75-Hard Challenge

Now I want to begin with saying I haven’t committed to this challenge myself.

But I heard about it and had some thoughts. So maybe, I’ll do it.

Rules of the 75 Hard Program.

For 75 consecutive days, 75 Hard participants must do the following every day, according to the program’s welcome email:

• Follow a diet. While it can be a diet of your choosing, the diet must be a structured eating plan with the goal of physical improvement. No alcohol or meals outside your chosen diet are allowed.

• Complete two 45-minute workouts, one of which must be outdoors.

• Take a progress picture.

• Drink 1 gallon of water.

• Read 10 pages of a book (audiobooks not included).

Furthermore, no alterations to the program are allowed. If you miss any of your daily goals, your progress resets to day one.

I think it’s an impressive challenge and all other things considered, it’s the mental fortitude and grittiness that is awe-inspiring about this one.

Reason #1 - Rain Sucks.

It’s currently pouring rain in Vancouver and as someone who didn’t grow up in BC, I’m not used to how much rain exists in the fall, winter, and spring season. I much rather prefer sunshine and frigid air. I at least feel unrestricted in my life whereas cloudy skies and pouring rain just drain my motivation.

This alone makes the idea of completing a 45-minute workout outside miserable.

But why?

Rain is just water. It isn’t the end of the world and getting poured on doesn’t make the world end. So why am I so fragilely impacted by my outside environment. It puts into perspective and highlights the impact that your environment has on your outlook but further identifies the potential ability to overcome and thrive in spite of your environment that so many people around the world accomplish.

Reason #2 - Drinking Water Until I Pee My Pants.

I feel like I drink a decent amount of water but 1 gallon is 16 cups of water. On a daily basis, that takes a conscious dedication to complete and I think it puts into focus, something that we take for granted. Our bodies are so resilient and function so well in spite of us, our behaviours, and our habits.

Most people work an office job, struggle to even drink 8-9 cups of water, and still live their lives “fine”. We avoid drinking too much water because the burden of needing to pee outweighs the apparent benefits because we prioritize the short-term convenience and impact over the long-term.

And drinking water requires nothing special. Everyone can do it. It’s just the conscious and deliberate will-power and dedication that distinguish those who do accomplish this feat versus those who don’t.

Reason #3 - Reading And Self-Development.

The notion that reading a self-development or non-fiction book for the goal of introspective development highlights a deliberate intention for improving your thinking. Identifying that audiobooks are not allowed further drives home the point that it has to be a one-track minded focus. No listening to audiobooks while you do your dishes, vacuum or multitask your way through it. No loop holes.

I can’t imagine my parents reading self-development books. And no, this isn’t meant to be a knock on my parents.

But I think it highlights my bias about self-improvement; that it’s something to be done while you are young, while you are learning about yourself, and growing into yourself. Almost like a preconceived notion that once you reach a certain age, that you are your complete self and that growing and further development in not possible. And that’s preposterous!

And intellectually I always have theoretically understood that fact. But if I wasn’t already interested in self-improvement, I could imagine myself being content with who I was. If I enjoyed a sport, going to the bar, joining a rec league - I could be content with doing those things. That reading about self-development was optional.

Reason #4 - Following Any Diet.

Physical improvement isn’t always a focus for people. People want to eat what they want to eat. Not everyone cares about restricting themselves. But it’s a valid consideration. Being comfortable with discomfort. Trying to stay accountable to something. Being intentional with what you put in your mouth and what you consider to be nutritious.

Whether that’s keto, paleo, low-sugar, slow-carb, a raw diet, or anything else, the intention and conscious decision-making about what I accept and don’t accept eating is the important part.

Reason #5 - 75 Days.

3+ months. A quarter of the year. It’s enough time that it takes a huge commitment but short enough time that it isn’t even a year’s worth of commitment. It highlights that within less than a year, you can accomplish an astonishing change in yourself, in your habits, in your life and long enough that it still pushes you mentality to demonstrate mental fortitude, resilience, and persistence.

So Here’s My Question To Myself.

Do I have the strength to commit myself. Am I just all talk or am I someone who can decide to pursue this? Am I someone who can and will achieve this. I’ll think about it for the next week and maybe post something about it next week.

*gulp

SMARTER Goals For Bigger Dreams

Michael Hyatt has updated the SMART goal framework.

Enter SMARTER goals.

Now, based on the same premise but further clarifying and providing further structure to the type of requirements for effective goal creation, SMARTER goals try to capture the motivation and structure further when those goals will be targeted. Furthermore, they try to recognize the reality of accomplishing otherwise well-intended goals in an otherwise chaotic and unpredictable life.

SPECIFIC - Is My Goal Narrow Enough?

Is my goal specific enough? “Reading more books” is a well-intended goal but leaves much to be desired in defining the intention and doesn’t necessarily make it easy to target. What type of books? This subsequently requires you to do a lot of heavy lifting whenever you are ready for a new book. Are you looking for fiction or non-fiction? Does a 200-page book count the same as a 20-page book? What about comics and picture-based books, fashion or art books? Defining your goals, specifically, frames and limits the total number of considerations and possibilities so you can focus and generate productive work quickly.

MEASURABLE - Can I Easily Modify My Goal To Provide A Percent Complete Or Success Rate?

How would you quantify your progress if you had to tell someone about your progress to date? Being able to track your progress, recognize your success, compare your success between months, and measure that success more objectively helps you track efficiency and provide structure to sometimes subjective perceptions, which are more susceptible to circumstance.

ACTIONABLE - Does my goal invoke a concrete action image?

Can I picture myself accomplishing the goal in an actionable way? ‘Being a better husband or father’ is an abstract goal which more specific and concrete actionable tasks. So choosing those specific and concrete actionable tasks holds you accountable to those specific tasks. Being a better father, however, is much more arbitrary, which doesn’t lend itself towards being specific or measurable, despite being well-intentioned.

RISKY - Does my goal challenge my limiting beliefs?

Am I growing throughout this process? This is a new concept that veers away from the traditional SMART goal. But are we pushing ourselves? Are we growing beyond our limiting beliefs about what is possible? Is the goal lofty enough to be worth identifying as a goal? It doesn’t make sense for a marathon runner to identify a goal of running 5km weekly. It isn’t expanding your maximum potential.

Instead, using the word ‘yet’ can be important to creating liberating truths. I am not a fast reader…yet. I am not able to run 10km…yet. I cannot paint well…yet. These are not your permanent characteristics but snapshots of your current function, which can be improved and changed over time. Give yourself more credit.

TIME KEYED AND TRIGGERRED - Do I Have A Deadline And Or Clear Action Trigger?

Someday is not specific enough. Someday does not inspire the urgency needed for action. Someday does not establish a routine for completion, nor a regularity of focus. By building into the goal-specific time triggers that necessitate action, the likelihood of actionable accomplishments with regularity is identified. “I will read 2 non-fiction biography books every month by reading daily at 9 PM”, identifies a time-trigger of 9 PM. You are committing in advance to doing this task at 9 PM. You are planning and scheduling yourself to a commitment with a clear timeframe for this pursuit. It isn’t some arbitrary future undefined timeline but a clear, easy-to-understand, easy-to-keep-yourself-accountable time.

EXCITING - Do I Have At Least Two Powerful And Exciting Reasons Why I Want To Complete This Goal?

Am I accomplishing this goal because I actually want to accomplish it, or is this because I should? The older I get, the more I recognize the importance of intrinsic motivation and the longevity that personal motivation provides. Now that school is done, academia is no longer an all-encompassing facet of life, and instead, lifelong learning and the pursuit of my own interests dictate my actions. Having clear motivations for what I want to get done and a conscious and clear written prompt holding those motivations in the forefront of my mind greatly augments my motivation. Am I enjoying myself in this goal? Is this goal gratifying and rewarding me in both the long-term and short-term so that I can enjoy every part of this journey and process? I think recognizing and planning for a goal with both short-term dopamine hits as well as long-term hits is important to staying motivated.

RELEVANT - Is This Goal Relevant To My Current Phase Of Life?

Identifying whether a goal is relevant to my current life gives me the opportunity to acknowledge goals as important and meaningful but also perhaps inappropriate at certain stages in my life. It allows me a way to consider the likelihood of accomplishing something as it pertains to my current lifestyle, other responsibilities and prior arrangements that may hinder my ability to complete these goals to the best of my ability. For example, it might not be the smartest idea to pursue a career-related goal if I have a newborn and should be focused on supporting my wife and child. It can still be a meaningful and important goal that I still am motivated to accomplish but should be deferred for the health, mental well-being, and enjoyment of the pursuit of the goal. And that’s okay. I don’t necessarily need to reshape the goal to something less risky, extend the timeline, or anything like that. I don’t necessarily have to abandon the goal to the best of my ability but shelf the entire goal in its original state for a later date when my current phase of life allows for it.

Organize Tomorrow Today

Think about what you can do in the present.

Focus on the present moment.

Worry about the future and all the possibilities, the potential pitfalls, and you are frozen by anxiety of the unknown.

Worry about the past, the past mistakes, the alternative realities and you are stuuck in regret and what-if’s.

They key is to maximize your time each day.

The summary by Productivity Game neatly structures the core message and it’s certainly something I will try doing to rebuild momentum in my work quickly.

Don’t worry about the result because in the act of worrying about future results each day, you squander or hinder your present capacities and endeavors - squander your present momentum and focus.

By scheduling and organizing your priorities in advance the day before, you waste no time in that task on the day. This allows you to ensure the top priorities are addressed first before your day gets away from you. Furthermore, while you sleep, your brain can begin subconsciously dealing with those problems or priority tasks.

Selk and Bartow say it is worth prioritizing goals for tomorrow today - specifically just before lunch.

Why?

Well, later in the evening, you may be too tired or exhausted from the day. You may not want to do that right before bed.

You also don’t want to do it too early the day before. It can be harder to know what you need to prioritize if you aren’t even sure what you’ll get accomplished today yet.

Just before lunch is great because you already have half a day gone, you have a sense of what your afternoon tasks will be, and you are still in the middle of your day and have enough energy to complete the task.

Take 5 minutes to identify the 3 top priority things for tomorrow.

Just Do it.

Then, establish the top 1 priority of the 3.

Prioritizing Your Thinking.

Selk and Bartow suggest you think like an orange farmer.

You have two thinking frameworks to shape your thoughts.

1. Short Term Revenue collecting.

For an orange farmer, this is the time spent picking the actual fruit. Each day, a certain amount of time is needed to literally pick the fruit . Without prioritizing this need, you can’t actually make money because you have no product to sell.

2. Long Term Revenue Cultivating.

For an orange farmer, this the time spent focusing on the longevity of the business and long-term success. This means taking carrer of the trees so they continue to bear fruit and planting new trees to expand the product line. If you prioritize picking all the fruit with no care for the trees or long-term vision for the business, you won’t survive past 1 fruiting season.

With these two thinking frameworks, you can ask yourself 2 important questions.

1. What can I do tomorrow to yield the best short term results?

2. What can i do tomorrow to give myself the most long-term opportunities?

These will help you figure out what you should prioritize in your day because you are thinking about both the short term and long term

Expect The Unexpected.

There are always going to be things beyond your expectation and control. Recognizing this reality allows you to properly recognize and realistically accommodate for that inevitability.

There will always be hiccups.

There will always be delays.

There will always be complications.

Sometimes those things can make it feel like the world is out to get you or nothing goes your way.

When you feel overwhelmed, take a time out.

You need to regain control and rebuild momentum.

There’s 2 steps.

1. The 100-second timeout

Take a 15-second centering breath - 6 second in, hold for 2 seconds, 7 seconds out. Repeat an identity statement/affirmation. Then, say 3 done-wells (completed in the last 24-hours), 3 will-do-wells (in the next 24-hours), and then, repeat your identity statement. Finish it off with another 15-second centering breath.

2. Ask and chop

Ask yourself what is the most important thing i can do in this moment.

Then, chop off an easy first action to kickstart your momentum back into action.

This will help you regain momentum and take a small portion of that first important step.

Creative Productivity - Infusing Happiness Into Your Life

I am not a creative person.

I like structure.

I like honing my skills in areas I am familiar with.

I like doing things by the book, having a procedure, and a sense of automaticity to things.

Creative endeavours aren’t typically my jam.

But, I’m trying to branch out into more creative endeavours or understanding and acknowledging the creativity in my routine.

Why? Cause It’s Worth Being Happy.

There are real benefits to creative work and successfully and intentionally designing a life around a creative outlet.

There are real-world happiness and mental health benefits to doing creative things daily.

Conner, DeYoung & Silvia (2018) suggest that everyday creative activity leads to increased well-being in young adults. According to the study, people felt more enthusiasm and higher flourishing (defined as feelings of purpose and meaning in life, engagement, and social connectedness) following days when they were more creative than normal.

There seems to be a positive feedback loop whereby engaging in creative behaviour leads to increases in well-being the next day, and this increased well-being was likely to facilitate creative activity on the same day.

So being happy made you more likely to try a more creative activity, which in turn made you feel happier.

Now, just a few years after that study was released, we had everyone lock themselves in their homes for several years. Mental health and feelings of connectedness were put on the back burner as people tried to deal with the global pandemic. Needless to say, coming out gradually on the other side of things, mental health and well-being are especially important and highly sought after facets of our lives.

Satisfying our psychological needs not only keeps us resilient and equanimous but can foster growth and productivity during otherwise challenging times. Creativity feeds our psychological needs because it taps into autonomy, competency and belonging - things that are attributable to meaningful hard work and are not necessarily addressed with mindless productivity.

So what is creativity?

It can feel like a fairly nebulous concept.

But, there is a surprising level of unanimity in the field of Neuroscience when it comes to a boilerplate definition of creativity. Two elements are consistently identified in the definition. Firstly, it reflects our capacity to generate ideas that are original, unusual or novel in some way. The second element is that these ideas also need to be satisfying, appropriate or suited to the context in question.

Embrace the Apparent Disharmony

Creativity and productivity can, on gut instinct, feel at odds with each other. By today’s standards, modern productivity metrics define creative endeavours as unproductive and, at worst, worth cutting out.

That is because we don’t have a great measure for the trickle-down intangible benefits of creative work. We feel guilty about any moment of intangible production and of wasting time - that anything that doesn’t immediately create tangible benefit in money, tangible product, or obvious benefit is not worth the time. Furthermore, if we don’t immediately see the connection to the original objective, it isn’t worth pursuing.

We are very dismissive of opportunity and growth but rather pessimistic about all the ways things can go wrong. There’s too much at stake to lose, fail, and regret.

But it’s worth understanding and embracing that creative pursuits and veering from the straight and narrow path can be productive, can be effective uses of time and can be worthy of attention.

Real World Creative, Productive Endeavours

Michelin Guide - In 1900, fewer than 3,000 cars were on the roads of France. To increase the demand for cars and, accordingly, car tires, car tire manufacturers and brothers Édouard and André Michelin published a guide for French motorists, the Michelin Guide - which had nothing to do with car tires.

Now, if one were focused on car tire production, material use, efficient tire design and the like, the Michelin guide would appear like a complete waste of time, a distraction from the business focus, and a deterrent to productive work. It very clearly is not productive work for a car tire manufacturing company in the traditional sense. But it is through creative ingenuity that the Michelin guide became a marketing vehicle for their car tire product, car tire maintenance, because those advertising points can be embedded into their guide to restaurants along the countryside of France.

It is clear that driving and faraway locations are intimately associated through the means of travelling, but the creative association between car tires and enabling that experience of faraway places as well as the ingenuity to become the company that publishes that book is the creative outlet.

Vaseline/Petroleum Jelly - In 1859, Robert Chesebrough, a chemist, learned of a residue called rod wax that had to be periodically removed from oil rig pumps in the oil fields in Titusville, Pennsylvania. He observed that the oil workers had been using the substance to heal cuts and burns, took samples of the rod wax back home, extracted the usable petroleum jelly, and began manufacturing a medicinal product called Vaseline.

Now, the product he created is based on the byproduct formed on an oil rig. He was marketing it as a medicinal product with applications in wound healing. At first glance, a knee-jerk reaction would suggest that nothing you find on a rough-and-tumble blue-collar oil rig job would be of practical retail inspiration or use. In fact, the rod wax was a harmful byproduct needing disposal because it caused equipment malfunctions. Tunnel-visioned productive work would focus on how quickly and efficiently the rod wax could be cleared and disposed of - nothing more. But Chesebrough had the creative capacity to pivot with this discovery to have beneficial implications in other industries.

How To Design a Life Around Creativity

So what practical things can we apply and do to build creativity into our lives?

1. Schedule opportunities for creative thinking. Block off time in your schedule to acknowledge, prioritize and allow for creative work. If you are a knowledge worker who needs to perform creative-based work, there is an inherent practical application for this. Give yourself space to explore your creativity. If you don’t have creative knowledge work employment but wish to still develop that aspect, assign yourself creative time. I try to do something new once a week and write about it to keep myself accountable.

2. Recognize creativity when giving feedback. Whether it is feedback for yourself or your direct reports, while evaluating production and performance, besides acknowledging productivity and efficiency, acknowledge creativity, even if an idea fails. There is value in acknowledging and pursuing creative efforts even if they have failed. The courage to pursue creative endeavours and the willingness to try are valuable. Reward those initiatives with encouragement and recognition of how creative thinking contributes to success.

3. Recognize What Makes You Creative And Invest In Those Things. Particularly in the COVID-19 era, remote work plays an integral role in our new normal. The negative impact of this transition, though, is the access to creative collaboration and ultimately, to productivity. According to Lucid’s first-party research, 22% of remote workers surveyed noted that working from home has hurt their creativity, and one in four managers agree. The reason? Isolation. Since virtual interactions lack behind in-person interactions, there needs to be a conscious effort and clear, tangible means to augment video conferencing. Whether that is virtual whiteboards, breakout groups, or anything else that can recover and enhance lost in-person collaboration, investing in that recuperative effort is important.

   References

   Kaufman, S. B. (2019, January 4). The Neuroscience of Creativity: A Q&A with Anna Abraham. Scientific American Blog Network. Retrieved March 18, 2023, from https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/the-neuroscience-of-creativity-a-q-a-with-anna-abraham/?utm_source=pocket_collection_story

   Report: How collaboration and creativity are suffering in the wake of covid-19. Lucidspark. (n.d.). Retrieved March 19, 2023, from https://lucidspark.com/blog/report-collaboration-and-creativity-during-covid

   Tamlin S. Conner, Colin G. DeYoung & Paul J. Silvia (2018)Everyday creative activity as a path to flourishing, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 13:2, 181-189, DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2016.1257049

   Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, February 23). Petroleum Jelly. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 19, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_jelly

Do Hard Things: A Pursuit Worth Having

I recently stumbled upon a book summary by Productivity Game.

In the same vein as audiobooks and 2x speed audio, book summaries can be an effective way to parse through information, get the gist of something and determine whether the investment of time for the in-depth perusal is important.

The book summary I listened to was Do Hard Things by Steve Magness and there are hundreds more videos to glean gems from on the Productivity Game Youtube channel.

When thinking about the point of nonfiction productivity reading, it ultimately is to discern what can be useful and applicable to my life.

What are the hacks or secrets or perspective shifts that would aid my thinking, my lifestyle, my outlook on life.

And I came to the conclusion that reading the original text as the author intended was not necessarily a vital part of that equation for me. So, listening to a summary may suffice.

Here’s the takeaways that were highlighted and subsequently interpreted with my perspective.

Doing hard things is vital for a fulfilling and enriching life.

Pursuing challenging things, whether its in your professional life or your personal life, gives your life worthwhile value and it is in that struggle and achievement that you create meaning.

However, there are several misconceptions on a societal level that we perpetuate about that toughness and grit accompanying great accomplishment.

Acting Confident vs. Embrace Reality

We often see those who accomplish great, awe-inspiring feats as confident, self-sufficient individuals. We misattribute that confidence as a defining feature of those who hold the potential for greatness. As such, we as less-than-confident individuals, are not equipped to likewise accomplish greatness.

Instead, confidence is a result or byproduct of accomplishment rather than a pre-requisite. those who achieve greatness. Instead, those who approach challenge with short-term pessimism and long-term optimism with a respect and healthy dose of skepticism more accurately gauge the level of difficulty.

Ignore the Pain and Persist vs. Acknowledge the Pain But Maintain Equanimity

Pursuing hard things are bound to result in difficulty. There will be discomfort. There will be resistance. There will be struggle. Acknowledging this inevitable discomfort but maintaining mental calmness is key. It is different from ignoring the pain and persisting. It is recognizing the alarms, the flashing lights, the warning signs and evaluating the situation with a calm mind.

There are 3 ways in which to maintain equanimity

1. Zoom out and Explain - By taking a third person perspective or trying to separate oneself from the experience, you can try to name, and try to put into words how you feel. This third-person narrative of the situation may be enough to acknowledge but not get hung up on the feelings, similar to how a meditator can notice the feelings, thoughts, and emotions but also let those pass.

2. Reappraise - By re-framing experiences as opportunities and beneficial rather than as negative or perceiving the world as out to get you, you can develop a perspective whereby gratitude and openness to experience have a positive impact on your subjective experience. This shift in mindset to one of positively can guide you to respond to painful and negative experiences with resilience.

3. Reassure - By understanding that whatever you are experiencing or going through will also pass is a recognition that all things are finite. That finite nature of experience recognizes that painful and negative experiences are not permanent, that hardship, discomfort and such will eventually pass. Remember, we’re aiming for equanimity or metal calmness. We aren’t disregarding the pain and persisting but recognizing the pain, acknowledging it and then understanding it is not permanent.

Forget Your Psychological Needs and Do The Work vs. Satisfy Your Psychological Needs and You’ll Work Harder Than Ever

Traditionally, there is a misconception that toughness and the ability to overcome hardship is necessary to achieve greatness. There are often stories about CEOs and startups neglecting everything in their lives in order to achieve greatness. If I can just hold my breath long enough then I will accomplish my goal and achieve everything I want. If I just keep my head down and work as hard as I can, I can overlook the mind-numbing work.

Instead, the argument is that by satisfying your psychological needs, you can in fact accomplish more and have the motivation to do so. This psychological need is separated into 3 areas: autonomy, competency, and belonging.

By activating and stimulating these 3 aspects as integral components of your difficult endeavor, you significantly increase the odds of accomplishing that endeavor because it satisfies your psychological needs.

Week 6: Story Telling: Supercharging Through PowerPoint

I recently stumbled upon PowerPoint Tiktok and let me tell you, things are very different from your basic school PowerPoints.

There’s a whole different world of PowerPoints with active animations, engaging designs, and more clearly organized structure and transitions to better communicate your ideas.

The more I explore my interests and hobbies, storytelling seems to be a larger and larger focus.

When it comes to work, I work as a speech language pathologist aiming to help people communicate and express their competent selves. Troubleshooting ways to reveal their competency in understanding and communication is a central focus.

When I explored private work in accent modification, it similarly aimed to empower and encourage people to communicate with a focus on focusing on specific North American communication and how to match that style via your speech, mannerisms, and interactions.

In my hobbies, my interest in photography and videography are likewise about storytelling. About creating or designing a story with each curated captured moment a means to tell a story.

I’m finding that PowerPoint can likewise be a means to story tell. To present information effectively and in a way that resonates with the audience, similar to how communicating verbally or through pictures and video can do so.

So now, I’m partway through a SkillShare course - How to Make Engaging Presentations: Simple Hacks with Great Impact to learn how to make engaging presentations. You can check it out for yourself here.

I think the interesting thing about it is this is a new skill that builds upon a familiar program. Whereas I’ve previously been trying to do something completely brand new, this one holds some familiarity while likewise developing a completely new skill set. It’s moving from a beginner to an intermediate or expert level competency instead of brand spanking new noob to beginner.

Anyways, it’s super introspective the more I branch out as it’s better defining what I like and why I like it. I’m hoping that as I continue to explore my interests, it’ll always lead back to being a better story-teller, being a better communicator, and being an effective person in conveying how I feel and how I think to others in the most straight-forward way.

1.5x to 2x Speed

After listening to a Ali Abdaal podcast with Cliff Weitzman, the founder of Speechify, I was inspired to try to train the superpower of listening.

In their chat, Cliff discusses his origin story, the founding of Speechify and the personal motivation for its creation as a means for him to access the world. Essentially, the man, as someone with dyslexia, created and built a text-to-speech app to survive and thrive in school and life. From reading textbooks aloud to reading internet pages aloud, to listening to podcasts while traveling and everythign in-between, Cliff is an example of its uses. He advocates for the superpowers of listening and the evolutionary hardwiring for listening over visual decoding and processing.

I’ve attached the podcast link below in case you are interested in listening yourself but here’s my take-aways.

TAKE-AWAYS

The big take-away for me is the idea of training your listening.

This honing of his listening and knowledge consumption allowed him to design a life whereby he can navigate his life with his ears always listening - at 3x to 5x speed.

It’s a skill he developed over time though. Not something he was naturally good at or born with or anything.

And for whatever reason, that was a sort of epiphany moment for me.

I always just categorized it and compartmentalized it in my head as an ability you either had or didn’t.

That some people could just do it and they were lucky or gifted.

I mean we all listen intuitively and naturally but I’ve never considered it a skill to enhance, develop or refine.

For me, I can do 1.5x to 2x speed and be fine-ish but it’s not like I hear every single word or could recall things all the time. It’s not like that was my preferred speed but solely for ease of consumption, I would do it.

But those words encouraged me. To try. To practice. To practice listening at a faster rate.

And so, I’ve been listening to podcasts, professional education videos, and YouTube talking head videos at 1.5x to 2x speed.

My point being that productivity continues to be an expression of self-experimentation.

There isn’t some big profound secret but more a stepwise trial and error period of what works for you as an individual.

What are the small things that make you show up a little more excited each day.

What are the small things that start your day off right, that provide you with a little more structure earlier.

What are the things that you prioritize, design around, and consider to create the lifestyle that you want.

To me, listening to things at 1.5x to 2x speed means more consumption of content while I drive. Things to ponder, to actively engage, to stimulate me while I drive on the road to and from work. That means an extra hour of stimulation. An extra hour of learning or thought-provoking material.

Which may not seem like much. But an hour every work day means 20 more hours a month. 20 more hours a month means 240 more hours a year. 240 more hours a year can allow me to learn new facts, learn new interests, learn more about myself, develop my thinking or introspect.

Now add onto that, that in that 1 hour per day time frame I am actually consuming 2 hours worth of content.

Now 240 hours a year actually means 480 hours of content consumption.

Whether it’s for pleasure, for professional development, for personal development or whatever else, the possibilities grow.

And for this post, I wanted to encapsulate that concept.

That I continue to put out content, to try and push boundaries, to explore what I individually find helpful or see as productive, and maybe that would resonate with you.

It may not always resonate and that’s okay. Again, it’s a self-experimentation process.

But to go onto the record about my own productivity journey, to write what I am currently considering and exploring, and maybe that will inspire or motivate you to do the same for yourself.

Progress: A Misunderstanding

What Is Progress?

We have a romanticized view of production, productivity, and progress.

We imagine progress as something linear.

A “effort/time = progress” basic equation.

But mastery is a work in progress.

From a cursory shallow view, it can certainly appear to be a linear progress.

Started snowboarding in 2010. Fast forward to 2023 and yeah….it can feel like you’ve progressed steadily in improvement. When giving a synopsis of your journey, it can feel and be communicated to others as a straight-forward steady progress.

But it’s an oversimplification of that process.

There are ebbs and flows.

Valleys and peaks.

Trials and tribulations.

Good days and bad days.

Things can be stressful, seem to not go well, be frustrating, feel stagnant, and feel like they regress.

Things can plateau, require additional time for proficiency, need to be unlearned, and all the rest.

Progress is not straightforward.

Progress is also not unidirectional.

Progress in Skill A Does Not Mean Progress in Skill B.

It can also be essential to recognize that progress in Skill A does not mean progress in Skill B.

It also means that progress in Skill B when monitoring progress in Skill A may not be noticed.

Finally, it is important to recognize that progress in Skill A or B is not helpful if they aren’t actually what you actually want to accomplish. Nor are they your primary focus if they are simply skills aimed to help you along the way.

For example, let’s say you buy a new car. 0 miles. Brand new. Never been driven.

You can progress in driving skill, optimizing performance, fuel efficiency, monetary resale retention, monitor for air/fuel efficiency and whatever else.

You can choose a manual transmission car over automatic transmission for fuel efficiency, a more engaged driving experience, and a cheaper transmission.

Some might say that is progress is progress regardless, but if you arer progressing in an area you are not intent or deliberate in improving, then is that progression valuable to you?

For example, progressing in your knowledge in car fuel efficiency, driving maneuverability, and performance optimization means nothing if you simply got a car to get you from Destination A to Destination B, from home to work to do your passion project.

In that same vein, you can get so focused on what experts say about progress and the nitty-gritty of something, that you lose focus on what you want to personally extract from the experience.

For example, in woodworking, you can focus on the grain direction, the type of joinery, the type of detailing, the wood species, the type of finish and everything in between, but those things are only important if you care and enjoy those details. If you only want to build something out of wood to facilitate its use in another project that you are actually interested in, then getting bogged down in those woodworking details is not useful productivity or progress.

If I want to build a wood ramp to practice skateboarding on, then who cares about grain direction, joinery, type of finish, and the craftsmanship. I care about skateboarding progress, not woodworking progress.

So what does progress look like to you?

When you set out to do something:

Is it writing 1000 words when you set out to write a book or write more regularly?

Is it trying a new technique, style of art, or using a new tool? Being comfortable with experimenting with something new?

Is it doing the same thing but doing it more quickly, even if that’s 30 seconds quicker?

We progress and improve in so many aspects of our lives that I think it can be challenging, demotivating, and sometimes unappreciated when we focus on a specific aspect without recognizing, acknowledging or appreciating our growth in other aspects - its context in the big picture.

Furthermore, we have a tendency to want to vaguely ‘improve’.

I just want to get better.

But without precisely articulating what exactly we are aiming to get better at, we arbitrarily decide we haven’t accomplished that, that we aren’t progressing, and that we are bad at what we are trying to do.

We self-doubt, we let our insecurities and negative self-talk convince us that we are not accomplishing what we want, and we don’t take the time to acknowledge our growth.

So define what progress looks like to you.

Define Specifically What You Want To Improve.

Obviously we aspire and shoot for the moon. Obviously we want to accomplish big things. But boil it down to what you can do and are accomplishing on a daily scale.

It can be overwhelmingly demoralizing to say, “I want to go to the moon. I want to be an astronaut.” If today, I am lazing around on my couch, not in shape, not studying, and not applying myself then it can appear like an impossible goal.

But, if we break that overarching goal into the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly accomplishments that can help us to get to that point, it can become a more bite-sized and systematic way to manage our expectations, stay motivated, keep ourselves accountable, and progress daily.

Sure, becoming an astronaut in 1 day is an impossible task, but over the course of 10,15, 20 years, that is a much more realistic goal if you are progressing towards that overarching goal daily.

Perspective Matters.

Our curated digital lives are poor representations of our progress.

They are snippets. They are best takes.

In music production, to get the best mash of vocal takes, this is called ‘vocal comping’ and Billy Eillish explains it here. Her production quality sound is a compilation of her best takes.

@engineears Billie Eilish explains vocal comping to David Letterman.⁠ ⁠ .⁠ 🎥 Credit: @netflix x @billieeilish⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ #EngineEars #SeeingSounds #MusicProduction #MixEngineering #Mastering #AudioEngineering ♬ original sound - EngineEars

In the instagram, social media curated digital world, you don’t know how many takes and how many photos have been taken.

In the YouTube Trickshot world, curated edited video production produces a video clip of the most impossible shots.

It creates an unrealistic expectation of ease, skill, and precision that is not actually true. Because, you are only seeing the single take of when it ended successful.

If we don’t get the shot in one shot immediately, is that a lack of progress?

This unrealistic curated view though makes people think that these are masterly precise ‘first try’ attempts. They belittle or overlook the hours of attempts and although people recognize that it took multiple attempts, I think people underappreciate the persistent effort required.

Progress Is Personal.

The other thing that I think is important to recognize about progress, is that progress is a personal thing. It is something that is uniquely your own experience, relative to your own experience, and defined by your own experience.

You cannot compare yourself to others and expect the progression to be the exact same as someone else.

You cannot apply the same progression of others on your own journey because your experiences, your perspective, your motivations, and your goals are not the same.

So it’s important to remind yourself about that fact.

None of this is mind-blowing but it is important to clarify for your intention, your expectation and your goal.

You don’t expect yourself to perform like a professional athlete within a year.

You cannot expect yourself to perform in basketball the way that Michael Jordan, Lebron James, or Kobe Bryant do.

You cannot expect yourself to sing like Adele, Beyonce, Ed Sheeran, or Whitney Houston.

You cannot expect yourself to run like Usain Bolt or Andre De Grasse.

But for some reason our minds qualify this expectation differently when it comes to anything but physical feats.

When it is something physical like basketball and running, you can see the physique that is required.

When it isn’t necessarily something physical, the eye-test is more challenging.

You cannot physically see the experience, the indicators, the skill, the charisma.

So the difference in experience, skill, charisma, leadership, decisiveness and everything else is obscured during the eye-test.

It can therefore either be extremely daunting and overwhelming or delusional to then claim to want to be as productive, as business-savvy, and as successful as Steve Jobs, Tim Ferriss, Cal Newport, Ryan Holiday, and Gary Vaynerchuk.

What you can do, however, is to design your life intentionally to create daily, weekly, monthly and year goals towards that aspiration and track your progress relative to yourself.

Week 5: Spice Rack

Oops. Missed a week.

I was working on a woodworking project, but didn’t finish it in time for the week. Definitely underestimated the sanding and finishing process.

But, the goal was creating an in-drawer spice rack to present my spices more easily for quick grabbing.

Nothing technical. Nothing outrageous.

But another small project to complete in my apartment with some hand tools - A saw, a plane, a marking gauge, a ruler, some sanding, and a food-safe finish

Right now, we have some uniform sized spice jars but when they stand upright you cannot tell what spice you are holding until you lift it up.

The goal is to have a tilted surface to rest the spices racks on so the side of the jar, the label, and the actual spice is visible.

Watched a video for a general idea and proceeded to try it myself.

Bought some hobby wood from home depot.

Cut it to size.

Tested the fit.

Created a backing for the sloping wood panels to rest on.

And voila.

Now sure, the fit isn’t the snuggest of snug fits but the sides are sloped.

Sure, the joints are not the flushest of flush.

But I’m proud I made it by hand.

I’m proud I had a physical labour part to each and every piece of wood.

And now, I can see all the spices I have for cooking. 😄 🙌

Quiet Quitting: A Generational Expression?

I recently read Cal Newport’s The Year In Quiet Quitting, an article in the NewYorker discussing the notion of not outright quitting your job, but essentially doing the bare minimum to collect your cheque.

It is similar to the ‘Bai Lan’ movement in Asia which translates to ‘Let It Rot’, which similarly reflects an attitude of ‘What’s the point?’ and ‘I want to enjoy myself and have an identity outside of work’

The term ‘Quiet Quitting’ is pitched as the antithesis of Hustle culture and ‘996’ the term used in Asia to describe working 9 AM to 9 PM, 6 days a week, highlighting a sort of global ubiquity.

The interesting perspective that Cal Newport brings in his article though is the highlighting the generational distinction in perspective and the underlying themes pushed onto each generation that better elucidate the origin of each perspective’s framework.

Quiet quitting resonates most with a core of Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012) knowledge workers. Cal Newport said, a recent Gallup poll found that the largest group of workers reporting being “not engaged” are those born after 1989 - coincidentally the year I was born.

So What’s Going On?

Are people my age and younger facing a unique problem?

Well, Newport states that it is not a uniquely Millenial and Gen Z disillusionment, but rather a rite of passage.

Knowledge workers in every previous generation seem to have experienced a similar pattern of work crisis followed by reconceptualization.

My parents, both Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) entered a newly emergent knowledge-work sector that had been formed by a postwar migration to the suburbs. From their generational lens, there was a sentiment of civic engagement and loyalty to corporations that could offer lifetime employment. The preceding generation banded together to fight fascism in the 1940s - a generation that committed itself to a common, unifying goal.

In their coming of age moment, this same Boomer generation transitioned in the 1960s towards a countercultural movement that reframed work as a hindrance to self-actualization. Non-conformist acts of communal-living, voluntary-simplicity, the rejection of materialism and the like attempted to find meaning outside the structure of employment.

By the time baby boomers had their own kids, the millennials (born between 1981 and 1996), the pendulum swung back midline and the messaging became Seek Work That You Love.

Now, I personally always thought this was timeless advice but Newport states it is a theme connected to a specific time period. “Follow Your Passion” is a 1990s adage that Boomers instilled in their children - into me.

“Seek self-actualization, but also care about making your mortgage payments.”

- Cal Newport in “The Year of Quit Quitting”

Millennials, brought up on that concept, faced the destabilizing impact of the 9/11 and the financial crises of 2008 and 2020, which cast doubt on the idea that our jobs should be our ultimate source of fulfillment. After all, mortgage payments remained a necessity.

We aren’t making reaching the same financial milestones or career progressions that our parents were making at the same age and the affordability of a similar lifestyle is no longer comparable. Employment had become too precarious to leverage in such a self-indulgent manner via the pursuit of passion work.

So instead, Millennials retreated into whatever fallback jobs they could find. This aligned with the rising trend of young adults moving back in with their parents, the Boomerang Children.

This restriction in self-realization through employment shifted the perception of achieving a good life attained through work to one attained around unavoidable work and despite work via other meaningful pursuits.

In Asia and specifically Hong Kong, I’d argue this sentiment is magnified. 76% of Hongkongers aged 18-35 are still living with their parents according to City University’s Urban Research Group, and on top of being ‘Severely Unaffordable’, with the highest recorded index of 23.2 per the Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey 2022, financial avenues to support self-actualization simply are not possible for the majority of Millennials.

Now, Gen Z enters the workforce with a mind-set and perception that is notably distinct from the millennials who preceded them. Whereas millennials, who had gained access to these tools as young adults, used social media to keep track of the adventures and accomplishments of acquaintances and celebrities, Gen Z embraces an all-encompassing digital life, where the mundane, the hot-take, and the unfiltered self are voiced ceaselessly about both everything and nothing at all.

As the first group to fully come of age with smartphones and social media, Gen Z formed an understanding of the world in which the boundaries between the digital and real were blurred.

Furthermore, they are rewarded for it. For this generation, the personal had become intertwined with the economic, as attention generation, viewership, and followers can be pointed and directed to a product, a service, or lifestyle. Streamer, Online Influencer, and Content Creator are far more prevalent as a dream job for Gen Z and reflect a new age of the wisdom worker - those adept at storytelling, to create artistic and creative dialogue.

And then, the COVID19 pandemic hit.

Though this disruption negatively affected knowledge workers of all ages, for Gen Z it delivered an extra sting. Whereas for older employees, it created a professional crisis, for Gen Z, it forced a re-evaluation of the mixed work and personal life, highlighting the need to intentionally and actively separate personhood from their jobs.

To a millennial, this distinction comes about naturally as the online self was curated later in life. But, to Gen Z, there is no distinction and an intentional declaration of separation is necessary to affirm the boundary.

Newport describes quiet quitting as a generational declaration of that separation, one that was not explicitly needed in previous generations and subsequently is not meant for us to necessarily understand.

It’s instead the first step of a younger generation taking their turn in developing a more nuanced understanding of the role of work in their lives.

So What’s The Take-Away?

Depending on which generation you fall into, I think it highlights the foundational difference that exists in how we perceive the world and the relationship we have with personal and professional life.

We are more than work and productivity and productivity is more than work and financial success.

Gen Z is simply declaring that distinction for themselves in their story arc, as every generation before them expressed in their own way as well.

Productivity therefore is shaped by your definition of and perception of work-life balance.

For me, as a millennial, my perception is to Seek Work That I Love. I see the distinction in my personal and professional self as well as my real-life and online self. I also abide by the work-life balance mantra that in part reflects the acceptance that self-actualization through employment may not be for me.

And it’s empowering to know the origin of those values and perceptions, to embrace those biases based on the concurrent events surrounding my life, and accept the differing perspectives that other generations bring.

References:

Cox, W. (2022). (rep.). Demographia International Housing Affordability ( 2022 Edition).

Gen Z's dream jobs are very different from millennials. YPulse. (2021, December 2). Retrieved February 18, 2023, from https://www.ypulse.com/article/2021/11/01/gen-zs-dream-jobs-are-very-different-from-millennials/

Newport, C. (2022, December 29). The Year in Quiet Quitting: A new generation discovers that it’s hard to balance work with a well-lived life. The NewYorker.

Rose, R. (2017, July 20). The age of the wisdom worker is (still) just ahead. Content Marketing Institute. Retrieved February 18, 2023, from https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/articles/age-wisdom-worker-ahead/

VICE. (n.d.). "996" Work Culture in China : Why China’s Employees Cannot Stop Overworking. Video. Retrieved February 18, 2023, from https://video.vice.com/en_asia/video/996-work-culture-in-china-why-chinas-employees-cannot-stop-overworking/611bea9083ce4f2fa31f6a51.

YouTube. (2022). Why China's Gen Zs And Millennials Are ‘Quiet Quitting’: The ‘Bai Lan’ Movement. YouTube. Retrieved February 18, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPwzVv2ISGA.

Week 4: Netflix Yoga

Now, not the greatest timing for content, cause Netflix has decided to do battle with shared accounts but over the last week, I’ve been completing the Netflix Nike Yoga routines regularly.

I would not consider myself a yoga person and with the exception of doing them with my wife sometimes when she does them, I haven’t really done it myself.

Surprisingly it helpful in getting me up and exercising either before or after dinner.

Not exactly a rigorous or exhausting routine but a good blood mover and with the Netflix platform seamlessly playing and transitioning to the next episode or bookmarking the content for easier review, it served as a nice habit trigger whenever I wanted to sit on the couch and watch mindless TV.

Instead, I saw the Nike Yoga logo and as soon as I start hovering over the content, it starts playing.

As Netflix needs to reinvent or produce more content worthy of subscribing to as more and more streaming services are available, curated high quality content will determine who survives.

YouTube currently has a plethora of options but the issue is there’s no curation of what is created by a high quality person versus a low quality person. You have some measures of video plays, top performing content creators and subscriptions that help filter that out for you but Netflix looks to be a new player in that space.

From a trying something new perspective, yoga was never an interest for me. But I can see it as a low-impact starting point when feeling lazy for an easy beginner win. That way, I’m warm enough and mobile enough to then stack on more exercise afterwards.

I actually like the access to exercise content on Netflix because it’s a constant reminder of something more productive and personally-beneficial amidst the content that would simply keep me laying on my couch.

The yoga teachers were fine - a little too metaphorical at times for me personally but otherwise good. The pacing was good even though I didn’t always know what I was doing but definitely preferred over something that was slower paced that would sacrifice flow or continuity of the actions.

If I do decide to keep Netflix, the yoga piece will be a good intro exercise whenever I do exercise at home rather than the gym.

Ali Abdaal: A Case Study

Where I currently think Ali is working remotely from…

Another Case Study Review of another productivity ‘influencer”.

This time, it’ll be Ali Abdaal.

We’ll look at what it means to be a productivity guru, what makes Ali Abdaal a unique case, and how you can implement what he talks about into your life. Ultimately, what are the takeaways worth spending time to implement or learn….in my humble opinion.

The man is a YouTuber, Podcaster, ex-Doctor, and soon-to-be Author. He has also created multiple businesses, teaching people how to be YouTubers, and a Med School prep program, while also dabbling in productivity and tech review.

He somehow worked in the medical field as a doctor while simultaneously building his YouTube presence. That alone felt like enough productive prowess to convince me to watch him because, with an understanding of the medical stress and burnout, it was impressive to witness the level of production he was able to muster on top of the medical profession.

Add in the global pandemic and from afar at least, it was quite the feat.

First, optimizing for studying and med school prep.

Then, optimizing for video production for his YouTube business.

Applying that further towards more general life skills like personal finance, productive iOS tips, tech reviews, and and optimizing well-being, the theme of productive and thoughtful consideration across the board becomes apparent.

Notion

Ali creates Notion templates to automate and organize his life. There’s several templates online to duplicate and Ali has several videos as well on using Notion. He has some free resources floating around the internet for a Resonance Calendar, a Book Review template, an Annual Review and a Productivity planner.

He likewise has videos on YouTube explaining how to create a Notion template and design for offloading repetitive tasks to be more efficient.

YouTube

His YouTube channel was the interesting hook point to me because he valued my time.

He doesn’t do it as much in more recent posts but he used to provide the outline and final take-aways of his videos first. He still consistently puts timestamps in his video descriptions for you to quickly and easily navigate to specific sections of the video if you are approaching his videos with knife-sharp extraction of information.

The way he presents information is very clear-cut, logical, and easy to follow despite it being at times heady, or dealing with significant amounts of information. As such, despite it being complex material, he tackles complex ideas with simple language, a necessary skill for doctors discussing with the general public about medical issues. He also does so applying his understanding of the human body and mind into his logical arguments or discussions.

Even now, he produces several videos a month, which remains impressive considering the depth and breadth of his videos, but he’s even branched off into teaching others how to create video content as well.

Part-Time YouTuber Academy

He’s even carved a niche in teaching others YouTube content generation, speaking on camera, and proposes the value proposition that given his credentials of generating content while being a MD, others can likewise do YouTube as a part-time gig.

All of which, because he walked the walk, garner him talking the talk. He has since taken a break from acting as a MD currently but it doesn’t take away that he did do it for a while and retains the qualifications to pick it right back up if he desires.

Medical School

Now, Ali Abdaal is a MD youtuber. So he scratches a different niche in that regard given he has a medical lens. Instead of content like Doctor Mike, a lot of Ali Abdaal’s medical content relates more to the studying for med school, applying to med school, exceling in med school testing and so forth.

He also has a medical school prep program 6Med where he mentors others applying for med school.

Now, because I am not a doctor nor went down the medical school prep route, this material is irrelevant to me but certainly I can understand the appeal and the attention of a niche group of study preppers.

Skillshare

Some of Ali’s productivity content is available on Skillshare. It’s generally similar content to his YouTube material, focused on productivity or Notion use. Whereas YouTube is a little more wide-ranging and includes tech review, monologues and so forth, the Skillshare material is a bit more specifically to enhance or augment a skill.

Podcast - Deep Dive With Ali Abdaal

I haven’t listened to it but re-starting listening to podcasts is something I want to get back into. Anyways, Ali Abdaal has two ongoing podcasts - Deep Dive With Ali Abdaal - where he interviews others typically to uncover or discuss interesting philosophies, strategies, tools, and perspectives. He also has another podcast with his brother called Not Overthinking where they talk about a likewise mish-mash off ideas. I find that it’s a little more casual conversation, a little more social discussion, current events, and even more personal story.

Again, podcasts aren’t currently in my regular day-to-day so I can’t do much justice talking about it cause I haven’t listened much, but I’ll try to update this later when I do get a chance.

So What Are The Take-Aways

Ali seems more like a contemporary to me than Thomas Frank. He is a little more human and personal in that he shares anecdotes and struggles and is more open on other aspects of his life. His skincare, his dating, his appearance, etc.

He doesn’t flex the technicality as much as Thomas Frank on the Notion niche but Ali has carved a spot in the universally-appealing profession of medical doctor, so his studying/learning commentary is more rooted in scientific recall and learning.

So Here’s The General Blueprint.

1. Be Helpful. Again, providing information to people in a way and manner that is helpful. People are going to gravitate towards what brings them benefit. I think productivity information in general follows pretty universal principles and the communication style is the way that individuals differentiate themselves.

Ali does so with clear communication, a usually open and transparent outline to his communication and clear segues.

2. Be Productive Ali walks the walk so he can talk the talk. I think his profession and his success so far has carried his name forward in the productivity space. There’s the hook point of ‘well, he’s gotta know something cause he made it into med school and is a doctor’ which first captures his audience so he can discuss more. I think in name, that is part of the productivity persona.

And then the Notion interest, the productivity discussions, they all flush out the rest of the productivity foundation.

3. Build a niche. Broaden afterwards. It started off as productivity for med school students. It grew his 6Med prep business. His personality and communication style translates this niche topic towards a larger YouTube audience. Then it grew into productivity for his YouTube business, teaching others to apply a similar communication style for their own YouTube channels.

Again, his voice grew as he grew. He no longer was a med student in college and so his subject matter shifted. He’s got a podcast talking to interesting guests around mindset, happiness, productivity and explores those broader topics and wide-ranging topics with a bit more success.

4. Professional Reputation Precedes You. There is definitely an enticing draw to hear a doctor’s perspective. Similar to a lawyer, a senior software engineer, a CEO, etc, a doctor is one of those staple reputable careers with a cut-throat success rate. So the rarity of perspective on a platform like YouTube is enticing.

Whereas Thomas Frank, I would argue, studied Management Information Systems in school, he carved out his niche based on his accolades and achievements within the productivity space because he was proficient - not because people actually knew that management information systems was a relevant degree.

Ali Abdaal however, as a doctor brought along a professional reputation for productivity simply because he was a doctor and the general public’s view on doctors needing to be productive, efficient, and highly skilled.

5. Implement Niche Skills

I feel like I hear the medical training and perspective in the way Ali discusses topics. Whether it’s the types of analogies, metaphors, equations and communication style, there are certainly medical lens influences in his style of communication which resonate with me (as someone who works in the medical field.)

Take-Aways

1. Talk Your Niche.

   Apply your unique perspective on productivity. There are specific metaphors, perceptions, ways of communicating that are unique to your experience that can resonate with people differently.

2. Build Good Habits.

   Habits make the world go round. Habits make shape us and set us along on our paths. And regardless of the life experience, the good habits are universally appropriate and set us up to be productive on a foundational level.

   If we design those habits to be fruitful, productive, and intentionally targeting our specific interests, then they are beneficial.

3. Find Solutions.

   Aspire to seek out or derive answers independently. It’s a theme amongst productive people to explore, try, taste for themselves. Regardless of whether they come to the same conclusion or not, there is a certain exploration and testing that each individual seeks out. By retaining that level of curiosity in all things, it pushes you to be comfortable with the uncomfortable, to test the untested, and ultimately have a more productive life worth emulating or worth listening to - and that is the take-away that resonates with an audience.

4. Be As Personal or Unpersonal As You Desire.

   Ali is much more personal, sharing more emotional, human, all-around aspects of life than Thomas Frank. Neither is more correct but rather a commentary of what each individual is comfortable sharing. My point being, that I’m taking away that you can share as much or as little as you desire in those circumstances.

   It can be refreshing and more personable to hear that a doctor has struggles with dating, social anxiety, cares about his skincare and such. It gives a separate spin or perspective that makes him more relateable but then veers away from the productivity themes and more to holistic well-being, and mental health.

Week 3: Photo Taking & Editing

Nothing truly spectacular but did a bit of photography and photo editing which is a goal of mine to do more consistently.

I am still working on a regular schedule to take photos and regular schedule to edit them but am trying to work on the story-telling and intentionality of my photo creations.

This collection was primarily during Chinese New Year so there was a parade, floats, costumes, and festivities. I’d say there wasn’t really a theme or intentional style to the photos but interesting shots from my perspective. Maybe talking about my thoughts on each image would be helpful to introspectively analyze what I was going for and whether it was clearly communicated or not.

The first photo is of a man holding a camera taking a photo of the paraders. I cropped out the camera and heads. I found it somewhat amusing because the posturing looks a little like curiosity and a little hiding behind the dumpster. We get a glimpse of the paraders in their attire. Visually, the man’s backside and backpack hold focus and then your eyes lead to what he’s looking at.I also like the leading lines towards the man along the left side if your eyes get distracted or explore the left side of the photo. So all in all, there’s a cyclic return to the main subject no matter where your eyes wander.

My criticism would be that the main subject is not very interesting in that, apart from being in focus, there’s nothing special about the subject that holds or retains attention for long.

In the second photo, I like facial expressions. There’s something juxtaposing between the side-eye hidden underneath the costume and the out of focus smile just adjacent. Similarly, the brightly coloured Chinese lion attire versus the lack of a costume. There’s almost a duality of happiness in being fully and completely seen versus unenthusiastic or unfestiveness when masked away. (Miud you, this is a completely fictitious story I’m creating in the photo. Not trying to say in reality that this woman isn’t happy doing the Chinese lion dance, just the story I captured in this split second).

The photo itself is a little too yellow to be balanced in my mind. Overly yellow but given the cropping I wanted to isolate the subject and contrast with the person in the background, it had to be cropped so close. I wish I captured more of the left hand side of the scene. Could have told a different story or have the option of a different story based on what was to the subject’s right side or what the subject was giving side-eye towards. This also impacting the framing of the Chinese lion, which is partially cut out.

In this third picture, it’s completely distinct in that it wasn’t from Chinese New Year. I just liked the architectural framing, the overexposed sky and the feeling of climbing to freedom or paradise.

I really liked the leading lines, the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ feel and high contrast feel of the ladder steps against the white sky.

If I were to do it again, I’d try to establish an even higher contrast. Maybe pump the contrast even more. If I spent time in Photoshop, maybe get rid of the branches reflecting in the windows to reduce distracting lines. I do like the grime and cracks in the window framing that make the ladder escape to white space more appealing though.

Best case scenario would be a person actually climbing the ladder so that motif of climbing or escaping more obvious.

Just pictures of shoes. I liked the leading yellow line, the distinction of the parader’s dressed up shooes compared to the viewers and the vibrancy of their attire, again compared against the backdrop of jeans and boots/sneakers. I reduced the saturation oof the red in the audience. They’re actually standing in front of a fire hydrant but the red was distracting from the main subject’s red. I also liked the differing orientation of the shoes. Paraders versus audience are pointing differently.

The road is a little distracting and the composition feels a bit distant between those contrasting elements. The patchwork repairs on the road like the square on the top right quadrant pulls your attention away. If I took the photo at a lower angle, the shoes could be closer proximity too to have that contrast more clearly communicated. If I took the picture on another section of road, maybe that crack in the road or the gloves on the ground near the curb would be less distracting or removed entirely.

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Overall, not the most interesting or well composed photos but I’m glad I took them and I’m glad I went out and used my camera. I like posting them so there’s a degree of public pressure and introspective analysis on my composition so I’ll probably do something like this again soon.

Thomas Frank - A Case Study

Thomas Frank is a productivity guru.

As a YouTuber, author, musician, and entrepreneur who has been helping students and professionals be more productive since 2010, Frank has carved a niche for himself in the productivity space helping millions of people across topics ranging from effective studying and learning, productivity, personal finance, and fitness.

His main YouTube channel has over 2.85 million subscribers and more than 160 million views.

His second channel, Thomas Frank Explains, is the largest Notion education channel with more than 127k subscribers.

Thomas is also a co-founder of Nebula, a creator-owned streaming service with over 600,000 active users.

On top of that, he also runs the College Info Geek blog, which covers topics in self-improvement ranging from effective studying & learning, productivity, personal finance, and fitness.

Beyond the productivity, optimization, and the Notion wizardry, in his free time, Thomas is a guitarist, singer, and avid Magic: The Gathering player. Whereas his music is public, I can’t comment on his Magic: The Gathering collection, but needless to say, he’s got interests outside of the productive work space.

Today, we’re going to talk about how Thomas Frank has created a space in the productivity world. He certainly has the professional accolades to consider that accomplished but the interesting and impressive thing about it from my perspective is his ability to implement that same intentionality in his personal life.

So we’re going to do a deep dive on what it means to be a productivity guru, what makes Thomas Frank such a unique case, and how you can implement what he talks about into your life - ultimately, what are the takeaways worth spending time to implement or learn….in my humble opinion.

Productivity.

The man seems to eat and breathe productivity.

It is pervasive in pretty much every non-artistic/creative endeavour that he seems to do. I’m generalizing though because Thomas Frank Music content doesn’t speak too much on “optimizing music”

Whether that is optimizing his strategy for the online game Among Us, or optimizing his actionable list for his video projects for business, he appears to apply the same attitude towards efficient organization and actionable planning.

And we can see that as Thomas Frank has grown as an individual he has pointed this proficiency to efficiency and optimization at different things.

First, optimizing for studying and school.

Then, optimizing for business and video production for his YouTube channel.

Applying that further towards more general life skills like personal finance, productive iOS tips, productive Windows tips, and optimizing your fitness and well-being, the theme of productive and thoughtful consideration across the board becomes apparent.

YouTube.

Split up into a main, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary channels, Thomas Frank generated content in the optimal medium for contemporary consumption.

Whether that’s long-form discussions about bad habits, generating new habits, adapting to contemporary issues with productivity (work from home, phone addictions), specific tutorials about Notion, or the accompaniment videos footage for podcast content, there’s a ton to unpack.

College Info Geek.

Now by the time I stumbled upon Thomas Frank, I had graduated so less relevant to me. But as always, the material was focused on productivity and optimizing of time. Whether this was reviewing effective methods of focusing, studying, and retaining information to more adulting responsibilities like doing your taxes in college, enrolling in summer school, or picking a school study major, the site seems like a catch-all for the college life experience.

Podcast - College Info Geek & The Inforium.

Now on hold indefinitely, the podcast started as an accompaniment to the College Info Geek site. First being a college info geek podcast, then transitioning to the inforium, a stand-alone co-hosted podcast, the podcast library boasts an archive of 325 episodes in total.

Book - 10 Steps to Earning Awesome Grades.

Again, not something relevant to my life because I found Thomas Frank after my student career ended. But it makes sense as a book-form version of the same material to meet views/listeners/readers where they prefer.

Notion.

Last but not least, you can’t talk about Thomas Frank without speaking about Notion.

Thomas Frank has carved out for himself a niche in the world of Notion because of his proficiency with the program and the organizational benefits he derives from using it as a second brain. The literal name of one of his templates is “Ultimate Brain for Notion”.

It keeps him accountable, creates deadlines, is a hub for his business team, and automates a significant portion of the standard logistical needs.

It essentially allows him to offload the cognitive minutiae in order to buy him time to focus on the larger picture aspects of steering his business.

Because he is a walking example of the benefits of notion and his productivity-forward reputation, he has carved for himself a niche content interest - productivity with Notion. He is synonymous with the brand and applies it to both his professional and personal life.

And whether it is Notion or any other program, the notion is that he successfully distinguished himself as a productivity guru in his capacity to optimize his life around a platform. It could be any platform, but he had the prowess to learn Notion and apply it to meet his productivity needs.

So Here’s The General Blueprint.

1. Be Helpful.

   Regardless of whether Thomas Frank generates content about college, about finances, about picking courses, or video games, the overarching theme seems to be a tendency to communicate efficiency and ease. He wants to help answer questions and be a resource for others.

2. Be Productive

   Provide an efficient and effective source of help. It isn’t helpful if the information you provide isn’t better, clear, or helpful. So being productive is the follow-up to being helpful. It’s just optimizing that process.

3. Build a niche. Broaden afterwards.

   It started off as productivity for college students. Then it grew into productivity for his YouTube business. Then it generalized to productivity in broader terms. The broadening afterwards was a direct consequence of his audience growing and broadening beyond school. Again, his voice grew as he grew. He no longer was a student in college and so his subject matter shifted. This was echoed by his own statement transitioning from the College Info Geek podcast - “We'll still be focusing on several of the same areas as before, but we've moved out from under the college label to add a bit more flexibility to what we can talk about.”

4. Be Present and Accessible.

   There is content in audio form, video form, and written form. I think that’s worth acknowledging because there is a ubiquitousness to it. There’s an intentional effort in creating content where his audience is.

For me, this is a case study of what needs to happen for me to become helpful. I feel like I have good ideas and whether they are my own ideas, regurgitated ideas or modified ideas with my own personal spin or take, I think I owe it to myself to create content on the material.

Whether it turns into something is a different thing but it’s worth me trying.

And if you feel like I missed something or perhaps that you have a better summary or masterclass on Thomas Frank’s productivity genius, let me know! I’d love to hear it!

Build Momentum Quickly to Unlock Your Potential: The Power of Easy Wins for Motivation and Productivity

One of the biggest challenges to staying motivated and productive is starting. Whether you're working on a big project or trying to build a new habit, it can be discouraging when you feel the need to ‘ease into it’. That's why it's important to build easy wins into your routine and jump on them quickly.

Easy wins are small, achievable goals that help you to build momentum and feel a sense of accomplishment. These small victories can be a powerful motivator, helping you to get started, stay focused and keep pushing forward, even when you're feeling unmotivated, sluggish and discouraged. Here are a few tips for building easy wins into your routine:

1. Start Small: The key to building easy wins is to start small. Don't set yourself up for failure by trying to tackle a huge project all at once.

2. Find Daily Quick Wins to Jumpstart Your Production: Make your bed. Wash a couple dishes. Organize your work station. This will help you feel like you’ve begun and over the hurdle of ‘easing into it’.

3. Celebrate Your Wins: Once you've achieved one of your easy wins, take a moment to celebrate. Whether you treat yourself to a cup of coffee or take a short break, recognizing your accomplishments is important. Celebrating your wins helps you to feel motivated and stay on track. When you see progress, you feel more confident and motivated to continue working towards your goals.

4. Track Your Progress: Keeping track of your progress is another great way to build easy wins. Whether you use a journal, a calendar, or an app, tracking your progress will help you to see how far you've come. This can be a powerful motivator and help you to stay focused. I’ve recently restarted using Habitica to keep me accountable in a fun way with friends. It involves social pressure, packages it into a gamified UI, and gives just enough ‘fun’ customization to keep me interested.

5. Establish Routine: By having a routine or habit that starts your focus sessions, you can enhance your ease of entering flow state focus and create a positive feedback loop. Quick wins create a positive feedback loop, where each victory motivates you to keep pushing forward. This can help you stay motivated and continue building momentum towards your long-term goals.

Here are some quick wins you can incorporate into your daily schedule.

1. Making your bed in the morning

2. Drinking a glass of water as soon as you wake up

3. Doing a short workout or stretching session

4. Eating a healthy breakfast

5. Spending a few minutes decluttering your workspace

6. Taking a walk during your lunch break

7. Meditating for 5 minutes before bed

8. Reading for 15 minutes before bed

9. Keeping a gratitude journal - 1 quick post per day

10. Learning a new word in your target language

11. Doing a random act of kindness for someone

12. Cooking a healthy dinner at home

13. Writing a to-do list for the next day

14. Spending time outside in nature

15. Practicing mindfulness throughout the day.

Alone, these individual tasks are nothing to gawk at. They are neither difficult nor challenging but they set the tone for your day. They can jumpstart your productivity when you are surfing the internet mindlessly. They can shock you out of complacency as you scroll your phone mindlessly. They can get you to actively and consciously make decisions, use your body, or attune to the world.

Although easy and small wins alone, they are the small snowball at the top of the mountain that easily begins the roll.

Your job is to make it even easier for that snowball to roll.

So why not give it a try and see how easy wins can help you to stay motivated and productive?

Week 3: Doodling

Now this may sound silly, but doodling is not something I like to do.

It at times feels like a revealing act of who is a try-hard and who is naturally gifted. It’s something where those with talent let their skills shine through effortlessly.

For those of us who are less talented (100% lumping myself into this category), the doodle is a stressful thing because I can’t make something look good without trying a lot.

I’ve been inspired by the Sneaky Artist, who was spotlighted here. And I’d argue that his 30 seconds or less doodles are stylistic, interesting, skillful and fun.

So this week, I’m trying to recreate his style - hoping to better understand the flow of the drawing, the relative proportions and relevant features worth focusing on and the irrelevant features worth ignoring.

Doodling is often considered a casual or even a meaningless activity, but it is actually a powerful tool for creativity and self-expression. Doodling can also be used for note-taking, brainstorming, and problem-solving. It's a great way to let your mind wander and explore new ideas.

I have to admit, I was a bit intimidated by the idea of learning to draw doodles. I've never been particularly skilled at drawing, and my desire to ‘try-hard’ is somewhat counter to the concept of doodling.

One of the things I love about doodling is that it is supposed to be a low-pressure activity. You are supposed to be able to conceptually create something that inherently isn’t a finished product. I think it’s a good activity for me to practice being comfortable with imperfection, creating with no expectation that it is fully complete, and pushing my comfort with trying new things. As doodling, particularly drawing your surroundings, forces you to draw something different each time, each doodle you are experimenting with a different movement pattern, a different stroke of the the pen. You can start with simple shapes and lines and gradually build up to more complex designs. It's also a great way to relax and unwind after a long day.

Doodling with a subject in mind too also makes you think about proportions, keen observation, and attention to detail.

There can be some positives to doodling as well.

Doodling is a simple and easy way to relax and unwind after a long day. It can help to reduce stress and anxiety by providing a mental break and allowing the mind to focus on something other than the source of stress.

Doodling can also allow the mind to explore different ideas and possibilities, doodling can help to generate new and creative solutions to problems.

Especially since I love people watching, enjoy working in coffee shops and enjoy a regular short break during work sessions, it’s a good hobby to destress, relax, and combine a few of my already existing interests.

Not terrible, right? Hahah.

The original artist’s drawings are much more confident, single stroke drawings whereas mine are much more hesitant.

I also struggle with whether to capture certain details like hair strands, glasses, and other salient features. Also my head sizes are massive.

But I’m glad I did it. It’s something that I don’t let myself do often because I feel guilty with wasting time but I can spend hours just surfing the internet otherwise.

Either way, I’m proud of myself for posting it online despite it not being amazing work and trying something different.

The Power of Positive Affirmations

I struggle with positive affirmations. I wouldn’t describe myself as a positive affirmations kind of person. I don’t receive them well and also struggle with giving them out.

via GIPHY

It’s not something I do by second nature.

But at the same time I recognize its importance in people’s self-esteem, their self-perception, and their overall desire to continue to grow and develop.

So if you’re like me, here’s a reminder on the importance on positive affirmations (for your productive self as well as for the positive mindset of others in your life).

Positive affirmations are statements that are designed to change the way we think and feel about ourselves

They can be powerful tools that can help us develop a more resilient and confident mindset.

If you’re a particularly negative person or engage in regular negative self-talk, remember that youru thoughts can shape your mind and your outlook.

We all have a voice in our head that can be critical and harsh.

And the more your inner thoughts constantly berate your actions and feelings, the more helpless you can feel about everything.

If you cannot see the positives And negatives and simply see negatives, then your perspective is distorted.

By repeating positive affirmations for yourself and for others, the goal is intentionally levelling the playing field.

via GIPHY

We can train our minds to focus on the good in ourselves and in our lives.

And it is 100% a trainable, learnable perspective. Even if in this exact moment, you feel entirely negative and self-critical.

Secondly, positive affirmations help to build confidence.

Confidence is an essential part of a resilient mindset.

Confidence allows us to believe in ourselves and our abilities, especially when things go wrong or go awry from original plans.

It gives us the courage to take risks and to pursue our goals.

Taking more risks can expedite our learning, allow us to be more experimental or explorative, and feedback into even more self-confidence.

Positive affirmations help to build confidence by reminding us of our strengths and by helping us to focus on our successes.

Third, positive affirmations help to create a positive mindset. It gears us towards seeing positivity in all facets of our lives. Whereas we can simply be positive about our own abilities but a situation can cause us to lash out at others fro their negative impact on our lives, a positive mindset can structure our thinking to likewise apply that positive towards our surroundings and others. When we have a positive mindset, we are able to see the good in every situation, even when things are difficult.

Positive affirmations help to create a positive mindset by reminding us of the good in ourselves and in our lives. And despite the negativity in our lives or in our own characters, it doesn’t take away from our positives - negate those positives, or diminish those positives.

The impact of such positive thinking is easy to see on improving our mental health. They can be done anywhere, at any time and don’t require any special equipment or training. They are simple yet powerful tool that can help us to develop a more resilient and confident mindset.

via GIPHY

Here are 8 simple steps to intentionally and actively implement positive affirmations in your own life.

1. Start your day with positive affirmations: Begin your day by repeating positive affirmations to yourself. This sets a positive tone for the rest of the day and helps you to focus on your goals.

   By incorporating them early in your day, your mindset is shifted towards positivity early on. There’s less benefit to being reminded of your positive mindset right before bed because you’re not going out into the world at that point. You’re going to unconscious for a couple hours in your bed.

2. Write them down: Writing down your affirmations helps to solidify them in your mind. Keep a journal or a note on your phone and refer to it throughout the day.

   When you’re first starting out, it can be challenging to recall or truly intuitively recognize the positivity in our life. The goal is to build the practice with consistency. So writing down the affirmations is a way to offload the cognitive dependence on recalling the actual affirmations. All you need to do is read them to yourself daily.

3. Use them as a screensaver: Set your computer or phone screensaver to a positive affirmation. This way, you will see the affirmation every time you use your device.

   Remind yourself. You want the positivity to be constantly present in your head to balance out the negativity and self-doubt that exists in you already.

4. Repeat them throughout the day: Repeat your affirmations throughout the day, whenever you have a free moment. This helps to keep them at the forefront of your mind.

   The rationale should be clear by now. Continue to remind yourself and actively and intentionally remind yourself.

5. Incorporate them into your daily routine: Incorporate your affirmations into your daily routine. For example, you could repeat them while brushing your teeth or during your morning workout.

   Bootstrap this new habit to already existing habits you have. You don’t forget to brush your teeth. By adding this habit to your established habits, you can ore easily ensure you are thinking about it regularly.

6. Listen to them: There are many affirmations available as audio recordings. Listen to them while you're doing other tasks, like cooking or cleaning. Sometimes people will listen to them on their car ride to work. Especially if you don’t believe them yourself, hearing someone else talk about you in this way can be a powerful boost.

   If you’re comfortable, another effective spin-off method would be to record yourself talking to yourself about it as well. It can be likewise very powerful to hear yourself express strong and confident positivity, especially if you are not one to typically do so.

7. Use them in visualization exercises: Use affirmations in visualization exercises. Imagine yourself achieving your goals while repeating the affirmations.

   Visualizing yourself accomplishing huge feats and goals is important to turning those aspirations into reality, particularly if you currently feel lost and self-critical. Sometimes, we get stuck in feelings of inadequacy, incompetency and self-criticality. These ultimately manifest in feelings of ineptitude and inability. So how could you possibly see yourself accomplishing or mastering some challenging farfetched task.

   Visualizing yourself accomplishing these things is important because especially when you have no self-confidence, it can be the unlock to truly accomplishing this feat. And as you see yourself accomplishing these feats repeatedly, you develop a self-confidence and faith in yourself to do it again. This is self-esteem and self-belief.

8. Believe in them: The most important thing is to truly believe in your affirmations. If you repeat them but don't believe in them, they will be less effective. So, try to internalize them and believe in the positive changes that they can bring to your life. Now, obviously, that’s the crux of it. If you don’t believe, then the effects of these positive affirmations is diminished. But I would 100% argue that even if you don’t believe, still do it. It important to develop the habit first because if you don’t have the self-confidence to do the talk and it’s not a habit, you will never be confident enough to take the risks to further foster your confidence. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy of inadequacy so start with the habit even if you don’t believe. Then, start trying to believe.

Now, let’s talk about why it’s important even for people like me who self-identify as not positive affirmation people.

I think it’s important to recognize that if multiple blogs/people/productivity people talk about positive affirmations, even if you don’t feel self-doubt and fear of failure limits your ability to perform, recognize that it could be impacting your loved ones, your friends, your coworkers and your employees. Recognize that this can impact their ability to perform, their desire to take risks and grow, and can be a source of confidence when they may not have that self-confidence themselves.

So if not for yourself, do it for others. Boost their self-confidence. Give them affirmations if they aren’t at the point of being self-reliant on that aspect.

Incorporating positive affirmations into your daily routine can help to boost your productivity and motivation. They can help to keep you focused on your goals and can also improve your overall mental and emotional well-being. Try incorporating some of these tips into your daily routine and see how they can help you to lead a more productive and positive life.

Week 2: Begleri

Skill based fidget toys are always interesting to me. There’s enough cognitive and physical dexterity skill development that it remains a challenging and not entirely mindless toy but easy enough that muscle memory makes the grind fun and appear impressive.

Now, I already play around with kendamas (although not very well and likely will add them to my list of weekly trials) but the begleri looks like a quiet, inconspicuous toy I can spend hours playing with while sitting on a plane, riding the subway, or on a work break. Similar to cardistry or finger tutting, there’s a level of creativity, complexity and performance to it that at least distinguishes one’s proficiency.

We all have our favorite hobbies and pastimes, but sometimes it's fun to branch out and try something new.

The begleri is a skill toy originating in Greece, and was originally derived from the komboloi, which serves the function of worry beads, and are often flipped around to pass the time or keep the hands busy.

Begleri beads are threaded on an open strand, usually in a symmetrical formation, with equal weighting at either end.

The basic idea behind the begleri is to have the two weighted ends of toy wrap and fling around your fingers and hand.

In this fashion, what I imagine would be similar to poi balls, cardistry, contact juggling, finger tutting and the sort, it’s a form of fidgeting or self-soothing for me. If none of those words mean anything to you, think of it like a yo-yo.

It’s a toy you play with by manipulating it with the fingers but it is smaller.

Now, at first, it can feel like there’s nothing to master with the toy. It’s just 2 balls or weights attached by string.

Check it out.

So far, I’ve stumbled upon https://begleritricks.com/progression-ladder and https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcH_xQ-HtxrdzkoPZHxShywhPLrmeP6nE for my trick progression but still remain in the basic fundamentals section.

I’m still at the point where I can’t really sequence moves together seamlessly or repeatedly for it to be worth filming at this point but hope to post something in a couple months when I feel more confident in my skill. I’ll update this post once I get a little string of moves together though. 😄

In the meantime, imagine my skills currently to be similar to:

via GIPHY

The cool thing though is the lower price curve for entry into the hobby. There are a ton of YouTube videos on it but just some hex nuts and a string of paracord can get you pretty far!

The Tomato Timer - Pomodoro Technique

It’s a pretty popular productivity technique so you’re probably already familiar with it, but let’s talk about it.

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method that has gained popularity in recent years.

This technique, which was developed by Francesco Cirillo, involves breaking down work into 25-minute intervals, known as "pomodoros."

The Pomodoro Technique can help to increase productivity and focus by breaking down larger tasks into smaller, manageable chunks.

By having 25-minute intervals, the technique attempts to compartmentalize chunks of efficiency into bite-sized pieces.

Bite-sized pieces means reduced durations of intense focus.

Reduced durations of intense focus means more manageable periods of time of reduced distraction and sustained attention.

Bite-sized pieces also means more realistic expectations and timelines for accomplishing targets.

Bite-sized pieces also means providing you a structure to prioritize because you have to determine how many pomodoro are expected per task and what pomodoro to target first.

The more regularly you use the pomodoro technique the more accurate it becomes as a tool for estimating time requirements for tasks and more powerful it gets as you enter periods of deep focus more quickly.

You also become more accustomed and trusting of the system so you can more reliably adhere to strict 25-minute blocks and allow yourself to take breaks guilt-free because you know they are beneficial and won’t devolve into hours of lost time.

If you haven’t tried out the pomodoro technique before, there are tons of apps available for you to try. In its most basic form, it is a simple 25- minute timer with 5 minute breaks, with a longer break after 3-4 pomodoros. It is effective in its simplicity but powerful for its productivity.

Week 1 - Trying Something New: Ikea Charger Hack

I’ve always been inspired by people who modify Ikea furniture.

People that have the creative capacity to envision a new style or see a different product than what exists in real life - the ability to see the framework and are able to make a new reality.

Same goes for the YouTube rabbit hole of flipping houses, renovation shows, modifying airstreams or camper vans. All of it scratches the tinker itch that I have.

But I could never really justify buying something with the risk of screwing it up worse, nor having the random amount of money set aside to invest into such an endeavour.

Modifying a small Ikea product is helpful for multiple reasons.

1. It’s a cheap investment cause I’m buying something small

2. It’s an excuse to grow my comfort with wood working and home improvement equipment

3. It fits my weekly goal of trying something new for growth

So here’s the plan.

I’ve always wanted a charger hub of sorts.

The problem primarily being the price. The steep steep price.

Enter NORDMÄRKE Wireless charging stand. $14.99

So here’s what I’m thinking.

Buy the original and create a space of the apple watch charger in the back.

Make space for the charging cable to hide neatly in the back

Plan:

1. Drill multiple tiny holes to remove as much wood material as possible

2. Use a hand chisel to smooth it out as able

Execution:

Although I was about to drill out multiple tiny holes this was problematic for 2 reasons:

1. I didn’t have a way to reliably/consistently drill to the same depth every time I drilled a hole. Sure I had green tape as a ballpark measure but that was not accurate enough , particularly because I was free-hand drilling with a power drill. This meant the angle of the drill wasn’t always 90 degrees

I ended up getting lots of tiny holes of inconsistent depth and the pre-existing holes made it difficult to drill adjacent new holes because the drill would slip into a pre-existing hole instead.

2. Because the drilled space was enclosed, there was no way I could lay my chisel flat. This meant that there would always be at an angle of sorts.

Solution:

Forstner bits. By using a Forstner bit, I was able to drill the necessary hole.

And here’s the result.

Yeah, I know. The cut isn’t super crisp because I originally used a drill with the intention to drill a bunch of holes until I got the Forsner bit.

But, either way, I’m happy to have a small charging hub for my phone and watch. And happy to have tried something new. It’s not the prettiest, but it suits my needs, has made me feel more comfortable with DIY (even if it’s nothing extreme or challenging) and it was $15.

And I’m a beginner!