Don’t worry, it really is me writing this. No one has hacked my account! 😉
I got quite a few replies to yesterdays My love / hate relationship with weekly planning post. I realised after I hit the send button, that I should have included a few caveats.
I spend roughly two hours each week planning my personal life – usually on a Sunday evening.
I start with reminding myself what’s important. Luckily, I don’t have to try and figure this out (that would take longer than two hours!). I’ve already spent a lot of time thinking about this, and have something I can refer to and review.
About 18 months ago, I faced a cold, hard truth about myself – my mindset was holding me back.
I had this moment where it really clicked for me – this can’t go on. If I didn’t address it, I would be left with some serious regrets in life. I wrote about it here.
It might be the most important thing you ever have to figure out for yourself. How do you get important work done?
It’s the key to living a full, productive, happy and balanced life. When you don’t have this figured out, you end up doing a lot of things, but actually achieving very little.
I’ve settled on a couple of strategies for helping me get important work done. Before I share them, I want to talk about The Eisenhower Matrix. It’s one of the most powerful frameworks I’ve found to think about where you spend your time.
When I woke up this morning, I found myself worrying about where I was in life.
It’s been a chaotic few months. We had a family holiday in Yorkshire. We’ve been doing a major house renovation, where we had to move out for 6 weeks. We moved back in now, but we’re still living in a partial building site. My daughter Fearne started school. And, I’m holding down a fairly ‘full on’ job in London.
I’ve found it a struggle to get, and stay in my groove. My environment has been all over the place, which makes it hard to stick to my habits and routines. It’s a reminder that these habits and routines are the foundation for how I organise my life and get things done.
As I sat there worrying and beating myself up, I remembered two things – which helped knock me out of it.
A couple of weekends ago, I had the most awesome Sunday roast dinner. I over-indulged, and that was fine – I felt great and I’d earned it.
But, things could have been very different. Let’s rewind back a few hours…
I just finished reading Living with a Seal, and it was SO GOOD. Potentially life changing.
I’ve already sent a few copies to friends, and I’ve recommended it to more than ten people (this is very rare for me).
I’ve worked with some great operators over the last 20 years. And there seems to be a common thread amongst them.
It comes down to how they’re able to think across three different time frames. Importantly, how they’re able to perfectly balance the time they spend in each of these time frames.
Inversely, bad operators tend to spend their time almost exclusively in just one of these time frames. Either that, or they don’t balance the time they spend in each one very well.
I recently started a new role at a games studio. This has meant I’ve had to get to grips with some strategies and systems for being focused and effective at work again.
The good news is that I’ve accumulated them over the last twenty years, so they are coming back to me quickly. But, I’ve also noticed some new ways to think about things. I wanted to get them all out of my head, in case others find them useful.
When I woke up this morning, I knew exactly what to do:
I knew exactly what to do because I sat down the night before and made a plan.
I put a lot of effort into curating my social media feeds, to discover great content. By great, I mean things that might spark an idea, and have potential to have a big impact on my life.
Below are five things I’ve read, listened to, or watched recently – that I think are really special:
1 – I loved the Joe Rogan Experience #1250 – Johann Hari podcast. Johann Hari is a writer and journalist on the topics of depression, addiction and the war on drugs.
In how to win the battle with addictive behaviours, I outlined a three step process:
I think most people would assume the reset is the hardest step. I’m finding out that’s not the case.
We have lots of things in our lives, that it’s worth finding the right line for.
A few examples are alcohol, social media, caffeine, sugar, Netflix, screen time etc. The list goes on.
I spend a lot of time thinking about stuff like this. I’m ultimately trying to get to what the right level of consumption is for me.
I put a lot of effort into curating my social media feeds, to discover great content. By great, I mean things that might spark an idea, and have potential to have a big impact on my life.
Below are five things I’ve read, listened to, or watched recently – that I think are really special:
1. Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a documentary about 85-year-old sushi master Jiro Ono. He owns a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant in a Tokyo subway station. Despite its humble appearance, it holds the prestigious three-star Michelin Guide rating.
I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions. I haven’t made any for the last few years, and I failed to keep most of the ones I made before that.
Instead, I prefer to be thinking about this stuff in a different, and ongoing way (more about that at the end of this post).
That said, there is something about one year coming to a close, and another starting. It feels like a good time to take stock of where you’re at.
I’ve been doing that for the last couple of days, and wanted to share the process I’ve been going through.
I put a lot of effort into curating my social media feeds, so I can discover great content. By great, I mean things that might spark an idea, and have the potential to have a big impact on my life. Below are five things I’ve read, listened to, or watched recently that I think are really special:
1. The JRE MMA Show #47 with Tyson Fury is a truly amazing interview between Tyson Fury and Joe Rogan.
I wonder about myself at times. Ella already thinks I’m weird, and shit like this really doesn’t help.
So, I’m walking to this restaurant by myself. And I’m thinking — I wonder if I can go in and just eat lunch. No phone, no kindle, no nothing. Just me and my lunch.
I’ve tried almost every type of strategy to get my social media use under control. By under control, I mean managing the negatives, so that overall it’s a net positive in my life.
That is, until 3 weeks ago. I tried something new, and I’ve finally nailed it.
It’s hard to think of self education and development as anything but positive. If you’re not bettering yourself, you’re moving backwards right?
I’ve come to realise that self education and development can be both the key, but also the curse to a fulfilled life.
Waking early and making good use of the early hours is the biggest life hack there is — no exception. It’s a competitive advantage that almost feels like you’re cheating. You’re getting stuff done whilst most other people are sleeping like babies!
But, it can be hard to find one you like doing and will stick to (these are linked).
In my experience, there are three things that are at the root of not sticking to a morning routine: