WT = Waiting Time. DT = Development Time.
PLANNING (task, scheduling, and WT = DT): I plan to write my Leap Year W19 post into the site Medium on Wednesday at 6 PM in study. I plan to turn those small WTs into Grateful Time, where I look to see what I can be grateful for in those situations. For example, last week I thought how grateful I was for having the abundance to buy medicine freely. If my family or I get sick, we can just buy what we need without a worry. I am grateful for that.
EXECUTION (strategies used): W48 in the books! Although I use a combination of many strategies throughout the week, there are always some that are used more than others depending on what comes up. For example, I relied heavily on the Be a Pro, Implementation Intentions, and Got 2-Minutes strategies this week, as I was not able to complete the weekly task until Friday afternoon. The highlighted strategies that were used in the week are listed below along with the I CAN'T statements that they help overcome.
Procrastination...I CAN'T because I am not motivated or do not feel like it...
Be a PRO: I actually learned this strategy through insights from Jeff Goins, Tim Ferris, and James Clear.
First, Jeff Goins mentioned in a podcast that “action will follow mindset.” Second, James Clear wrote that it does not matter what you want to become better at, the only skill that separates a “Pro” from an “amateur” is the ability to show up. Third, Tim Ferris said on his 4-Hr Work Week blog that “Practicing key habits when we don’t want to is the most key habit to all.” This reinforces this idea of being a “Pro” by having the mindset to show up consistently and completing the work.
The difficult thing about being a pro requires us to consistently follow through. Yet, we often let the challenges of everyday life get in the way and only attempt to do the work when we feel motivated. This produces small gains if any and leads us down a path of frustration. There will be days when you do not want to complete a key habit or activity, but develop the mindset of a “Pro” by showing up, sticking to your schedule, and then completing the tasks that move your forward.
Early Scheduling = Implementation Intentions: This is a strategy that I credit to completing my tasks consistently on a weekly basis. In this strategy, you first PLAN to complete a task at a SCHEDULED time (day and time) in a specific location as early in the week as you can. More specifically you fill in the following statement.
I plan to [task] on [day] at [time] in [location].
Three benefits are produced from doing this. First, you get a sense of accomplishment if you complete the task in the beginning of the week at the scheduled time. In addition, it allows you to devout more time to do additional tasks to reach your goals within the same week. Second, it provides more time to complete the task if life presents you with something that needs to be attended to during the original scheduled time. Lastly, research shows that you are 2X to 3X more likely to follow through on your actions. I learned about this strategy from James Clear, who is a great blogger that writes on the science of human behavior and how to build better habits. He shows the research on how Implementation Intentions help you follow through on your plans and achieve your goals.
Procrastination...I CAN'T because I do not have enough time
Got 2-minutes: I learned the 2-minute rule from James Clear, and it helps you initiate a task, as usually this is the most difficult step. All you have to do is focus on what you would do in the first 2 minutes of starting a task and then complete those actions. If you complete those steps and want to stop you can, but I find that I look up at the clock and see that I have been working fro well past 2 minutes when I do this.
I have now merged this with the "Got a Minute" strategy, which is used to turn any amount of free time into productive time. It comes from Vierordt's Law, which states that when estimating a previous task, people overestimate short durations and underestimate long ones. Simply put, we regularly overestimate how long it will take to accomplish meaningful tasks. Often times they can be accomplished in a short amount of time, so don't judge if you will start something by how much time you think you have, just start!
REFLECTIONS (learnings and actions): The countdown has actually started, as there is less than a month until the completion of my Leap Year process. Wow, I can not believe there is only four weeks left.
Although there is not enough room in this individual post for me to list all the things that I have been learned, achieved, or gained, I have decided to list some of the biggest learnings for the remaining four weeks.
Starting from the first half of my Leap Year process I learned that meaningful results can be accomplished through consistent 1% improvements, or another name for this is Aggregation of Marginal Gains. Before I started the Leap Year, I thought meaningful results were the were the result of huge, drastic changes. Wrong. This only leads to you feeling overwhelmed, stressed, frustrated, burnt out, and eventually ends in you quitting whatever you started.
I have gained the realization that meaningful changes take time, and can be accomplished through small actions done over and over. That is it. For example, I thought I would just have to have huge chunks of time or totally change my schedule to write this book, but I have literally just spent roughly 20 minutes per day for six months to reach 40,000+ words. This just highlights the power of doing small actions consistently.
So what do you want to accomplish or change? Whatever it is, just start and complete small actions that you can take to get there. I can easily say this is how I have reached the levels where I am today.
Confucious said that "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." All you have to do is take the first step, then the next, and the next until you arrive at your destination.
You got this!
What went well?
Weekly task completed and I am learning the power of prioritization.
I pride myself on being efficient and getting all or most of my daily tasks completed, but I read a great piece from Darius Foroux, founder of @ProcrastZero, in the site Medium this week that highlighted the importance between being efficient and EFFECTIVE.
First, efficient means you get a lot of things done, and allows you to do, learn, and advance more than others. This is a great quality, but this can lead to burnout, as you continually just push and push until you get to a point where everything just caves in on you.
However, EFFECTIVENESS refers to getting the "right things done." This relates to tasks related to your work, but also meaningful endeavors you are taking on, ie the Leap Year process.
Who else has a "To Do" list the size of Mount Everest? I did, and still do, but knowing the difference between being efficient and EFFECTIVE has helped me to weed items on the list, and even allowed me to feel no guilt if some things were not completed (if you know me that is huge thing!).
Why? Although I know I feel a sense of achievement when I do complete all my daily tasks, I have learned that completing what is most important to my family, me, and my Leap Year are the most beneficial. If there are items on the list which have no lasting affect on my priorities, then I can easily take it off my list, or keep it there until I have more time.
Hopefully you can use this clarification between being efficient (still a great quality to posses) and EFFECTIVE to prioritize the items on your "To Do" list.
What is something we can improve upon? What actions can we take next week?
Being EFFECTIVE and trimming items that do not fall in line with family, me, The Leap Year, and The Foundation.
What is something to avoid next week?
Trying to accomplish anything and everything.
Thanks for tuning in and see you in W49.
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