3 Things That I Learned This Week — 01/23/22
Happy Sunday!
Each and every Sunday I spend time reflecting on my week and planning for the week ahead.
So I wanted to share some of my top wins, lessons, issues & thoughts from this past week.
- Automate Daily Actions
I am a big believer in automating and delegating as much as you possibly can with the caveat that you can then focus on what is in your zone of genius and things that you truly enjoy. That last part is key. As there’s no point using squeezing a productivity hack into every spare minute if it means destroying your life balance and sense of peace. Automate things that must be done daily by outsourcing, or putting a habit in place that you can do without thinking. Here are some ideas:
- Plan tomorrow’s clothes in advance or wear the same clothes every day. I keep my total number of clothing items small and make sure every piece goes with everything else. No planning needed: I just grab and go.
- Develop the habit of putting things away after use, every time. Yes, this does indeed imply that you have previously designated a place for everything! Ahem. Decluttering at the Speed of Life is a gem of a book that’s helping me get there.
- Plan the week ahead and review in the morning and in the evening. So this isn’t necessarily something you can automate — BUT if you spend 10–15 minutes in the morning and the evening reviewing, reflecting and adjusting you will save a ton of time and be much more productive.
What are some of your automation hacks?
2. Stop Taking Yourself So F*cking Seriously
A case of I-take-myself-too-seriously Syndrome. This syndrome does two things to you:
- It tells you you’re not good enough to __________ (fill in the blank)
- It tells you that what you have to share/do is absolutely worthless and no one is going to care.
This voice comes from the fear of failure. It got too caught up in the metrics — the views, the likes, the dopamine rush that someone ‘likes’ my stuff. This voice forgets why you are doing what you are doing in the first place. “One day I’ll cut the tree down. My axe is still not sharp enough for OPTIMAL SLICING. Or whatever.”
If you fall into the “one day I’ll…” fallacy, you’ll know what it feels like — you just keep finding reasons not to do the important things. You feel like you constantly need to get better at whatever it is before you actually do it. Or else you will feel like you’re wasting your effort. You don’t see the point of doing it if it’s not going to reach a million, billion, views and impact gazillion people. Sometimes it’s true, maybe you really aren’t at the correct skill level.
But what’s more likely is that you are afraid to fail.
I know this because I catch myself frequently. I don’t do it at all and keep “practicing” and “getting better”. It’s safer. I don’t have to risk facing the reality that maybe I’m really, truly, not good enough. But what we often forget is that the true learning, the true practice, the true growth, comes from actually doing it. Failure is just part of the process, whether you are “good enough” or not. And the more you fail, the more you learn from those failures, and the more you will start to succeed.
I realized I don’t have to take myself so seriously. I don’t need to take forever to shoot that video, launch that new product, make that new offer. I don’t need a razor-sharp axe to cut the tree. I just need to start cutting the damn tree.
Just doing the things that I want to and love to do, things that are important to me and my life.
To assure the obsessive, chronic procrastinators out there like myself, your axe is probably already sharp enough. Don’t overthink it. Stop taking yourself so f*cking seriously and just cut the damn tree.
3. Control Your Phone Usage
This one can be hard. Your phone is your baby (lol). While you can run million-dollar businesses using them, you can also let them fetter you to utter ruin — through doom scrolling, social media, porn, and video games.
With the average American spending a whopping 5.4 hours on their smartphone daily, it’s, unfortunately, the latter for most. Anxiety, eyestrain, headaches, depression, and rock-bottom motivation — the effects are terrible.
“The cell phone has become the adult’s transitional object, replacing the toddler’s teddy bear for comfort and a sense of belonging.” — Margaret Heffernan
Did you know that the average user picks up their phone over 160 times per day?! Per day. What’s worse — it takes 23 minutes on average once you get distracted to come back to what you are working on.
Here are some quick tips:
- Turn your phone from a bright colorful object to black and white.
- Turn off all notifications
- Put your phone in another room while you are working
- Even more importantly turn it off when you are with your family
Have a great rest of your Sunday!
Talk Soon,
Dan
P.S.
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