Podcast Gumbo Has Moved!
Yes, it’s all grown up and has its own domain.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes
It’s only a mistake if you don’t learn from it.
One Simple Solution to Become More Efficient
How many times have you been talking to friends and they say “you have to see xyz movie” and 2 hours later, you are texting them for the name of that movie?
You look like an idiot to your friends. But who cares? They don’t think you’re an idiot because they do the same thing.
More critically, have you ever been in a meeting and after you get back to your computer, you realize you can only remember half the things that you were now supposed to do?
Or, you were on a 20-minute phone call, knew and agreed to all the tasks that you had to, only to find your boss chewing you out two weeks later about something that you had no recollection of?
Stop Wasting My Time and Your Time
I’ll admit, this issue bugs the CRAP out of me.
I see it ALL the time.
Every time I see it happen, I want to tee-off on the person that’s doing it. Or rather, not doing it.
If we’re talking to each other and there are clear takeaways, you better be writing something down.
If you didn’t follow through with something because you forgot, you’ve just wasted my time and your time.
One Small Fix to Improve Your Efficiency
Write it down. Duh.
I don’t remember where I read it but someone wrote something to the effect of “don’t write it for you, write it for future you.”
Especially, in this day and age of smartphones, there’s no reason why you should forget anything.
The key to remember is that all you have to do is write something/anything down so that it can jog your memory later.
Here is a current snapshot of my list on my iPhone using the Drafts app.
As you can see, it’s quite a diverse list of things.
To break it down, this is the background for each item.
- Look into an application called Byword. I heard about it on a podcast and it sounded like it was worth checking out.
- I was having drinks with my friend Mary and she suggested that I see ‘That Man from Rio.’ Once I see it, I can talk to her about it.
- I need one last ingredient for my dinner masterpiece.
- The topic of an article that I thought would be great to have on my client’s blog. Came to me while watching a commercial on tv.
- A random thought while at the supermarket (possibly buying broccolini) about an article I was writing. Perhaps I could stick that in somewhere.
The Benefits of Writing Stuff Down
Forgetting something can have some serious consequences. Important tasks not completed, missed medications, important dates.
And sometimes, just sometimes, it’s the difference between finding your wife’s killer or not. Just ask Leonard Shelby.
The other benefit that most people don’t think of is the lessening of anxiety that comes from NOT having to remember something.
If you don’t think that’s true, try this.
Find a simple free note-taking app on your phone and anytime you have to remember something, write it down quickly. For this exercise, disregard a list that you are writing down to take to the store in an hour.
Do it for a couple of days, long enough to get up to around 10 notes.
For most people, I suspect they will notice that there’s an immediate sense of relief of not having to remember something even an hour later.
No anxiety. No screaming bosses.
Why wouldn’t you put this simple process into your daily life?
Mind you, this post is not about journaling or documentation, in the way we all think about long boring documentation. I’ll get to those another time. This is about quick items.
2 Different Ways to Increase Productivity
Take a 30 second trip down memory lane with this doozy.
Crazy catchy, isn’t it?
Forget the pure cheese of the commercial, if you were part of the tv watching public back then, you probably have never shaken that jingle.
If you are younger than 20, then sorry that you probably missed that gem. It’s iconic.
So what does that commercial have to do with increasing your productivity?
Well grasshopper, by the end of this post, maybe you’ll be able to take the productivity pebble from my hand.
2 Ways to Increase Your Productivity
As we learn through life, we hear a lot of wisdom. How many of these have you heard?
– Practice makes perfect
– If you love something, set it free
– Don’t eat yellow snow
– Eat that Frog
I read an article recently about a technique to jump start your work day. It’s called ‘Parking Downhill.’
The premise of Parking Downhill is that in the beginning of the day, you work on a few small tasks. It will warm you up for the day, so to speak. You’ll feel some immediate benefits of success and gain some quick momentum.
All of that will help set up a productive day.
This is the opposite of the Brian Tracy method to Eating that Frog.
Tracy espouses to Eat That Frog, a concept where you tackle the most important thing you have to do, first thing.
From his book, he writes:
“Your ‘frog’ is your biggest, most important task, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don’t do something about it now. It is also the one task that can have the greatest positive impact on your life and results at the moment.”
*Please note that there is much more than this concept in the book. It speaks to habits, mental states, discipline and more. A highly recommended read that you can get through in half a day.
So, you are probably asking yourself, “which is the better way?”
Should you be a frog eater or a downhill parker?
How do you become more productive for the entire day?
If you eat that frog, you will be successful. I have no doubt in that.
If you park downhill, you will be succesful. I have no doubt in that either.
To worry about choosing the best method is the unsuccessful solution.
My biggest piece of advice here is not to pigeon-hole yourself into a ‘best’ method. Just think about what feels right that particular morning and go that route.
It should be noted that if you choose a few small tasks, we’re only talking a few things that will take no more than 30 mins in total. Ultimately, you NEED to eat that frog.
Also, let’s make sure you already know what to do for that day by writing down your most important items the night before.
Sing the jingle daily
“Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t.”
Let’s face it, you aren’t the same person every day. I’m not talking about what you have to do, people you need to see, etc.
You feel different all the time.
The power in that slogan isn’t saying that you always like nuts or you always don’t. It implies that you like both but it’s dependent on how you feel at that time.
This weekend, my todo list was huge. The tasks were big and small, important and not important.
On both days, I felt like a downhill parker.
I didn’t fight that feeling. If I tried to force myself into being a frog eater, I would’ve failed. Instead, I got a ton accomplished, big and small.
This morning, I had to crank out this blog post. This was my frog. Today, I was a frog eater and wrote this first, before any of the other tasks on my list.
As with most things, options and choices are your best friend (although I would argue that a 10 page diner menu is my worst enemy).
Hum that jingo every morning.
Get a feel for how you are feeling (weird statement).
Eat that frog or park downhill to increase your daily productivity.