There are other things you shouldn’t talk about (like mostly).
Your goals.
Or at least be very selective. You don’t want to accidentally get the feeling of reward in the brain and body because you told a whole lot of people. You want to keep that hunger and save the reward for when you get there.
We have to be careful about what our behavior predicates.
I noticed that when I’ve done a giant bit of work, I ‘treat’ myself to some junk food.
This behaviour predicates the belief that this food is the ultimate reward for me. If I believe that then I also beleive that I’m missing out by not having it. And if I believe that, then not having that food will be difficult for me. See how one infers the next? These are hard to see on the surface, but fig a little deeper and the implications are obvious.
Careful what you do, it implies things behind the scenes that affect you.
People who are hyper conscious of their time often get a bad wrap for accounting for every minute.
I don’t think it’s bad to be active in your use of your time. It’s not that you need to be productive every hour of every day, but I do think we should all be purposeful.
I will spend the next hour cooking and hearing how my son’s day was.
I will spend the next three hours watching tv with my friend and getting swept up in the story.
Rest or work? Presence with a loved one or being on your phone? No option is bad or good, just choose one and do it.
Just don’t pretend you’re doing one, when you’re actually lazily slipping into something else.
Our demise should never be because of our lack of decision.
Sometimes I make the mistake of starting a project and having what I think will be a ‘little’ break.
A day becomes a week and that’s more than enough time to lose the flow and forget the simple little systems within the work you’d been creating for yourself.
If you do need time away, make sure you close the loops. Complete an exhale before the break.
Like at school when they’d say “finish what you’re writing then PENS DOWN!”
That way, you can form bridges between. But don’t allow gaps in the middle, it takes too much time to get back on.
And I’m not talking about food! Being selective about our social media use isn’t a new idea, but I’m having some success with some of my little rules so I thought they’d be worth sharing.
No apps: I don’t have any social media apps on my phone- (only exception is Tik Tok and YouTube- see below for their rules.)
Do not disturb default: The normal mode for my phone is do not disturb. That means that nothing interrupts me unless I want it to. When I have time to check my phone, I physically have to check for any messages or phone calls. It’s incredibly freeing being on my own clock like this. It does seem unusual to me that we should be interrupted all day at any time simply because technology now allows it. I don’t think it’s natural to be at everyone’s beck and call.
Email: This is definitely my weakness so I have to be strict sometimes. All of my work is attached to emails so there are seasons when I’m in and out of email all day BUT I take a leaf from Tim Ferriss’ book here. He teaches to batch email, that is check it and deal with it only twice a day- 12pm and 4 pm. You’ll be amazed at how quick it actually is. The alternative for me was checking it sporadically throughout the day and that wasted so much time and energy. Batching is where it’s at.
Delayed gratification: As mentioned above, I do have YouTube and Tik Tok on my phone. They’re there because I upload my daily video to both platforms. I found this was a bit of a flaw in my plan, because I’d go on to upload ad get trapped. Worse still, I’d go on before I’d made my video and check to see how many likes or views my previous video had. This wasn’t helping me. New rule! I can only go on these apps ONCE per day and that’s to upload that days video. This means I’m using it to produce rather than consume AND I get the added treat of seeing how my previous video is going. It’s win win.
I was editing today and I had just discovered a shortcut to double the playback speed on the clip I’m working on. This is great because it means I can check the edit without needing watch it back in real time over and over again.
What started as a great help ended up being a great hinderance as I needed to edit out particular spots and kept having to go back because the speed of the playback meant I was missing the cut point! So my search for efficiency actually had the opposite effect.
Sure, speed can be an asset but ironcally it can also slow you down.
In what areas can you slow down to go faster?
Be sure you’re doing the right thing at the right time.
Today I began planning a big chunk of lessons for my website. It’s quite a massive undertaking because the educational videos I’ll make have to link not only to the school curriculum, but they have to build on what we’ve already covered AND have to precede learning the students will get to as they get older.
In other words, there are many moving parts to making the puzzle fit.
I made the mistake of jumping straight into the spreadsheet where I plan all the lessons. It’s quite an overwhelming document and had me in the deep end of details too soon.
There is a missing step here. Before diving into the specifics, I realised I was allowed to do a bit of dreaming first.
So instead of trying to fill in fine details directly into the planning document, I instead took a step back and made a ‘dream’ list. What would be cool to include? What would I enjoy?
If you’re finding a task difficult, take a step back and check if there is a broader task earlier in the sequence you can tackle first.
Ah systems- the promised land.
Systems have the ability to save thousands of your hours and prevent you from living the same week over and over again without advancing.
A lack of systems can be a trap. You can be enacting all the hall marks of ‘hard work’ but that might be all it is, ‘hard’ work. It’s not the same as smart work. As we progress, the things we are working on should be progressing as well.
You don’t want to spend your life building temporary shacks over and over again. Perhaps you start with a shack, then advance to building with wood and brick, then working on training builders, then working on training trainers…
Systems enable all this. Don’t get trapped. Build your systems.
There are many awesome side effects to making a movie every day. One of my favorites is how it has framed my role as an ‘actor for hire’.
I have the privilege every day to be able to make anything I want to. Any style, genre, length, look, feel, theme- it’s all on the table every. single. day.
I’ve done this for one hundred and eleven days straight now, so I’ve been through the entire spectrum of feelings; from complete inspiration to the very edge of giving up.
Because I get to make whatever I want to and more specifically, play any character I want to and have complete creative control, I’ve found myself increasingly sensitized to acting opportunities.
Instead of jumping at any old audition, I find myself asking a new question:
Would I make this? Would I script this character for myself and put the effort into creating the end product to the best quality I can? If the answer is yes, then of course I want to be a part of an entire team bringing this vision to life. But if the answer is ‘no, I’d probably not do it quite like that’, then I know I don’t need to engage with that opportunity. It’s quite simple actually.
They say listen to your body. If it’s craving sleep, you should listen and have a sleep in.
Though it can be tricky to figure out what signals are true and what aren’t.
For instance, I crave sugar and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t mean I should eat a whole cake. I suppose it could mean I’m hungry and the fact that sugar is the craving could mean I’m very hungry.
The skill then is to read the signals in ways that empower you.
