation and allow your thoughts to enter and exit your mind as your breath enters and exits your nostrils.
Sit and meditate and breath for the set amount of time. When your bell or alarm goes off, slowly open your eyes and go about your day.
This is the practice of mindfulness meditation in a nutshell.
Some issues
The above sounds easy, right? Just sit and concentrate on your breath. Not so much.
Many people that try to start a mindfulness practice find themselves abandoning it after one or even a few days of practice. Mostly because meditation and being mindful is hard as many different issues can come up:
Being uncomfortable
Sometimes people tend to get uncomfortable with the thoughts that come up or even physically uncomfortable while they are seated.
When it comes to the thoughts that come up a good rule of thumb is first to move your attention back to your breath and to let the thought go through it’s natural progression through your mind while you aren’t attached to it. The thought can keep coming up, especially to someone that isn’t “trained” in mindfulness yet. If it is completely uncomfortable then you may need to stop your practice for the day and come back at a later time to try again.
When it comes to physical uncomfortableness you may need to move your body a little bit or find another position that is more comfortable for you. Something to remember though is to feel some of the minor pain or restlessness or your body as you sit there as it is reality. You of course don’t want to cause yourself injury, but there will always be small issues that come up with our bodies as we sit. Try to sit through them.
Expectations
Going into a meditation and mindfulness practice you want to have the least amount of expectations as possible, but after some weeks or even months of practice you may find yourself expecting some sort of revelation and peace in your everyday life. When this doesn’t happen you will probably give up on the practice all together because it “doesn’t work”.
While meditation and mindfulness will end up bringing you peace, understanding, and lower overall stress levels, it doesn’t mean that you will experience it immediately. Remember we are shooting for feeling reality for the way that it is. Keep moving forward and shift your expectations.
Where we are going
Okay. So you sit and meditate every day. You concentrate on your breath and live in the moment. But why?
Well, as we continue our mindfulness practice some peculiar things will start to happen. As you live your life and do your work throughout the day you may find yourself slowing down and concentrating on your breath as you become stressed or overwhelmed. This will ground you and help you realize what the current reality is. Rather than reading an email and then instantly fantasizing about what it “could” mean, you can step back and read it for what it is and not get excited or upset.
The projects that you have been working on (or haven’t been working on) start to look a little different. You may be able to slow down and ask yourself, “why am I doing this?” If the answer isn’t apparent you may just want to cut the project entirely. In the past, cutting or declining projects may have been perceived as a weakness. After seeing things for the way they are you can simply see that these project may not interest your or may not help you further your career in any real way. You start to see the reality of all situations in work and life.
Practicing mindfulness start a chain reaction in your life. The simplest of tasks (sit and concentrate on your breath) can turn your life around because you bring that simplicity into everything you do. That’s why we as entrepreneurs, creatives, and knowledge workers need to practice mindfulness.
(Photo credit: Face huge stress, meditation via Shutterstock)
Is Facebook Our New Best Friend?
Apr 6th
Spending non-quality time on Facebook is something we all are guilty of; very few have managed to escape its web. From showing off to feeling lonely, Facebook has seen more sides of us than even some of our closest “peeps”.
Now don’t get me wrong — I am well aware of the positive aspects that social networking brings to our society. From keeping in touch to expanding our horizon (and even networking), there are numerous benefits it has to offer. However if not used cautiously, social networking can take over our lives and leave behind a feeling of discontent and emptiness, irrespective of how many status updates we continue to post.
Here are a few reasons why you should avoid over-indulging in the world of Facebook (and other social networks) and revisit the wonders of the real world.
You Don’t Actually Have Hundreds of Friends
Let’s be honest: no one does.
Facebook has managed to soften the line between ‘acquaintances’ and ‘friends’, giving us the illusion that everyone is our pal. Not only that, but somehow quality is discounted and one is perceived by the quantity of friends they keep.
Ensure that you can distinguish between people that are close to your heart from those that are close to the ‘Like’ button in the endless realm of Facebook. Make ‘real’ time for your ‘real’ friends. Though Facebook might excel in getting people closer, it is equally sophisticated in adding distance between relationships that we might overlook.
Status Updates are More Fun in Person
Have we all forgotten the joys of screaming out your engagement plans or the news about getting a promotion in person? Does the exciting news of expecting a niece or a nephew sound equally thrilling when you hear it through Facebook? Have our lives really gotten so busy that we consciously choose to deprive ourselves of the love and affection sharing such moments in person or over a phone call can offer?
To me, these are the little joys of life that I wouldn’t want to miss out on simply for the sake of convenience. Aren’t these happy emotions simply going to waste when there is no one to receive them? Have you ever looked back at an event and cherished Facebook ‘Likes’ over the shocked and excited faces of your friends — or that screaming hug from your sibling?
Sometimes ‘Too Much Information’ Does Exist
Though Facebook might bring us to conclude that everything is public information, be assured that it is not true. We all know of people whose life you could simply live through their status updates or Twitter feed. From what they had for lunch to the color of their workout shoes, does the world really need to know it all?
Though information is much easier to share in the virtual world, we forget the fact that not everything is for everyone’s ears. Consciously or unconsciously, we are influencing our circle and also the world’s perception about us. Your young niece doesn’t need to know about your party weekends and your grandpa can live without hearing about your ex’s. Save the world the trouble!
Constant Search for Attention Can Be Heartbreaking
Facebook secretly converts everyone into attention seekers whether you admit it or not. Though I’ve never spent extended periods of time on Facebook, it doesn’t take long to realize that you feel left out when nothing is ‘happening’ in your life worth updating the world about. Subconsciously we end up comparing our lives to everyone else’s and the feeling of despair creeps in.
We need to let go of identifying ourselves with our Facebook page and recognize that our actions or inactions in our daily lives is what determines our self-worth. Not only will this prevent us from turning into Facebook maniacs — constantly clicking pictures of ourselves and everything that we do in the desperate quest for more ‘Likes’ — but it will also free up a great deal of our time, which is then available for whatever our heart may desire.
Though very few of us will admit to be addicted to Facebook, most of us can agree that we spend more time on it than we would like. To fully utilize the benefits of social networking, just like everything else, one needs to practice the art of balance. Leave a ‘hello’ on the wall of a friend that’s across the miles and indulge in a dessert with a cup of coffee with someone who is only a few minutes away. Update your profile picture for those who cannot see you in person and for the rest…dress to impress.
Let’s be honest…there is no way a ‘Like’ can make you blush the way a real compliment does.
(Photo credit: Finger Community via Shutterstock)