This is usually a work-focused blog but I wanted to break from that, for a moment, to ask you a question –
What is it you’re working for?
I’ve asked myself this question at least a dozen times in the last several weeks. And reflecting on it led to the realization that:
The periods of my life marked by the greatest joy are when 1) I have a clear vision of what really matters and 2) daily life aligns with that vision.
The opposite has also been true. Read More
It’s hard to think of anything we assign more attention and anxiety to on a daily basis than email.
Over the years I’ve experimented with literally dozens of plans to increase productivity, improve flow, and lower work-related stress.
During the holidays I re-read parts of The 4-Hour Workweek and discovered that implementing #3 below radically improved my ability to focus and lowered work anxiety.
Simply put, Tim was right about this one – it’s a game-changer. Read More
While scrolling through a deck on corporate culture I was struck by this astute analogy (slide 34):
If you are like everyone else on the internet, you probably suffer long periods of distraction.
And if you’re distracted there’s a good chance you’re procrastinating. (You’re not the only one.)
Let go for too long, these many small procrastinations morph into one mammoth stressor. This is the kind of stress that makes you talk to yourself, rewrite incessant but unstruck to-do lists, and, eventually, keeps you awake at night. Read More
I recently crossed the threshold into fossildom – turning 30 years old. For an industry as young as internet marketing is proving to be to turn thirty feels two ticks to the right of ancient.
Allow me 60 seconds of your time to distill a myth that I bought into, hard and heavy, for most of my twenties. It’s a cautionary tale born of experience. It is also a complete waste of time.
You don’t need permission to ________________. (Insert whatever it is you want here).
Seriously. Read it again. Read More
I am a list builder.
I break projects down into their most granular tasks and write them down in a to-do list on an old school scrap of notebook paper. If you look around my desk, folded and tucked neatly reused as bookmarks into books on my shelf, and in my round file cabinet (aka the trash), you’ll find them everywhere.
Using to-do lists is reinforced everywhere on the web. The tech industry, in particular, is obsessed with the cult of productivity and to-do lists. There are posts on the 5 best to-do list managers, not-to-do lists, and there are apps for that.
While rummaging through some old papers early this morning I stumbled on a quote I kept on the cork board above my desk in college.
I thought it practicable when I was 19, but in rereading I find so much more truth to it today, ten years worth of life experiences later.
“The longer I live, the more important I realize the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude, to me , is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than successes, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home. Read More
I quit my nine-to-five 1 year, 8 months and 21 days ago. There are a few things I wish I had known before setting out and quite a few I have to keep reminding myself along the way. So rather then scrawl it into yet another notebook I thought I’d publish it.
