Changing your information diet
Ever feel like you’re in a loop of the same ideas and concepts?
On the one hand it’s excellent to mull and chew on ideas to deepen your understanding of them,
On the other hand it can feel a bit like a maze that loops in on itself.
If I find myself circling the same ideas without deepening my connection to them, I change my diet.
New inputs makes new outputs, right?
If I change the things I consume, new ideas start to circulate and I form new relationships with them.
The best part is, the new information diet frames the old ideas.
You can revisit them but you do so anew. You’re knowledge is broader, you’ve lived in new strange lands and you’re taller than you were.
You see the old idea in a new light. Your knowledge deepens and grows and you aren’t stuck with stagnant water, but a roaring ocean of living information!
Be the boss of your notifications
Here’s the easiest way I know to be more productive:
Don’t let any apps send you notifications.
Smart phones are awesome but they’re also annoying. If anything happens on any messaging, email or social media app, it tells you.
There’s a noise and then that enticing red-apple-looking-notification sign with a number of how many juicy messages you get.
I’ve removed them all. My phone doesn’t tell me if I get an email or message.
The apps are still on my phone, they just don’t talk to me.
They can wait, thank you very much.
A number in a little red bubble doesn’t have the right to divert my attention.
I let them all accrue- messages, dms, notifications, emails.
And then I go and visit them when I’m ready.
I’ll look at you and deal with you when I’m good and ready. And some days I’m simply not ready. I can check tomorrow or next week or never.
Of course it does take some training to fight the urge to check. But once you get over that, you’re a bit free aren’t you?
And that’s pretty nice.
Less time reacting to red number bubbles and more doing things that matter to you.
Pick good beliefs
The best thing about beliefs is you get to choose them
The second best thing is they don’t have to be true.
They just have to serve you.
The adage goes that whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.
I think most people believe they can’t change their beliefs- funny that.
If we can divorce ourselves from ‘reality’ and choose instead to believe only that which serves us and others, we can probably do anything.
After all, it was ‘impossible’ for humans to run the four minute mile until Roger Bannister did it.
Once we saw him do it suddenly everyone could do it.
Did the evolution of the human body speed up that year or did we all change our beliefs?
Your beliefs are up to you- pick some good ones, yeah?
Win win
The best things in life aren’t free- the best things are win- win.
And here’s the best part- you get to control that.
We have to seek them win wins though- we have to look for them. I found one today I can’t wait to share with you:
The apple CarPlay in my car drops out sometimes. I’m not sure why- but it’s SUPER annoying. The last few times it happened, my face almost melted off I was that annoyed.
So this morning I had a plan. I popped my AirPods within easy reach and set off in my car. My Lenny Kravitz song was only in the first verse when CUT! my CarPlay stopped working.
Without missing a beat I put my AirPod’s in and continued listening to the man, the myth, the Lenny.
Win. Win.
If my CarPlay works- GREAT! I get to groove and the whole world can hear. If it drops out GREAT! I get to have a private ear drum party with my favourite songs.
This is how we must approach life. Set yourself up to win no matter the outcome. We can do this by manipulating our physical world (like the CarPlay situation). Or we can do it by reframing the outcomes to mean more empowering things for ourselves; “if this happens it’s good because X, and if that happens it’s good because Y.”
The best things in life are win win.
You probably don’t need to learn more information
I love learning. And this can actually be to my detriment.
Learning new information is particularly dangerous because on the one hand it is really good! It’s fantastic to gain new ideas, insights and strategies.
The very fact that it’s so positive is why it’s dangerous. Absorbing new information can mask inaction really well.
It’s not often that knowing more was the thing that made the real difference. We mostly know what we need to do.
Here’s a belief to try on: “You have everything within you that you need”
You can start right where you are. Within you also is the capacity to learn what you need on the way.
Trial and error. Hypothesise and experiment.
You can read about swimming or you can dive in the pool. You can probably guess which will get you closer to the Olympics.
Here’s another belief to try on:
The fact that you envisioned the thing you want means you have everything you need to get it. If you can picture it, you can have, be or do it.
Stop learning and jump in the pool.
Why you need to break your flow state
We should all take breaks when we work. You might think this is because you need to rest; maybe the work is difficult or not particularly enjoyable, so you have to stop to get some respite, right?
But you also have to have take breaks when you’re enjoying the work.
“But I’ll break my flow state!” you say.
I believe it’s detrimental to stay in it.
Set a timer to work and a timer to rest. Honour both.
If you don’t rest to break up the deep work, you’re more likely to burn out and get to the point of diminishing returns.
It won’t feel like it at the time, your brain will tell you “No! It’s going well, I’ll just do this little bit more!”
That’s a sure sign to take 5 minutes.
If you do take that 5 minutes, you’ll be ITCHING to get back to work AND you’ll have the benefit of a short break.
The 5 minutes you take off of the enjoyable work acts like a sling shot, pulling back the rubber band and building your excitement, anticipation and so the passion you can bring to your next work chunk.
Take breaks when it’s hard and take breaks when it’s fun.
You’ll get more out of yourself over time.
And the winner is…
Sometimes my work day feels like a host announcing the winner of American Idol:
“And the winner….of American Idol is…
………..”
And on they pause!
I feel like I have hundreds of these little pauses throughout the day, and if you added them all together it would be the length of the debut album of the above mentioned American idol winner.
My pauses are caused by indecision. Should I do this or that? Should I use this approach or that? What’s the best colour to use here?
Here’s my answer:
The best one is the one you choose, okay?
If I catch myself over-deliberating the next cause of action on whatever scale, I just say to myself “get on with it Seacrest!”
Whakaiti
In te reo the word for small is iti.
It’s such a cute word. There’s also a word for making something small:
‘Whakaiti’
‘Whaka’ means to ‘do’ or ‘make’.
‘Iti’ means ‘small’.
To ‘whakaiti’ a person is to make them small. I love the simplicity of that translation. I don’t, however, love what it represents.
Making people small is, unfortunately, really common these days. Couples make jokes at the expense of their significant other, we laugh at peoples attempts or push them down when they try something new.
What we should aim to do is make people big: to whakanui them. That is, to shine a light on them. Uphold their mana. Listen when they want to be seen anew. Celebrate them and support them.
Remember, it’s not always obvious if what you’re doing is a whakaiti or a whakanui. And it might seem like a little joke here and there doesn’t matter…
But one cut still draws blood.
Here’s a simple question if you’re unsure: is what I’m saying or doing honouring the fullness of this human being, or shrinking them down for a quick laugh or aside?
It’s easy to whakaiti someone. But it takes real guts to make others big, celerbrate them and honour them no matter what.
Output is the outcome
We have to do something over and over again to get good at it.
Trying to paint the ‘perfect’ picture today is hard.
Trying to paint ‘a’ picture today is easier. And it still might be pretty good… or not.
But that’s not the point. Great pictures are rarely the result of an artist sitting down with the intention of creating a masterpiece.
The ‘masterpiece’ is one of a long line of drafts, sketches, doodles and scribbles.
You can’t have the masterpiece without the scribbles.
Make repetition your resolve. Invest in iteration. Output is the outcome.
Under the bus
When people make jokes about other people, they say it’s throwing them under the bus.
Why do we do this?
This kind of humour is easy- it’s like junk food. It might taste good- get a little laugh- and it may bring you closer to other people in the environment…
But it’s junk food. It’s trash and we shouldn’t eat it.
Let’s not throw people under the bus for a quick laugh or some cheap connection.
Let’s put them on the bus and give them a bunch of flowers.