Sometimes the things that are best for you, aren’t the most enjoyable. That’s exactly how I’m feeling about my weekly and daily planning at the moment.
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It’s rare that I read an article and think – I wish I had written that. That’s exactly how I felt after reading Wise People Have Rules For Themselves by David Cain.
I agree with every single word.
It sounds odd to say ‘discipline equals freedom’ – but it does. It’s counter-intuitive. When you set rules for yourself that you know are good for you, it’s actually liberating. It’s a huge relief. You no longer have to flip flop between things that work, somewhat work and don’t work. You lean in towards what works for you. You live a life on your terms.
Five things that have helped me be effective at work in lockdown
June 25, 2020 in Focus, Life, Productivity, Work
Lockdown has been very challenging for me. It’s taken me much longer to adapt to working from home than I would have expected.
I’ve struggled with a lot of things – video call fatigue, work / life balance, focus and motivation – to name a few. If I’m honest, I lost my edge at times. I feel like I’ve had the least impact I’ve had over a three month period for a long time.
That said, over the last few weeks I’m getting into a much better place with it. I’ve been reflecting on what’s helped the most, and five things came to mind:
It started off easy, but it was about to get much harder.
I jumped on the assault airbike and got my first twenty calories done. I held a fast (ish) pace, which took about a minute.
Next up was Ella. She had fifteen calories to do, which also took about a minute. Whilst one of us worked, the other rested. So, we both worked for roughly a minute, followed by a minute of rest.
When I was younger, I felt invincible. I partied hard with friends almost every weekend. ‘Sleep is for losers’ I would tell people – ‘I only get 5 hours a night!’
I’d go to bed exhausted on a Sunday evening. But, on Monday I was always in the office at 6.00 am, preparing for the week ahead. And from 09.00am, I was straight into the flow of management meetings and execution.
I felt hungover and tired alot. But, I pushed through it and usually felt OK by Tuesday. I used to be proud that I could get away with burning the candle at both ends. Work hard, play hard right? Continue reading »
It’s been a long time since I’ve loved a product as much as Whoop. It’s helped opened my eyes to the fine balance between pushing myself hard, resting and recovering.
It’s also helped me be far more self aware of where my body is at, and what I can do to influence things. Continue reading »
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.
I made working on my mindset my number one priority – here’s what happened.
January 7, 2020 in Life, Mindset
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:
- Drink two glasses of water with my fish oil and multivitamin
- GMB Elements workout
- Mckenzie back exercises
- Shower
- Catch train (07.53)
- etc. (you get the idea)
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:
- Self awareness
- Do a Reset
- Decide the line
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.