Time and Attention

Takeaway:Change is inevitable and we need to learn to embrace it. Four tactics to get you started: have an awareness for change and how it interacts with your expectations, see every data point as part of a broader trend, shift your mindset to view change as the default state of the world, and meditate. Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes, 50s. Podcast Length: 21 minutes, 8s (link to play podcast at the bottom of post). We’re going through a period of rapid change. Maybe your kids are going back to school, your office is considering opening its doors for the first time since the lockdown started, or your investments are making a rollercoaster look like a relaxing ride.  It’s a difficult time for many, and embracing change is one of the ways we can give ourselves a helping hand. This idea is central to Buddhism: happiness is nothing more than coming to terms with how things change.  In this week’s episode of Becoming Better, we discuss four strategies for how you can begin to accept change for what it is: an inevitable part of our lives.  Be aware of how your expectations interact with change. Long-time readers of this blog will know how much I talk about the importance of working with intention and awareness. Typically, this means recognizing how you’re spending your time, attention, and energy. But it’s also important to be aware of your expectations and how they’re affected by change. Let’s say you order a slice of raspberry pie on the patio of your favorite coffee shop, but you’re brought a piece of chocolate cake instead. Even if you love chocolate cake you might be disappointed because your expectation was to be savoring that tangy raspberry taste. We are constantly comparing our experiences (the chocolate cake) to our expectations (the raspberry pie) and this can lead to disappointment. Being aware of how the change between expectation and experience makes you feel allows you to do something about it. Once you identify your emotions you can begin to investigate the expectations that triggered them. Zoom out to see the larger trend. Our lives are a series of data points measuring everything from our health to our finances to our sleep schedule. It’s not possible to get the whole story by looking at just one. That’s like saying “I didn’t go to the gym this week, and therefore I’m totally unhealthy and unmotivated.” Zooming out adds color and nuance to the black and white of individual data points. Because the reality is probably a lot closer to “I didn’t go to the gym at all this week because my kid was sick with the flu, I needed to prepare that presentation for the district manager, and I’ve been stressed after an argument with my sister. And I’ve actually increased my number of weekly workouts when compared to this time last year.” Zooming out provides context and helps us to see the trend in how things have changed over time. Journaling is one way to track and reflect on these trends. View change as the default state of life. Everything is always in a state of flux, and the sooner we accept that, the better. Welcome change as an old friend rather than an adversary. Meditate. Stepping back is a superpower right now, and meditation is one of the best ways to do that. Rather than immediately reverting to a default response to change, meditation helps you slow down, process, and respond in a healthier way. It also helps you see how your reaction might be informed by expectations, and how you can untangle these as a way to become better at dealing with change. If you’re new to the ritual of meditation here’s a guide to get you started. Change isn’t going anywhere, so the best thing we can do is to accept and grow alongside it. The post The power of embracing change appeared first on Chris Bailey.

In this podcast, the hosts discuss their favorite interviews, including topics like minimizing negative effects of technology, using the head for ideas, tracking time as a resource, benefits of meditation, determining expert credibility, becoming more resilient, and the importance of habits. They also reflect on challenges during the global pandemic and the importance of finding calm and disconnecting from the digital world.

Takeaway:Kelly McGonigal’s latest book, The Joy of Movement, is an ode to the value that movement can bring to our lives. Kelly shares how exercise of any kind and for any length of time can help us not only feel physically healthier, but also more connected with ourselves and our communities. She says that group movement is almost always better than individual exercise (even if it’s online!)—unless you’re spending time alone in nature. Estimated Reading Time:3 minutes, 38s. Podcast Length: 45 minutes, 28s (link to play podcast at the bottom of post). The Amazon links below are affiliate links—I get a cut of sales. I’ll be donating what I make to the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Movement may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about forming a connection with the people around you or attaining a sense of mental calm. Perhaps you envision a raucous dinner party to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Or maybe your mind paints a picture of a stoic figure meditating in silence and stillness. Or, a personal favorite, relaxing on the couch playing Animal Crossing, or sinking into a good book. Kelly McGonigal is an advocate for anything that gets us moving as a group—among a suite of other exercises. Kelly is a health psychologist and Stanford University lecturer whose TED talk about how to make stress your friend has been viewed more than 30 million times.  In her latest book, The Joy of Movement, Kelly looks at how exercise can make you braver, help you connect with others, and experience mental resilience and joy. I’ve been a long-time fan of Kelly’s writing, and her 2015 book, The Upside of Stress, is one of my personal picks for the best productivity books out there.  I love the way Kelly frames the importance of movement and exercise. Instead of explaining it as a project to make our bodies fit within societal norms or as a means to reduce risk of chronic health concerns down the road, The Joy of Movement argues that exercise is a key piece of the puzzle that will help you live a more engaged, happy life.  The book is highly actionable, and in our chat Kelly shares some interesting tactics and tidbits on how you can use movement as a way to change your mindset around stress and create more connection with the people and things you love. Here’s some of what she had to say.  1. The type of movement doesn’t matter. Embracing movement doesn’t mean you suddenly need to start running marathons (a relief to me). Any dose of movement—be it three minutes or three hours—is one of the easiest things you can do to boost your mood and give you a hit of resilience or hope. So whether it’s flailing your arms to your favorite song or tapping your fingers on the table, Kelly advises us to start where we are, do what we can, and think about using as much of our body as possible.  2. Exercise and movement can help you deal with social anxiety. This is something Kelly found in her own life. She describes her default temperament as shy, sensitive, and anxious—but goes on to explain how exercise makes her better and braver. Movement triggers the release of endocannabinoids, neurotransmitters that not only reduce fear and anxiety but also promote positive social engagement and increase the warm glow you get when you’re around others. It’s like a dose of medicine that makes it easier to connect with other people.  3. Group movement can bring more benefits than individual movement—even when it’s online. Moving together creates a shared experience and sense of community which fosters further bonding and trust. This can be everything from traditional team sports to a zumba class to running ultramarathons. Though the latter typically evokes images of uber-fit athletes charging alone through the mountains, it’s actually the ability to be supported by others and the feeling of being part of a collective activity that allows ultramarathoners to benefit from that same sense of group connection and community. While it’s admittedly not the best time to be thinking of group activities, we can actually gain the same benefits when joining a group exercise class on Zoom. Research even supports that moving alongside avatars—virtual human beings!—can have the same effect.  4. Head outside for some green exercise. Moving alone in nature could actually be more powerful than moving together while outdoors. I personally start most mornings by making a cup of tea and going for a short hike. Kelly shares that moving in nature can be a shortcut to the calm state of mind attained through meditation. By breathing in gulps of fresh air, feeling the sun on our skin, and listening to the birdsong, nature allows us to take in new sensations and thoughts while letting go of the stressors of the past and future.  5. The movement you choose can help reveal or strengthen parts of your personality. While any movement is better than none, Kelly says you can also strategically focus on a form of movement that will help you experience parts of yourself that you value. She shares a personal example of how learning mixed martial arts and kickboxing have helped her feel more brave, and have proven to her that she can fight for herself and for others. I could go on and on about what Kelly shared during our chat, but you’re better off just listening to the podcast. I hope you enjoy our conversation! The post Want to become happier? Get moving! appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Estimated Reading Time:3 minutes, 24s. It’s pretty skimmable, though. Podcast Length 29 minutes, 30s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). The Amazon links below are affiliate links—I get a cut of sales. I’ll be donating what I make to the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund.   The best productivity books more than pay for themselves: they teach you how to save time, so you more than earn back the time you spend inside them. So which productivity books will help you out the most?   Here are 10 of my absolute favorites—with a mini review of each one, with what you’ll get out of reading each book.   Getting Things Done, by David Allen   Mini Review: Getting Things Done is bigger than a book—it’s a bona fide movement. If you find it hard to focus because your mind is cluttered—with tasks, commitments, and other obligations—pick this book up. Also worthwhile: the Getting Things Done Workbook, which serves as a good companion to the main book.       Linchpin, by Seth Godin   Mini Review: This book will teach you how to stand out at work—regardless of whether you work for someone or for yourself. Linchpin provides you with a blueprint for becoming indispensable, regardless of what your “art” happens to be.       I Know How She Does It, by Laura Vanderkam   Mini Review: The concept behind this book is fascinating: Laura Vanderkam pored through the detailed time logs of highly-successful women who have kids at home, who also make over $100,000 a year. In the book, she shares the tips she learned from these women, including the importance of sleep, and what time wasters they didn’t invest in (like watching hardly any TV).       Off the Clock, by Laura Vanderkam   Mini Review: Another fantastic book from Laura Vanderkam, Off the Clock makes the case that, regardless of how busy we are, we have more time than we think we do. I walked away with countless strategies for developing deeper relationships and indulging in more intentional relaxation.       Deep Work, by Cal Newport   Mini Review: Deep Work digs into how we should structure our days in order to be most productive—and makes the compelling case that, when we do knowledge work for a living, the ability to focus on cognitively-demanding tasks is one of the most powerful skills we can develop. This book isn’t just worth reading once—it’s worth reading each time you find yourself surrounded by an increased number of distractions.       I’m not a fan of when authors include their own books in these roundups, so I don’t. If you’re looking for some reading beyond the books on this list, though, here’s a link to my books!       The Upside of Stress, by Kelly McGonigal   Mini Review: As Kelly McGonigal explores in the book, stress is not always a bad thing—if harnessed correctly, stressful situations can lead us to experience a more meaningful life. The Upside of Stress is an engaging, counterintuitive book that will change how you think about stress—as well as the challenges you face in general.       How Not to Die, by Michael Greger   Mini Review: This book may add years to your life. In How Not to Die, Michael Greger explores the foods we should be eating in order to live the longest—and everything in the book is backed up by scores of academic research. This is what makes Greger’s books unique: he starts with the science, and works backwards to how we should live our lives in order to take advantage of the latest research.       Atomic Habits, by James Clear   Mini Review: If you’re able to buy just one book about habits, make it Atomic Habits. This book provides you with a comprehensive overview of how habits work, and the latest science behind forming new habits and breaking old ones—Atomic Habits is one of the most comprehensive guides to forming new habits available.       Rapt, by Winnifred Gallagher   Mini Review: This book, by Winnifred Gallagher, explores how we can manage our attention in order to become happier. Years after reading Rapt, its lessons stick with me. If you’re looking for ways to become more present in your life, this book is a great place to start.       Mindset, by Carol Dweck   Mini Review: Mindset, by Carol Dweck, is another classic productivity book. It explores how we can develop a “growth mindset”—how we can see ourselves as someone capable of great change. The book not only digs into what a growth mindset is, it also explores how we can develop one in our own lives.     The post 10 productivity books that let you earn back time appeared first on Chris Bailey.

The podcast explores the benefits of laziness and idleness, including enhanced reading, allowing our minds to wander, and taking decompression time. It emphasizes the importance of prioritizing idleness and reflection, recognizing disparities in the impact of the pandemic, accurate time estimation, and the advantages of laziness in enhancing creativity, recharging mental capacity, and improving productivity.

Clinical psychiatrist and author Henry Emmons discusses the relationship between calm and anxiety during stressful times. He emphasizes the importance of flexibility and acceptance in finding inner calm. The chapter descriptions cover topics such as maintaining calm during a crisis, adapting and coping, finding calm in a threat-focused world, and reducing caffeine intake for calmness.

Procrastination triggers include boredom, frustration, difficulty, ambiguity, lack of structure, lack of rewards, and lack of meaning. The more triggers a task has, the more likely we are to procrastinate. Strategies for overcoming procrastination include making tasks more fun, setting time limits, turning tasks into games, and finding ways to make tasks more meaningful and engaging.

Takeaway:Calm is elusive right now. 5 ways to find it: become engaged with something every day, spend more time in the analog world, meditate (or journal), write down what you’re grateful for, and find something to savor every day. Estimated Reading Time:3 minutes, 23s. Podcast Length19 minutes, 53s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). These days, calm can feel elusive. Anxiety comes and goes in waves, and, as I wrote about a couple of weeks back, it’s hard to be productive right now. It’s calm that we need most, not productivity. While this is a blog about productivity, this article is about cultivating calm. Whether or not you’re working right now, investing in your calm can help you accomplish the things you want to do. Instead of forcing yourself to get work done, a calm mindset allows you to become kinder to yourself throughout the day. You’ll be able to focus with greater ease when your mind is settled, as your busy mind won’t generate distracting thoughts that derail your attention as you work. If you’re looking for a few strategies to work more calm into your day, below are a few of the ways that I’m investing in myself (that we chat about on this week’s podcast). I’m confident they’ll work for you, too.  Become engaged with something (anything). We all need something to be engaged with throughout the day, regardless of whether we’re working or not. We rarely feel as unmotivated as when we have nothing to do. Right now, some of us have more time to spare, and others of us have less (especially those of us who have to work with kids at home). If you find yourself with more free time than usual, consider taking on a big, new project. Double down on learning a new programming language, or an instrument. Undertake a new home renovation project, or take an online class. If you’re looking for more calm, look for something to become engaged with. The busyness that comes with engagement crowds out feelings of anxiety. Step away from the digital world and into the analog one. We all live two lives: an analog life (in the physical world), and a digital life (in, of course, the digital world). We have fewer activities to engage with in the physical world right now. The gym is closed, we don’t have to drive to work, and our favorite coffee shop is temporarily out of commission. This means that many of us are spending more time than we usually do in the digital world. Here’s the problem, though: right now, the digital world can be depressing as hell. If you’re finding yourself stressed out because of the time you’re spending on your devices, disconnect, and find analog activities to connect with instead—like getting physical activity, painting, cooking, or reading a book. Generally-speaking, the more time we spend engaging with the analog world, the calmer we feel. Recall what you’re grateful for. Each night, with your partner, with a friend, or on your own, recall three things you’re grateful for. Or, after you finish reading this blog post, write down 10 things you appreciate in your life. Expressing gratitude is a shortcut to feeling a sense of abundance, and it allows you to train your brain into looking out for what’s positive around you—both useful skills right now. Here are 100 suggestions, for things to be grateful for, sent in by readers. Meditate or journal, even if just for a few minutes. Meditation allows you to approach your day with equanimity, rather than a sense of anxiety. It also helps you come to terms with how things change. (If you don’t know where to start, I wrote this guide which has everything you need to get started. It’s easier than you think.) If you’ve tried meditation and it isn’t for you, try journaling, in order to reflect on how you’re feeling. Both practices have different effects, but they both allow you to create some distance between yourself and the current situation. Find something to savor every day. It’s impossible to both savor something and to feel anxious at the same time. Write a list of things you savor—video chats with loved ones, delicious meals, or your daily workout—and make a deliberate effort each day to savor one thing on your list. Tonight, I’m going to savor me a delicious burrito. The above strategies take a bit of effort, but they’re all proven ways of introducing more calm into your life. If you’re feeling a bit anxious right now, pick a few things from this list and give them a shot. I’m confident they’ll help you out. The post 5 ways to find calm right now appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Takeaway:Working from home isn’t easy during the best of times—let alone during a global crisis. Below are some tips for working from home when you find it difficult to focus. These strategies should help you do two things at once: both focus, and become kinder to yourself. Estimated Reading Time:7 minutes, 11s. (But it’s skimmable.) Podcast Length27 minutes, 45s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). These days, it can be tough to strike a balance between staying informed and staying focused. Compared to fighting a global pandemic, work doesn’t feel that important. And compared to a pandemic, it probably isn’t. But this doesn’t change the fact that many of us are working from home right now—and that we still have to get things done while focusing on work and keeping up with a steady stream of news updates. This isn’t “normal” working from home by any means. As you settle into a new routine, though, I’ve included a few of my favorite tips to work from home during difficult times below. These are strategies that have worked for me, as I try to find a balance right now. I think they’ll work for you, too. — Give yourself time to settle into important tasks, and be patient with yourself. A busy mind makes it difficult to focus. Give yourself a few more minutes than usual to settle into important tasks that require a higher degree of concentration. You’ll probably need that time, so your mind can settle down a bit. Don’t be too hard on yourself during this adjustment—pretty much everyone is experiencing this right now. Take the time you would usually spend commuting and use it for something slow, or to savor something you enjoy. With the time you’d otherwise spend commuting, take a walk, cook a meal, or even do a yoga video on YouTube (here’s my favorite YouTube yoga channel). During stressful times, we tend to fill the white space on our calendar with distraction, so we can get our mind off of what’s stressing us. Try not to fill your extra time each day with anxiety scrolling through twitter, or repeatedly checking the news. This will give you the time you need to process each day’s events. Totally power down your phone. Our phones are the most distracting device we own. As Seth Godin has written, “When you bought your first smartphone, did you know you would spend more than 1,000 hours a year looking at it? Months later, can you remember how you spent those hours?” Our phone provides us with validation and feedback—which our work often doesn’t. Especially during a difficult time, this makes our phone more distracting than usual. To not be tempted by it, try powering your phone down completely as you work. If you’re getting less sunlight these days, consider buying a happy light, or taking a vitamin D supplement. In countries that have instituted lockdowns, people are unable to leave their homes, including for walks. If this is the situation you’re in, and you’re getting less sun exposure than usual, I’d recommend supplementing your diet with vitamin D, or picking up a ”happy light”—especially if you find that your mood and energy dip in the wintertime. Here’s my happy light of choice, which Wirecutter recommends. Do focused work in the morning, before connecting to the news. One study that exposed participants to just three minutes of negative news in the morning found that participants were 27% less likely to rate themselves as happy at the end of the day. The information you consume each day matters. This is even true when it comes to when you consume information. To prevent the news of the day from dampening your mood for the rest of the day, consider reconnecting with the news of the day after you finish up your most important tasks in the morning. Schedule news and distraction time. On top of staying away from the news first thing in the morning (if you can), consider scheduling time to catch up. This allows you to tend to distractions intentionally, rather than checking in with news websites when you feel stressed out. This small change also makes you feel more in control of your day. If you feel anxious, work on tasks that don’t require deep concentration or thinking. Right now is an anxious time for pretty much everyone. Our feelings of anxiety usually aren’t consistent throughout the day, though; they ebb and flow. When you’re feeling especially anxious, consider working on tasks that don’t require deep concentration or thinking—and use these easy tasks to warm up to more challenging ones later on. As the day progresses, be sure to match what you’re working on with how you’re feeling. If you have kids at home, look after them in split shifts if your partner is at home too. My friend Laura Vanderkam has a great write-up for how her and her husband are taking care of their five kids while they’re both working from home—including taking care of them in split shifts, while trading the occasional hour or two with one another throughout the day. If you’re home alone with kids, also use morning and nighttime hours—while your kids are asleep—to your advantage. Provide your kids with especially rewarding distractions (like screen time) for when you’re on conference calls or in important meetings. Create an “invisibility mode” with everyone else in the house. If you’re self-isolating with a roommate, partner, or your family, it’s important to have some outward signal that you’re working, so they don’t interrupt you unnecessarily. I have a home office, so I just close the office door. My wife, who only sporadically worked from home before today, either wears headphones or sticks a post-it note on the back of computer that says that she’s focused. Communicate more richly with your team. The presence of other people is motivating. If you’re going from being face-to-face with colleagues every day to working from home, you’re probably going to feel like you have a bit less energy throughout the day. For this reason, make a deliberate effort to communicate in a richer way with those on your team. If you’d usually send someone a message over Slack, pick up the phone instead. If you’d usually chat with someone over the phone, suggest meeting on Skype or Zoom. Don’t keep chips in the house. If there are chips—or other unhealthy snacks—in the house while I’m working from home, I’ll devour them all in a day or two. If you’re spending most of your time at home, it’s important to not have unhealthy snacks or other unsavory distractions out of the house. (My wife and I have a running joke that “corona calories” don’t count, but I have the sneaking suspicion that they do.) Unhealthy snacks can also sap your energy later on, making you less energized and productive. Give yourself a to-do list every day. Writing a to-do list each morning is a great, simple way to introduce more structure into your day. Don’t have too many items on your list, and deploy the Rule of 3 (my favorite productivity ritual, in which you set three intentions each day) as well. Integrate exercise into every single day. If you’re forced to self-isolate, getting daily exercise is not a suggestion—it’s pretty much a requirement. Exercise supports your mental health by balancing your brain chemistry, gives you energy, and is one of the best stress-relievers in existence. If you’re working from home, you’ll be getting less physical activity each day as a result. You need to compensate for this by exercising more at home. If you can, order a kettlebell or resistance bands online. Blow the dust off your old fitness gear in the basement, and get your heart rate up. Find a local fitness studio that’s now posting classes online or take advantage of the many online workout channels. Take a half-hour walk outside every day, if you can. However possible, get around 30 minutes of daily physical activity. Have rituals that you depend upon. The world shutting down has a way of upending pretty much all of our daily rituals. Because of this, you’ll need to introduce new daily rituals into your own life, to introduce predictability, consistency, and a feeling of control into your workday. A few suggestions for doing this: have a daily time at which you start and finish up work; set a dinnertime each night with your family; and set up a dedicated workspace for yourself. Pick your music choices deliberately. The best music for productivity has two characteristics: it’s both simple (so it doesn’t distract us) and familiar (so we don’t think much about it as we’re listening to it). Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of lo-fi hip hop, and loving it—it has no words, so it’s super simple, and it’s pretty familiar (the songs seem to blend into one another). I’m also a big fan of listening to songs on Repeat One as I work. To use music to become more productive, listen to anything that’s both simple and familiar, or try going without any if that’s your preference. Relegate one device to be your distractions device. This is a distracting time. If you have more than one computer—including an iPad—use the extra device as your distractions device. This way, you can use one device to check up on everything: the news, your social media feeds, and messages from friends. This also allows you focus more easily in front of your main computer, when it’s time to work. Track your time. To track your time, keep a notepad on your desk as you work, and write down what you’re working on throughout the day in 15-minute blocks of time. There are also lots of apps that you can use to do this on your computer for screen-related work. This simple ritual introduces an extra layer of accountability into your days. When you’re mindful of what you’re working on throughout the day, you spend your time far more intelligently. — If you’re finding it challenging to focus and be productive right now, you’re certainly not alone. I’ve personally found the above strategies enormously helpful for getting more accomplished. I’m confident that you will, too. The post How to Work From Home (During a Difficult Time) appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Takeaway:Not all tasks in your work are created equal. To identify your most important tasks, make a list of all the activities you do over a given month, and then pick the most important one; the one through which you accomplish the most. Then, pick your second and third most important activities. Estimated Reading Time:2 minutes, 35s. Podcast Length2 minutes, 35s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). Not all tasks in your work are created equal. Here’s how to weed out the tasks on your plate that are the most important: Make a list of every single activity you do in your job over the course of a given month. Ask yourself: If you could do just one thing on your list of activities, day in, day out, every single day, which one leads you to accomplish the most? Which is the one task that adds the most value to your team, and makes you the most productive? Which one is the most consequential? If you could only do one additional activity on your list during the day, which is your second most important activity that adds the most value? Which is your third most important activity? These are your most important tasks; the ones through which, for every minute you spend on them, you accomplish significantly much more relative to everything else on your list. – As you do this activity, keep a few things in mind: Find a way to cut everything else on your list. When you can, stop doing the activities that remain on your list. If you can’t, plan ways to spend less time on them. If something is a distraction, tame it. If you have a team, delegate as many of the tasks that remain on your list to them as possible. If you don’t have a team, hire an intern or a virtual assistant to help you. If something is a distraction you can’t tame, block off time to tend to it. Sit down at a coffee shop, without your phone, to decide how to deal with everything else on the list. You’ll make back the time you spend doing this one hundred times over. Keep your three most important activities somewhere visible as you internalize them, such as on a sheet of paper on your desk, or at the very top of your to do list. This lets you consider what’s actually important as you work and plan your day, and you can make them the focus of your three daily intentions. If something that remains on your list is fun, don’t cut it! The point of investing in your productivity isn’t to turn you into some mindless robot—it’s to let you do more of what you love. My three most important tasks are writing, researching productivity, and doing talks. Outside of this, I also love coaching, even though I make less money doing it, and I’m only able to help out one person at a time. But honestly, I don’t really care. Because it’s fun. This activity is one that I run many of my coaching clients through, and regardless of how many times I guide people through it, they invariably settle on the fact that they have three most important tasks. A couple of people found two important tasks, but so far, no one has had more than three. Set aside five minutes to try this activity out for yourself. The activity is simple, but the insights it provides are profound. If you’re like me, you won’t go back to working the same way afterward. The post A five-minute activity to discover your most important tasks appeared first on Chris Bailey.