While I’m a strong believer in self-experimentation, I also “keep it real” with basics in every training session. Loads of bodyweight workouts for general physical preparedness, and of course moving big iron for strength skill work. My strength & conditioning sessions (the primary choice for my entire adult life) consist primarily of the basics: kettlebells, deadlift, squat, bench press, and military press variations. Depending on my goals at the time, I vary the sets, reps, tempo, rest periods, and “supplementary” work. Sometimes the goal is to get stronger or bigger, sometimes it’s to get faster, and sometimes it’s to get leaner. I enlist the help of an awesome, experienced strength coach every few weeks or months to make sure my form is spot-on, and that I’m constantly improving (something I shouldn’t have waited so long to do).

I’ve also evolved my programming and have found a pretty good rhythm. After tearing my right medial meniscus after a July 4th Crossfit workout last year, I realized the hard way that there is a big difference between exercising and training. As much as I loved Crossfit workouts, anyone will sweat and feel spent if pushed to the breaking point. Training is different. Training is personal. Training is about goals. Now, every time I enter the gym, I have a goal to hit. That’s what training is all about. No more random daily workouts with no structure or sound programming behind them.

So what’s new in my gym bag? Let’s get to it.

Liquid Grip

If you aren’t lifting with chalk, you aren’t really lifting. Chalk helps tremendously with bodyweight and barbell work – and it significantly increases the safety of any lift. Sweat is slippery, and if you’re lifting anything of substance, slight shifts in the grip can cause issues elsewhere. Worst case, slippery hands could result in dropping hundreds of pounds on your head.

Problem is, most commercial gyms don’t have chalk. It’s messy and requires maintenance. Of course, the fact that it’s the safest way to lift doesn’t convince most gym owners to have chalk clouds in their gyms. Crossfit gets this right for what it’s worth.

I stumbled upon a great alternative, however, called Liquid Grip. It’s liquid chalk in a small bottle – squirt a little liquid into your palm, rub your hands together, and boom – instant hand chalk that lasts an entire session. My first workout using Liquid Grip, I was able to set a personal record on the rack deadlift (365lbs for 3) and I credit this to being able to hold the darn bar without worrying about it slipping. I also haven’t had a blister since I started using it. This stuff is super impressive and really convenient.

Tiger Tail

A great addition to the gym bag for soft tissue work, the Tiger Tail is small (18” or 22”) and portable. It’s basically a mini foam roller for the body (though it’s easiest to use on legs). In the past, I’d used and recommended The Stick but wasn’t thrilled with either the pressure I could generate OR the way the pieces interacted during the roll. I was occasionally pinched. The Tiger Tail feels more durable, doesn’t bend as much, and I can get a better ‘massage’ using it. The only downside is that it’s a little long, so it can be a little unwieldy to tote around the gym.

How do I use it? Pre-workout to warm-up my always sore calves and quads mostly, and then I switch to a foam roller or PVC pipe for other body parts. I also use it on my off days to roll out sore muscles as part of my “prehab” routine.

Note: If you don’t use a foam roller, I’d also recommend The Grid – but honestly, any foam roller will do. For more advanced athletes, PVC pipe is also great to have handy. I bought a 6” outdoor pipe from Lowe’s for $6 and it’s proven invaluable for soft tissue work.

Indian Clubs

These are very new for me, and I honestly don’t have much to say about them yet. In fact, I was just introduced to them a week ago by my strength coach and I’ve since done a bunch of reading, DVD watching, and a little light practicing. I’m fascinated with Indian Clubs the same way I was fascinated by kettlebells last year. There’s something very primal about using such basic tools to train. This is especially true given my martial arts background, specifically in Kali and other Filipino arts, which have a focus on weaponry (I love my Kali sticks).

The thing that’s most interesting to me about Indian Clubs is their use in warming up and patterning shoulder movement in a safe yet effective way. There’s an element of “getting ready” from a neurological perspective that seems to work well too, “grooving” your movement prior to training or on off days. And of course, one of the stated benefits rings true for me: “Counteract the negative impact of too many hours sitting hunched at a computer keyboard.”

Yup.

Stretch-Out Strap

The Stretch-Out Strap is the best I’ve found for doing contract-relax (or PNF) stretches without a partner. It’s sturdy and strong, and has a series of loops for your feet/legs. While the examples in the included book are pretty comprehensive, I primarily use it for hamstrings and hips and I’ve found it to be a pretty great resource. There’s a reason strength coaches and physical therapists use this thing.

For what it is, it’s also very reasonably priced ($12). It will probably outlast everything in my gym bag.

Primal Pacs + Macadamia Nuts

This suggestion is probably better suited for a “focus snack” style post, but it’s become such a routine for me that I do carry these around in my gym bag (or in the side pocket of my cargo shorts like right now).

Primal Pacs, made in Seattle, consist of organic grass-fed and finished beef, dried mango, and raw nuts. The beef jerky has some special seasoning on it which makes it, to my taste buds, the best tasting “paleo” snack out there. And because of the quality of the meat included, it’s high in healthy Omega 3 fatty acids and CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid) which are both great for overall health, body composition, and the brain. I love these things.

While there are a few macadamia nuts included in the packs, additional nuts are always good to have handy in case you need them. Having healthy snacks at-the-ready is the best way to keep yourself from reaching into the bread bowl at a restaurant or ordering a large popcorn at the movies. Macadamia nuts are not only delicious, but they’re incredibly good for you as well – in fact many would argue they’re more of a “superfood” than almonds are due to a better Omega-3 to Omega 6 ratio and high monounsaturated fatty acid content.

If you have your own favorite piece of gym gear, please do post it in the comments and help out the thousands of people who stop by Refocuser every month!

And if you’re looking for a good gym bag, I use the rad OGIO Locker Bag for getting to & from the gym, and a drawstring back sack (though mine has a special symbol on it) for toting around the gym itself.

* On another note: I’ve settled on the “best” way to track my training, and frankly it should have been obvious from the start. While other online options are appealing, using an Excel spreadsheet stored on SkyDrive has proven to be the most flexible for me (and given my day job as group program manager of SkyDrive apps, highly appropriate). Excel spreadsheets are infinitely customizable, and can be accessed from any device using the many SkyDrive apps. Right now, I’m gearing up to do the 5/3/1 protocol and Excel is practically a pre-requisite.

Some days you feel like absolutely nothing can go wrong.  You’re on fire, unstoppable.  Ideas are flowing, confidence is high, and you’re walking around with your chin up and your back straight.  There’s no better feeling than knowing you’re at the top of your game.  The world is your oyster.  Everything you touch seems to turn to gold and you wonder how you were ever stagnant before.

Until the past few years, I had really only been able to identify these times when looking back.  Now I’m acutely aware of them when I’m in them and I grab onto them and try not to let go when that train is rolling.

But these feelings never last long. Maybe a day or two, maybe a little more. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a full week of this superhuman ability to create things out of nothing without obstruction.  Sooner or later things will return to normal and there’s no explanation why this happens.  You just can’t self-motivate like you were able to the day before.  Ideas are at a distance, just out of reach.  You aren’t feeling flow and a day’s worth of work is taking two full days instead of just three hours.

It’s crazy frustrating when this happens. You try and recreate the environment, the feeling you had, and you just can’t. Your mind has moved on, your thoughts are elsewhere, and your current experience has been altered in some inexplicable way. And you don’t like it at all.

What happened?  Well, nothing at all.  It’s perfectly normal for creativity to ebb and flow like this.  It happens to every single creative person dozens – even hundreds – of times throughout a year. It’s just not possible to keep anything running at its highest capacity all the time.

But are there ways to keep it running for as long as you can?  Maybe.  There are things you can do that will help but only in the sense that they may be able to prolong that window.  There’s no guarantee that these things will work every time, but if they buy you an extra few days or a shorter period in the downswing, it could be worth it.

First you need to realize that any extended period of creativity comes down to the amount of energy you have and are able to apply to your task at hand. Remember that life is the sum of what you focus on, and in order to focus you need to have the energy (and the skill) to be able to do it. Energy is one of our most important assets.  If we have appropriate energy, that foundation will at a very minimum keep us going through the inevitable dry spells – and could even make peak creative output sustainable over the long run.

Tony Schwartz, speaker and author, says in his epic and highly recommended book, Be Excellent at Anything, “human beings are not designed to run like computers—at high speeds, continuously, for long periods of time. When we try to mimic the machines we’re meant to run, they end up running us.”

He recommends a ‘pulse’ approach.

See, our bodies themselves are pulsing all the time. Our blood flow, our brains, our muscles. Virtually every part of the immensely complex human system is pulsing between times of increased output and decreased output, and it’s because of this rhythm that our bodies and minds are able to perform at their best when they need to. This, of course, is assuming you’re working with your body and mind on its natural rhythm and not sabotaging it!

So how does this relate to creativity? Creativity comes down to maintaining energy, and energy comes down to effective “pulsing” – balancing renewal with hard work and making sure to keep some fuel in the tank for later. If you can do this, chances are you’ll be able to eek out a little more of that flow state when your creativity train starts to slow down (as it always will).

Here are three basic things you can do immediately that can work wonders.

Train for your brain every day.

Move your body every single day in some way. This can be through basic movement – stretches or light exercises you do at your desk every 30 minutes, it can be brisk outdoor walks, or more formal gym time. There’s so much research that shows the positive effects of exercise across the board, that it can be almost overwhelming to dig into it (don’t bother, just exercise instead).

Yet the thing that many people still don’t realize is just how important exercise is for your mind itself. Studies with lab mice have shown that brainpower improves when the mice are given the ability to run as freely as they would like. When the mice are pushed to their limits (think: lab technician as personal trainer of mice) the cognitive ability of the mice improved even more.

The same happens with us. We’re able to strongly improve our cognitive capacity – the range in which we’re able to flex our brain muscles – with daily exercise.  If you consider yourself a creative person and you’re not exercising every day, you really should try it.  Here are some specific suggestions to start with:

Exercise for 30 minutes each and every day with an alternating approach. Stretching, yoga, biking, strength training, boxing, gymnastics. They all have their benefits and they’re all worth doing. Remember, think of yourself as an athlete and look at how serious training translates directly to real life. Also, skip the slow-go cardio training and switch to interval training. As a proponent of using intervals for almost 15 years now, I can vouch that it’s the single best way to improve performance, health, and overall fitness when done with progressive resistance. You’ll be astounded at how fast your mind starts working after just 20 minutes of interval training.

Get up and move every 30 minutes. Stretch your arms, legs, and neck if you’re sitting at a desk for a prolonged period of time. Switch to a standing desk if you can, and try to use every opportunity to walk to work (or while at work). As I mentioned last year, I have lots of my 1:1 meetings outside while walking.

Eat small snacks of protein, low-glycemic carbs, and water every 3 hours. While its impact on bodyweight is debatable, this is something I’ve been doing for 15 years as well – and it’s hard to argue with its impact on energy. Maintaining blood glucose is critical to maintaining energy. If you’re subsisting on a muffin and a latte all day, you simply can’t expect to be performing at your best. You need to start treating your body like a high-performance vehicle and fueling it!  Here are some ideas.

Singletask every day.

Remember that multitasking is a total joke, and that it’s impossible to apply real brainpower to two or more tasks at the same time.  What you’re really doing is just switching really fast so that it appears as if you’re doing more than one thing at a time.  And of course, if you’re like 99.9% of the population, both of the things you’re trying to do aren’t being done well.

As I wrote about in Multitasking vs. Background Processing:

We’re not really multitasking, we’re just context switching really fast. Think about the last time you were interrupted in your office as you were deep in thought. You stopped to pay attention to someone and your focus shifted. Then when the conversation was over, you went back to what you were doing. That’s quick context switching, not “multitasking”. Whatever it’s called though, it will impede your efficiency.

Here are some ways to get out of the habit of multitasking and start focusing on one thing at a time:

Harness the ultradian rhythm. A powerful concept discussed in Be Excellent at Anything, the ultradian rhythm is based on the principle that during the day we oscillate every 90 minutes or so from higher to lower alertness. Which means we should focus our energy on a single thing for 90 minutes, and then stop, take a break, and after some time refreshing, prep for another 90-minute sprint. I know that when I focus for 90 minutes on a single thing, I can get the equivalent of 3 or 4 hours worth of “normal” work finished!  That’s how I wrote this post.

Use RescueTime for a week or two to see just how much you’re switching between tasks every day. This service will literally track what you use on your computer, for how long, and you’ll quickly discover patterns for yourself that you may not like to see. You may think you only use Facebook for 15 minutes every day, but what would you change if you found out that it’s really an hour of usage every day? We fool ourselves – and data is reality.

Get the time wasters out of the way first. This is counter to lots of advice, but it works best for me. If you know you’re going to be “pulled” into email, RSS feeds, or Facebook – then just timebox your usage, allow yourself to do it for that set period of time, then get up, stretch, grab a cup of tea, and settle in for a 90-minute sprint of real work. This structured play time will keep your mind from wondering “what’s happened” in your many inboxes, and instead you’ll be able to focus immediately on your task.

Renew every day.

Pulsing between high levels of output and low levels of output effectively means you need to allow yourself to have low levels of output, even when you’re on a roll. Making sure you have some downtime means that you’ll be better equipped for times of flow when they make themselves available to you.

Meditate using mindfulness. Meditation comes up in virtually every book on happiness, wellness, or even leadership and productivity these days. There’s a reason for this: it’s a vital habit to form if you’d like to become more in touch with your thoughts, emotions, body, and train your brain to stay in the present moment. Just 15 minutes of mindfulness meditation every day is preparing your brain to pay attention to the present moment in a way that’s non-judgmental and non-reactive. It’s literally exercise for your brain.

After just a week or two of mindfulness meditation, you may find that your mood has improved, your energy levels are higher, your work is higher quality, and your relationships have more purpose. Seriously. Check out Mindfulness for Dummies for a crash course (yes, I realize it’s a ‘dummies’ book – but it’s good).

Take your micro-vacations. Creativity is restored with exposure to nature and with downtime. In Take Micro-vacations to Boost Focus, I defined a micro-vacation as “Daily activity lasting at least 15 minutes that can’t be considered “work” by any sane, rational human being; purpose of which is to recharge and increase overall focus for the next few hours”. Aim to take a few micro-vacations every single day, and really strive to get Downtime with Nature while doing so.

Give yourself a “tech-free” hour (or more!) Wow, is this a hard one for me. My time revolves around being connected; I have 6 PCs and Macs, an iPad, a Windows Phone, a Kindle, a Kindle Fire, and about a dozen more gadgets that connect me to the outside world (don’t judge, it’s part of my job!) Yet even I will admit that being attached to the web via a Matrix-like brain implant isn’t the healthiest thing. So every day, I make sure to have at least one tech-free hour. I never take my smartphone with me to the gym, so sometimes this qualifies – but most of the time, it’s the time I spend with my family that I prefer to be most present. This is an explicit goal for me to improve on for the new year.

And of course, I’ve covered sleep before on Refocuser and that’s indeed a big part of renewal. Get your sleep!

Tony Schwartz goes into a lot more detail (352 pages worth) on many of these concepts in his book, Be Excellent at Anything. I had the opportunity to chat with him briefly after a seminar a couple weeks ago and I came away impressed with his approach to human performance – you may too.

Let me know how things go!

As long-time readers know, each year I write down goals for the next twelve months, something I’ve been doing for about twelve years now. This year one of my goals was to “dramatically improve” my presentation skills. In truth, this is a goal every single year but this year I made sure to put it to paper and then I proceeded to read a bunch of books and blogs on the subject. I’ve also spent a lot of time analyzing the presentation styles of those around me, since I have ample opportunities to do that at work.

Why the push? See, about halfway through last year I found myself presenting to medium-sized groups of people (from fifty to a few hundred people) bi-weekly instead of, at best, quarterly. That was clear motivation to get better. No one likes to completely suck at something you have to do all the time. Plus, if you’re not a halfway decent communicator, you’re probably not a halfway decent leader either.

Of course, I’m still far from good at it. This stuff, like most anything else, takes a ton of dedicated practice and attention to really nail it. The difference between star performers and everyone else is that the people who care to get better use deliberate and corrective practice. They set specific goals, respond to feedback, and look at the process of improvement as a long-term thing. Others don’t, they just go through the motions. This isn’t just me speaking, by the way, it’s been exhibited in research by Psychology professor Dr. K. Anders Ericsson.

Now, before getting into the tips & tricks, remember that there’s always room for improvement, but it’s unlikely you’ll ever be perfect. Perfection is a pipe dream. But you can absolutely make your presentations better, in some cases much better, and you can always become better at public speaking. So make sure to have the right expectations going in and then just commit to the process fully.

Look, presenting is hard. Putting together presentations is hard too. It’s all quite scary, especially if it’s not something you do often. I remember a few years ago when I wasn’t doing this regularly, the nerves prior to presenting were so intense that I could barely sleep the night before. If this describes you, then maybe one of these tips will help you get over the proverbial hump. Look at this as just the beginning of a lifelong journey. Here we go.

1. Have a Single, Short, Memorable Takeaway.

Before you put your presentation together, figure out what you’d like the one key takeaway to be. Not two or three… pick a single one. If people remember one thing, they may be motivated to dig up #2 and #3 – but if you confuse them with a bunch of things your presentation was supposed to be about, the odds of them remembering anything goes down.

One fun way to do this is to think about what the tweet would be for your product, service, or pitch. We do this at Microsoft when we prepare our public blog entries and Carmine Gallo recommends doing this in The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs. Limit yourself to 140 characters just like you have to do on Twitter and again you’ll find that the constraint helps you focus your message. When you use, say, 100 words no one will remember it.

For instance:

Microsoft SkyDrive (http://skydrive.com) is quickly becoming the world’s most powerful cloud service.  [true, by the way]

2. Avoid the “Slideument”.

Garr Reynolds coined the term “slideument” to refer to what happens when we don’t exercise restraint when we prepare our presentations. Lazy people use bullet points because they don’t know what they’re supposed to say. Presentations that look and read like documents are NOT good presentations. They’re handouts or memos, and so you should just use them as such.  You’re better off having a single slide than a bunch of Word documents and Excel sheets filling the screen.

• Limit all slides to no more than 10 words. Use large fonts.
• Use full-bleed stock photography or simple, interesting graphs to complement and amplify your words.
• Use the slides’ notes field in PowerPoint or Keynote for your own notes, which will be shown in Presenter View if you need them. Make the type HUGE and give yourself subtle cues so that the notes are glanceable, otherwise you may just end up reading them again.

Learn more about how to design beautiful slides in Presentation Zen.

3. Start with a Story.

What better way to break the ice than to do a “cold open”? This means that instead of jumping right into the guts of your presentation, tell a quick personal (and hopefully entertaining) story that’s peripherally about what you’re going to talk about. This serves two purposes: one, it helps the audience get to know you better and two, it grabs their attention right off the bat, setting the tone for the rest of the talk. They may start to realize that this isn’t going to be a waste of time like most presentations.

4. Realize You Are an Entertainer.

When you’re speaking in front of a group of people, the first thing you have to realize is that you are their entertainment for the hour. You’re putting on a show, you aren’t reading to them during story time. If you think about it as a show, it can change the way you approach things. People need to be entertained or they will start looking for stimulation elsewhere. For starters:

• Don’t ever, ever read from your slides or read from a script. Did you notice Brad Pitt reading from index cards during Ocean’s Eleven? You are the performer. Perform.
• Don’t become a talking head. The best presenters keep their audience engaged by making them a part of the presentation. Figure out how to do that and you’re golden.
• Don’t do an “early reveal”. Time everything such that you get the biggest impact from your words. Putting up slides that say everything you’re about to say means the audience is no longer listening to you – they already know what you’re going to say, and they were so focused on reading that they didn’t even listen to what you just said anyway.

5. Connect With the Audience With Real Energy.

If you’re standing behind a podium picturing everyone in the audience naked, things may not end well for you. Entertaining is about connection, it’s not about giving people a “talking to”. Think about some of the best presentations you’ve attended and chances are the presenter(s) were active, authentic, used simple language, and exuded passion for what they were talking about.

There are lots of ways to do this, but some of the easiest:

• Get away from the podium right away. Use a remote to control your slides (never the space bar) and make sure to effuse energy.
• Make eye contact with people. It may feel creepy at first, but there’s no better way to keep people’s attention.
• Maintain an “open posture”. Don’t throw your hands in your pockets or cross your arms the entire time. Keep your hands up and open.  Pretend you’re holding a basketball.
• Have a conversational style. Don’t try and sound smart. Use short sentences and never use words most people in the audience won’t understand.
• Don’t be afraid to talk about how excited you are about what you’re talking about – it can be infectious provided it’s real. Use inflection in your voice to show your excitement!

6. Change Your Mode of Delivery Every 10 Minutes.

This recommendation comes from Brain Rules, a book I read a while ago (and have blogged about before) and I think it’s genius. At about 10 minutes of the same thing, people start to check out. Rule #4 in Brain Rules is “We don’t pay attention to boring things”.

How does this apply to your presentations?

“You must do something emotionally relevant at each 10-minute mark to regain attention.” says John Medina. If you drone on for 50 minutes on a set of text-heavy slides, you should just assume that at the start of minute eleven, no one is following you any longer.

You have to mix it up. Introduce a new speaker. Show a video. Engage the audience. Play some music and break into song (no, don’t do that). Shift to a product demo.

7. Rehearse… Like… Crazy.

If you’re hosting an unscripted Q&A, it’s going to be hard to rehearse. But for a planned presentation the most important thing you can do is nail your timing and delivery. Oddly enough, the only way things are going to sound natural is if you’ve said them before! You should rehearse at least 3 or 4 times through for every new presentation you’re going to deliver – there’s really no better way to make it good.

In Only Perfect Practice Makes Perfect, I talk about this:

Practice may not actually make perfect, but if you aren’t practicing perfectly, you have no shot. The more you practice the right way, the more you’re creating routine – or “muscle memory” as the coaches call it. Your brain understands sequence and your nervous system reacts more quickly as the pathways are grooved. The more this happens, the better you become at the task at hand and the more natural it all becomes to you.

In order to really practice “perfectly”, you should do a dress rehearsal in the room you’re going to present in. You should have people around to give you feedback. You should also try and rehearse while you’re fresh and not half asleep.

And most importantly, practice your presentation in order, all the way through without stopping. If you mess something up or forget something, don’t worry about it. It happens. When you’re really presenting you don’t get a “do over” so don’t give yourself one during rehearsal.

Take practice seriously – it’s something most people don’t do and should!

—

This is a very short list of things, primarily to whet your appetite. If you’re actually interested in this stuff, there are some great references out there. Here are the books I’ve read – I’d strongly recommend all of them. If you can only read one of them, I’d probably start with The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs. As silly as the title sounds, the book itself is a great first step down the path.

• The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo. Ever wonder how Steve Jobs did it? This book analyzes his various keynotes and comes up with very simple and well-articulated steps to achieve similar success with your presentations.
• Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds. Garr’s books, in particular the first one, help you realize just how important the art of design is for your presentations. This book will change the way you think about your slides and you’ll start to view them less as a crutch, and more as an amplifier of your words.
• Beyond Bullet Points by Cliff Atkinson. The first book I read on the topic back in 2005 when it first came out, Beyond Bullet Points is a phenomenal book comparing your presentations to a movie script with three acts. Storyboarding is a big part of the approach. My only wish is that Microsoft Press had read Garr Reynolds’ book before designing that cover!
• Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Berkun. In typical Scott Berkun fashion, this book is an entertaining and fun read about the various things public speakers have to deal with. Definitely worth a pick-up.

Good luck!  Let me know how it goes.

This is a short story of why I haven’t posted here in a while. I’ve been pretty busy reorganizing some aspects of my life around this mini-epiphany.

When I was a kid I played baseball, football, practiced martial arts, and would beg anyone around me to catch whatever I was going to throw at them… for hours. The notion of treating my mind, body, and emotions as seriously as an athlete would has stuck with me since those days.

When I was in school, being a “student athlete” was an achievement worth recognizing.  Kids who would do well in school and sport were somewhat rare and it was obvious they had mastered a life skill so many others hadn’t. 

Yet as an adult, it seems all we’re trying to do is survive.  Somewhere along the lines, people give up on being extraordinary – to be that “student athlete” in life.  They’re just trying to get through to tomorrow.

Through years of business, marriage, kids… ups and downs… my system is still running that base ‘student athlete operating system’. It forms the foundation of who I am despite the fact that I’ve never been very good at any sport!

Shortly after realizing this, I started embracing it more as a part of who I am. This meant thinking about myself as an athlete “in training” instead of as someone who “stays in shape”.

This has affected almost every aspect of my life:

• I started training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, and Mixed Martial Arts again. Just before my son was born last year, I had to put my martial arts training on hold – and I decided that when I’d pick it up again, I would be doing it without concern about rank, status, or looking like an idiot. It would be all about immersion, learning, and camaraderie.
• I joined a Crossfit gym and found a culture that embodies this “everyday athlete” mentality with something they call “the sport of fitness”. Say what you want about the “cult-like” atmosphere (I know I have over the years) I’ve never worked as hard over the course of a 20 minute workout as I do at Crossfit. It keeps me working for “points” instead of going through the motions in the gym, which quickly becomes a pattern for me after a while.
• I’ve maintained to eat better and spend more time researching the latest in nutritional science (conclusion: I’ve gone Paleo). I’ve spent more time finding local organic fruits and vegetables, doubled down on grass-fed beef, almonds, avocado, spices, and wild fish, and re-upped my Gyokuro green tea obsession. It’s become a family affair as my son shares my veggie omelette with sliced avocado every morning.
• I’ve re-embraced the importance of sleep and have made sure I’m not robbing my body of key recuperative hours. Some nights this means lights off at 9pm.
• I ordered a standing desk for my office which resulted in a complete reversal of the neck and upper back pain I had felt for years. Athletes don’t sit slumped over a keyboard all day, every day. Neither should I.
• I’ve accepted that I’m not 18 anymore, and that soft tissue work and movement is important for me. I purchased a few lacrosse balls (see the comments on my last blog entry for why) and have settled into a routine of moving with less restriction. Lacrosse balls and foam rolls are my friends.
• I started a journal of my training – something I’ve always wanted to do – using Evernote. I have every jiu-jitsu lesson written up; everything from who I trained with to how I felt. I, of course, was especially proud to write the day I got my first promotion within white belt as unlike boxing or kicking, ground work like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has never really come naturally for me.
• Best of all, I’ve become a student again. Not just someone who reads 140-character tweets about stuff, but someone who is curious and wants to soak up information. Learning about how to be a better athlete is really learning how to be a better all-around husband, father, manager, and human being. They become inseparable once you make the tie.

Of course, through this process, I also got injured… like a real athlete. I tore the medial meniscus in my right knee while rolling on the mat in jiu-jitsu a day after a super intense 4th of July workout at Crossfit. It required surgery which I had last week, and I’m now on the mend. It was an old injury made worse through an increase in intense activity starting in April. Again, I’m not 18 anymore.

Yet when people ask if it’s going to slow me down, of course my answer is “for now”. No, I fully intend to get back to it though will pay more attention to early warning signs from my body. As my wife said to me, “if you’re going to train like an athlete, you can’t assume you aren’t going to have the types of setbacks athletes have”.

So through this journey, other than realizing that I probably pushed myself a little too hard, what else did I learn? In short I learned that thinking of yourself as an athlete is a fundamental shift in your mindset. It makes every downstream decision easier.

Suffering through the peaks and valleys as you struggle to get in shape – or stay in shape – feels almost like part of the human condition. For decades in the United States people have been saying that you need to exercise more, eat less, and the rise of all sorts of ways to do that has grown into a multi-billion dollar business.

But is it all supposed to be this hard? Why does it always, always feel as if we’re doing the thing someone else wants us to do instead of what we like and enjoy? We do silly things like run on a treadmill in a hot and depressing gym when it’s 68 degrees outside and there’s a slight breeze. We look at it all as a “sacrifice” instead of as a “mission”. We resent it. We feel like weirdos when we say “I don’t eat that anymore” instead of feeling empowered. We feel like we’re missing out on life instead of thriving within it.

Being an athlete is a lifelong thing. A way of relating to yourself. Whereas getting in shape feels like work. Sure, you want to set goals for yourself, but what you really need is purpose. Similar to the thought of “being on a diet” vs. a “way of being”, how you present yourself TO yourself is critically important.  Think about yourself as an athlete and you are an athlete.

Here are some of the benefits of ditching the “old way” and becoming an athlete:

• You’ll think like an athlete. Your comprehension will improve, your synapses will fire quicker, you’ll be more alert, and you’ll prioritize your well-being and performance when you make choices.  Being an athlete means that even during the off-season, you’re still an athlete. So you’re always thinking ahead.
• You’ll eat like an athlete. You’ll view food as fuel (note that this doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it anymore). You’ll stop thinking about food as a quick fix – it’s something you plan, just like the rest of the things that are important to you.
• You’ll crave consistency. You can only get better at physical activity through lots and lots of repetition, and consistency is the key to progress.  Even on days you don’t feel like it, view it “just something you do” and you’ll eventually start looking forward to training sessions.
• You’ll feel like an athlete. Your muscles and joints will reflect your hard work back to you. You’ll have energy and will feel upgraded.  You’ll be able to keep up with people half your age and play in the company softball game without worrying about being sore the next day.
• You’ll meet people like you. All athletic adventures have groups of like-minded people also looking to get better. Whether it’s paddle boarding, tennis, running, or something a little crazy like fighting, you’re going to inevitably form new social circles.
• You’ll harness beginner’s mind, or what I call the “white belt mentality”. When you start anything new, you have to get past that awkward phase. You’ll ask tons of questions and feel like a little kid again. But that’s what it’s all about: personal growth. Don’t worry about looking stupid, just do it.

Sounds great, so now what?

• Form a master habit of sport. Sport of any kind, but preferably something you’ll find both intrinsically rewarding and challenging. Something you used to do and loved, or something you’ve never done but have always wanted to…
• Let it permeate other areas of your life over time; take it slow. Enjoy the process. Start calling yourself a <blank> depending on the sport you’ve chosen from day one. Don’t let anyone tell you that you aren’t one…
• Compete with yourself every day.  Compete with others in a playful way.  Work to get better each time out.  Track your progress and celebrate successes…
• Research your sport. Research what makes people great at that sport. Particularly people who it doesn’t come easy for. Try stuff. Experiment. Let it become a part of your life…

Most of all, just have fun with it! After all, moving, eating, and sleeping are supposed to be fun.

I’ve learned a lot of great things through training, been (mostly) able to keep exercise as a habit over the years, finally created my ideal home gym, and even branched out and tried all sorts of new stuff like running, swimming, kettlebells, and different martial arts.  It’s been a fun ride to-date.

So what prompted the recent change in intensity?  I don’t really know.  But it’s been building for some time and, starting with the birth of my son last year, everything about my training got more… well, focused.  Could it have something to do with the fact that I’m now a role model for a little boy who looks kind of like me?  Maybe.  Probably.  I really don’t know.

One thing that’s clear is that my gym bag these days looks quite different from years prior.  My training itself has gone back to the roots.  I don’t use any sort of machines at this point; I stick to dumbbells, kettlebells, and fixed bars.  Yet I’ve become more interested in using toys like the ones below to help me progress, and I like to have them with me all the time at the gym.  It’s the geek in me.

In order to benefit from any of these items, you need to already have a base of both knowledge and fitness.  Don’t jump right into any fitness program without doing the obvious stuff first like talking to your doctor and ramping your training up over a period of months.

But if you’re good to go already, and have a penchant for good workouts, these five things can only help.

Digital Camera with Video

I’ll admit, it’s a strange thing to put in your gym bag… and probably not something you’ll actually keep there.  But it’s really quite important if you plan on emphasizing form (which you should).

My kettlebell coach (who rocks) suggested it to me a few months ago after seeing my two-handed swing.  Turning your head during a motion like this in order to see yourself in the mirror is a huge no-no as you can pretty easily injure yourself.  But placing a camera nearby so you can see how your form looks from the side is a big win.  You can see just how far back your hips get, how high your hands are swinging, how quickly you start to fatigue and get sloppy, and what your overall motion looks like throughout the set.

In other words, you can’t improve your form if you can’t see it.

Being a bit of a camera junkie myself, I’ll go so far as to actually recommend a specific camera.  This recommendation may not hold for long (this is being posted in April 2011) but at the current time, the best bang-for-the-buck camera is the Canon S95.  It’s simply the best camera at its price and size on the market given that you’ll likely not use it exclusively in the gym.

Of course, it’s not important which camera you use for this so long as it supports taking video.  You could just use your smartphone if you already have it on you!

Gymboss

Most athletic watches don’t have good interval training functions, so I’ve switched to using the Gymboss. 

It’s a small, inexpensive interval timer optimized for intense workouts.  And when I say small, I mean you can clip it onto your shorts and completely forget it’s there.

It’s easy to learn and keeps you on a short leash with loud or soft beeps, or a vibrate feature if your gym is full of wimps who don’t like any noises around them.  I use it primarily for kettlebell workouts, box jumps and other explosive movements, and running sprints, but it will work well for just about any interval-based workout.

And for $20, the price is hard to beat.

Platemates

I first learned about Platemates back in 1999 or so through the writing of Charles Poliquin.  These things are great ways to increase the weight you use on dumbbells or barbells slowly and methodically instead of with large 5 or 10lb jumps. 

They’re magnetic weights that attach easily to existing weights, helping you do things like turn a 40lb dumbbell into a 42lb dumbbell in just a split second.

This keeps you focused on improvement and can help prevent injury by easing you into heavier weights.

Instead of rambling on and on about my own experience with Platemates, a quick Bing search brought up a post by the man himself, Charles Poliquin, on Platemates from last April.  Here’s a snippet:

The best way to coax your muscles into adaptation is through application of the Kaizen Principle.  In Japanese, “Kaizen” means “constant and never-ending improvement.”  It is a philosophy that small, incremental improvements made consistently will, over the long term, produce large gains.  As practical advice for loading, this translates to “increase the weight at every opportunity, even if the increase is very small.”

Poliquin also has a great quote with respect to this training mentality, “You need ways to coax, not force, your muscles to adapt to greater loads.”  Platemates are a pretty cool way to do this.

Cando Digi-Extend Hand Exerciser

Pull-ups, deadlifts, swings, and many dumbbell movements are going to give your hands and fingers quite a workout.  Your grip in many cases is going to be the weak link in your body (more on this later) and will fatigue before your primary movers. 

And if you’re spending time driving, typing, or doing other “closed finger” activities over the course of a day, your hands may start to resemble a caveperson’s over time.

Solution: You need to open your hands and exercise your fingers in the opposite direction.

The Cando Digi-Extend Hand Exerciser is a great way to give those finger extensors some resistance to help increase strength and coordination.  I carry this thing with me in the gym and use it in between sets just to make sure I’m actively exercising my finger extensors with each workout.

Fat Gripz

Speaking of grip development… if you want to continue to get stronger, you’re going to need to be able to turn coal into diamonds with your grip.  You can’t expect to pull any heavy weight if you can’t even hold onto it. 

Granted, not everyone cares about getting strong or throwing weight around, but if you do, you’ll need a grip like a vise.

FatGripz are a great way to build grip strength.

But be careful, you’re going to feel it on your first workout. 

The recommended protocol isn’t to use Fat Gripz all the time, or even most of the time, you’re only going to use them every once in a while.  For instance, on your ‘light training day’ prior to going heavier in a multi-week cycle.  Just be prepared for some forearm soreness for a few days.

If you have your own favorite piece of gym gear, please do post it in the comments and help out the thousands of people who stop by Refocuser every month!

And if you’re looking for a good gym bag, I use the rad OGIO Locker Bag for getting to & from the gym, and a drawstring back sack (though mine has a special symbol on it) for toting around the gym itself.

* On another note: Part of getting serious with training is more diligent tracking.  I’m considering using Dailyburn.com more seriously but I’m wondering if a basic Tumblr blog or something is easier.  I’m actually looking for something that incorporates martial arts training as well (jiu-jitsu, boxing).  If you have any experience with good tracking sites, let me know.

While on the island, I’ve been doing everything I can to unwind.  I’ve been devouring scones, French fries, margaritas, Oreos, bacon, Frosted Mini Wheats and other junk I don’t allow myself to even consider eating most of the time.  I’ve stopped tracking my habits.  I’ve exercised just once if you don’t count swimming and chasing my kids; a short run near the beach on our first day here.  I haven’t spent any time checking tasks off of my lists; in fact I had moved them all over to a "Post Vacation" category before we left the mainland so I wouldn’t even stumble upon them accidentally.  I haven’t done much writing, stretching, or flossing, and I’ve had a metric ton of Maui Coffee.  It’s been great!

Yet I’m not too concerned about slacking off, or at least not as much as my Type A personality would suggest.  Though I’m itching to get back into my routine, I’m not worried about what would normally be viewed as a setback.

Planned breaks like these are required to reset my passion meter from time to time.  I try and force myself to "unplug" from my (somewhat) normal intensity to help me remember why I do what I do to begin with.  It’s hard to hit the ‘off’ switch… it’s frankly just as hard as turning it back on again, but I try and view it as sort of like stopping at a gas station before a long road trip; breaks like this fuel me for at least a few months, and after six days of gluttony and objective laziness, I always realize that it’s not the permanent life for me.

But what you do for a few weeks out of the year doesn’t define the year, and it doesn’t define you.  It’s what you do most of the time, not just some of the time, that makes the difference over the long haul.  Have consistency in the fundamentals (modulo a week here and there) and personal growth is inevitable.

Times like these I also do more reading than normal.  Between Audible and Kindle books, or just stopping to think while walking the beach, my mind is still completely active.  Thinking and reading lead to ideas, which lead to goals and objectives, which lead to plans, which eventually may lead to new ways to experience flow.  Even when I’m not doing anything of substance, I still feel like I’m creating.  I jot down more thoughts and learn more new things while on vacation than at any other time throughout the year.  It’s part of what I look forward to about these breaks.  It’s not a surprise that while on vacation I’m also closest to nature (more on that in a minute).

Recreation, or "creating and bringing forth again", is an essential part of leading a full life.  It’s no surprise then that recreation means ‘creating again’.  Without time to reflect, unwind, and just plain BE, it’s hard to maintain any sort of pace in your normal life. Creativity is sapped if you’re not detaching every once in a while.  Whether it’s fifteen minute micro-vacations or weeklong actual ones, human beings can only thrive when they have regular periods of downtime.

As discussed in the past, focusing attention is a lot like exercise (what isn’t?) – after enough directed attention, you just can’t focus any longer.  You’re sapped.  Your willpower and focusing abilities weaken to the point of being utterly ineffective.  This state as it relates to attention even has a name, it’s called Directed Attentional Fatigue (DAF) and it’s described as a "temporary fatigue of the inhibitory mechanisms in the brain.”  The symptoms of DAF include feelings of distraction and even forgetfulness, leading to poor judgment and an increase in stress levels, high blood pressure, and irritability.  It’s what happens when you wait too long to relax.  Hit this state too often and you’ll eventually burn out.

Taking time out to regain perspective and recharge your batteries is critical.  Fifteen minutes here and there make a huge difference, and of course longer periods of time help as well.

While it’s important to take this time when you can, you’ll also benefit greatly by feeding your innate biophilia, or ‘attraction to living systems and natural settings’.  When you picture your perfect place to be, all other things being equal, chances are you are NOT picturing a packed New York City subway car.  It’s probably some place deep in nature surrounded by water, trees, a breeze, and the scent of nature uninterrupted.  We’re hard-wired to be one with nature.  Returning to it can make a difference.

Nature’s ability to restore is backed by science as well.  Marc Berman and his colleagues at the University of Michigan have found that even short periods of exposure to a metropolitan street can affect one’s ability to focus, but spending time in a natural environment – or even just looking at pictures of a natural environment – can help restore attention (a 20% improvement!).  I guess it’s not surprising that so many people have the ocean and trees as their PC desktop backgrounds. 

The Japanese have a term for this focus on nature as restorative.  It’s Shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing.  A short, leisurely visit to a forest to help improve or restore attentional powers.  Related to the benefits of natural aromatherapy, forest bathing has also been shown to boost immunity, lower blood pressure and resting heart rate, and help reduce stress due to "phytoncides, the airborne chemicals that plants emit to protect them from rotting and insects".  Being around nature even increases neuroplasticity, or the brain’s ability to form new connections (strangely enough – or maybe not – that’s another post I wrote while in Hawaii!)

Attention Restoration Theory, developed by Rachel and Stephen Kaplan also of the University of Michigan, asserts that concentration improves with exposure to nature as well.  Shifting into a state of "soft fascination" as the Kaplans call it, seems to help the most to restore focus and attention.  Soft fascination – cloud gazing or just strolling on the beach or in the woods – is in stark contrast to “hard fascination” where your attention is overwhelmed by stimuli.  Yet people tend to turn to things that require directed attention in order to “relax”, like sporting events or television, without realizing that they’re not restorative.  Getting out into nature, however short the time may be, is a great way to return to your normal, focused self.

This doesn’t really feel like something we should need science to tell us, but like so many things, proof serves as a reminder.  Recreation and time spent in nature don’t require long trips to tropical locations of course, just short daily walks outside in a natural environment close to home or work can help restore energy and vitality.  Give it a try for yourself!

Back to the beach…

Note: One of the things I’ve realized while overloading on white carbs and drinking a bunch of empty calories is that I want this blog to be a little more… well, personal.  Looking back over the last two years (by the way, happy 2nd birthday to Refocuser!) the entries I’m most proud of are the ones that relate concepts back to my personal reality.  The entries I’m least proud of feel like my old Psychology textbooks; impersonal, bland, and preachy.  So I’ll be working on this more as Refocuser enters Year Three.

If you don’t know what I mean by shipping, you might want to read Real Artists (Plan to) Ship first.

Shipping is hard.  It’s especially hard if you’ve never done it, or simply haven’t done it often enough to know what it feels like.  You suspect that ‘inspiration’ will pull you through it, yet in reality inspiration usually doesn’t last more than a day or two.

Inspiration is an ephemeral feeling that tricks you into thinking it will always be there.  Of course, it can’t be… and won’t be.

Inspiration has never shipped anything.  Grit is how you ship. If you think you’re always going to be inspired and that you can just “lean on” that feeling everyday to power you, you’re going to fail.  It doesn’t work.  Inspiration will disappear as soon as the caffeine leaves your blood stream, you get distracted, or you wake up with a headache.  You need a model for shipping, something that helps get you through the emotional dips you’re bound to experience.

When you’re inspired, you don’t expect to have dips in your motivation.  You’re above that.  You’re made of steel.  The feeling will last forever.  People who ship know better.

The art of shipping is the same the world over, no matter what the subject is.  Paint, code, words, chords, clay, whatever. If you’re creating anything from nothing and expect it to see the light of day, you’re looking to ship something. Creating something without delivering it may still be considered art by some, but it’s not shipping.

When we hire new program managers at Microsoft, one of the most important things we look for is people who are good at all phases of the product cycle.  We expect people to be strong at the beginning, coming up with creative ideas and unique approaches to solving tough problems.  We look for strength in the middle, people who are able to execute and get the team through the grind without giving up.  And we want people who can pull the team all the way through to the finish line, dealing with the (very hard) act of pushing something real out the door to a few hundred million users.

This means that the best people are the ones who can decide what to do, figure out how to do it with the team, and then start it, drive it, and ship it.

Anyone can have an idea.  And just about anyone can write a strongly worded email or document about how “obvious” that idea is and how everyone who doesn’t “get it” is an “idiot”.  But the people who are able to sell the idea, line the people up, and bring it all the way to the finish line, imperfections and all, and then do it over and over again are the real stars. 

The funny thing is how these people usually aren’t the same people who think they’re superstars just because they have some ideas.  The best people are too busy shipping to care what you think.

One of the first steps toward shipping anything is to plan to do so.  But you have to be ready for the ups and downs.  The emotional cycle of shipping is essential to understand, otherwise you’re going to quit with the first emotional dip.

If you can’t relate to how the “downs” of a project are going to hit you emotionally, you aren’t going to last through the peaks, valleys, and huge psychological trips you’re going to experience.  Your mind is going to continually try and get you to give up.  Fight or flight.  So you need tools in your arsenal to push back.  To think, “I know this feeling, I’ve felt it before, and I’m not going to give up on this.”

The following is a quote from Chip and and Dan Heath’s book, Switch: How to Change When Change is Hard about how IDEO, a top design firm, looks at shipping new things (emphasis mine):

Tim Brown, the CEO of IDEO, says that every design process goes through “foggy periods.” One of IDEO’s designers even sketched out a “project mood chart” that predicts how people will feel at different phases of a project.

It’s a U-shaped curve with a peak of positive emotion, labeled “hope,” at the beginning, and a second peak of positive emotion, labeled “confidence,” at the end. In between the two peaks is a negative emotional valley labeled “insight.”

Unfortunately this mood chart is nowhere to be found online.  The closest thing found is from the Kanban blog which is a very similar cycle, though might overemphasize the second dip.  I’ve found the reality to be pretty close to this however:

Knowledge is power, and knowing that you’re going to go through these kinds of fluctuations can help you prepare yourself or your team for them.  One of my own personal tenets is that things are never as good – or as bad – as you think they are.  This model emphasizes that.  When you know you’re going to feel a certain way, you can get ready for it in whatever way works best for you.

But the truth is: there’s nothing better than shipping.  Which is why enthusiasm runs highest at that point.  Very few things compare if you consider yourself an artist of your craft.

If you think there won’t be speed bumps on the road ahead – if in fact, you don’t plan for them – when you hit one, the wheels are going to come flying off.  You’ll be done for.

When you look at self-control, or having the discipline to do the things you don’t necessarily want to do, there’s an expectation that it’s either on or off.  You’re either exercising self-control or you’re not; hot or cold, black or white, Reagan or Clinton.

The problem with this approach, as I wrote about in The Exercise and Science of Self-Control is that self-control is exhaustible.  Which means if you’re always on, you will eventually be off because your muscles, your self-control muscles, will become exhausted. 

If you know this, why not plan for it?

Lots of times these aren’t predictable dips in your self-control momentum.  They’re unplanned, unexpected, and unwelcome.  It’s the cinnamon roll instead of the gym, the Rocky marathon instead of Excel, the impromptu party instead of laundry and dishes, and so on.  It’s the feeling of failure – or just disappointment – that you weren’t able to hold true to the promise you made to yourself.

You spent all that time getting your self-control built up, just to have it come crashing down with a single mid-day cinnamon roll.

And if you’re anything like I am, once you break one or two promises to yourself, you might as well break them all.  For months on end.  It’s so easy… you’ve already proven that you’re not trustworthy.  That you aren’t strong enough to hold up your end of the bargain.  You’re weak and not worthy.  So why bother trying anymore?

It’s so much easier to let things go, to give up on maintaining that discipline, and to go back to mediocrity with the rest of “them”.

Of course, it doesn’t have to be this way.  Instead of forfeiting the game entirely, get your head straight to compete in the next inning.  It doesn’t have to be too tricky, it just has to be thoughtful.  You need to go in eyes wide open, knowing that you aren’t perfect.

Start with the assumption that setbacks will happen.  You don’t have to like them, but you need to have a strategy for dealing with them.  This sounds obvious but it took me 15 years of experimentation for me to finally figure out exactly what my strategy is, or that I needed one.  When you find yourself deviating from the path, figure out what it takes to get back on that path.

Sounds great, but what does a setback strategy look like exactly? 

It’s really not complex.  In fact, by the end of this post, you should have some basic tools to work with.  According to Heidi Grant Halvorson in her fantastic book Succeed: How We Reach Our Goals, “Planning when, where, and how you will take the actions needed to reach your goal is probably the single most effective thing you can do to increase your chances of success”.  Planning ahead is an imperative.

If This… Then That (“Action Triggers”)

For all you computer programmers out there, successful long-term self-control comes down to simple IF-THEN statements properly executed.  Just like any machine that interprets code, your brain will hit the conditional statement and say “if this… then that” and the response you insert will become automatic over time.  This is the core of your setback strategy.

It will become programmed.  You want it to become programmed. 

Similar to precommitment, a closely related concept, you’re preloading behavior in the deep subroutines of your mind.  This isn’t voodoo, this is possible and pretty simple to pull off – it’s backed by hard science – and it’s one of the best ways to keep from falling off that wagon, and for getting back on when you do.

IF-THEN statements or “instant habits” according to Peter Gollwitzer, one of the originators and primary researchers in this approach, “protect goals from tempting distractions, bad habits, or competing goals”. (If you want to learn more about research in this space, search for Peter Gollwitzer’s work or read about implementation intentions)

Chip and Dan Heath discuss in their book, Switch: How to Change When Change is Hard, how these “action triggers” almost tripled the chance of success–goal completion.

Here’s what you want to do:

1. Start with four or five “If This… Then That” statements.  Examples could be, “if I go to a Thai restaurant, I will eat the chicken and vegetables, not curry and white rice” or “If I find myself tempted by bread, I will drink a full 16oz of water”.  Those are ‘proactive’ (true to the research) but they could be ‘reactive’ as well; “If I miss a day at the gym, I will go before breakfast the following day” or “If I wake-up late and miss my time to write, I will write at least 300 words during lunch”.  These help systematize getting back on track – you don’t have to think about it.
2. Write them down and refer back to them until they feel automatic.  Memorize them until you act on them.  Make them a part of your daily programming.  Until they are, make sure you look at them daily – or when you feel yourself slipping – and start putting them into real action as soon as possible.
3. Use these action triggers as part of your everyday self-talk.  If you’re able to change the way you talk to yourself, you can change the way you act.  These IF-THEN statements, once they’re a part of your self-talk, will keep you from falling victim to the “I suck!” type of self-talk and instead replace it with something constructive.
4. If you find they’re not effective, change the wording up.  Research has shown that the right wording alone can result in way more success with triggers.  Try making them more specific, more personal, or just simpler!  Convert reactive triggers to proactive triggers if you need to.  It shouldn’t take a lot of words to get your point across; the wordier they are, the less likely you are to make it automatic.

There are big benefits to this type of upfront planning.  You’ll find your actions will be more structured instead of based purely on impulse, and you’ll keep that self-control muscle from becoming more tired than it should be.  This means your fall off the wagon won’t hurt as much, and you’ll be able to rebound more quickly!

By the way, this post is an example of minding the gaps.  I’m writing this on a train, working off of a “Next Posts” notebook in Evernote.  I didn’t know what I’d want to do on the train or what my options would be, but I figured I’d be writing something once onboard.  I knew I had a bunch of research queued up in Evernote and with the time I have, I’m cranking one out in the “gap” between Seattle and Portland!

It’s just so much easier to give in, isn’t it?  Hell, it takes real effort to fight the urge, especially if restraint isn’t something you’re used to.  More on that later, but first let’s take a look at exactly why self-control is important.

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” — Jim Rohn

Self-control is the basis of all change; nothing can be transformed without first determining what needs to happen, and then being consistent and predictable in implementation over time.  It is, in fact, the most important skill to have when it comes to achievement.  Self-control is really the platform in which achievements are built upon.  It’s an essential ingredient in any high performer’s personality, just as impulsiveness and “action without consequence” is central to the self-defeatist.

If you want to start modeling success, the most important thing you can do is to start exhibiting self-control. 

Show me a successful person who doesn’t have a superhuman amount of mastery over his or her daily actions and I’ll show you someone who has benefited only from chance and circumstance – and that type of success is not repeatable or transferable.  Anyone can win the lottery or sign a book contract, but it takes true dedication to be able to maintain success over time.

Many people believe they are born with self-control (more commonly called willpower) or lack thereof, and this inborn trait determines their ability to focus for a lifetime.  The truth is (absent diagnosed medical conditions like ADHD) that self-control isn’t something you have to accept as something you don’t have.  And in fact, you shouldn’t. Self-control isn’t something that some people have and others don’t, and the very act of believing that it isn’t a learned skill hinders your motivation to learn how to harness it.

So first things first: drop the limiting beliefs as they’ll just hold you back.  And if there’s ONE thing you can’t afford to be held back from, it’s improving your self-control.  Everything else comes later.  Because once you have self-control at your side, you can make anything happen.

Self-control can be learned…

It turns out that self-control is actually a lot like a muscle, and it can be exercised just like one.  Research by Mark Muraven at the University of Albany demonstrates this (relevant studies are here, here, and here).  After two weeks of abstaining from candy and performing hand gripping exercises (with something like the Gripmaster referenced in my Home Gym post), Muraven found that self-control had actually increased across the board.  The simple act of being consistent with one thing helps ‘pick up’ other things around it.

In similar fashion, research over the last few years has also shown that the act of monitoring what you eat, keeping a close eye on your finances, or even just sitting up straight can have positive effects on your overall ability to exercise self-control.  In one study, students at a university who started an exercise program and stuck with it found themselves doing the dishes more often, and even spending less money on things they didn’t need!

So in many ways, you can think of self-control as contagious across your habits.  Each time you strengthen your self-control over one thing, other things benefit as well.  So the verdict is clear: if you work your self-discipline like a muscle – often enough – performing small, basic activities that require self-control, you can develop the strength to have that self-control spill over into other areas of your life.

This is one of those ah-hah realizations that is immediately actionable. Having trouble quitting smoking?  Try stopping the nail-biting.  Want to work out regularly?  Floss each morning and night for a month.  Want to stop snapping at your kids?  Eat a high-protein breakfast every single day.  It sounds crazy, but it actually works.

Self-control is also exhaustible…

Most of our daily actions don’t require self-control.  Normal, everyday life is pretty routine – waking up, taking a shower, getting dressed, driving to work.  Lots of mindless action.  None of these things require any deep-seated ability to focus attention… which is a good thing.  If they did, they probably would probably only get done once a month.  But we also do things that require buckets of self-control whether it’s running a large meeting, resisting the pizza temptation, or keeping yourself from snapping at your kids.  Each of those things decreases your overall self-control reserves.

Think of exercising self-control as the equivalent of doing curls at the gym.  When you start off, your muscles are fresh and there’s no struggle at all.  But as you start to become fatigued, your arms start to shake and eventually you can’t do any more curls.  Self-control is the same way.  There’s not an inexhaustible well of the good stuff – so push yourself too hard in any one area and expect others to suffer.

Exercising some self-control, even in small amounts, can be draining. And just like any muscle, self-control itself can be exhausted. Following the contagious comment above, give in to the donuts today and expect to skip the gym tomorrow. Let your email inbox fill up and expect the same thing to happen to the interior of your car. Just like upswings in self-control can help other areas, downswings can actually hurt them.

So what can you do?

First of all, start with the assumption that you can train your self-control.  You aren’t predestined to be a useless sloth any more than someone else isn’t predestined to be a self-mastery machine.  Start putting a training program in place immediately (it takes about 30 seconds to decide to do this and put the pieces in place) and dedicate yourself to it.

As part of your new self-control training program, pick one small thing to go with one big thing.  Don’t pick multiple big things!  If you want to do start eating right, commit to doing 10 push-ups every 4 hours.  You’ll be surprised at how much these two things will feed off of each other.  And, with this example, you’ll actually make more progress towards a fitness goal.

Be careful not to group activities that require a lot of self-control together.  If you can avoid it, don’t schedule a workout immediately after leading a 3 hour meeting in a room filled with cupcakes.  If you’re like most people, by the time you get to that workout time, your self-control will be so depleted you’re going to end up eating four cupcakes and crashing on the couch watching Dexter until 2am (going to bed early requires self-control for most people too!)  At a minimum, find a way to pre-commit if something is important to you and you think your self-control will be depleted when the time arrives.

Try and find ways to refill your reserves periodically.  This means different things to different people – you need to find what works best for you.  This recharge probably involves a break from any sort of activity that requires self-control… so if you find yourself giving into temptation more today than yesterday (and thereby not putting your self-control powers to use) you need to get away from those temptations and start filling your self-control well back up.  If you’re a gamer, think about this as your ‘health meter’.  Your health meter won’t go up if you keep getting attacked from all angles.  Run the other way and fast.

And finally, see if you can identify your master habit.  The master habit concept has worked absolute wonders for me over the years (mine is physical activity) and there’s no better way to get going than to follow the four steps in Your Master Habit: Get One Thing Clicking, Watch Others Follow (if I say so myself!)

Hope this helps and that you enjoy being more in control!

“Self-discipline is the ability to do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.” – Elbert Hubbard

Here I am, many years later, still longing for the same.  They say some things never change.  Over the last few months (and the next few really) I’m piecing together the home gym setup I’ve been thinking about for almost two decades.  Below is my list.

First, a word about the investment required.  Depending on your bank account and your tolerance for spending, the list below may seem extravagant… or perfectly reasonable when compared to a pricey gym membership.  No matter how you slice it, different people have different priorities and not everyone wants to spend money to improve their overall health, mood, or strength.  You can tell where I fall on that spectrum.

The great thing about having the ability to workout at home is that you have no excuses.  Not a one.  You can get a great workout finished in less than 20 minutes and you don’t have to wait for your turn to use any equipment.  You can listen to whatever you want, you can wear whatever you want, and you can be in the shower 10 seconds after your last rep.  The convenience simply can’t be beaten.

The list below is based on a few things:

• Strength training is critical.  I love running, swimming, and biking as much as the next person (in fact, I may even love them more than the person sitting next to me at this coffee shop) but strength training itself is a ‘must-do’.  With just a little strength training you can improve your heart health, sleep better, feel better, lift all sorts of things with ease, and even live longer.  In short: you need to lift in addition to whatever else you’re doing.
• The must-haves below are optimized for compound multi-joint exercises that will give you the most bang for the buck.  Things like bench press, chin-ups, squats, and lunges.  You don’t need much more – everything else on the list is gravy.
• Even the must-haves below are presupposing a level of experience and interest that may not be there.  If you really don’t know where to start, I’d recommend just getting a Swiss Ball and a medium-weight pair of dumbbells (10-15lbs for women, 20-25lbs for men).  You don’t need the things below to get started, and not having the equipment isn’t an excuse for doing nothing.

OK, let’s get to the list…

The Must-Haves

Folding Gym mat from PerformBetter.  If your room has carpet or hardwoods, you’re going to want to protect it from your scuffling feet and any heavy equipment you have.  This lifting mat is one of the best I’ve found – it’s inexpensive, expandable, and easy to place.

Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells.  These dumbbells come in two different versions depending on the amount of weight you’d like – 52.5lb or 90lb versions.  For those who haven’t worked with adjustable dumbbells, they’re perfect for a home gym setup as they take up 1/15th the space of standard dumbbells.  With two dumbbells you can go all the way from 5lbs to 52.5lbs (or 10lbs to 90lbs) just by turning a knob.  I opted for the 52.5lb set on a recommendation from a co-worker since the 90lb model is apparently quite a bit bulkier and harder to use.  Plus I got them for 40% off on Black Friday!  Alternative to the Bowflex set which are the “original” but not quite as elegant in my opinion: PowerBlocks.

Bowflex 5.1 Bench and Dumbbell Stand.  One of the best benches on the market for the price, the 5.1 bench gives you the flexibility to do 17-degree decline all the way to 90-degree incline and has an incredible 30-year warranty.  (My mom got it for me for Christmas just like my first set when I was a kid.)  Alternative to the 5.1 bench: the 3.1 bench which doesn’t give you the ability to decline.  Note that technically the stand isn’t really a must-have – you could get by without it – but it certainly helps your back when you’re lifting the dumbbells.

P90x Chin-up Bar.  I know, I know.  First Bowflex and now P90x.  I feel like a fitness sell-out hawking things on infomercials at 2am.  But the truth is that this bar is the best one I’ve found.  It’s the sturdiest (it has a steel frame), it gives you 12 different grip options, and it doesn’t require any installation.  You just pop it on your door frame and go.  There are alternatives like the Iron Gym but I don’t think they’re of the same quality.  Be careful when ordering that you’re getting the actual P90x bar from Beach Body and not a bar that’s “designed for P90x”.

65cm Swiss Ball.  Technically called an exercise ball these days (old habits die hard) this gym staple ranks among the must-haves.  Swiss balls are great for core work as well as functioning as an alternative to the bench for a little variety in your workout.

Jump rope.  Old faithful.  Doesn’t take up any room and costs only $10 for a killer cardio workout.  You can’t go wrong with a jump rope!

Music! Use whatever you have; an iPod/iPhone or Windows Phone/Zune with headphones or a speaker system in the room.  Music before and during exercise has been shown to dampen the pain response and increase power output.

The Killers – Not Technically Must-Haves, But Close

Versaclimber 108 HP.  The reason this is on the “killers” list and not must-haves is due to cost, but this machine is phenomenal and takes up very little space compared to an elliptical, treadmill, or rowing machine.  10 minutes on a Versaclimber will get your heart pounding out of your chest regardless of how in shape you think you are – it’s very, very hard.  It’s a true full-body workout and has even been shown (due to the movement itself) to improve body coordination.

Kettlebell.  As Pavel Tsatsouline, the “father of the Kettlebell”, says: when you think of strength, think of kettlebell – and when you think of kettlebell, think of strength.  The kettlebell gives you a fantastic workout once you know what you’re doing with it.  Most strong men start with a 44lb kettlebell, and most women start with an 18lb one.  If you’ve never received training with a kettlebell before, I’d recommend looking up a trainer or, at a minimum, watching Pavel’s DVD video before doing anything.

Extra (Optional) Stuff – Worth Having, But Take Your Time

Perfect Pullup Ab Straps for Chin-up Bar.  Use that chin-up bar for targeted ab work like hanging leg lifts.  There are better exercises for your core than these, but given the low additional price, it’s nice to have the variety available to you.

Ultimate Body Press Dip Stand.  Very basic contraption for basic – but important – exercises like chest and tricep dips and bodyweight rows.  The cool thing about the Ultimate Body Press Dip Stand is that it folds right up for storage or travel, so just like most other things on this list, you can keep your ‘gym’ in a closet when you’re not using it.

Push-up Rings + Dip Belt and Resistance Bands for Ultimate Body Press Dip Stand.  Fun add-ons for the dip stand which give you more versatility.  The push-up rings help with bodyweight push-ups and the dip belt helps make your dips even harder.  You can also use the rings with the chin-up bar for bodyweight rows and more!

Xbox 360 with Kinect! I’ll accept that this is a strange addition to the list, but I’ve found that 20 minutes of Kinect with friends (or alone!) is a fantastic workout.  There are two games specifically that I use: Kinect Sports (boxing or track & field) and Your Shape Fitness Evolved.  If you’re into competing with friends online or just having something to take your mind off of your workout, the Kinect can’t be beaten.  I’m personally looking forward to a realistic Kinect boxing game like Fight Night.  I love boxing… even if it’s fake.

Medicine Balls (various weights).  Also great for core exercises, balance, plyometrics, and coordination.  Start with a small ball and buy heavier ones as your strength improves.

Basic Strength Bands with Door Anchor.  Can’t go wrong with a good set of strength bands!  This set supports all levels so you can grow into it as you get stronger and strong.  These are also great for travel; I almost never leave home for more than a day without throwing a few of these in my bag.  You can get a great hotel room or beach workout with just these bands.

Perfect Pushup. I used the Perfect Pushup at a boutique gym on the Oregon coast over the summer and I’ve wanted them ever since.  They really do reduce strain on your wrists and shoulders – and after years of pushups and typing, that’s something I sorely need.  These are a little pricey for what they are, however.  But I do like them quite a bit more than the alternatives on the market.  I love the grips!

Valeo Dual Ab wheel.  Though you can replicate these core exercises with the Swiss Ball, the wheel itself is good for a little variety.  Be careful though as you’ll feel the effects of this for a week!

BOSU Trainer.  The BOSU gives you so many options for balance/core work, you could easily swap it with the Swiss Ball above on the must-have list.  But just given the price, it’s relegated to the optional stuff.  I’ve loved the BOSU for close to 10 years for ab work and for “the best exercise you’ve never done”, the Push-up Plus.

TriggerPoint Grid Foam Roller.   Fantastic for targeted massage to help loosen up your tight muscles.  It seems to have more of an ability to focus in on trigger points than a traditional ‘flat’ foam roll.  If you’re a lifter or runner and you’re not foam rolling, you need to be!

Full length mirror.  Enough said.

—-

Now what are you waiting for?  Have fun!

* I’m about halfway through Tim Ferriss’ new book, The 4-Hour Body.  While some of his recommendations are a bit extreme, I can’t help but recommend the book for the sheer ambition of it.  I’ve already gleaned some great tips from the book about enabling extraordinary body change (and thanks to Kindle highlighting, I’ll never forget them).  Besides, how can you not be intrigued by the sub-title: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman.

You hear it everyday.  People want more balance in their lives.  They’re tired of having to work long, hard hours without recognition or reward.  They end each and every day exhausted beyond belief and dream of spending their days diving the Great Barrier Reef.  They want more ‘balance’ (which usually equates to more television – sorry, can’t help the snark!) yet when you push them on what ‘balance’ means to them, they really mean “I want to work less”.  They probably don’t talk about wanting to work more while sitting on a beach in Tahiti counting the waves.

In today’s world, the work/life balance of the 1950s desk jockey is a pipedream.  Sorry, it doesn’t exist anymore no matter how hard you wish for it.  Pulling in your driveway every night at 5pm after a day of slow work for a supper prepared for you isn’t going to happen for most people.  The business world is more competitive than ever, we’re connected to the office via “direct neural interface”, and change is happening on a daily or hourly basis.  The pace has quickened to a dizzying point and we’re expected to keep up or get off the train.  And getting off the train means greater sacrifices than most people are willing to make.

How many emails do you receive away from the office?  How many tweets, texts, news items, calls, or meetings are you dealing with outside of normal work hours?  You know, during that time that you should be ‘living’ and not working.  Probably lots – and it’s just going to get worse, my friend.  Of course we won’t count the life stuff you do while at work, right?   People tend to conveniently forget that!

Regardless of what we do or who we work for, we should just stop talking about balance entirely.  Ultimately contentment isn’t about balance.  It’s about feeling important again.  And it’s ultimately about having control and perspective over everything in your life and work.

Here’s the thing all those self-help experts don’t tell you when they say “work smart not hard”: True balance is contrived and results in mediocrity.  Achieving a 50/50 balance between work and life is never going to happen if you want to actually achieve anything.   It implies splitting your time, energy, and effort down the middle arbitrarily – neither should ever encroach on the other – and compartmentalizing your life into a block known as ‘work’ and another block known as ‘life’. 

This of course means that work will suffer at times… and your personal life will suffer at other times… because while you expect your work and life to fit into a puzzle with equal sized pieces, it’s just never the case unless you have the most mindless work imaginable.  And you’re then filled with regret and resentment towards your work most of the time… and the cycle continues.

The truth is: Sometimes you simply need to work more.  Sometimes you need to play more.  Sometimes you need to work less and frankly, sometimes you need to play less.  Sometimes work will impact your life (a long, hard week or month) and sometimes your life will impact your work (an extended trip for the holidays).  It’s a lot more fluid than people realize.

So instead of fixating on a clean separation and a pure equal balance of our time, we should be talking about “smart integration”.  Integrating work into your life in a way that doesn’t raise your blood pressure, giving you ample time to produce, while keeping you in-tune with the things outside the office that recharge your batteries and also giving you purpose (side note: your work should fill you with purpose – if it doesn’t, you should find a new job!)

By thinking about work and life as an integrated whole you’ll feel less resentment about your work when it impacts your life, knowing that your life will inevitably impact your work too.  Don’t think about it being a balanced scale that you judge on a day-to-day basis, think about it as a marathon – sometimes you run fast, sometimes you run slowly, and sometimes you run slowly just to run fast later.  It’s not clean, but it’s reality.

By the way, I’ve worked for small companies, large companies, and for myself at various stages of my career.  And in all of those circumstances I’ve been expected to “keep pace” with everything around me whether it was a startup, a large corporation, or just me alone in my jammies in a home office.  Pretend all you want that it’s “different” if you find the right formula, but trust me, it isn’t.  There’s always work to be done if you want to achieve anything!  And that’s a good thing otherwise you wouldn’t be able to differentiate yourself.

So what are some things you can do?

• When work is slow, take time for your life.  Catch up on things you needed to do but couldn’t.  When life is cruising along, dedicate yourself to your work and clear the path to make it easier to traverse later.  Leverage your time best by identifying the ebbs and flows in your work and taking advantage of them.
• Stop overestimating the amount of time things take you to do.  I do this constantly – procrastinating because I suspect things will take a long time to spin up and finish.  When I do end up starting something, I almost always realize that it wasn’t worth the worry – so now I’m training myself to just stop worrying about unfinished things when I’m not in work mode.
• Don’t fret about staying connected on vacation; just make sure you exercise self-control.  You may find it’s more stressful being completely disconnected than if you check-in for 15 minutes each day (I do)… or you may find you operate just fine being disconnected.  Your answer may be different from mine; determine which type of person you are and then don’t beat yourself up for being that way.  Note that one thing you should do if you completely disconnect for a period of time is book a whole day for yourself to get caught back up when you return, otherwise you will be underwater for weeks.
• Read Controlled Bursts of Focus to Leap Ahead and Find Balance.  The recommendations in that post apply here as well, especially the notion of emergent focus and limiting the things you’re focusing on to the most important.
• Mentally invest in a ‘tracking system’ to monitor all of your outstanding items at work.  This is critical to finding peace while away from the office.  You need to know that you have control over your work in a deep and meaningful way such that when you’re away from it, you aren’t continually spending cognitive cycles worrying about it.  Close the laptop lid and walk away knowing you’re on top of things, and you have the appropriate amount of time dedicated to it later.  It can be blissful.
• Don’t sweat the small stuff at work.  Stop trying to be all things to all people; that’s how you get into trouble!  You don’t have to answer every single email that crosses your inbox, and you don’t need to be involved in every single decision.  Figure out what’s most important for you to focus on and then dedicate your time and energy to that.  Reminding yourself of the 80/20 rule (aka Pareto principle) every so often is a good thing to do.

Hope this helps – please comment below if you have thoughts or questions!

Over the course of a single day, you’re probably inundated by ways to improve your abs, vanquish your back pain, make a million dollars, or find the love of your life in record time.  Our attention as a society moves from one thing to the next without deliberate, consistent focus placed on any one thing for an extended period of time.  And we’re all learning from each other to think about things in terms of minutes or hours and not months or years.

Yet so many of us set out to do what’s promised for us without an understanding of the work required, just to fall short again and again… because what we’re not told is that while in some cases it could be possible, it’s in no way probable for short-term thinking to work.  Blame the internet all you want, but this is only going to get worse.

When you think back to just 15 or 20 years ago, global attention wasn’t this defocused.  News cycles didn’t refresh every 15 minutes, people didn’t carry on three SMS conversations while eating lunch with you, and there was a clear expectation of having to “pay your dues” before being promoted into the corner office.  There’s certainly been a shift in expectations and it’s immediately apparent when you talk to folks from the now dubbed “entitlement generation”.

Even referencing a generation makes me feel old, but for the millions of people who have grown up on the net, overnight success isn’t just possible – it’s expected.  They’ve seen instant celebrity blossom from a talentless vacuum, 20 year old millionaires on the cover of Newsweek, and many end up with an age bias, feeling that things have to happen for them before they get “old”.

The media messes with our minds.  The stories that sell are the ones that we all read with awe, wishing we could have that type of overnight success.  It’s the Kardashian syndrome.  Overnight success may happen for Mike “The Situation” but for the vast majority of people with enduring and durable success – the type you should strive for – it took time.  Lots of time and lots of work.

Take Elizabeth Gilbert, the best-selling author of “Eat, Pray, Love”.  Certainly she looks like an overnight success – yet she had been fine-tuning her craft for years publishing books read by only her most loyal followers, while living in obscurity. 

Facebook is the fastest growing business to reach 500 million people in history.  And it took 6 years and tons of hard work by hundreds of people.  That they are celebrating their success now after the bulk of people discovered the site over the last year or two doesn’t take away from the years spent building the foundation.

President Obama, the overnight sensation, had been preparing (and working hard) for his moment most of his life.  He wasn’t plucked off the street and thrust on-stage at the Democratic National Convention in 2004.  He had a highly calculated “long term” approach.

Short-term thinking has its place, though I’m not sure it’s in the important stuff.  If you’re thinking and planning for tomorrow or the next day because you’re buying into all the hype around us, it may end up handicapping your success over the long haul.  And I don’t know about you, but I plan on living a long, long time.

Generally, when it comes to long-term thinking, the thing you realize pretty quickly is that if you plan for the future, you’re never surprised by the present.  If you take the long view and prepare appropriately, you’re going to be ready when things happen for you.  Get your house in order and things that would normally have been seen as unexpected wins become expected.

Long term thinking applies equally to a vast number of critical areas; finances, business strategy, fitness and health, relationships, career planning, and more. 

Every time you make an important decision ask yourself, “am I thinking for tomorrow, next year, or five years out?”  Figure out what the impact would be tomorrow vs. next year vs. in five years.  Is it something that’s setting you up for the future or a detour?  Think long and hard about whether that detour would really be worth it!

For example…

If you’re spending your entire paycheck instead of planning for your financial future, expecting a big windfall someday, start saving now.  If the windfall comes, great, and if it doesn’t, you’ll be fine.  If nothing else, you’ll at least be able to sleep at night.

If you’re aligning your business around short-term objectives or reacting immediately to a move by the competition, take a step back and think about the next strategic chess move – not the obvious one your competition expects you to make.  Leapfrog what they’re doing.

If you’re eating junk thinking you’ll get your diet in order someday, start thinking about how you can improve your health starting today and into the future.  You’ll feel better every day.

If you’re expecting to get in shape overnight, change your perspective and take the long view.  You’ll be more likely to stick with it and find the body you’re looking for.  Fitness is a lifelong thing – not something you do for a few weeks at a time.

This stuff isn’t rocket science, but so many of us don’t think about who or where we’ll be 5 years from now and whether or not the decisions we’re making now are best preparing us.  Those who do will be distinctly more ready for the impact.

(Photo by Leo Reynolds)

I tweeted a version of that a few days ago and it pretty succinctly sums up my approach to "time management".  In essence, it’s saying do what you do and be 100% there… and do so in a way that isn’t randomly wasting precious time in the present moment due to sloppy planning or weak preparation.

How much downtime did you have today if you counted up the minutes?  10 minutes, 60 minutes, more?

If your house is in order you can use every minute to your advantage, whatever that means to you at that time.  You aren’t passing up the opportunity to use that time just because you don’t know what’s next or what you need to do – you can just seamlessly move from one thing to the next at a deliberate pace doing high-quality work or enjoying needed downtime.

Ultimately this approach goes back to having the right system for knowing what the open threads are in your life.  Getting Things Done by David Allen is one such system, hugely popular and very common sensical and intuitive, but there are others.  Assuming you’re already on your way to productivity black belt status and at any given moment can identify what you need in the moment, one of the best things you can do to act on this data is to start living in the gaps.

Gaps are those small 5-30 minute "in betweens" throughout the day that offer you some level of personal sanctity.  They’re part of your daily rituals – your commute, an afternoon walk, a 20-minute wait in the doctor’s office, time between meetings, the 30 minutes your spouse or partner is watching the kids, and so on.  They’re time periods in which you could choose to be productive or time you could use to disconnect and recharge.  Ultimately it’s up to you how you use it.

Time is personal.  If your life is full of work, family time, or other non-personal time, these gaps may be the only time you can hear yourself breathe.  Yet it’s natural to just view them as "too short to be meaningful" instead of what they are: time for you.  They’re really not idle time – the more control you get over your system, the more you realize just how much you can get done in three or four 15 minute blocks of time each day.  And once you do, it’s hard to ever look at them the same way again.

You could clear your inbox, write a couple paragraphs, do push ups, stretch, listen to a chapter of an audiobook, go for a quick walk, send flowers to a friend, order something online, call your parents, or straighten up around you.  You can almost always check some things off your list assuming you have one handy!

In order to get the most out of these time gaps, you need three things:

1. The list of what’s next
2. The means to relax, learn, or be inspired
3. The means to get work done

And you should have all three of those things all day, every day. 

If you don’t know what’s next, you’ll spend valuable time trying to figure it out, sometimes without the context of everything else you could be doing (i.e. the rest of the list). 

If you don’t have the means to relax, learn, or be inspired, you may end up feeling like you have to get work done – which imposes a sense of obligation.  And you won’t be able to recharge when you really need it.

If you don’t have the means to get work done, you’re frankly not getting ahead and making things happen.  Of course “work” doesn’t have to mean strictly work, it could mean anything from buying a gift for Mother’s Day to calling the credit card company about an invalid charge on your statement.

What these three things mean to you will be an individual choice.  I choose to keep all three things in a smartphone – my to do list and projects for what’s next, podcasts, audiobooks, and music for relaxation, and email and phone calls for getting work done.  It means I’m never without the means to fill the gaps when there’s time.

For you, it may mean carrying a book, newspaper, notebook, or folder around.  Or it could mean always having a laptop handy.  No matter what you decide to do to fill that time, just make sure you’re being deliberate – you shouldn’t be caught letting time slip idly by without taking advantage of it… in one way or another.

If you’re reading this blog, chances are you fall into one of two camps:

1. You think you’re a great multitasker and thrive on juggling a million complex tasks at the same time
2. You know better

Folks in camp #2 should probably just move on to reading something else (here are some recommendations!)  If you’re in camp #1, I’d love a demonstration

Multitasking is a catch-all phrase that’s used for a lot of different work styles and concepts.  First a few words about what it isn’t.

Multitasking isn’t having different areas of focus (family, career, health, and so on).  Multitasking also doesn’t incorporate doing unrelated (or somewhat related) things at different times of the day (moving from email to meetings to writing to reading).

Both views of multitasking are fine in that they’re normal behavior; stuff you won’t get penalized by the efficiency gods for excelling at.  If you didn’t have different areas of focus, you’d be a robot, a dog, or a Perl script without any emotional attachment or ability to "let go" of a single area.  And if you weren’t able to switch tasks to some degree throughout the day, you wouldn’t be the least bit effective at work or at home.

We need to be flexible, but we also need to be focused.  And like most things in life, there’s a fair amount of nuance in there.

Multitasking as I’ll define it here is when you attempt to apply real brainpower to two or more tasks at roughly the same time.  Note that I didn’t say “during the same day” or reduce it just to "doing two things at once".  There’s a time and a place for doing two things at once… we’ll get to that.  Multitasking is really when you try and spread your brain too thin by having multiple destinations for your attention over a short amount of time.

The funny thing about multitasking is that it’s derived from a term we use in the tech industry to describe the ability to run more than one application (or process, service, etc.) at the same time.  The CPU isn’t really doing two things at once – just like humans, it can’t do that – it has a complex scheduling algorithm that gives the illusion that multiple programs are running in parallel (yes, we could also discuss multicore machines, but we won’t here).  So it’s switching from one thing back to the other fast enough that it appears like things are happening at the same time.

This is similar to humans as well.  We’re not really multitasking, we’re just context switching really fast.  Think about the last time you were interrupted in your office as you were deep in thought.  You stopped to pay attention to someone and your focus shifted.  Then when the conversation was over, you went back to what you were doing.  That’s quick context switching, not “multitasking”.  Whatever it’s called though, it will impede your efficiency.

This is the basis of the term switching costs.  It costs us mental energy each time we have to shift our focus, which results in an overall slowdown.  We think it comes for free but it doesn’t.  Each interruption or context switch reduces our efficiency on our main task by a measurable amount.

Now, background processing on a computer is just a form of multitasking (for instance, downloading a document while you edit another) but for us humans, it’s a far more efficient way of operating.

While it’s impossible to direct your attention to writing three documents at the same time, and it’s harder to finish something while engaged in context switching, you can effectively listen to classical music and write.  Or listen to audiobooks while you drive or run.  Or open a banana while discussing politics.  Or knit and listen to the news.  And so on.

The key is to limit the things you try and do at once to a single thing requiring your brainpower, and a single thing you can already do without thinking about it.  These are the things you do passively without spending any brain cycles on.

I’ll call this, just for fun, the 1+1 Rule of Multitasking.  1 cognitive task + 1 background task.  No more.

Try and do two or more things requiring cognitive load (like balancing your checkbook while taking notes on an important documentary movie) and you’ll either fail at one, or do one or both poorly and inefficiently.  Yes, you may still get them done – but it will take twice or three times as long and be lower quality. 

Try and do multiple background tasks while focusing your mind on one cognitive task and things start to break down as well.  Limit it to one and one.

Now, lots of people call multitasking a "myth"… but for me that’s just too strong of a word.  If you consider the layperson’s definition of multitasking as fast context switching, then it’s no more myth than people who have 3,543 emails in their inboxes who claim they’re on top of things   People do it, they just don’t realize the costs.

People can context switch (or “multitask”) in only one of two ways:

1. Very inefficiently.  Things will still get done but far less efficiently and at lower quality.
2. Using background processing while maintaining undivided focus on one major task.

Ultimately you’re going to have to decide for yourself if the time you’re spending is efficient enough by thinking hard about where your focus lies.  It could mean the difference between getting things done quickly and well or taking twice as long and still not being proud of the result.

Your choice!

A couple months ago, I made the decision on a complete whim to become a runner.  After years of self-identifying as an “athlete”, “martial artist” or a “lifter”, I dove into running with everything I had and studied it like I studied plant biology back in high school.  I’ve learned a ton and feel like I may have found a new escape for myself.

If you’ve never run a mile, or if it’s been years since you laced up running shoes, keep reading.  And if you’re an old pro, you might learn something new here, but I kind of doubt it

The obvious caveat is that all of this advice is coming from someone who’s probably a lot like you and not some ultra-marathoner or Tarahumaran.  I’m not a “real” runner… yet.  I haven’t finished a 5k (my first race is July 31st) or written a book about running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days.  But ultimately that shouldn’t matter much, because unlike learning how to hit a 90mph fastball or drive a car, running is about overcoming the resistance to move more than anything.  And that’s mostly a mental game… it shouldn’t take years of experience practicing impeccable form until you can run well enough to impart wisdom, it requires the will to get yourself up off your ass and onto the street.

That isn’t to dismiss the fact that running, like most physical activities, is something you can dissect down to the most minute detail.  Ankle inversion, foot pronation, stride length, heel vs. toe running, etc.  But I’m not at that level yet – probably never will be – and my guess is that you aren’t either.  We’re just two wanna-be runners right now… so let’s start with the basics together.  I’ll give you some links to follow when we’re done to learn more if you care.

First, a little background: I’ve always hated running.  Loathed it with a real passion reserved only for instant chocolate pudding.  There have been times in my life (college, mostly) where I ran pretty regularly but it’s been something I’ve dreaded the whole way through.

Yet running is the world’s oldest and simplest activity.  Most everyone is born a runner… it doesn’t require a gym membership or any special overpriced equipment (like, say, biking does).  Ear buds, running shoes, headbands, and special socks aren’t required in order to run.  You just need two healthy feet and a bit of willpower and determination.  I mean: you don’t even need to have a destination in mind, you could run in circles around your block and feel better.

And boy will it humble you.  Running will teach you more about yourself than most other sport or activity.  Mostly because it’s you against yourself and you’re in your own head most of the time… but also because it’s just plain hard.  Exercise is meant to give you progressive resistance in order for you to improve, and running does that in spades.  There’s always a new goal to be had no matter how accomplished a runner you are.

That’s why it’s a real focuser (or a refocuser as it were).  Teaching yourself to push through pain and fear is something that transcends sport or activity – it’s something you need in life.  I’ve found that the hardest part about running is “pushing through”.  Knowing that it hurts… but that it won’t hurt forever, and that there’s more to gain through “pushing through” than there could be by quitting.  And the better you get at it, the more fun it becomes (just like most anything!)

As the character of Bob Bowerman said in the great Prefontaine movie, Without Limits:

Running, one might say, is basically an absurd past-time upon which to be exhausting ourselves. But if you can find meaning, in the kind of running you have to do to stay on this team, chances are you will be able to find meaning in another absurd past-time… Life.

Running will make you a better you. There are twenty-six things I’ve identified that you can learn from intense physical activity such as living in the present, performing well under pressure, and fostering healthy competition.  Check out that list because becoming a runner means you’ll benefit from each and every one. 

Will Smith put it best when he talked about running as a key to life (along with reading).  Check it out:

You’ll also see your cognition and concentration improve with running, which is a big unexpected win for most people.  We moved a lot as early humans, chasing down our next meal everyday, and as such the brain has evolved to thrive when fed with aerobic exercise like running.  There have been many studies that have shown the importance of exercise for the brain, demonstrating that with an increase in oxygen flow due to exercise, the brain works better and faster as well.  You can see mental acuity rise in direct correlation with exercise, and fall when it’s taken away.  So if nothing else, running will help how you think better as well.

OK, enough of that, let’s get to it.  Want to be a runner?

Ditch the limiting beliefs

First things first, everyone can be a runner.  For years I believed that I wasn’t a runner because I was told somewhere along the line that my body type is better suited for building muscle mass.  And muscle mass and running don’t mix.  Of course, that’s ridiculous. 

In just 8 runs over two weeks, I was able to go from sucking wind on day one after just two minutes of running, to running for thirty minutes straight.  Naturally your experience won’t match mine exactly.  But if you believe you aren’t a runner, you won’t be.  If you want to be one, just run!  But…

Don’t start running!

The biggest mistake you could make is to think you can run a marathon on day one of training.  No matter what kind of a runner you’ve been in the past, accept that you aren’t one now – and give yourself some time to build up to one.  Over the course of 30 days you could go from primarily walking to primarily running provided you take a slow progression. 

Start with walking… then run for a bit… then walk again.  This way you’ll ease your muscles and your psyche into the process of running regularly.  Go at your own pace and if that means you only run for 30 seconds at a time, that’s fine!  Just make sure that the next time out you run for 35 seconds

Start with measuring time rather than distance

In fact, don’t even think about distance for the first 6 weeks.  Just keep yourself moving for a period of time (say, 20 minutes) regardless of your speed or distance.  Distance is something you can worry about later once you’ve established your running habit.  Getting hung up on distance too early is a sure path to injury or burnout, and we’re in this for the long haul.

For what it’s worth, I made this mistake myself.  After a 4 mile run a few weeks into starting, I had so much pain on the ball of my foot that I couldn’t run at all for a few weeks.  It was fun to explore cycling and rowing during the downtime, but I could have avoided this injury altogether if I just took it slower.

Track and share your progress

One of the best things you can do is to let success breed success.  Running is a fun activity and doesn’t need any sort of hard measurement, but if you’re like me, you might benefit from knowing how well you’re doing.  There’s nothing better than seeing consistent improvement and having friends cheer you on. 

There are a variety of tools available for tracking your runs:

• GPS watches like the Garmin Forerunner 110
• Nike+ (which I use and covered a bit here when talking about self-tracking)
• iPhone apps like RunKeeper and RunMeter.  There are great videos of both of these apps on Scobleizer.
• Dailymile.com which is the best way I’ve found to network with running friends and motivate each other.  This is me on Dailymile.

  

Get past the awkward stage (that first 3 mile run)

For many new runners, it takes a while for your muscles to adapt and the right mindset to take over.  Typically you’ll see a lot of people “get it” after they pass their first three mile run.  Three miles is just long enough to be hard, but not such a long run as to be completely debilitating.  And it just so happens to be almost exactly the length of a 5k, which is probably one reason 5k races are so popular these days.

Take it slow and know that once you pass that first three miler, you’re doing it.  You’re past the “hard part” and can now really focus on the intrinsic joy.

Learn as much as you can

Running as a lifelong pursuit requires a certain level of knowledge about it.  There are a bunch of resources out there for inspiration and straight-up learning.

• Read Runner’s World and other magazines about running.  Just remember that lots of the information presented in these magazines are about equipment you don’t need or goals you may not have.  I’ve found that a lot of them cover ultramarathons (anything longer than a marathon) and I doubt I’ll be running a 50 mile race… ever.  So remember to “just be you” and not get too caught up in being the person the magazine thinks you should be.
• Check out the Couch to 5k plan and the Runner’s World 8-week beginning training program.  Both are great resources for getting started and I recommend starting with one of them.  Couch to 5k also has a great Facebook page where updates will come to your news feed automatically.
• Read Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.  Hands down the best book I’ve read on sports in a long time; hugely inspirational and informative.  This ‘creative non-fiction’ piece will have you wishing you were running while flipping the pages   If you like this one, you may also like Ultramarathon Man or Chi Running too.
• Read The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Barefoot Running on Zen Habits.  This is the guide I wish I would have written, but I’m a couple months behind Leo in my barefoot running exploration.  It’s quite detailed and after everything I’ve learned, a great general resource.
• Check out the No Meat Athlete blog for good tips on running and gear.
• And if you’re having trouble keeping up with exercise as a habit, check out 7 Tips to Make Exercise a Habit And Keep It That Way.  4 Steps to Learn Any Physical Activity can also help you “drill” until you find your running zone.

Most importantly, have fun!

By the way, it goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that you should talk to your doctor before you start any exercise program.

‘An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.’ – Ben Franklin

Self-tracking – or personal analytics as some call it – is a relatively new phenomenon brought about by the ubiquity of cheap sensor technology and the internet.  It’s a space that’s just now coming into its own thanks to the tech getting cheaper and lots of interested, data-driven geeks finding each other on the net and exchanging ideas.

The potential impact of self-tracking on personal health and overall well being could someday rival the discovery of penicillin – seriously – and we’re just at the beginning of what’s going to be a huge wave of self-improvement and individualized health care based on self-tracking and analysis.

I’ve recently entered the world of self-tracking… and there’s no going back.  My weight, body fat percentage, running speed and distance, calories burned, sleep patterns, investments, genetic predispositions, daily routines, mood, and even commute times are tracked and analyzed.  Sound a little excessive?  Maybe.  But only because it’s still not 100% automatic.  But it’s really, really close to being “set it and forget it”, and for me, the benefits far outweigh the few minutes I spend each day tracking things.

What is Self-Tracking?

The basic concept behind self-tracking is simple: our ability to determine cause and effect through our memory or experience alone is inherently faulty.  It’s tough enough for most of us to remember a birthday or anniversary.  Ask us to calculate how many calories we burned yesterday and how that affected our sleep last night and our blood pressure will rise – and we won’t even be able to detect that in order to prevent it from happening in the future! 

Our minds play games with us… they trick us into seeing and believing things that aren’t there in order to "protect us".  We can rationalize most anything we do or say (science shows this) which means deciding not to exercise because we’re busy or just don’t feel like it is easy to justify.  Of course, machines aren’t as easily tricked.

You can’t trick yourself when you have hard data.  You can’t convince yourself of something that the data doesn’t show.  Data tells you almost everything you need to know, whether you like it or not… and then implicitly asks, "what do we do about this now?" 

Data isn’t affected by human emotion.  It just is.  It’s difficult to look at data and "talk it down" like you can with your ego.  It’s ruthless.

You may have heard of the Hawthorne Effect.  The basic premise behind it is what makes self-tracking worth doing.  Basically your behavior can be improved or modified just in response to being studied, even if no other changes around you occur.  Does it matter if the person studying your behavior isn’t actually a person at all but a $50 sensor strapped to your shoe?  Not if you plan on leveraging the data.

We’ve all had that feeling of wanting to get credit for something.  If you’re tracking your morning run, and you know it’ll be posted online, do you think you’ll walk that last half-mile?  It’s amazingly powerful what a little pressure from data can do.

We also all have consistent patterns and routines each day.  These patterns (or habits) are a big determining factor in whether we’re happy or not, energetic or not, fit or not, or healthy or not.  But it’s hard for us to accurately determine exactly which of those patterns affect us the most in the most important ways.  Do you sleep better when you exercise in the morning or at night?  Does that better sleep affect your mood or your ability to focus on the computer screen at work?  Does that nagging back pain get better or worse when you take a hot bath or is light morning stretching the key? 

You’ll never know unless you pay closer attention.

So people are turning to self-tracking to help.  It’s a way to take all the data we generate everyday and start to draw correlation or causation between the events.  It’s not entirely dissimilar from how Microsoft, Google, or Amazon build software at the scale they do – lots of attention is paid to how people actually use stuff instead of how they say they do.  Data is king.

How to Get Started

Getting started with self-tracking is as easy as grabbing a pen and paper and making a small behavioral change to start tracking something (yes, the number of lattes you drink each week counts…)  The easiest thing to do of course is to get something that does the tracking for you.  If you can afford any of the tools below (like Nike+ or the Fitbit) you might want to consider picking one up and seeing how it helps… because honestly, most people don’t want to spend the time required to track things by hand.

1. Start with one thing you’d like to improve.  The best way to do this is to ask yourself that ultimate question: if I changed one single thing that would have the biggest impact on my quality of life, what would it be?  The things you consider will be entirely personal and unique to you, but there are also probably some commonalities with others.  For instance, when Gretchen Rubin started her Happiness Project last year, she knew that increasing her energy through exercise would pay dividends all year.  So she started there.  Some other ideas: lowering your blood pressure, losing five pounds, getting more sleep, meditating every day, spending less money on impulse buys, etc.

2. Commit to tracking it for thirty days at first.  Thirty days may not be long enough to drop 50 pounds, but it’s probably long enough to see if self-tracking is for you.  Don’t let yourself off the hook until the thirty days are up… by then, you may find it isn’t too hard to keep up after all. 

3. Spend some time each week looking at your data and drawing conclusions. Come up with your own theories about why things are happening.  There’s little point in self-tracking if you aren’t going to learn from the data!  If you’re someone who does a weekly review, that’s probably a good time to also look at the data you’ve collected and figure out what you’re going to tweak.

4. Test your new hypothesis.  Make a discovery about yourself based on the data at hand?  Think you know how to “fix” it?  Try making a small adjustment to your behavior and see what happens.  Do you focus better in meetings when you have green tea, espresso, or a Diet Coke?  You won’t know until you test it out.

5. Rinse and repeat.  Once you’ve maxed out on one area, take a look at tracking and analyzing another.  Could you improve another aspect of your life just by starting to track it?  Who knows?  Give it a shot.

Tools

As it stands, there isn’t a single, central repository out there for data gathering and analysis across all the various tools.  And there isn’t just one thing you can strap to your wrist to track everything from your cycling distance to your checking account. 

But there are a bunch of great tools available for specific things, or provided you’re OK doing a little bit of aggregation on your own.

Here are some of my favorite tools for self-tracking.  You can’t go wrong with any of these.

• Nike+.  If you’re a runner and you aren’t using Nike+ or a GPS unit like a Garmin Forerunner, you’re missing out!  It’s incredibly empowering to track your distance, speed/pace, and frequency over time.  Both tools also work with sites like Dailymile to help you challenge and motivate others as well.  I’ll likely do a follow-up post on both Nike+ and Dailymile at some point.
• Fitbit.  One of the cooler things to come out in a while, the Fitbit is a small sensor you attach to your clothing (or via arm band) to track your fitness and sleep.  Things like sleep patterns, steps taken, and calories burned can be huge motivators and important data points in an overall self-tracking program.  Just knowing how many steps you’ve taken (vs. what your goal is) can motivate you to ditch the elevator and take the stairs instead.  Remember: just knowing you’re tracking it and that you have have a goal actually matters.
• Withings scale.  A scale that sends your weight, body fat %, and body mass index wirelessly to a private web site.  An iPhone app that gives you a simple chart to see how far you’ve come.  All in all, the Withings scale is probably my favorite gadget this year.  It’s like peeking into the future.  Check out this mega review of it by DC Rainmaker.
• Joe’s Goals.  One of my favorite sites to track daily habits and something I use all the time to keep myself moving in the right direction.  We all like to get gold stars for getting stuff done – Joe’s Goals is just another way to do so.  I’ve written about Joe’s Goals before, check it out.
• 12 Goals: Excel Spreadsheet.  A basic spreadsheet containing everything you need to track your vision, goals, and your daily progress throughout the year.  A Refocuser exclusive!
• Track Your Happiness.org.  See “how your happiness varies depending on what you are doing, who you are with, where you are, what time of day it is, and a variety of other factors.”  Very easy to use!
• Mint.  The best way to analyze your finances across all your accounts and investments.  If you have more than $1 sitting in a bank account and you aren’t using Mint, you should give it a shot.
• Foursquare.  More social than analytical, it’s still a great way to track how often you’re visiting the same places and when.  The stats page is a lot of fun; for instance I know that Saturday is my busiest day of the week, that I’ve visited 46 different venues in the past few months, and that I drink a lot of coffee at the local café where I’m the unofficial “mayor”
• 23andMe.  Plan for your own health and wellness with the latest in genetic science.  Find out which diseases you may have increased risk for and what you can do about it.  You can also learn fun stuff like if you’re likely a fast caffeine metabolizer (I probably am, yay!) or have have bitter taste perception.

That’s just a short list to start, but they’re all things either I’ve personally used (in fact, all but Track Your Happiness I use all the time).  For a more complete list of tools, check out:

• Resources @ The Quantified Self

The Hardest Part

Believe it or not, the hardest thing when self-tracking isn’t the change you need to make to your daily routines in order to maintain it.  It’s actually learning something you may not want to know and not taking it too seriously.  You want to use the data to your advantage… not become a slave to it. 

Does knowing that your blood pressure is borderline high make your blood pressure worse?  Well, you’ll only know if you start tracking it, right?  And chances are if you do discover this, you’ll be motivated to fix the root cause.

The key with self-tracking is to work under the assumption that knowing is always better than not knowing.  If you don’t agree with this, you might want to think about why.  Is it out of fear?  Or is it because you know you’ll overly stress over what the data implies? 

Before you get started, make a promise to yourself that you will use the data to improve your well being – and that if you ever find yourself overanalyzing or stressing over the details, that you’ll back off.  Or at a minimum, you’ll work to get to the bottom of what’s driving your fear.

This process should be enlightening, but it should also be fun.  Don’t let it own you.

More Resources

• Wired Magazine: Know Thyself
• Wired Magazine: The Nike Experiment (about running and Nike+)
• New York Times: The Data-Driven Life
• The Happiness Project: Think About Your Routines
• The Quantified Self (blog)
• Total Recall (book)

If you liked this post, please share it with the ShareThis link below… or print it out and post it on the wall at Starbucks.  Thanks!

I work with lots of people who are booked all day long, 8am-6pm, every single day of the week.  Most of these people complain that they have no time to do any “real” work since they’re “sooooooo busy” all the time.  Yet sitting in a meeting with a laptop open only half paying attention isn’t real work, and most people know that

Still, they let their time get abused left and right and don’t realize that they’re ultimately in control of the situation.  Heck, they may not even identify it as a problem to begin with.  They’re busy right?  Who has time to think about producing, creating, or <ugh> leading anyway?!

When you break it down, time is the purest and most ultimate resource we have for action.  We don’t own many things completely and totally, but time is one of the things that we get to choose how to spend.  And as we’ve discussed on this blog in the past, your life is the sum of what you choose to focus on – so spend it wisely, because you aren’t going to get it back.  How you spend your time is going to impact your life in ways greater than your money, relationships, or job alone ever could.

It’s easy to look at a situation like being booked all week and think it’s unavoidable.  If you’re in a role with a decent amount of responsibility, it’s also easy to assume that responsibility has to equate to meeting attendance and being “busy” all the time.  But of course, it doesn’t… and never will.

Having responsibility for something important means that you’re a decision-maker of some sort.  The best decisions are made based on experience, instinct, and data.  And there are ways to gain practical experience, hone your native instinct, and collect and synthesize data outside of meetings.  In fact, you could make an argument that the more time you spend in useless meetings, the less opportunity you have to gain that experience or practice your craft.

Follow me?

Responsibility means, almost by definition, that your skills are best spent on “top of the stack” problems.  Which means that the more responsibility you have, the more time you should be spending on higher-level (aka more important) problems.  And in order to do so, focus is an absolute must-have in every way.  Because you can’t make a significant difference if you can’t focus on something, right?

To deconstruct it further, you may find that you can only make progress on solving those higher-level problems if you have uninterrupted blocks of time.  Studies have shown that it can take as much as 20 or 30 minutes to “recover” from interruptions.  This means that if you have to spin-down for even just a few minutes, you’re going to have an inordinately hard time spinning back up into flow.

And the harder the problem, the more it requires dedicated time to focus on.

You don’t get uninterrupted time if you let yourself get booked all day, every day.  And if you’re like me and have kids and a life outside of the office, you’re going to quickly find yourself sacrificing the things that make your life worth living in order to get back on track at the office.  It doesn’t have to be this way, I promise.

Here are five simple tips that should help you prioritize your time:

1. Block off time every Friday to kill meetings for the next week.

As part of any good weekly review (see The 3S Approach for more on the weekly review process) you look ahead to the upcoming week.  Use this time to start hitting the Cancel or Decline buttons for things you just don’t have time to do if you want to get non-meeting work done.

Always do this with the goal of having large blocks of uninterrupted time – it’s no use if you’re just grabbing a half-hour here and there to catch-up on email.  Remember: you want to get something done, not just mess around with your email.

2. Frontload your commitments.

This is something I’ve begun doing recently and it’s been great.  See, I’d rather have a couple days each week where I don’t have time to think so long as I know I’m going to have huge blocks of uninterrupted time coming up to do nothing but think. 

Lots of people look at a 40-hour work week and see 40 available slots for meetings, but I find this to be counter-productive to real focus.  It means you’re bouncing around all week and never have time to find flow.

So try this: squeeze all the recurring and one-off meetings you have into Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (if needed).  Leave Thursday and Friday wide open.  In fact, book a bunch of writing/coding/designing or whatever time on those days just for yourself.  Then protect that time like a mama bear protects an injured cub.

You may find that not only do you get an abundance of time to do “real” work, you also have a buffer for those important meetings that you couldn’t have possibly anticipated at the start of the week.  This way you may have some meetings on Thursday and Friday, but you guarantee they’re the most important ones and that they happen around your commitment to produce.

3. Get outta Dodge.

Plan to be out of the office for at least four continuous hours every couple weeks.  Work from a coffee shop, a satellite office, or your favorite lookout spot.  It doesn’t really matter much, so much as you make a habit out of not being around for others when they are looking for you. 

Of course, if you alert people that you’re planning on doing this, they’ll know to find you before or after your disappearance – and you’ll find that it won’t make one bit of a difference for them.  But it will do wonders for your ability to get stuff done.

4. Start every phone call with “Is this still a good time to talk?”

I picked up this habit from Merlin Mann, web celeb extraordinaire and creator of Inbox Zero.  Starting every call with “Is this still a good time?” does two important things:

1. It gives the person you’re meeting with an opportunity to duck out if they need to.  Important because it also conveys that you feel this is important enough that you expect them to be present and active on the call.  If it’s not a good time to do this, say so now – otherwise we’re diving in.
2. It makes it clear that you’re going to be engaged – that you are going to be an active participant on the call.

Plus, it’s just courteous and respectful of someone else’s time.  Other people face the same overbooked pain as you do, so it’s just the right thing to do.

5. Don’t solve other people’s problems for them.

It doesn’t matter how smart you think you are, shut up.  When someone comes to you with a problem they need to solve or a decision they need to make, you need to quickly assess what your role is going to be in their process.  Sometimes it’s easy to see yourself as the “hero” – the person who’ll solve all the world’s problems in one fell swoop.

But that has two unintended consequences.  First, it involves you directly in the lifetime of that thing.  If there are follow-ups, you’re going to be involved.  You may even end up being in the driver’s seat.  So what may have taken 20 minutes of your time can easily turn into 20 unexpected and unplanned-for hours.  And second, it’s setting a bad precedent and taking a learning opportunity away from someone else. 

You want people to be able to solve their own problems, especially if you’re a manager, and doing the work for someone else just makes it easier for them to ask next time.  And of course, the primary role of any good manager (or co-worker for that matter) is to help those around them learn and grow.  How is that person growing by listening to you rattle on?

Hope this helps!  If you haven’t, checked out what is really part one of this post; Protect Your Time: 8 Ways to Stay Focused on Important Stuff.  8+5 = 13 tips for making the most out of your most limited and valuable resource.

As a part of an overall approach to personal growth, it’s important to know when your mind – which is far more complex than many of us give it credit – is working on your behalf and when it isn’t.  Or, to put it more specifically, when it thinks it’s working on your behalf… when in reality it’s doing the equivalent of tying your hands behind your back so you can’t hurt yourself… but can’t eat or drink either!

In so many ways, our minds have adapted almost too well over millennia.  In an effort to protect us in the short-term, we can frequently be hurting ourselves over the long haul.

The self-serving bias is like that.  It’s the tendency to see ourselves as responsible for our successes, but to see others – or the circumstances – as responsible for our failures. 

This is so clearly a coping strategy – we do this to protect our self-image, improve our confidence, and keep ourselves from dwelling on the negative.  We also do it to (at least seemingly) protect the image of ourselves in the eyes of others by playing up the good stuff and deferring blame for the bad stuff.

But is it healthy?  Is that really who we strive to be?  Someone who takes the credit and assigns blame?

I doubt it.  Most of us would probably say that this doesn’t describe us at all.  That we’re great about giving credit where it’s due and taking blame when things don’t go well.  And of course, most of us would be kidding ourselves (there’s that damn bias again).  Because who you think you are and who you actually are are rarely the same.  That’s one of the core tenets of psychology.

Not a day goes by that you don’t witness the self-serving bias in action if you’re actively looking for it.  In sports, you typically want to win.  So of course you’re going to believe that the umpires or referees have it out for you if you don’t.  At work, you want to be seen as someone who makes things happen.  So when they don’t, it can’t possibly be your fault, right?  And in politics, you want to be right.  So everything your candidate or party says can be seen through that lens.

Is this inevitable?  Are we doomed to demonstrate the self-serving bias whether we like it or not?  Of course not   Where would the fun in life be if we couldn’t change ourselves and become better people?

Step 1: Learn about the self-serving bias

Naturally, like many things in personal growth, the most important thing you can do is to learn about the self-serving bias.  Watch the video above, read a little bit on the web, and think about how you exhibit this in your own life. Knowing that the self-serving bias exists and that we can all be lured into its trap can help you avoid it in the future.

PsychWiki as usual has a good write-up and a list of references you can refer to.  The relationship to self-handicapping is especially interesting to me.

Step 2: Value failure and take accountability

The best way to succeed is to double your failure rate. - Bill Gates

It sounds cliché but failing is the only way to grow.  If you don’t take pride in your failures and use them as opportunities to learn and adapt, you’re handicapping your progress.  Failing is all part of the process.  Start accepting the fact that failure isn’t always someone else’s fault and start owning up to it.  The people around you will respect you more and you’ll all be able to learn from your mistakes moving forward.  Yes, it’s hard to admit you’re to blame – even partially.  But it’s critical to overcoming the self-serving bias.

Step 3: Find ways to give others credit

Taking credit for everything is something children do when they don’t know any better.  It’s far more fun to help others succeed provided you do it genuinely.  Give others an opportunity to shine even in situations that don’t seem “important”. 

Helping others grow and get recognition can have such a profound effect on you that it can outweigh any perceived benefits of taking all the credit to begin with.

Bottom line: Be aware that you probably have a tendency towards the self-serving bias.  If you find yourself exhibiting it, refer back to this post and straighten yourself out!

It’s admittedly hypocritical of me to use the word ‘perfect’ in the title of this post when I’ve written in the past about perfection being overrated.  But the word perfect does actually have a place in personal growth so long as you don’t take it too literally.

True perfection isn’t really the point though.  The big idea is that practicing your craft has to be done with a level of respect for how you’ll perform in reality at all times.  No ifs, ands, or buts.

The only way to achieve your maximum performance potential is to train your body and mind to do so over and over… and over.

Let’s assume for a moment that talent is overrated (just like perfection).  Sure, there are people who are naturally better at certain things than others – they have talent, that’s indisputable – but no one can achieve great heights without lots and lots of practice.  As Malcolm Gladwell said in Outliers, you need 10,000 hours of practice to be great.  Or, really, to even have a chance at being great.

Peter Norvig recognized this pattern as well in “Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years”:

Researchers (Bloom (1985), Bryan & Harter (1899), Hayes (1989), Simmon & Chase (1973)) have shown it takes about ten years to develop expertise in any of a wide variety of areas, including chess playing, music composition, telegraph operation, painting, piano playing, swimming, tennis, and research in neuropsychology and topology. The key is deliberative practice: not just doing it again and again, but challenging yourself with a task that is just beyond your current ability, trying it, analyzing your performance while and after doing it, and correcting any mistakes. Then repeat. And repeat again.

What does this mean?  Simple.  It means just because you were born with a golden arm doesn’t make you Roger Clemens.  Bad example, I know… but despite his pretty obvious use of performance enhancing drugs, the guy was also a workhorse on the baseball field.  His workouts would mimic the intensity of the game and when on the mound, his movements were like a machine.  He put in his 10,000 hours and then some.

Kobe Bryant is probably somewhere right now shooting free throws.  Derek Jeter is taking batting practice on his off-day.  Steve Ballmer is rehearsing his next keynote.  Tiger Woods… well let’s not go there.  We’ll assume he’s practicing his golf swing or something.  Chefs are cooking, athletes are training, executives are rehearsing, gymnasts are bouncing, and dancers are dancing the world over. 

That’s what they need to do to be the best.

Chances are, they’re not dragging their feet either – they’re really doing it.  Pretending it’s the real thing all the way.  They’re practicing “perfectly”.  That doesn’t mean without flaw, it just means they’re not letting themselves off the hook mentally “just because it’s practice”.

Which brings me back to the core message. Practice may not actually make perfect, but if you aren’t practicing perfectly, you have no shot.  The more you practice the right way, the more you’re creating routine – or “muscle memory” as the coaches call it.  Your brain understands sequence and your nervous system reacts more quickly as the pathways are grooved.  The more this happens, the better you become at the task at hand and the more natural it all becomes to you.

So what happens if your practice becomes lazy?  If you start training yourself to be sloppy, what do you think is going to happen when the time comes to perform under real pressure?  Sloppiness.  Failure.  Failure you could have prevented just by putting forth more effort during practice.  Your brain and body are just reacting how they’ve been trained to.  They way you’ve trained them.

I learned this stuff firsthand during intense martial arts training with some of the best instructors in the world a few years back. If you drop your hands or turn your back during drills, you’ll drop your hands or turn your back during sparring.  We were very deliberate during all of our training to make sure our practice was as realistic as we could make it.  So now, even if I’m just hitting the heavy bag at the local gym, I never drop my hands anymore.

We also ran all sorts of stress drills (lights off, eyes closed, unpredictable situations) to make our training feel real.  If you didn’t get scared, we weren’t doing it right.  This way the "real thing” was just another practice session.

I’ve since applied this “perfect practice” approach to just about everything in my life that requires rehearsal.  If I’m giving a talk, I rehearse it like it’s the real thing.  Start to finish.  I try and get on the actual stage ahead of time and run through it 10 times, forcing myself to continue if I flub something so I can get used to rebounding from it.  It’s going to happen, I might as well be ready for it.

When rehearsing a presentation you can’t just:

• Start over just because you messed something up
• Skip sections because you think you know them
• Rehearse alone if a partner will actually be speaking with you
• Use acronyms or lingo you wouldn’t use for real
• Rehearse things out of order

Make it real! Imagine if when you learned how to drive you first learned to steer, then a week later you practiced the brake, and the following week you practiced the accelerator.  Ridiculous, right?  That’s how a lot of people practice stuff.  Section by section.

Here are some specific tactics as they apply to ‘perfect’ practice, whether it’s for athletics, public speaking, or basket weaving:

• Simulate real events.  Get the environment as close to the real thing as possible, down to the smallest detail if you need to.  Even if you’re just doing a dry run of a talk while driving your car, try and simulate your cadence and rhythm.
• Make your training harder than the real thing.  Know deep down inside that you’re ready with all the confidence in the world.  You’ve been there already.
• Never practice tired.  One of the worst habits people have: practicing tired because they think it’s helping.  It’s not.  When you’re tired, you’re training your brain and body to be sloppy.  Just stop.  Always practice fresh and form good habits.
• Get over your fear.  Stop projecting the worst that could happen all the time.  Prepare for the worst and you’ll know you’re ready. 
• Always think “what would I do if…?”  Back when I played baseball, I used to have a word written on the outside of my glove in black marker: THINK.  When I’d be standing around in the outfield between pitches, I’d find myself looking down at the glove, remembering to think, and then constructing the next play in my head.  When the ball was hit my way, I was ready.

Off to practice sleeping now (it’s late as I’m writing this – and we have a 2-week old baby boy!)  Enjoy your practice and keep the realism coming!

If you work in the tech industry, you’ve undoubtedly heard the phrase, “Real artists ship”.  It’s a quote attributed to Steve Jobs, the founder and current CEO of Apple, as a motivator for the development team of the original Macintosh computer.

In this context, shipping means getting your product out the door and into the hands of the world.  But it could mean submitting your term paper, completing a big sale, or finishing a year-long boat renovation.  Life is full of projects like these that could go on indefinitely, but ultimately have to ship in order to make a difference. 

If these projects don’t ship, they’re just hobbies.  If they don’t ship, they were just fun ideas – and ideas are a dime a dozen… everyone has good ideas.  But shipping… that’s hard.  And the rewards of shipping are reserved for the few that are able to do it, not the people who first thought of the idea.

The “problem” with starting a project with the expectation that it’ll ship is that it imposes all sorts of constraints.  The technology isn’t where you need it to be, you don’t have the time you need to do everything you want to do, or you don’t have the people or money.  In order to truly think “outside the box” you need a team that’s twice as big with twice as much money and faster computers!  Of course that’s all bogus.

Constraints are why things ship.

If you didn’t have a deadline to submit your term paper, you could tweak it forever.  If you didn’t have customers waiting for the next version of your software or competitors breathing down your neck, you could add every feature you’ve ever thought of.  You need constraints to really think about how to best solve a problem.  Constraints are good.

The most important creations in the world are the ones that have shipped.  Creating without constraint isn’t creating… it’s just messing around.  Michelangelo didn’t mope around in Italian coffee shops instead of painting the Sistine Chapel because the ceiling was too big or he didn’t have enough time.  He shipped it.

Seth Godin has a great quote in his (highly recommended book) Linchpin where he discusses shipping:

Artists don’t think outside the box, because outside the box there’s a vacuum. Outside of the box there are no rules, there is no reality. You have nothing to interact with, nothing to work against. If you set out to do something way outside the box (designing a time machine, or using liquid nitrogen to freeze Niagara Falls), then you’ll never be able to do the real work of art. You can’t ship if you’re far outside the box… Artists think along the edges of the box, because that’s where things get done.

I love that.

I’ve shipped a lot of things in my life, as I’m sure you have too.  And not a single one went out the door, including every post on this site, without me thinking, “Is it really ready?  Did I do everything I could have done?  Yikes, it’s not ready.  I need more time to get it right!”  The times when I pushed through the fear were because I had a plan.  When I had to come up with a plan ahead of starting, I’d already felt this fear once before, so I knew how to deal with it.

This is why it’s important to plan from the start to ship.  To be clear that come hell or high water, shipping something is non-negotiable.  Planning to ship is the difference between you and 99.9% of the world that never ships anything.

It’s critical that your plan to ship is comprehensive.  If your plan isn’t trusted, what’s the point?  You need a plan that you believe in through and through.  Even if the world changes around you, you’ll at least have a framework to deal with it.

A plan proves to your scared self that you’ve already done the research and you’re ready to go. This way, you feel that the path to shipping has been predetermined.  It’s much harder to second-guess yourself or your team when your plan is written down and sitting right in front of you.  The person (or group of people) who wrote that plan were confident – they were sure – that the plan would succeed.  Trust those instincts even if you don’t feel them right now.  Because shipping matters.

Most importantly, planning gets all the arguments (or “thrashing” as it’s often called) out of the way before they matter.  You debate (and ultimately decide) during planning, either with yourself or with others, so you’re not debating in the end game when it’s too expensive to discuss.  With any project, changes are always 10x costlier at the end than the beginning. 

You can always spot a well-run project by how little thrashing there is at the end.  The disaster projects are the ones that look great / on-track until the last 10%, and then they become thrash-fests.

That’s not to say the end is ever easy.  It isn’t.  It’s always hard.  But at the end of the project, you need to be focusing on the little things because the big things were already discussed, debated, and decided long ago.  If you’re still debating the big things near the end of the project, you’re done for.

The two biggest reasons for failed projects: 1) Complete lack of planning, and 2) Poor planning.  Projects with good planning become well executed projects that ship.  Projects that aren’t planned, or are planned poorly, become poorly executed projects that don’t ship – or ship late.

No one will remember the projects that didn’t ship 100 years from now.  You only have a shot at getting them to remember those that did.

We have a phrase we use at Microsoft all the time when a decision is made.  Ship it!  It’s the geek equivalent of saying, “We’ve reached consensus, we don’t need to discuss again, now the most important thing to do is to get it out there.”  It’s also more fun than saying “Yup, I agree”

Ultimately, shipping is what matters!