3 Things That I Learned This Week
Happy Sunday!
Each & every Sunday I spend time reflecting on my week and then planning for the week ahead.
So I wanted to share some of my top wins, lessons, issues & thoughts from this past week.
1. Reduce The Number of Decisions You Make Daily
Or, rather, pre-deciding what gets done, so you do not have to make as many decisions during the day. Part of the reason you will struggle to get more done is your time thinking about what to do. Without a plan for the day, it’s surprising how much time is wasted thinking about what to work on. This usually leads to working on the least important task because it’s easy and can be done in a few minutes. So the thinking goes, if I just get this little task done, it will get me started.
But it doesn’t, does it? Once that little ten-minute task is done, you then waste another five to ten minutes looking to see what to do next, and that is repeated multiple times per day. If you want to get more done, you need to reduce your time trying to decide what to work on. And the way to do that is to have a plan and a process for the day.
Having fixed times each week for doing the work that matters ensures you get the work done and removes a lot of stress. When you know you have time to do the work you must do, you stop worrying about it. You just get on and do it.
2. Do Not Compare Yourself With Others
It’s really hard to not compare yourself to others but every person has their path. The success road and success map are different for every individual. So normally you should never compare yourself with other people. If you are following the paths of other people blindly, you should think about stopping and start walking on your own path.
Actually, there is a biological reason because we’re prone to comparing ourselves to others. People are using comparison to figure out how we measure against other people. Unfortunately, there are many negative effects in comparing yourself with others that you may have already felt before: Negative and anxious thoughts that are hard to come out of (known as rumination), Higher rates of anxiety and depression, overspending in an effort to keep up with the Joneses.
It’s really hard to not compare yourself to others but every person has their path. The success road and success map are different for every individual. So normally you should never compare yourself with other people. If you are following the paths of other people blindly, you should think about stopping and start walking on your own path.
3. Don’t sweat the small stuff.
During any goal-achieve journey, we will run into obstacles and roadblocks along the way. The key is to find workarounds — or a detour — rather than give up. In fact, not giving up is what separates the men from the boys, and the women from the girls.
Think of driving a car or going on a road trip. You might approach a construction site with a “road closed” sign. Do you pull over and say, “forget it! We’re never going to get there”? No. You find a detour or another route. Sure, it might add a little extra time to your journey, but you still get there.
Dealing with the little things on a daily basis can be a bigger time suck than what most of us realize. Take email, social media, and notifications on your Smartphone, for example. Shut it all down. Tune it all out. Even the slightest notification is enough to interrupt your focus and derail your productivity.
If possible, put your phone in a separate room. Shut down email. Close your browser tabs (other than what you are working on), even if it’s just for a few hours. In this short amount of time, you will likely see a huge difference in your ability to focus (and, therefore, your productivity).
Have a great rest of your Sunday!
Talk Soon,
Dan
