Productivity

Decide Your Meeting Agenda Before…

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A good agenda is the first step to any successful meeting. If you want to make the best use of everyone’s time, turn your bullet points into questions that drive to the outcomes you’re looking for.

For example, instead of a general topic like “Budget Problems,” try a specific question like, “How will we reduce our spending by $100,000 by the end of the fiscal year”? Or replace an item like “Strategic Planning” with a challenge like, “What is the key market threat we need to be aware of, how could it affect us, and what can we do to anticipate?” Preparing these questions before the meeting will make it easier to determine who should be there and how much time you’ll really need.

Ultimately, a questions-based approach to your agenda can bring focus, engagement, and better performance to your meetings. And if you can’t think of questions to ask, maybe you don’t need that meeting after all!

Effort and value…

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One of my blogs took more than a week to write, 4 hours a day. Another took a total of 3 hours. Both attract the same traffic. The quicker one outdid the other 20 to 1 in traffic.

2 years of product work solves almost exactly the same problem as a one-month product work.
The effort of something is largely irrelevant, people are paying attention to its value.

Your customers don’t care what it took for you to make something – Effort. They care about what it does for them – Value.

Perfect moment for upskilling…

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Now, today sprint in learning something that’s difficult to learn. Not because a teacher or a boss made us do it, but because we chose to. Not only do we get to keep that skill forever, but the act of taking control and expending the effort will change our mood.

And this is the perfect moment for generous connection. Going way beyond the news of the day, we have the chance to create intimate digital interactions that last.
It’s a significant posture shift, one which might change who you see when you look in the mirror.

We might not be able to do anything about external events, but we have control over our actions. Sometimes, it’s hard to stare right into that opportunity, because it comes with a lot of responsibility.
What will you learn today? Who will you teach?

By starting small, we can achieve big results…

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High achievers often have lofty aspirations for self-improvement. But big goals — such as “meditate for an hour every day,” or “reading 50 books a year” — are often more burdensome than they are sustainable. So, start small by focusing on “microhabits” — more achievable behaviors that you build over long periods of time.

These habits should be ridiculously small, like meditating for 30 seconds or reading a paragraph each night. To minimize effort, piggyback on a daily task. Perform your new action at the same time as (or right before) something you already do every day. Read that one paragraph while brushing your teeth. Meditate while waiting for your coffee to brew.

Then, track your progress, but keep it simple. Try using a “yes list” where you write down the desired action, and under each date simply note a Y or N to indicate if you completed the task. Once you’ve accrued several weeks of Ys, you can increase your microhabit by a small increment, say 10%.

Continue these tiny, incremental adjustments until the new habit is part of your muscle memory. Focus on “Microhabits” to Change Your Behavior.

How to Leave Work at Work

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Some jobs have very clear lines between when you’re “on” and when you’re “off.” But when you work in a role where the lines are blurred — or potentially nonexistent — it’s important to protect your non-work time.

If you feel like work is taking over most of your waking hours, start by clearly defining what “after hours” means for you. Take into account the number of hours you’re expected to work each week, as well as personal commitments like taking your kids to school, making a certain train, or attending an exercise class you really enjoy.

When do you need to start and stop to put in the appropriate amount of work time? Then, develop mental clarity about what needs to get done and when you will do it. Keep track of your tasks and plan them out. Make sure you block off time for an end-of-workday wrap-up, where you review and make sure you did everything you needed to do for the day. Lastly, communicate with your colleagues about how (or if) you want to be contacted during your off-hours. Really guard your time.

If you don’t, you won’t get the mental break that everyone needs.

More interesting than this…

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Something is more interesting than this and it’s always true.

Whatever you’re doing.

No matter who you’re with.

Something, somewhere, is more interesting than this and now.

And it’s in your pocket.

All the time. As long as the battery lasts.

There’s an alert, a status update, breaking news. There’s a vibration or a text, just waiting. Something. Right now.

Until infinity.

Unless we choose to redefine whatever we’re doing as the thing we’ve chosen to do, right here and right now.

Anger & Resentment eats human energy bar…

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Life Energy Bar

A day without anger (resentment) is the most productive day. We accomplish most on that day in comparison and are more energetic at the end of the day.

All the talk about focus and increasing productivity is thrown away the moment we meet anger or resentment.

Observe a day and notice that the more we feel angry or resented about things or people, the day becomes more exhausting.

It’s like a video (computer) game, you have an energy bar when you start and anger keeps eating the bar till you bleed out at the end.

So…

If its chronic anger (resentment) start taking baby steps to solve it.

If its instant anger, ignore the triggers or control it. check – Different ways to control anger.

Hence to win a day one at a time, start by resolving to be less angry and resenting that day.

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