wasting energy Archives - How To Get Obsessed, Hit Goals and Make Money

Performance & Productivity, Personal Development

Thirteen Jacked Up Things That Are Pissing Away Your Life

This morning I was thinking about my constant effort to improve my productivity and energy management. The world is fighting against people that want to be productive, smart, efficient and ambitious. You have to always be on your toes and proactively plan your life so life doesn't take control of you. This post (like so many others) was written partially as a reminder to myself about the bad habits of the past that have killed my goals in life. I hope it opens your eyes and helps guide you towards the light of happiness.

TV is putting stupid things into your head.

Two of the worst types of content that are available on TV are the news and reality shows. Both are entertainment masked as reality. We often forget that, so we start using the content generated by those two categories as reality. TV news allows anybody that is entertaining to get on the air and say whatever they want and have it been presented as facts. And being wrong about your local and world events is worse than being ignorant. If you are ignorant you can say "I don't know". If you are wrong, you'll spread the wrong information to several more people before a mistake is discovered. Reality TV shows makes stupid people famous. And then they make our kids want to be like these stupid people.

Solution for both …

Ingest less random TV. Plan your shows. And know what you are watching. Seek out quality and educational shows. Just because something on news station does not mean it is news. It is often more entertainment than news.

Facebook is putting stupid things into your head.

Combine the ability for anybody to put up a website that can say anything (i.e. Fake news sites) and the awesome feature for information to spread like wildfire (social media), and you have the perfect storm to spread FUD (Fear, uncertainty and doubt). I've noticed a disturbing trend from my friends on social media. They are sharing information that they received via social media from websites that look like news. I am not referring to great sites like "The Onion" which is the king of all websites and does not pretend to be real. I am referring to the countless other sites which present a non-stop stream of conspiracy theories. It seems that we would rather believe something that sounds outrageous and far-fetched than the truth. I believe these sites are hurting our ability to stay objectively informed about topics that matter. Solution: Before you share news that sounds outrageous, please start performing due diligence and ensure that the story has some basis in fact. If not, please don't share it.

You are comparing your life to mine, to your neighbors, and the to the multi-millionaire whose book you read.

It is important to remember that all of us are on separate journeys. You wake up in the morning with a completely different set of goals and values than I wake up with. You don't know my dark struggles and I don't know yours. So, when you have an amazing amount of success, I should not be judging my life against yours. You likely worked hard and deserve every bit of it. Rather than being jealous I need to focus on my hustle, so I get closer to my goals and dream. I've written about this before in "Vanity and Jealousy are not part of the Success Equation".

You are eating crap pretending it is food.

Just like the television is putting crap into your head, we are putting crap into our mouths. Start being more aware of what you are eating and what it contains. Example: You've heard that chicken is good for you, but this is highly dependent on the way it is prepared. You've been hearing it since you were a kid and I'll emphasize it again here: It is hard to go wrong eating too many fruits and vegetables. I've spent a lot of time in elementary schools and the kids there are getting crap fed to them also. What goes into our mouths directly affects our moods and our energy levels. You should not let anything questionable past your teeth.

If you want to get a good idea of how the food you are eating is affecting your body, start using the MyFitnessPal website and mobile app. I've started using this recently to track my food intake and it has given me some great insight about the number of and types of calories that I am ingesting.

You refuse to exercise.

Thanks to technology we have a world filled with more information workers than ever before in history. Entire corporations are filled with people that are glued to a computer screen 12 hours a day. The lack of movement is killing our short-term and long-term health. If you don't want to be hobbling around just waiting to die when you are 50, then make regular exercise a part of your weekly routine. Don't over complicate it. Most of the basic exercise that we have learned since we were kids will work. But anything counts. If you do nothing right now, then get up and go walk 1/2 mile away from your house and 1/2 mile back.

If you are working in a building that allows breaks, go outside and walk around the building a couple of times. Please take your physical health seriously. It is not something that you can get to "someday".

You are spending time judging other people's bedrooms.

Stop being so concerned with what other people are doing behind closed doors. What I do with whom and when does not affect your life. You have a good time in your bedroom, and I'll have a good time in mine.

You love playing politics.

I am sure that politics used to be a noble profession. But it has lost its value. Most of the time if I am a Democrat and you are a Republican, you instantly must hate me. You instantly assume everything about me because you've been told on TV or on the internet what a horrible person I am because of my party. Politicians also spend a lot of time fighting to be "in control". Let's start working more as individuals with a common goal to better our country and our community. No two people in the same party believe the same way about everything. We really should be allowed to register as Independent without being penalized. We are independent people with independent thoughts on the topics that affect us. Stop fighting just to fight.

You are all talk and zero action.

This is the entire reason I started StopDoingNothing so I won't go into this one too deeply. Every blog post on the site deals with this topic. Remember that a poorly executed plan that has started is better than the perfect plan on paper waiting to start.

Even Elvis knew this

You spend too much time on Buzzfeed and related sites.

This is somewhat related to the post above about wasting time on the internet. Pay close attention to where you spend your time online. All websites are doing their best to keep you on their site for as long as possible. The longer you stay on a website the more of a chance you will buy something. So please think twice before clicking over to the next article you see about "20 Things That 80s Kids Will Totally Get" or before taking that next quiz to see what kind of dog that you would be. That article will likely contribute nothing to your education or goals, but it will eat into the time you spend working on your aspirations.

You believe that the weekend was created for you to do nothing.

Most of us have grown up in a "Monday to Friday 40-hour work week" kind of world. We've been conditioned to believe that Saturday and Sunday are days that we should relax so we can be ready to repeat the pattern of insanity on Monday morning. A better way of looking at your week is that you have 168 hours to accomplish whatever your soul desires. If you have to be strapped to a desk during the week while you work on your dream, then take advantage of weekends to get ahead. Start waking up early on the weekend. Treat them like any other productive day. People that are successful don't care about when something gets done. They treat everything as urgent and take advantage of all available time to make their dreams happen.
Start hustling more on the weekends.

You talk bad about other people.

Spend less time complaining about other people and more time looking in the mirror. Nobody is perfect. We don't have the right to judge our neighbors just because we sin differently than they do. If all of us focused on improving our own lives more we would not have time for caring what our friends are doing, how they are doing it or who they are doing it with.

You don't read enough.

See my note above about watching TV. You rarely gain a lot of knowledge from the TV because it is primarily designed to sell advertising. However, books allow you to focus on a single topic uninterrupted. When you are learning from a book it is not going to pause for a 30 second commercial. There is not going to be a book that pops up over the book telling you about the next book that is coming up. All the smart people that I know are always reading. Go find your closest library and start spending more time there looking for the books that have knowledge you wish to acquire.

You are not in the moments of your life.

We are addicted to our technology, and it is killing our face-to-face relationships. When you pick up a phone while you are sitting face-to-face with somebody, you are saying that what is on that screen is more important than the person in front of you. There are no emergencies in our phone. Unless you get a call from a relative or your kid's school about something, every email, phone call and text can wait until the meeting is over. Before we had phones in our pocket, we would get calls on our home phones. If we weren't there, the person on the other end would leave a message or call back later. That is how you should treat your cell phone. Take advantage of your voicemail and let most call go there. Cell phone calls and text kill productivity. And doubly so if you are having a meeting with someone. Start being 100% in the moment that you are in and put your technology aside.

Share this list with your friends on social media and challenge them to fight this list.

~ Patrick
(@patrickallmond on Twitter)

Performance & Productivity, Personal Development

The Four Best Damn Productivity Habits High Achievers Use

I’m a student of productivity. I have to be -- distractions are everywhere.

And while I know there are hundreds of apps designed to plan, protect, measure, and manage my time, I prefer some died-in-the-wool methods.

The good news is you can use them as well and with zero training.

First, how are you doing? Are you able to focus when needed and complete the task at hand? Are you organized and following a plan? Can you recover from inevitable distractions quickly and get back to work?

If you’re not sure you’re playing at the top of your time management game, then these solutions can make a big difference.

1. BOUNDARIES:

I think “open door” policies are stupid. It’s also stupid to check you email first thing in the morning, work without a plan and allow interruptions to rule your day.

That’s why you need Boundaries.

A Boundary is when you are strategically unavailable. Different from a meeting, a Boundary is a time block that reoccurs every day to allow you to work on projects that require your full attention.

My first Boundary is from 5:00 to 7:00AM for writing. No Internet, spell-check, email, or social media -- just a big cup of tea and writing. I will either be working on a blog (guess what time I’m writing this), client proposal or speech -- most mornings I can crank out 1,000 words.

My next Boundary is 9:15 to 10:30AM. I’m at my office (a 12-minute bike ride from home) and working on 50% of the hardest work on my plate for the day.

And then I have a Boundary from 1:30 to 3:30 for the second 50% of hard work.

Here’s the trick: I don’t worry if it doesn’t happen. It could be I have a client meeting, a speech out of town or I’m meeting someone. Of course, I try to schedule around my Boundaries, but if I can’t protect that time my trick is to return to my routine the next day.

2. BLOCKING:

You get ready and are on time for meetings. Right?

Why not create a meeting for yourself.

Blocking happens when you create an appointment with yourself for a task that either:

You know you might procrastinate about
Impacts someone else and they are relying on you to get it done
Is strategic and by completing it you move other projects ahead

When I get off the phone from a new client, I block time on my calendar to interview delegates (invaluable research as a speaker), create handouts, or have a final call with the client.

I also Block time for responding to RFP’s (Request For Proposals), researching for my blog, creating email sequences for upcoming webinars and just thinking.

I’m always a bit surprised how my Pavlovian reaction to seeing a meeting on my calendar (even if I’m not meeting someone) alerts me to get ready to work on that task.

One last point about Blocking time for yourself: my rule is once the Block is created you can’t delete it, only move it.

3. BATCHING:

When I visit my friend’s cabin each summer, we chop wood. Nothing like chasing a scrap of wood around the chopping block to keep me happy.

It would be a bit silly for me to announce I’m going to “chop some wood”, proudly return with one stick only to head out 20 minutes later to “chop some more wood.” Instead I Batch.

Batching is a lost art in our age of multitasking and it still works like a damn. When you Batch you complete similar tasks all at once. The most obvious example is your email. That addictive Inbox (Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D likens our addiction to email to that of a Vegas slot machine) will suck up every available moment unless you reserve your visits to Batching. Other examples of batching include:

paying bills
filing and clearing the clutter in your office
returning phone calls
updating your planning tools
updating social media
reading and commenting on blogs
dealing with personal finances, money transfers, investments, banks, insurance companies etc.

4. BREAKS:

And now for the one power tool that will have the biggest impact on your success -- taking Breaks. Don’t underestimate the power of a Break.

New research found that over four hours of sitting a day (between your breakfast, commute, email, social media, TV, Netflix and meetings that’s easy to do) doubles your risk of Type 2 diabetes, obesity and early coronary disease. Got your attention?

The trick is to take Breaks throughout the day, not to wait for that long walk in the evening. Researchers found that exercise after the fact (like going for a long run after work) can’t undo “damage” done while we’re dormant in our chair.

So, you have to plan to move at least every 15 minutes. Here’s how:

Move your garbage can, water and recycling box away from your desk,
When working on a project, set a timer for every 25 minute to get up and move,
Park further away from your office, meeting, grocery store and walk the rest of the way,
Take the stairs, and
Use this list of office exercises to inspire some variety in your movement.

Boundaries, Blocking, Batching and Breaks - pretty easy hacks to get you productive and moving.

What are you going to start with?

“When you feel good about what you did, your brain will change. It will want to do the behavior again in the future. That leads to making the habit stronger.”
~ B.J. Fogg, Ph.D

Bio:
Hugh Culver co-created the world’s most expensive tours (to the South Pole), started five companies, and teaches experts the business of speaking. Read his blog on the business of speaking.

Follow him on Twitter @hughculver

Performance & Productivity, Personal Development

Do You Get Easily Distracted As Your Work On Your Goals? (Print This)

The path towards success can be boring. Once you get intently focused on doing something, you start ignoring a lot of the distractions around you. You become less interested in things that waste your time and your energy. Friends might call you on a whim to go do something fun and you'll end up turning them down because that time was already planned. You have a workout planned. Or you are going to be finishing up the last chapter of your book. Or you were going to be spending quality time with your family.

During those times it helps to remember this list:

Remember your dream.
Remember what kind of physical shape you have to be in to get there.
Remember what kind of friends you are going to need to get there.
Remember what kind of financials you are going to need to get there.
Remember the books you are going to have to read to get there.

Focus on these and eliminate anything activity in your life that is not in line with this list. Let others plop themselves in front of the TV. Let everybody go out and get drunk. It may seem like your life is boring. But boring is another word for someone who is damned focused and won't let anything get in his/her way.

Get focused.

Print this (or something like this) and tape it to your bathroom mirror, your refrigerator, your monitor, and your nightstand.

Performance & Productivity, Personal Development, Staying Healthy

The Simplest Success Tip You’ll Ever Read

We love to overcomplicate success sometimes. But one of the most successful habits that has helped me over the years is so simple that people can't believe it possibly works.

It comes down to one word: Movement.

Successful people don't sit around much. They are always moving or standing or generating motion in some way. Movement has the magical quality of generating more movement and more energy. Whenever you sit down everything in your body wants to relax. Body parts want to fall asleep. When you stand and work your body has no choice but to pump more blood throughout your system to keep you upright. Sitting has always made me more sluggish - especially when I am already tired. But once I stand (like I am right now) my brain starts to go into overdrive with ideas. I've even learned that I can get a great Facebook or blog post out faster when I am standing. Whenever I visit spaces where people have to be highly creative, I'm seeing standing desks all over the place. And let's not even get into the extra calories that you are burning when you are standing and generating even the smallest amount of movement.

Want more energy?

More ideas?

More momentum?

More action?

Try standing instead of sitting.

You'll be happily surprised with the results.

Attitude Adjustment, Podcast, Staying Healthy

SDN EP 14: Why I Want You To Get To The Gym TODAY!

Over my four decades I have come to believe that managing our physical health is one of the best things we can do. It is obviously great for the body. But today I am going to talk to you about why it is great for the mind and soul also. Listen to the podcast. Watch the video. And then share your thoughts with me in the comments.

Performance & Productivity, Personal Development

The Three Three Crucial Success Assets That You Have To Manage

If you desire to live at a higher level you need to become disciplined in three areas of your life: Attention management, energy management and time management.

Attention Management:

What do you let enter your brain? Are you working on consuming information that is making you smarter? How much do you read vs. how much do you watch TV? Example: There is very little on TV that is educational. It is mostly entertainment. I'm all for a little entertainment, but nobody needs hours of it every day. I get on Facebook just like you do. But how much time do you spend on it per day browsing and commenting on other people's lives vs. learning? These are just two examples where your attention gets on things that may not taking you in the right direction.

Energy Management:

The human body has a limited amount of energy when you wake up every morning. Let's assume that you wake up on a normal day and are not sick. You have a finite bucket of energy in which to read, write, walk, drive, exercise, and just generally get things done. How much of that energy are you wasting? And are you consuming the right things to keep your energy level at its peak? Are you setting aside time every week to exercise and train your body to have higher energy levels?

Time Management:

I am sure you get tired of hearing about this from me. But it is important. Your time management is directly correlated to your attention management. When you don't think ahead and plan out your life, you have large blocks of idle time. Idle time tends to get filled with whatever shiny object catches your attention. And that shiny object is likely not part of your bigger goal set. Look at your calendar weekly and plan out where you spend attention intentionally.

In summary ...

You have a limited amount of attention, energy, and time. Be very stingy with all three of them. Use them for things that escalate your life and the lives of those around you. Idle minds never grow.

Share/like if this would be useful to your friends. This may seem like basic information. But a lot of the time we forget about the basics and get lost in shiny objects.

Shiny objects don't help us become high achievers.

Attitude Adjustment, Leadership Lessons, Performance & Productivity, Personal Development

Nobody Is More Interested In Your Happiness Than You. Start Living Intentionally.

Take a moment and think about how your day unfolds every day. What actions are you taking from the moment you wake up until you lay your head on your pillow at night. If it is anything like most people, your day probably goes on autopilot and looks something like this:

Get up to alarm. Dread throwing off the covers
Clean up, eat, help get the family out the door, get out the door yourself
Work through a series of tasks and appointments pushed at you by your job
Watch the clock and get happy when the end of the day has arrived
Head home. Decompress. Eat. Fit in some personal time
Sleep

After a typical day like this, how much have you accomplished for yourself?

If your day is anything like this, the only "me" time that you get is at the end of the day and you only get a very small slice of it.

Most people that are working for someone else are busting their chops to help the company succeed. If the company succeeds then the CEO succeeds, and then the shareholders succeed. This is a great model, and everybody benefits from your efforts. But it may be a horrible model for personal fulfillment.

If you are feeling unfulfilled at the end of the day, then you need to reevaluate how you spend your day. Your lack of fulfillment is a sign that you are not getting closer to your dream life. Your day is being spent with somebody else's mission and priorities at the top of your list. This is an acceptable way to start your life, but not an acceptable way to live it out and retire.

Make a plan to start living intentionally.

Document what you want to get out of your time on this earth. Nobody is more interested in your happiness than you. And nobody is going to work harder to make you happy than you. You need to be the center of your own world. I have personal experience with this. It's a great feeling to live with your goals and mission in front of you every day.

Start living intentionally. Remember that you are either pursuing your dream every day or you are pursuing somebody else's dream.

Feel free to download this image, share it on social media, or use it as a great screensaver:

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