I could spend all day, every day, signing petitions, writing letters and spamming my friends about important issues.  It’s important, but all things in moderation, right?  Making a living is important too.  So, what will be my strategy when I’m “working” again?

• Use the timer for everything I do at my desk, starting right at the beginning of the day.
• Prioritize non-work tasks.  Activism will have to compete for my time with all of life’s other demands.
• If something really big and important comes up, that’s what evenings are for.

It’s too easy for me to put off work to do other “important” things – because I don’t like working!  If I have to balance those “important” things against other pleasurable pursuits (books, movies, games, getting to bed on time), then I think we’ll see some real prioritization.

-J

• I’ll just eat this candy bar now, but then I’ll eat no more desserts this week.
• I don’t feel like working out.  I’ll go to the gym tomorrow.
• I’ll just read articles today, and I’ll get down to the real work tomorrow.

Stop believing that you’ll magically be a stronger person in the future.  The evidence is in: however you are behaving now is how you will go on behaving.  You have to BECOME a stronger person.  Start now.

Ask yourself: what I am about to do, am I willing to live the rest of my life like this?  Do I want the consequences of eating dessert after lunch every day, of always skipping the work-out, of alway goofing off?  Decide how you want to live your life, and live that way RIGHT NOW.  Your future self is saying: “You first.“

source: Kelly McGonigal via Daniel Pink: How to Make a New-Year’s Non-Resolution. (thanks Suzy )

Stop Being So Damn Productive

With mental tasks, productivity doesn’t increase linearly with time worked. Every hour spent working hard is a tax on the next hour you want to spend working hard. And so on until you can spend hours, even days, working without achieving.

Remember the quote “You speak a lot, but you don’t say much”? Same goes for working a lot.

http://lifehacker.com/5867102/stop-being-so-damn-productive

The Trick to Accomplishing More by Doing Less

Multitasking all day is not as productive as working in 90 minute stretches with 15-20 minute breaks (or even a nap) and a real lunch break.

http://lifehacker.com/5867995/the-secret-to-accomplishing-more-by-doing-less-take-breaks

How Rewards Can Make You Hate Something You Love

“Many people—including us—have argued that doing what you love and getting paid for it is the holy grail of life achievements, but in reality we tend to get discouraged when presented with the possibility that we’re only doing something for the money.”

http://lifehacker.com/5868585/how-rewards-can-make-you-hate-something-you-love

I would ascribe a different interpretation to the observed phenomenon: that, when getting paid to do something, you have to do it.  You have to do it to a schedule, and you have to do it to somebody else’s satisfaction.  When the task is no longer enjoyable, you have to keep doing it to completion.  Whereas, when you do something purely for enjoyment, you only do it for as long as it is enjoyable to you.

Applications to motivation and procrastination.

-Johnny 0.

How To Work From Home Without Going Insane

Procrastinators who work from home should especially read this one.

-J

How to Quit Mindlessly Surfing the Internet and Actually Get Stuff Done

I blushed when I saw the title… was this written about me?  There are some good insights in here, and links to the kind of distraction-blocking apps that I’ve been looking for FOREVER!  These browser plug-ins can be configured to limit your time on your favourite time-waster sites (Facebook, Reddit, WordPress, etc.) and/or to block certain sites during certain times of day.  A self-discipline aid – just what I need!

Hey Sandy, what’s the name of the Mac app you use to shut down your internet connection?  I finally found some Windows equivalents.

I’ma go install one right now.

-Johnny 0.

Fallacious Action: I’ll slouch in front of the computer and look for things to entertain me.  Until I feel like starting my day.

Reality Check: After a couple of hours of surfing, I still feel lethargic and in no mood to exercise or work.

The Plan For Next Time: Lacking the energy for anything else, I should at least get dressed and go for a walk.  A long walk always wakes me up.  Then I’ll feel ready to start my day.

1. With One Good Day under my belt, I now feel like I have a foothold, a beachhead in the realm of Productivity.  I have this imaginary momentum that I want to maintain.  I feel like it will be easier to have another good day, today.

2. Why, after weeks of being at sea, did I finally have a good day?  Who knows.  Maybe it was the new approach I tried of making my list for the day: I put EVERYTHING on it: work tasks, phone calls to make, “work out,” “shower and get dressed,” and I listed my top priority project four times.  The premise was that crossing things off the list feels rewarding, so the more things on the list the better! – and I wanted to spend several 20-minute periods on my top priority that day.  I even wrote “free internet time” on my list – and allowed 20 minutes for that (better than my usual 6 hours…).  I also want to get into the habit of NOT doing anything that isn’t on the list.  Anything new that came up went on the general TO-DO list for consideration tomorrow (unless it was too urgent to wait).

I’ll be using the same list technique today.  Wish me luck.

-J

Past few months, my productivity has been pretty poor, pretty “scraping by”.  I’m hitting the deadlines, but just barely.  And I’m not making ANY time for those other pursuits that I claim are so important to me.  And what do you know… I’ve gotten out of the habit of following The Now Habit.  Big surprise.

Today’s reminders:

• I can focus for 20 minutes without self-distracting (I’m working my way back up to 30 minutes)
• Using a timer, and recording my productive periods on a daily calendar, really helps
• When in doubt, start.  Starting is a victory, and the first step to many more.

What have I learned?  That:

• when I stop using the timer and filling in the Unschedule, my work habits and productivity suffer precipitously.
• I procrastinate when a project hits an unexpected road block, when a difficult decision is required, or when I discover that more work than I had planned on is required.
• When “important” non-work things (like blogging about election issues) creep into my work day, they quickly become permanent additions to my routine (because they’re more fun than real work) and take up increasingly more of my time.
• When I “fall off the wagon,” I can’t expect to just snap back to the level of productivity that I had attained before, I may have to start again at the beginning and work my way back up.
• If I spend my “work” and “guilt-free play” periods all at the computer without getting up, I get lethargic and dopey and lose the will to be productive.  No matter what my guilt-free play entails, I should get up and re-invigorate myself every 30mins or so!
• Daily exercise is great for avoiding headaches and getting quality sleep.
• BEFORE I sit down at the computer, I should decide what I’m here to DO, and then start the timer (even for play).  Otherwise, I can waste hours on email, FB, newspaper sites and websurfing before I even look at my to-do list.
• Important personal projects, if I’m going to get them done, should switch between “guilt-free play” activities and “work” activities depending on my level of enthusiasm/procrastination for them.  Most personal projects start out as the former and morph into the latter before completion.

It’s good to be reminded once in a while of

How well you CAN FOCUS and How FAST you can WORK.

-J