On this episode, we chat about subscription overload—and which ones we think are worth the money. Topics covered include:  The productivity apps we subscribe to; How basically everything is a subscription service; Opt-in versus opt-in commitments; How subscriptions have changed over time; Apps that take the subscription thing too far; How to do a subscription audit.  Links mentioned in this episode:  Article: Basically everything is a subscription service  You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below! The post Podcast: Drowning in subscriptions appeared first on Chris Bailey.

On this episode, we chat about subscription overload—and which ones we think are worth the money. Topics covered include: <ul> <li>The productivity apps we subscribe to;</li> <li>How basically everything is a subscription service;</li> <li>Opt-in versus opt-in commitments;</li> <li>How subscriptions have changed over time;</li> <li>Apps that take the subscription thing too far;</li> <li>How to do a subscription audit.</li> </ul> Links mentioned in this episode: <ul> <li>Article: <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/basically-everything-is-a-subscription-service/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Basically everything is a subscription service</a></li> </ul> You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below! The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/podcast-drowning-in-subscriptions-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Podcast: Drowning in subscriptions</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

108: Subscriptageddon

On this episode, we chat about lessons learned from Chris’s experiment to switch to a flip phone for a month. Topics covered include:  The impetus for the experiment; How smartphones are not meant to see switched away from; The phenomenon of zombiefication; The correlation between screen time and mental health; Reflecting on why the smartphone can make us unhappy; “Time confetti” and our phone; Why a phone doesn’t provide us with depth of experience; Raw material for change; Richness and depth of communication; Handing our attention to someone else (and why it can be a good thing); Heights of stimulation.  Links mentioned in this episode:  Episode 101: Using a flip phone for a month. (The flip phone experiment article will be posted this week!)  You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below!The post Podcast: Are smartphones a net positive? appeared first on Chris Bailey.

On this episode, we chat about lessons learned from Chris’s experiment to switch to a flip phone for a month. Topics covered include: <ul> <li>The impetus for the experiment;</li> <li>How smartphones are not meant to see switched away from;</li> <li>The phenomenon of zombiefication;</li> <li>The correlation between screen time and mental health;</li> <li>Reflecting on why the smartphone can make us unhappy;</li> <li>“Time confetti” and our phone;</li> <li>Why a phone doesn’t provide us with depth of experience;</li> <li>Raw material for change;</li> <li>Richness and depth of communication;</li> <li>Handing our attention to someone else (and why it can be a good thing);</li> <li>Heights of stimulation.</li> </ul> Links mentioned in this episode: <ul> <li>Episode 101: <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/podcast-using-a-flip-phone-for-a-month/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Using a flip phone for a month</a>.</li> <li>(The flip phone experiment article will be posted this week!)</li> </ul> You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below! The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/podcast-are-smartphones-a-net-positive/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Podcast: Are smartphones a net positive?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

107: Smartphones

On this episode, we explore the science behind naps. Topics covered include: How naps help us push past productivity walls;  The golden rule of productivity advice; How napping influences cognitive performance and alertness; When to take naps throughout the day; Avoiding sleep inertia; Our ratio of cognitive versus rote work; How sleep deprivation changes how we think about our productivity; What the research suggests with napping; How to take a coffee nap.  Links mentioned in this episode:  Book: When, by Dan Pink Study: Benefits of napping in healthy adults: impact of nap length, time of day, age, and experience with napping Study: Effects of a Short Daytime Nap on the Cognitive Performance (Meta-Analysis) Study: Fatigue on the flight deck: The consequences of sleep loss and the benefits of napping  You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below! The post 106: Naps! appeared first on Chris Bailey.

On this episode, we explore the science behind naps. Topics covered include: How naps help us push past productivity walls; <ul> <li>The golden rule of productivity advice;</li> <li>How napping influences cognitive performance and alertness;</li> <li>When to take naps throughout the day;</li> <li>Avoiding sleep inertia;</li> <li>Our ratio of cognitive versus rote work;</li> <li>How sleep deprivation changes how we think about our productivity;</li> <li>What the research suggests with napping;</li> <li>How to take a coffee nap.</li> </ul> Links mentioned in this episode: <ul> <li>Book: <a href="https://amzn.to/3JEIcXS" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">When</a>, by Dan Pink</li> <li>Study:<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-2869.2008.00718.x?casa_token=hAs9a4FlDdsAAAAA:oVIXmrg_W_VUD6lkdwYMCEnBlZ4GBCPowLgpUeDUi7CFL4sK53mR9nK2M3CTxW7j5x_2f560NZn0PfsO4Q" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank"> Benefits of napping in healthy adults: impact of nap length, time of day, age, and experience with napping</a></li> <li>Study: <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/19/10212" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Effects of a Short Daytime Nap on the Cognitive Performance (Meta-Analysis</a>)</li> <li>Study: <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001457513004077?casa_token=cY-A8d3QjJYAAAAA:jRxPT3NBKnfTr5vamnP6QRr1dQFcQ4Y3L8U3C653kTCBYAmTOFYjj3Vwh9J88mTIe77KuYyVokbJ" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Fatigue on the flight deck: The consequences of sleep loss and the benefits of napping</a></li> </ul> You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below! The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/106-naps/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">106: Naps!</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

106: Naps!

On this episode, we chat about multitasking—including where it does and doesn’t work. Topics covered include: The different levels of multitasking; Where multitasking does and doesn’t work; Why “conscious intervention” matters with multitasking; Why “attention residue” makes us less efficient as we multitask; The flip book effect; The cognitive costs of switching between tasks; How multitasking influences how memories form; Why we feel more productive when we multitask; Minding your resistance level as you’re tempted to multitask. Links mentioned in this episode: Study: Neurotics Can’t Focus (PDF) You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below!The post Podcast: Digging into multitasking appeared first on Chris Bailey.

On this episode, we chat about multitasking—including where it does and doesn’t work. Topics covered include:<ul> <li>The different levels of multitasking;</li> <li>Where multitasking does and doesn’t work;</li> <li>Why “conscious intervention” matters with multitasking;</li> <li>Why “attention residue” makes us less efficient as we multitask;</li> <li>The flip book effect;</li> <li>The cognitive costs of switching between tasks;</li> <li>How multitasking influences how memories form;</li> <li>Why we feel more productive when we multitask;</li> <li>Minding your resistance level as you’re tempted to multitask.</li> </ul>Links mentioned in this episode:<ul> <li>Study: <a href="https://www.ics.uci.edu/~gmark/Home_page/Publications_files/CHI%2016%20Multitasking%20and%20Focus.pdf" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Neurotics Can’t Focus</a> (PDF)</li> </ul>You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below! The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/podcast-digging-into-multitasking/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Podcast: Digging into multitasking</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

105: Multitasking

On this episode, we chat about our favorite productivity gadgets. Topics covered include:  Our brief thoughts on the Apple headset (and other announcements); Having cables everywhere; Apple’s World Adaptor Kit (Apple.com); The Timeular time tracker (Timeular.com); The Aqara FP2 (Aqara.com); Logitech Spotlight Remote (Logitech.com; Amazon.com); MagSafe Battery Pack (Apple.com); Sonos Roam (Sonos.com; Amazon.com); The Elgato Key Light (Elgato.com; Amazon.com) and CamLink 4K (Elgato.com; Amazon.com); The reMarkable (reMarkable.com; Amazon.com).  You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below! The post Podcast: The best productivity gadgets appeared first on Chris Bailey.

On this episode, we chat about our favorite productivity gadgets. Topics covered include: <ul> <li>Our brief thoughts on the Apple headset (and other announcements);</li> <li>Having cables everywhere;</li> <li>Apple’s World Adaptor Kit (<a href="https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MD837AM/A/apple-world-travel-adapter-kit" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Apple.com</a>);</li> <li>The Timeular time tracker (<a href="https://timeular.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Timeular.com</a>);</li> <li>The Aqara FP2 (<a href="https://www.aqara.com/us/product/presence-sensor-fp2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Aqara.com</a>);</li> <li>Logitech Spotlight Remote (<a href="https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/presenters/spotlight-presentation-remote.910-004984.html?searchclick=logi" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Logitech.com</a>; <a href="https://amzn.to/3WQO85o" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a>);</li> <li>MagSafe Battery Pack (<a href="https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MJWY3AM/A/magsafe-battery-pack" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Apple.com</a>);</li> <li>Sonos Roam (<a href="https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/roam" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sonos.com</a>; <a href="https://amzn.to/3ORZJ2g" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a>);</li> <li>The Elgato Key Light (<a href="http://Elgato.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Elgato.com</a>; <a href="https://amzn.to/42jIycY" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a>) and CamLink 4K (<a href="https://www.elgato.com/us/en/p/key-light" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Elgato.com</a>; <a href="https://amzn.to/43JQQfj" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a>);</li> <li>The reMarkable (<a href="https://remarkable.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">reMarkable.com</a>; <a href="https://amzn.to/42oDpjU" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a>).</li> </ul> You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below! The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/the-best-productivity-gadgets/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Podcast: The best productivity gadgets</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

104: Productivity Gadgets

In this episode, I chat with Cal Newport, the author of A World Without Email, about his book—and how we can manage email during such a distracting time.  You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below!   The post Podcast: My chat with Cal Newport about email appeared first on Chris Bailey.

In this episode, I chat with Cal Newport, the author of <a href="https://amzn.to/3nk1Xfw" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">A World Without Email</a>, about his book—and how we can manage email during such a distracting time. You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below! The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/podcast-my-chat-with-cal-newport-about-email/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Podcast: My chat with Cal Newport about email</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

103: How to Think About Email (Rewind)

On this episode is my conversation with Jennifer Petriglieri, author of the book Couples That Work. On this episode we chat about:  The three transitions couples tend to go through; How couples become interdependent; “Couple contracting”; How we recalibrate to what we want; Having a “secure base” in a relationship; Playing with our identities; Whether we should account for love in our career decisions.   Links mentioned in this episode:  Book: Couples That Work  You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below! The post Podcast: The three transitions we go through as a couple appeared first on Chris Bailey.

On this episode is my conversation with Jennifer Petriglieri, author of the book <a href="https://amzn.to/3LJyhlj" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Couples That Work</a>. On this episode we chat about: <ul> <li>The three transitions couples tend to go through;</li> <li>How couples become interdependent;</li> <li>“Couple contracting”;</li> <li>How we recalibrate to what we want;</li> <li>Having a “secure base” in a relationship;</li> <li>Playing with our identities;</li> <li>Whether we should account for love in our career decisions. </li> </ul> Links mentioned in this episode: <ul> <li>Book: <a href="https://amzn.to/3LJyhlj" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Couples That Work</a></li> </ul> You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below! The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/podcast-couples-that-work/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Podcast: The three transitions we go through as a couple</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

102: Couples That Work

On this episode, we chat about Chris’s experiment to use a flip phone for a month. Topics covered include:  The utility we get from smartphones; Big phones versus small phones; The “jobs to be done” theory of using our devices; How gathering has become digital; How communication norms have changed over time; Managing norms within social groups; Re-evaluating our relationship with our smartphone; What to be mindful of with our phone.  Links mentioned in this episode:  The Alcatel Go Flip 3; The Punkt phone; Book: Amusing Ourselves to Death Journal article: How many hours does it take to make a friend?  You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below!   The post Podcast: Using a flip phone for a month appeared first on Chris Bailey.

On this episode, we chat about Chris’s experiment to use a flip phone for a month. Topics covered include: <ul> <li>The utility we get from smartphones;</li> <li>Big phones versus small phones;</li> <li>The “jobs to be done” theory of using our devices;</li> <li>How gathering has become digital;</li> <li>How communication norms have changed over time;</li> <li>Managing norms within social groups;</li> <li>Re-evaluating our relationship with our smartphone;</li> <li>What to be mindful of with our phone.</li> </ul> Links mentioned in this episode: <ul> <li><a href="https://us.alcatelmobile.com/alcatel-go-flip-3/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">The Alcatel Go Flip 3</a>;</li> <li><a href="https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/mp02-4g-mobile-phone/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">The Punkt phone</a>;</li> <li>Book: <a href="https://amzn.to/40zq1bL" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Amusing Ourselves to Death</a></li> <li>Journal article: <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0265407518761225" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">How many hours does it take to make a friend?</a></li> </ul> You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below! The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/podcast-using-a-flip-phone-for-a-month/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Podcast: Using a flip phone for a month</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

101: The Flip Phone Experiment

On this episode, we chat about a potpourri of fun topics, including:  What we’ve learned after 100 episodes; How to drink a glass of champagne; Our go-to productivity apps and accessories; Fantastical’s 40% price increase; Whether we still enjoy doing the show together; Tips for stimulation fasting;  How we manage our time every day; How to account for time pressure in planning your days.   Links mentioned in this episode:  Book: How to Calm Your Mind Wikipedia: Parasocial interaction  The post Podcast: 100 podcast episodes (and counting)! appeared first on Chris Bailey.

On this episode, we chat about a potpourri of fun topics, including: <ul> <li>What we’ve learned after 100 episodes;</li> <li>How to drink a glass of champagne;</li> <li>Our go-to productivity apps and accessories;</li> <li>Fantastical’s <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/FantasticalCalendar/comments/zfbrje/fantastical_price_increase/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">40% price increase</a>;</li> <li>Whether we still enjoy doing the show together;</li> <li>Tips for stimulation fasting; </li> <li>How we manage our time every day;</li> <li>How to account for time pressure in planning your days. </li> </ul> Links mentioned in this episode: <ul> <li>Book: <a href="https://amzn.to/3o1ccW0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">How to Calm Your Mind</a></li> <li>Wikipedia: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasocial_interaction" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Parasocial interaction</a></li> </ul> The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/podcast-100-podcast-episodes-and-counting/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Podcast: 100 podcast episodes (and counting)!</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

100: Q&A Spectacular

On this episode, I chat with Gloria Mark, the author of the new book Attention Span. Topics covered include:  The benefits of managing our attention deliberately; Why (and whether) we lose control of our behavior using our devices; What makes email so damn stressful; The “attention traps” we fall into; How rote tasks are actually good for us and replenish our energy; The countless factors that influence our attention; How we all have different preferences when it comes to multitasking.  Links mentioned in this episode:  Book: Attention Span  You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below!   The post Podcast: How to build your attention span appeared first on Chris Bailey.

On this episode, I chat with Gloria Mark, the author of the new book <a href="https://amzn.to/3zbnAkk" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Attention Span</a>. Topics covered include: <ul> <li>The benefits of managing our attention deliberately;</li> <li>Why (and whether) we lose control of our behavior using our devices;</li> <li>What makes email so damn stressful;</li> <li>The “attention traps” we fall into;</li> <li>How rote tasks are actually good for us and replenish our energy;</li> <li>The countless factors that influence our attention;</li> <li>How we all have different preferences when it comes to multitasking.</li> </ul> Links mentioned in this episode: <ul> <li>Book: <a href="https://amzn.to/3zbnAkk" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Attention Span</a></li> </ul> You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below! The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/podcast-how-to-build-your-attention-span-gloria-mark/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Podcast: How to build your attention span</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

99: Attention Span

Time and Attention is a podcast that will help you become more intentional and productive. Hosted by Chris Bailey, the author of two productivity books, and Ardyn Nordstrom, a nerdy economist, the show covers topics as diverse as productivity, focus, procrastination, time management, money, happiness, gratitude, and disconnecting. We occasionally also welcome a bestselling author onto the show to talk about a book they wrote.

Love the episodes are largely tactical,  the get better theme and length

Great Start

Title says it all. Thanks Chris and Ardyn!!

Super informative and helpful

Time and Attention

Takeaway:There are countless ways to form a new habit, which James Clear covers in Atomic Habits (and in our interview). A few of my favorites: sort your habits by how much they’ll help you out in the long-run; become more thoughtful about your environment; question habits that provide immediate enjoyment; make new habits take less than two minutes of your time; develop “home court” and “away court” habits; and focus on developing your identify, not your goals. Estimated Reading Time:3 minutes, 1s. Podcast Length30 minutes, 45s (link to play podcast at bottom of post).Atomic Habits, by James Clear, is one of the best books about habits I’ve read—I’d put it up there with The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg, as being one of the best books on habits available. This week, James was generous enough to join me on the podcast to dig into how to establish new habits and break negative ones—especially around losing weight, given we’re in the middle of that weight-loss challenge for the show. There are too many nuggets in the book—and the interview!—to list out in one blog post. But here are just a few of my favorites from the book and the interview, which should get you thinking about your own habits:  Make a list of your habits, and sort them by how much they will help you out in the long-run. This is a great way to identify the habits that bring you real, lasting value over time, and which ones are distractions from your larger goals. If you want something to be a big part of your life, make it a big part of your environment. This is a simple idea, but is very powerful in practice. Want to eat better? Make sure there’s a plethora of healthy food in your kitchen, so you crowd out any unhealthy options that are available. Want to learn the guitar? Keep your guitar in the living room, so you can just pick it up and play. By introducing—and removing—objects from your environment which aid and detract from your habits, you build stronger habits. As James puts it in the book, “environment is the invisible hand that shapes behavior.” Question all habits that provide you with immediate enjoyment. James writes: “As a general rule, the more immediate pleasure you get from an action, the more strongly you should question whether it aligns with your long-term goals.” Practice the 2-minute rule. The 2-minute rule is this: when you start a new habit, make sure it takes less than two minutes to do. If your goal is running a marathon, try just tying up your shoes for a couple of minutes. If your habit is to work out at the gym, show up at the gym, and work out for just two minutes. This way, you have a framework that you can actually build upon in developing your habits later on, instead of trying to wish habits into existence. Pay attention to your “home court” versus “away court” habits. Something else I asked James in our interview is how we can maintain our habits around life disruptions, such as travel. He recommends developing two types of habits: “home court” habits, which we do when our environment is predictable, and “away court” habits, which we invest in after developing solid habits at home. Focus on your identity, not your goals. According to James, “the most effective way to change your habits is to focus not on what you want to achieve, but on who you wish to become.” He views habits as “votes” for your identity: by focusing on which behaviors help you become the person you aim to be, instead of which behaviors simply bring you closer to your goals, you connect with your habits on a deeper level. Instead of trying to develop a meditation habit, begin to think of yourself as a meditator. Or, instead of trying to lose weight, begin to think of yourself as someone who deeply cares about maximizing their health and longevity.  There are too many nuggets from the book and the interview to cover here, but these are just a few of the ones I found especially powerful! Enjoy the conversation, and have a great week! The post 6 Nuggets from Atomic Habits, by James Clear appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Takeaway:There are countless ways to form a new habit, which James Clear covers in Atomic Habits (and in our interview). A few of my favorites: sort your habits by how much they’ll help you out in the long-run; become more thoughtful about your environment; question habits that provide immediate enjoyment; make new habits take less than two minutes of your time; develop “home court” and “away court” habits; and focus on developing your identify, not your goals. Estimated Reading Time:3 minutes, 1s. Podcast Length30 minutes, 45s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). <a href="https://amzn.to/2LegKlJ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Atomic Habits</a>, by James Clear, is one of the best books about habits I’ve read—I’d put it up there with <a href="https://amzn.to/3820cqD" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Power of Habit</a>, by Charles Duhigg, as being one of the best books on habits available. This week, James was generous enough to join me on the podcast to dig into how to establish new habits and break negative ones—especially around losing weight, given we’re in the middle of that <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/want-to-join-me-in-losing-some-weight/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">weight-loss challenge</a> for the show. There are too many nuggets in the book—and the interview!—to list out in one blog post. But here are just a few of my favorites from the book and the interview, which should get you thinking about your own habits: <ul> <li>Make a list of your habits, and sort them by how much they will help you out in the long-run. This is a great way to identify the habits that bring you real, lasting value over time, and which ones are distractions from your larger goals.</li> <li>If you want something to be a big part of your life, make it a big part of your environment. This is a simple idea, but is very powerful in practice. Want to eat better? Make sure there’s a plethora of healthy food in your kitchen, so you crowd out any unhealthy options that are available. Want to learn the guitar? Keep your guitar in the living room, so you can just pick it up and play. By introducing—and removing—objects from your environment which aid and detract from your habits, you build stronger habits. As James puts it in <a href="https://amzn.to/2LegKlJ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the book</a>, “environment is the invisible hand that shapes behavior.”</li> <li>Question all habits that provide you with immediate enjoyment. James writes: “As a general rule, the more immediate pleasure you get from an action, the more strongly you should question whether it aligns with your long-term goals.”</li> <li>Practice the 2-minute rule. The 2-minute rule is this: when you start a new habit, make sure it takes less than two minutes to do. If your goal is running a marathon, try just tying up your shoes for a couple of minutes. If your habit is to work out at the gym, show up at the gym, and work out for just two minutes. This way, you have a framework that you can actually build upon in developing your habits later on, instead of trying to wish habits into existence.</li> <li>Pay attention to your “home court” versus “away court” habits. Something else I asked James in our interview is how we can maintain our habits around life disruptions, such as travel. He recommends developing two types of habits: “home court” habits, which we do when our environment is predictable, and “away court” habits, which we invest in after developing solid habits at home.</li> <li>Focus on your identity, not your goals. According to James, “the most effective way to change your habits is to focus not on what you want to achieve, but on who you wish to become.” He views habits as “votes” for your identity: by focusing on which behaviors help you become the person you aim to be, instead of which behaviors simply bring you closer to your goals, you connect with your habits on a deeper level. Instead of trying to develop a meditation habit, begin to think of yourself as a meditator. Or, instead of trying to lose weight, begin to think of yourself as someone who deeply cares about maximizing their health and longevity.</li> </ul> There are too many nuggets from the book and the interview to cover here, but these are just a few of the ones I found especially powerful! Enjoy the conversation, and have a great week! The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/6-nuggets-from-atomic-habits-by-james-clear/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">6 Nuggets from Atomic Habits, by James Clear</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

18: Forming Strong Habits

Takeaway:Meditation saves you time because it allows you to work more efficiently. Five practical benefits of having a meditation ritual: you’ll be happier (which makes you more productive); you’ll have greater clarity of what’s important as you work; you’ll develop deeper relationships; you’ll focus deeper; and you’ll become less dependent on your addictive devices. Estimated Reading Time:4 minutes, 8s. Podcast Length34 minutes, 12s (link to play podcast at bottom of post).For a simple, accessible guide on how to meditate, check out this post I wrote a while back!Meditation is a topic I often write about on ALOP. Why write about meditation on a productivity blog? Simple: a meditation practice will provide you with some remarkably practical benefits, chief among which is that it actually saves you time.  Most writers focus on the spiritual benefits of meditation. While I find these nice, they’re not why I meditate. I meditate because doing so makes me more productive. For every minute I spend meditating, I get many more back in how much more efficiently I’m able to work. I’m more focused, resilient, and calm. My mind is better organized, I have more energy, and I’m better able to relate to other people.  I’m confident you’ll experience these same things if you decide to adopt a meditation practice. In this week’s episode of Becoming Better, I’m joined by special guest co-host Jon Krop. In addition to being a good friend with a decent microphone, Jon is a Harvard-trained lawyer who teaches meditation at the largest law firms across the United States. He credits meditation with allowing him to turn his life around when he was studying to become a litigator, and is convinced a practice will help you out immensely, too. Having experienced many of the benefits, I’m inclined to believe him. In this week’s episode, we cover what meditation is and how to do it, and take turns sharing our favorite practical, tactical benefits of adopting a practice. In case you don’t have the time or inclination to listen to this one, here are the five practical benefits we dig into! 1. Meditation makes you happier. Once you begin meditating, you’ll notice that your quality of life drastically improves. According to Jon, this is the main reason that we should meditate—other benefits are subsidiary to this one. Negative emotions become less punishing. You experience more joy, and less suffering. You’re able to feel content regardless of your external circumstances. From the outside in, your life doesn’t change much. Meditation doesn’t change the things you experience. But it teaches you to relate to the things you experience differently: the bad things don’t affect you as much, and you’re able to savor the good things more fully. 2. Meditation gives you clarity of what’s important. One of my favorite benefits of meditation is how it helps us step back from the mental chatter in our head. This is a nice benefit in general, but it’s especially powerful during stressful times. When ^$% hits the fan at work, you’re able to focus. When the water tank starts leaking in your house, you’re able to calm down and take care of things more easily. During stressful times, the mental chatter in our head can obscure the way we perceive things. Meditation helps us become one step removed from this mental chatter, so we can maintain clarity of what’s important. 3. Meditation makes you kinder, and a better person. I’ll never forget something that my now-wife said to me during my productivity experiment to meditate for 35 hours in a week (while being as productive as possible). While we were chatting over dinner, she said to me, “You know what, Chris, I’ve never felt more loved as I do right now, with you doing this weird experiment.” As David Augsburger, a Baptist minister and author, has put it: “Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable.” Meditation makes you compassionate, loving, and kind. It also better equips you to be of service to people, because you’re more focused and effective—there’s more room to be there for others. Meditation doesn’t just let you give more of yourself to your work; it lets you give more of yourself to the people in your life. 4. Meditation makes you more focused. Studies show that our mind wanders for 47% of the day. In other words, we’re focused on what’s in front us just 53% of the time. Let’s say you’re awake for 16 hours. That equals 7.5 hours you spend unfocused each day so any amount of improvement in how well you’re able to focus can save you a ton of time. Thankfully, meditation improves the quality of your attention in this way. Let’s say that through practicing meditation, you’re able to improve the number just a bit—to 37% instead of 47%. That increase alone leads you to be focused for 1.6 more hours each and every day. 5. Meditation makes you less dependent on your most addictive devices. Some tactics for dealing with distraction are pretty helpful. Putting your phone screen in “greyscale mode” (which turns your phone’s screen black-and-white), disabling notifications, and setting screen time limits all help. But these solutions are external. The best internal strategy for making your mind less reliant on digital distraction is to make your mind less stimulated (if you’re curious, I chat more about this idea in a recent talk). The best strategy for making your mind less stimulated? Practice meditation. Hope you enjoy the episode! The post 5 Practical Things Meditation Can Teach You appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Takeaway:Meditation saves you time because it allows you to work more efficiently. Five practical benefits of having a meditation ritual: you’ll be happier (which makes you more productive); you’ll have greater clarity of what’s important as you work; you’ll develop deeper relationships; you’ll focus deeper; and you’ll become less dependent on your addictive devices. Estimated Reading Time:4 minutes, 8s. Podcast Length34 minutes, 12s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). For a simple, accessible guide on how to meditate, check out <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/meditation-guide/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this post</a> I wrote a while back! Meditation is a topic I <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/category/mindfulness/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">often</a> write about on ALOP. Why write about meditation on a productivity blog? Simple: a meditation practice will provide you with some remarkably practical benefits, chief among which is that it actually saves you time.  Most writers focus on the spiritual benefits of meditation. While I find these nice, they’re not why I meditate. I meditate because doing so makes me more productive. For every minute I spend meditating, I get many more back in how much more efficiently I’m able to work. I’m more focused, resilient, and calm. My mind is better organized, I have more energy, and I’m better able to relate to other people.  I’m confident you’ll experience these same things if you decide to adopt a meditation practice. In this week’s episode of <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/becomingbetter" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Becoming Better</a>, I’m joined by special guest co-host <a href="http://www.jonkrop.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jon Krop</a>. In addition to being a good friend with a decent microphone, Jon is a Harvard-trained lawyer who <a href="https://www.mindfulnessforlawyers.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">teaches meditation</a> at the largest law firms across the United States. He credits meditation with allowing him to turn his life around when he was studying to become a litigator, and is convinced a practice will help you out immensely, too. Having experienced many of the benefits, I’m inclined to believe him. In this week’s episode, we cover what meditation is and how to do it, and take turns sharing our favorite practical, tactical benefits of adopting a practice. In case you don’t have the time or inclination to listen to this one, here are the five practical benefits we dig into! 1. Meditation makes you happier. Once you begin meditating, you’ll notice that your quality of life drastically improves. According to Jon, this is the main reason that we should meditate—other benefits are subsidiary to this one. Negative emotions become less punishing. You experience more joy, and less suffering. You’re able to feel content regardless of your external circumstances. From the outside in, your life doesn’t change much. Meditation doesn’t change the things you experience. But it teaches you to relate to the things you experience differently: the bad things don’t affect you as much, and you’re able to savor the good things more fully. 2. Meditation gives you clarity of what’s important. One of my favorite benefits of meditation is how it helps us step back from the mental chatter in our head. This is a nice benefit in general, but it’s especially powerful during stressful times. When ^$% hits the fan at work, you’re able to focus. When the water tank starts leaking in your house, you’re able to calm down and take care of things more easily. During stressful times, the mental chatter in our head can obscure the way we perceive things. Meditation helps us become one step removed from this mental chatter, so we can maintain clarity of what’s important. 3. Meditation makes you kinder, and a better person. I’ll never forget something that my now-wife said to me during my productivity experiment to meditate for <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/top-10-things-learned-productivity-meditating-for-35-hours/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">35 hours in a week</a> (while being as productive as possible). While we were chatting over dinner, she said to me, “You know what, Chris, I’ve never felt more loved as I do right now, with you doing this weird experiment.” As David Augsburger, a Baptist minister and author, has put it: “Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable.” Meditation makes you compassionate, loving, and kind. It also better equips you to be of service to people, because you’re more focused and effective—there’s more room to be there for others. Meditation doesn’t just let you give more of yourself to your work; it lets you give more of yourself to the people in your life. 4. Meditation makes you more focused. <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/330/6006/932.full" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Studies show</a> that our mind wanders for 47% of the day. In other words, we’re focused on what’s in front us just 53% of the time. Let’s say you’re awake for 16 hours. That equals 7.5 hours you spend unfocused each day so any amount of improvement in how well you’re able to focus can save you a ton of time. Thankfully, meditation improves the quality of your attention in this way. Let’s say that through practicing meditation, you’re able to improve the number just a bit—to 37% instead of 47%. That increase alone leads you to be focused for 1.6 more hours each and every day. 5. Meditation makes you less dependent on your most addictive devices. Some tactics for dealing with distraction are pretty helpful. Putting your phone screen in “greyscale mode” (which turns your phone’s screen black-and-white), disabling notifications, and setting screen time limits all help. But these solutions are external. The best internal strategy for making your mind less reliant on digital distraction is to make your mind less stimulated (if you’re curious, I chat more about this idea in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu4Yvq-g7_Y" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">recent talk</a>). The best strategy for making your mind less stimulated? Practice meditation. Hope you enjoy the episode! The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/5-practical-things-meditation-can-teach-you/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">5 Practical Things Meditation Can Teach You</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

9: The Practical Benefits of Meditation

Takeaway:The paperback version of Hyperfocus comes out today! It looks awesome. Estimated Reading Time:1 minute, 12s.     One year ago, my second book, Hyperfocus: How to Manage Your Attention in a World of Distraction, hit store shelves! I consider the book to be the best thing I’ve created to date. It’s about how to take advantage of the science behind how our attention works. Today, a new version of the book hits store shelves, as a paperback published by Penguin Books! Same book, but with nice new packaging (including a little penguin on the front), at a slightly cheaper price. I know your time is valuable, so I’ll cut right to the chase. If you haven’t checked out the book, it would mean a lot to me if you did. If you dig the posts on my site, I’m confident that you’ll enjoy the book, too. Here are links to pick up the paperback in the US and Canada!   Amazon.com Amazon.ca Barnes and Noble Chapters/Indigo Audible (same book; linking to this just for fun!)  Have a wonderful week!Chris P.S. This week’s episode of the podcast is all about how to read a nonfiction book. The episode is more interesting than it sounds, and you can play it below! The post Hyperfocus comes out in paperback TODAY! 🎉 appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Takeaway:The paperback version of Hyperfocus comes out today! It looks awesome. Estimated Reading Time:1 minute, 12s. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525522255/?tag=aloproductivity-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a> One year ago, my second book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0525522255/?tag=aloproductivity-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hyperfocus: How to Manage Your Attention in a World of Distraction</a>, hit store shelves! I consider the book to be the best thing I’ve created to date. It’s about how to take advantage of the science behind how our attention works. Today, a new version of the book hits store shelves, as a paperback published by Penguin Books! Same book, but with nice new packaging (including a little penguin on the front), at a slightly cheaper price. I know your time is valuable, so I’ll cut right to the chase. If you haven’t checked out the book, it would mean a lot to me if you did. If you dig the posts on my site, I’m confident that you’ll enjoy the book, too. Here are links to pick up the paperback in the US and Canada!  <ul> <li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0525522255/?tag=aloproductivity-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0735273693" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon.ca</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hyperfocus-chris-bailey/1128330640?ean=9780525522256#/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Barnes and Noble</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/hyperfocus-how-to-manage-your/9780735273696-item.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chapters/Indigo</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.audible.com/pd/B07DPTBJ84" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Audible</a> (same book; linking to this just for fun!)</li> </ul> Have a wonderful week! Chris P.S. This week’s episode of the podcast is all about how to read a nonfiction book. The episode is more interesting than it sounds, and you can play it below! The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/hyperfocus-comes-out-in-paperback-today/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hyperfocus comes out in paperback TODAY! 🎉</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

11: How to Read a Nonfiction Book

 Takeaway: Drinking alcohol can drain your energy the next day and leads to many negative health effects, but it can also lead you to loosen up, have more fun, and generate more creative ideas. It’s worth consuming alcohol strategically and with intent, rather than out of habit. Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes, 11s. Podcast Length26 minutes, 2s (link to play podcast at bottom of post).   					Obligatory disclaimer: you should consult with your physician before taking any advice from the internet—particularly advice involving how to consume a drug such as alcohol. Alcohol can impact your productivity quite a bit: if you were to go out tonight and have several vodka sodas with a lime twist (my drink of choice), you’d have one hell of a time trying to focus and be productive tomorrow. Since my experiment to drink only water for a month—while cutting out alcoholic, sugary, and caffeinated drinks—I’ve started to view consuming alcohol through a completely different lens: as a way of borrowing both energy (and happiness) from tomorrow. Having a few drinks can be fun, but you usually have to pay the price later on.  In this week’s episode of Becoming Better, my cohost Ardyn and I dig into the pros and cons of drinking alcohol. The list of pros is not long. But with that said, occasionally indulging in a drink or two can lead you to become more creative, especially when you don’t overindulge. Alcohol does lead your mind to wander more, but since it makes your mind less inhibited you’re also more likely to generate creative ideas while under the influence. For this reason, whenever I’m stuck on a problem, or want to brainstorm a project, I’ll sit down with a notepad and a glass of wine, to see what ideas arise. Creativity aside, alcohol can of course also lead you to loosen up, and have a bit more fun when you’re out with friends. As you might have guessed, the cons list for drinking alcohol is much more expansive. Alcohol compromises our sleep and energy, and can lead us to gain weight and overeat. On top of this, it impairs our memory, and is harmful to our liver, brain, and cardiovascular system. It can also increase the risk of us developing some types of cancer. And this doesn’t even account for the fact that, when we overindulge, we’re more likely to do stupid things that we regret. For these reasons, much like with caffeine, it’s worth consuming alcohol strategically and deliberately, instead of out of habit. Before having a drink, ask: will you regret borrowing energy from tomorrow? Is the cost of feeling a bit drained worth the enjoyment you’ll get today? Do you plan on doing a bit of creative work to take greater advantage of your wandering mind? Sometimes alcohol is worth consuming—but it just as often isn’t. I’ve started to drink less since beginning to think about alcohol this way—and at the same time, I feel better about having a drink or two when the time is right. The post Can drinking alcohol make you more productive (or creative)? appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Takeaway: Drinking alcohol can drain your energy the next day and leads to many negative health effects, but it can also lead you to loosen up, have more fun, and generate more creative ideas. It’s worth consuming alcohol strategically and with intent, rather than out of habit. Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes, 11s. Podcast Length26 minutes, 2s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). 					Obligatory disclaimer: you should consult with your physician before taking any advice from the internet—particularly advice involving how to consume a drug such as alcohol. Alcohol can impact your productivity quite a bit: if you were to go out tonight and have several vodka sodas with a lime twist (my drink of choice), you’d have one hell of a time trying to focus and be productive tomorrow. Since my experiment to <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/experiment-top-10-things-learned-drinking-only-water-month/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">drink only water for a month</a>—while cutting out alcoholic, sugary, and caffeinated drinks—I’ve started to view consuming alcohol through a completely different lens: as a way of borrowing both energy (and happiness) from tomorrow. Having a few drinks can be fun, but you usually have to pay the price later on.  In this week’s episode of <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/becomingbetter/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Becoming Better</a>, my cohost Ardyn and I dig into the pros and cons of drinking alcohol. The list of pros is not long. But with that said, occasionally indulging in a drink or two can lead you to become more creative, especially when you don’t overindulge. Alcohol does lead your mind to wander more, but since it makes your mind less inhibited you’re also <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810012000037" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">more likely</a> to generate creative ideas while under the influence. For this reason, whenever I’m stuck on a problem, or want to brainstorm a project, I’ll sit down with a notepad and a glass of wine, to see what ideas arise. Creativity aside, alcohol can of course also lead you to loosen up, and have a bit more fun when you’re out with friends. As you might have guessed, the cons list for drinking alcohol is much more <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/kreekspeak/5-rules-drinking-1.3491592" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">expansive</a>. Alcohol compromises our sleep and energy, and can lead us to gain weight and overeat. On top of this, it impairs our memory, and is harmful to our liver, brain, and cardiovascular system. It can also increase the risk of us developing some types of cancer. And this doesn’t even account for the fact that, when we overindulge, we’re more likely to do stupid things that we regret. For these reasons, <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/get-more-energy-out-of-caffeine/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">much like with caffeine</a>, it’s worth consuming alcohol strategically and deliberately, instead of out of habit. Before having a drink, ask: will you regret borrowing energy from tomorrow? Is the cost of feeling a bit drained worth the enjoyment you’ll get today? Do you plan on doing a bit of creative work to take greater advantage of your wandering mind? Sometimes alcohol is worth consuming—but it just as often isn’t. I’ve started to drink less since beginning to think about alcohol this way—and at the same time, I feel better about having a drink or two when the time is right. The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/drinking-alcohol-productivity-creativity/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Can drinking alcohol make you more productive (or creative)?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

Can drinking alcohol make you more productive (or creative)?

Takeaway:For the greatest performance benefits, drink caffeine strategically, instead of habitually. Estimated Reading Time:2 minutes, 50s. Podcast Length24 minutes, 35s (link to play podcast at bottom of post).This week on Becoming Better, we dig into the science behind how you can extract as much energy—and productivity—out of caffeine as possible. I write about caffeine quite a bit on ALOP, and for good reason: it can give us a great boost of productivity and focus, if we consume it deliberately and strategically. As always, in case you don’t have the time (or inclination) to listen to this week’s episode, here are a few of our favorite strategies that we mention on the show!  Consume caffeine before working on your most important tasks. Be thoughtful about when you consume caffeine; I find that it’s helpful to have a cup of coffee right before working on a task that requires hyperfocus, rather than just at the same time each morning. This way, I can benefit more from the energy boost it provides. Given that caffeine boosts your mental and physical performance in pretty much every measurable way, this boost is worth deploying wisely. Consider consuming caffeine differently if you’re an introvert. If you’re an introvert, you’re more stimulated by your environment by default, compared to extroverts and ambiverts (those who are somewhere in between). Given that caffeine is a stimulant, if you’re an introvert, it can sometimes lead you to feel overstimulated and anxious. Be especially mindful of this effect when consuming caffeine before social taxing-tasks, such as giving a presentation or attending a party.Me, Myself, and Us, by Brian Little." rel="footnote"&gt;1 Mind the 8-14 hour rule. The research shows that it takes caffeine 8-14 hours to metabolize out of our system (though everyone is wired differently). Make sure that you don’t consume too much caffeine within the 8-14 hour window before you head to bed. The best time to drink coffee is between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. This is when our cortisol levels are the lowest, and when our energy levels naturally dip in the morning. Because of this, we get a larger boost from caffeine around this time. I typically hold off until 10 a.m. on days I’ll be drinking coffee, to experience the greatest boost. Every once in a while, reset your caffeine tolerance. This ensures that caffeine provides you with the biggest boost possible, and also makes you less dependent on the drug. Here’s how to reset your caffeine tolerance. Pro tip: wait until you get sick to reset your tolerance. You’ll likely experience flu-like symptoms while your body adjusts to going without caffeine, but your mind will just ascribe what you feel from caffeine withdrawal to the fact that you’re under the weather. Try not to consume caffeine two days in a row. This is the golden rule I follow, and it’s what allows me to experience an energy boost from caffeine, without any withdrawal symptoms on days I don’t feel like having any. Once our body adjusts to how much caffeine we consume every day, over time, we need to keep consuming the same amount in order to not experience withdrawal symptoms. Going a day or two between each dose of caffeine can ensure that you get all of the benefits out of caffeine, without any of the withdrawal symptoms. Watch out for hidden caffeine—especially in decaffeinated coffee and sodas. In just a twelve-ounce can of Diet Coke, for example, there’s 46mg of caffeine—that’s as much as is in many cups of tea. In a Starbucks brewed decaf coffee, there can be as much as 30mg of caffeine. Watch out for hidden caffeine in beverages such as these, and in foods such as chocolate.  Here’s hoping that these tips prove helpful the next time you decide to caffeinate! Source for this: the book Me, Myself, and Us, by Brian Little. ↩The post Some ways to get (even more) energy out of caffeine appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Takeaway:For the greatest performance benefits, drink caffeine strategically, instead of habitually. Estimated Reading Time:2 minutes, 50s. Podcast Length24 minutes, 35s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). This week on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/becomingbetter/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Becoming Better</a>, we dig into the science behind how you can extract as much energy—and productivity—out of caffeine as possible. I write about caffeine quite a bit on ALOP, and for good reason: it can give us a great boost of productivity and <a href="http://hyperfocusbook.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">focus</a>, if we consume it deliberately and strategically. As always, in case you don’t have the time (or inclination) to listen to this week’s episode, here are a few of our favorite strategies that we mention on the show! <ul> <li>Consume caffeine before working on your <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/how-to-determine-highest-leverage-activities-work/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">most important tasks</a>. Be thoughtful about when you consume caffeine; I find that it’s helpful to have a cup of coffee right before working on a task that requires <a href="http://hyperfocusbook.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">hyperfocus</a>, rather than just at the same time each morning. This way, I can benefit more from the energy boost it provides. Given that caffeine <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/research-says-caffeine-boosts-your-mental-and-physical-performance/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">boosts your mental and physical performance in pretty much every measurable way</a>, this boost is worth deploying wisely.</li> <li>Consider consuming caffeine differently if you’re an introvert. If you’re an introvert, you’re more stimulated by your environment by default, compared to extroverts and ambiverts (those who are somewhere in between). Given that caffeine is a stimulant, if you’re an introvert, it can sometimes lead you to feel overstimulated and anxious. Be especially mindful of this effect when consuming caffeine before social taxing-tasks, such as giving a presentation or attending a party.<a href="https://chrisbailey.com/how-to-get-more-energy-out-of-caffeine/#fn1-11708" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Me, Myself, and Us, by Brian Little</a>." rel="footnote"&gt;1</li> <li>Mind the 8-14 hour rule. The research shows that it takes caffeine <a href="http://sleepeducation.org/news/2013/08/01/sleep-and-caffeine" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">8-14 hours</a> to metabolize out of our system (though everyone is wired differently). Make sure that you don’t consume too much caffeine within the 8-14 hour window before you head to bed.</li> <li>The best time to drink coffee is between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. This is when our <a href="http://blog.brainfacts.org/2013/10/the-best-time-for-your-coffee" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">cortisol levels are the lowest</a>, and when our energy levels naturally dip in the morning. Because of this, we get a larger boost from caffeine around this time. I typically hold off until 10 a.m. on days I’ll be drinking coffee, to experience the greatest boost.</li> <li>Every once in a while, reset your caffeine tolerance. This ensures that caffeine provides you with the biggest boost possible, and also makes you less dependent on the drug. <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/how-to-reset-your-caffeine-tolerance/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Here’s how to reset your caffeine tolerance</a>. Pro tip: wait until you get sick to reset your tolerance. You’ll likely experience flu-like symptoms while your body adjusts to going without caffeine, but your mind will just ascribe what you feel from caffeine withdrawal to the fact that you’re under the weather.</li> <li>Try not to consume caffeine two days in a row. This is the golden rule I follow, and it’s what allows me to experience an energy boost from caffeine, without any withdrawal symptoms on days I don’t feel like having any. Once our body adjusts to how much caffeine we consume every day, over time, we need to keep consuming the same amount in order to not experience withdrawal symptoms. Going a day or two between each dose of caffeine can ensure that you get all of the benefits out of caffeine, without any of the withdrawal symptoms.</li> <li>Watch out for hidden caffeine—especially in decaffeinated coffee and sodas. In just a twelve-ounce can of Diet Coke, for example, there’s <a href="https://www.coca-colaproductfacts.com/en/faq/caffeine/caffeine-in-coke-and-diet-coke/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">46mg</a> of caffeine—that’s as much as is in many cups of tea. In a Starbucks brewed decaf coffee, there can be as much as 30mg of caffeine. Watch out for hidden caffeine in beverages such as these, and in foods such as chocolate.</li> </ul> Here’s hoping that these tips prove helpful the next time you decide to caffeinate! <ol><li>Source for this: the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1610396383/?tag=aloproductivity-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Me, Myself, and Us, by Brian Little</a>. <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/how-to-get-more-energy-out-of-caffeine/#rf1-11708" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">↩</a></li></ol>The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/how-to-get-more-energy-out-of-caffeine/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Some ways to get (even more) energy out of caffeine</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

12: Drinking Caffeine Intentionally

Takeaway:Some experts are worth listening to, and others aren’t. To find the good ones, look for those who have dug deeply into a topic, aren’t afraid to be vulnerable about where they fail, don’t speak from a pedestal, and are further along in exploring a topic than you are. Estimated Reading Time:3 minutes, 47s. Podcast Length28 minutes, 14s (link to play podcast at bottom of post).There are a lot of people out there who call themselves experts—and as someone who writes books, gives speeches, and has a podcast about becoming more productive, I’d include myself in this category.  Here’s the thing about expert advice, though: we live in a world where anyone can call themselves an expert, whether they deserve to be one or not. All anyone needs is an online platform—a blog, social media account, or LinkedIn profile—and boom! They can label themselves an expert, a “thought leader,” or, worst of all, a “guru”. So how do you separate the real experts from everyone else? Enter this week’s guest on my podcast, Cait Flanders (a link to play the episode is at the bottom of the post). Nine years ago, Cait Flanders started a blog named Blonde on a Budget, to chronicle her journey to pay off $30,000 of debt, and write about her various experiments on personal finance. Her website took off, very quickly becoming one of the most popular personal finance blogs on the internet.  One experiment that she conducted for the website—doing a yearlong shopping ban, where she saved half of her income, and didn’t buy anything she didn’t absolutely need—went viral, which led to her first book, The Year of Less, that, to date, has become one of the bestselling personal finance memoirs of all time. Then, one night, Cait decided to pack it all in. She published a blog post that I still remember landing in my email inbox, named, Why I’m Retiring from Personal Blogging, and since that date, apart from sharing the occasional nature photo on Instagram, she has posted pretty much nothing online. She packed up her Twitter account, the Facebook page for her blog, her podcast, and everything else. It’s all gone. In that post, she wrote about blogging:   “It’s just not as fun anymore. I used to open up new browser tabs and visit people’s blogs like I was walking into their dorm rooms and sitting on their beds. Then we’d share life updates, what little bits of advice we had, and both walk away feeling like we’d had a great conversation with a friend. Now, it feels like every platform (blogs, social, etc.) is a place for people to shout and be heard. We have been told we need to build, grow, make money and have all the answers. We need to be experts. I don’t want to be an expert. I just want to be a human.”  This last line struck me, hard—especially as someone who makes his living being a productivity “expert”. But something else also struck me: that Cait is right! There are so many experts out there, telling us what to do—how much money to save, how to work, and how to live our lives. If any odd person can just call themselves an expert, who should we trust and believe? That’s when I realized I had to get Cait on the podcast to chat about this idea. At the end of our chat, we settled on a few criteria for figuring out whether an expert is worth listening to. Great experts:  Have done the work. This is obvious, but easy to forget. Cait loves to follow book authors, rather than bloggers, for this reason. The best experts don’t just have opinions about a given topic, as anyone on the internet can—they’ve been researching a topic, experimenting with it, and exploring it for years. Aren’t afraid to be vulnerable. Experts are humans, like everybody else on the planet. They should be open about their failures, in addition to sharing their successes. When an “expert” isn’t open about where and when they fail, and pretends to be perfect, they become far less believable. Look for experts still asking questions, who don’t pretend to know everything about a topic. Shouldn’t speak from a pedestal. There’s nothing worse than reading advice that talks down to you. This characteristic may not discredit an expert as much as the other items on the list. But it does call into question the advice someone gives. Look for someone who isn’t just trying to fix you while pretending to be perfect. Are much further along in exploring a topic than you are. Of course, it’s helpful if they’re also further along in exploring the idea compared to most other experts.  Naturally, there are more variables to consider than these—but the ones above are a terrific place to start. Enjoy the conversation! The post Which experts should you trust? appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Takeaway:Some experts are worth listening to, and others aren’t. To find the good ones, look for those who have dug deeply into a topic, aren’t afraid to be vulnerable about where they fail, don’t speak from a pedestal, and are further along in exploring a topic than you are. Estimated Reading Time:3 minutes, 47s. Podcast Length28 minutes, 14s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). There are a lot of people out there who call themselves experts—and as someone who <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/hyperfocus/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">writes books</a>, <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/speaking-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">gives speeches</a>, and has a <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/becomingbetter/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">podcast</a> about becoming more productive, I’d include myself in this category.  Here’s the thing about expert advice, though: we live in a world where anyone can call themselves an expert, whether they deserve to be one or not. All anyone needs is an online platform—a blog, social media account, or LinkedIn profile—and boom! They can label themselves an expert, a “thought leader,” or, worst of all, a “guru”. So how do you separate the real experts from everyone else? Enter this week’s guest on my podcast, <a href="https://caitflanders.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cait Flanders</a> (a link to play the episode is at the bottom of the post). Nine years ago, Cait Flanders started a blog named Blonde on a Budget, to chronicle her journey to pay off $30,000 of debt, and write about her various experiments on personal finance. Her website took off, very quickly becoming one of the most popular personal finance blogs on the internet.  One experiment that she conducted for the website—doing a yearlong shopping ban, where she saved half of her income, and didn’t buy anything she didn’t absolutely need—went viral, which led to her first book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1401953514/?tag=aloproductivity-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Year of Less</a>, that, to date, has become one of the bestselling personal finance memoirs of all time. Then, one night, Cait decided to pack it all in. She published a blog post that I still remember landing in my email inbox, named, <a href="https://caitflanders.com/2018/09/04/retiring-from-personal-blogging/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Why I’m Retiring from Personal Blogging</a>, and since that date, apart from sharing the occasional <a href="https://www.instagram.com/caitflanders/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">nature photo on Instagram</a>, she has posted pretty much nothing online. She packed up her Twitter account, the Facebook page for her blog, her podcast, and everything else. It’s all gone. In that post, she wrote about blogging:  <blockquote> “It’s just not as fun anymore. I used to open up new browser tabs and visit people’s blogs like I was walking into their dorm rooms and sitting on their beds. Then we’d share life updates, what little bits of advice we had, and both walk away feeling like we’d had a great conversation with a friend. Now, it feels like every platform (blogs, social, etc.) is a place for people to shout and be heard. We have been told we need to build, grow, make money and have all the answers. We need to be experts. I don’t want to be an expert. I just want to be a human.” </blockquote> This last line struck me, hard—especially as someone who makes his living being a productivity “expert”. But something else also struck me: that Cait is right! There are so many experts out there, telling us what to do—how much money to save, how to work, and how to live our lives. If any odd person can just call themselves an expert, who should we trust and believe? That’s when I realized I had to get Cait on the podcast to chat about this idea. At the end of our chat, we settled on a few criteria for figuring out whether an expert is worth listening to. Great experts: <ul> <li>Have done the work. This is obvious, but easy to forget. Cait loves to follow book authors, rather than bloggers, for this reason. The best experts don’t just have opinions about a given topic, as anyone on the internet can—they’ve been researching a topic, experimenting with it, and exploring it for years.</li> <li>Aren’t afraid to be vulnerable. Experts are humans, like everybody else on the planet. They should be open about their failures, in addition to sharing their successes. When an “expert” isn’t open about where and when they fail, and pretends to be perfect, they become far less believable. Look for experts still asking questions, who don’t pretend to know everything about a topic.</li> <li>Shouldn’t speak from a pedestal. There’s nothing worse than reading advice that talks down to you. This characteristic may not discredit an expert as much as the other items on the list. But it does call into question the advice someone gives. Look for someone who isn’t just trying to fix you while pretending to be perfect.</li> <li>Are much further along in exploring a topic than you are. Of course, it’s helpful if they’re also further along in exploring the idea compared to most other experts.</li> </ul> Naturally, there are more variables to consider than these—but the ones above are a terrific place to start. Enjoy the conversation! The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/which-experts-should-you-trust/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Which experts should you trust?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

13: Taking Advice From Experts

 Takeaway: When you consume caffeine habitually, you’ll need to consume more and more to experience the same energy boost. This makes occasionally resetting your caffeine tolerance worth the effort and the struggle. To do this, slowly lower the amount of caffeine you consume each day, or go “cold turkey” if you don’t consume a lot to begin with. Invest in your energy at the same time to counterbalance withdrawal symptoms. Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes, 59s. Podcast Length29 minutes, 49s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). It’s worth resetting your caffeine tolerance every once in a while. The reason for this is simple: as your body becomes accustomed to consuming caffeine, you need to consume more and more of it to experience the same energy boost. When you go from consuming zero coffee a day to drinking a single cup, you feel a big energy boost. But soon, your body adjusts, and you need two cups to experience the same effect. Then three. And then maybe even four. You get the picture.1 This idea of caffeine inflation can be dangerous. Setting aside the fact that it’s never fun to rely on drugs to feel a proper amount of energy, consuming too much caffeine can also lead to anxiety, exhaustion, and can disrupt your sleep, among many other factors. Plus, large energy crashes can obliterate your productivity. I fell into this trap a couple of months ago when, during the holidays, I found myself drinking far more coffee than usual—the equivalent of five cups of coffee each day, in the form of coffee, tea, and espresso. There’s nothing wrong with consuming caffeine for a productivity boost, especially when you drink it strategically—like before working on important tasks—so you can actually make use of the energy boost. But it’s worth performing a caffeine reset whenever you find yourself consuming caffeine habitually, or when you’re consuming more of it to experience the same energy sensation. A caffeine reset can be a struggle, but it’s worth it to get out of a downward spiral. You can reset your caffeine tolerance in one of two ways:  Slowly reducing how much caffeine you consume each day, if you rely on it heavily to experience a passable amount of energy. I’ve done this by drinking the same amount of tea or coffee, but substituting more and more of it with decaf, until I’ve cut out caffeine altogether. Going cold turkey, and not consuming caffeine until your energy rebalances. I’ve found this method helpful in the past during times when I’ve been drinking a couple cups of tea per day, or a single cup of coffee. I actually prefer this method—I can feel the effects of going without caffeine, and watch the effects diminish over time.  The toughest part of writing about caffeine is that everyone is wired differently. Just as everyone responds to caffeine differently, a caffeine reset may have a different effect on each person. If you consume caffeine habitually, you’ll almost certainly experience symptoms as you reduce your tolerance—in the past, I’ve experienced headaches, mood swings, sadness, an inability to focus, brain fog, and even flu-like symptoms. While this may make resetting your caffeine tolerance seem like more trouble than it’s worth, consider that you’re experiencing these symptoms because you’ve grown reliant on a drug for energy. Thankfully, while you’ll probably experience some withdrawal symptoms, there are many ways to mitigate them:  Starting on the weekend. This will give you an excuse to veg out, and will minimize the impact the reset has on your productivity. Treating your worst symptoms. If your headaches and other withdrawal symptoms are bad, aspirin or ibuprofen can help relieve them, until they go away in a week or so (depending on how much caffeine you regularly consume). Investing in your energy levels. Eating clean-burning foods that provide lasting energy, getting exercise (which rebalances your brain chemicals), drinking plenty of water, and getting enough rest can minimize the amount of energy lost as you cut back on caffeine. You may even find that you have more energy than before.  Caffeine is a drug—a popular and usually delicious one, but a drug nonetheless. I’m personally a big fan of caffeine—and consume it most days, especially before working on my most important tasks. But because the costs of caffeine can be so great, it’s worth consuming it strategically, rather than habitually. Resetting your tolerance to caffeine can be a pain—but once you get over your withdrawal symptoms, you’ll be able to consume it a lot more deliberately and productively. Here’s why: caffeine binds to a chemical in your brain called adenosine, a neurotransmitter that makes you feel tired. Your brain normally reabsorbs this chemical and loses energy by itself—not so after you consume caffeine. Your brain even grows more and more adenosine receptors as you drink greater amounts of caffeine, meaning you need to consume more and more of it to feel the same effect. This also leads to larger energy crashes—once the caffeine in your brain dissipates, your brain absorbs a whole whack of adenosine at once. ↩The post How to reset your caffeine tolerance appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Takeaway: When you consume caffeine habitually, you’ll need to consume more and more to experience the same energy boost. This makes occasionally resetting your caffeine tolerance worth the effort and the struggle. To do this, slowly lower the amount of caffeine you consume each day, or go “cold turkey” if you don’t consume a lot to begin with. Invest in your energy at the same time to counterbalance withdrawal symptoms. Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes, 59s. Podcast Length29 minutes, 49s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). It’s worth resetting your caffeine tolerance every once in a while. The reason for this is simple: as your body becomes accustomed to consuming caffeine, you need to consume more and more of it to experience the same energy boost. When you go from consuming zero coffee a day to drinking a single cup, you feel a big energy boost. But soon, your body adjusts, and you need two cups to experience the same effect. Then three. And then maybe even four. You get the picture.<a href="https://chrisbailey.com/how-to-reset-your-caffeine-tolerance/#fn1-9245" rel="footnote nofollow" target="_blank">1</a> This idea of caffeine inflation can be dangerous. Setting aside the fact that it’s never fun to rely on drugs to feel a proper amount of energy, consuming too much caffeine can also lead to anxiety, exhaustion, and can disrupt your sleep, among many other factors. Plus, large energy crashes can obliterate your productivity. I fell into this trap a couple of months ago when, during the holidays, I found myself drinking far more coffee than usual—the equivalent of five cups of coffee each day, in the form of coffee, tea, and espresso. There’s nothing wrong with consuming caffeine for a productivity boost, especially when you drink it strategically—like before working on important tasks—so you can actually make use of the energy boost. But it’s worth performing a caffeine reset whenever you find yourself consuming caffeine habitually, or when you’re consuming more of it to experience the same energy sensation. A caffeine reset can be a struggle, but it’s worth it to get out of a downward spiral. You can reset your caffeine tolerance in one of two ways: <ol> <li>Slowly reducing how much caffeine you consume each day, if you rely on it heavily to experience a passable amount of energy. I’ve done this by drinking the same amount of tea or coffee, but substituting more and more of it with decaf, until I’ve cut out caffeine altogether.</li> <li>Going cold turkey, and not consuming caffeine until your energy rebalances. I’ve found this method helpful in the past during times when I’ve been drinking a couple cups of tea per day, or a single cup of coffee. I actually prefer this method—I can feel the effects of going without caffeine, and watch the effects diminish over time.</li> </ol> The toughest part of writing about caffeine is that everyone is wired differently. Just as everyone responds to caffeine differently, a caffeine reset may have a different effect on each person. If you consume caffeine habitually, you’ll almost certainly experience symptoms as you reduce your tolerance—in the past, I’ve experienced headaches, mood swings, sadness, an inability to focus, brain fog, and even flu-like symptoms. While this may make resetting your caffeine tolerance seem like more trouble than it’s worth, consider that you’re experiencing these symptoms because you’ve grown reliant on a drug for energy. Thankfully, while you’ll probably experience some withdrawal symptoms, there are many ways to mitigate them: <ul> <li>Starting on the weekend. This will give you an excuse to veg out, and will minimize the impact the reset has on your productivity.</li> <li>Treating your worst symptoms. If your headaches and other withdrawal symptoms are bad, aspirin or ibuprofen can help relieve them, until they go away in a week or so (depending on how much caffeine you regularly consume).</li> <li>Investing in your energy levels. Eating <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/food-and-productivity/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">clean-burning foods</a> that provide lasting energy, getting exercise (which rebalances your brain chemicals), drinking plenty of water, and getting enough rest can minimize the amount of energy lost as you cut back on caffeine. You may even find that you have more energy than before.</li> </ul> Caffeine is a drug—a popular and usually delicious one, but a drug nonetheless. I’m personally a big fan of caffeine—and consume it most days, especially before working on my most important tasks. But because the costs of caffeine can be so great, it’s worth consuming it strategically, rather than habitually. Resetting your tolerance to caffeine can be a pain—but once you get over your withdrawal symptoms, you’ll be able to consume it a lot more deliberately and productively. <ol><li>Here’s why: caffeine binds to a chemical in your brain called adenosine, a neurotransmitter that makes you feel tired. Your brain normally reabsorbs this chemical and loses energy by itself—not so after you consume caffeine. Your brain even grows more and more adenosine receptors as you drink greater amounts of caffeine, meaning you need to consume more and more of it to feel the same effect. This also leads to larger energy crashes—once the caffeine in your brain dissipates, your brain absorbs a whole whack of adenosine at once. <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/how-to-reset-your-caffeine-tolerance/#rf1-9245" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">↩</a></li></ol>The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/how-to-reset-your-caffeine-tolerance/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">How to reset your caffeine tolerance</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

21: Resetting Your Caffeine Tolerance

Takeaway:A while back I spent seven days in Jamaica conducting a “think week.” This time in the sun was loosely modeled on Bill Gates’ annual think week ritual. I learned five key things: the more time we spend keeping up the less time we spend getting ahead; that we need to strike a balance between reflecting and doing; that stepping back from our daily grind helps us to be grateful of the lives we lead; that our lives need more solitude; and finally, that we all need to take more think breaks, regardless of their length. Estimated Reading Time:9 minutes, 27s. Podcast Length23 minutes, 34s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). Several months ago, I realized the busyness of work had started to fill my schedule to the brim. With each passing day I was having less and less time to reflect on the state of my work and life.  The negative effects of this period manifested in curious ways. I found it difficult to manage my energy levels, my exercise ritual fell by the wayside, and I began to eat more junk than ever before. At the same time, I started checking my inbox and social media more often so I could keep up with messages—or at least this is what I told myself. Even my meditation and mindfulness rituals began to falter. I felt like I was hunkering down, and yet my productivity was shot and I was working with less intention than ever before.  With so much occupying my days, I had significantly less time to think and reflect. I was working in a reactive way, rather than being thoughtful about how I should spend my time. I knew something needed to change, and that I needed to strike a better balance between thinking and doing.  Lost in a daydream, I thought wistfully of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Twice a year, Bill travels to a cabin in the woods where no one can reach him. Once there, he devours countless papers about the future and plots what to do next in his professional and personal life. He has said this “think week” is when he comes up with his best ideas, and is also how he reflects on the difference he’s making in the world.   This got me thinking: could I pull a Bill Gates? Would a week away from the distractions of everyday life boost my productivity? Would such a ritual allow me to accomplish more overall? Would it let me again work in a way that was less responsive and more intentional? Last-minute travel deals are made for these precise thoughts, and I soon found myself on a plane to Jamaica to try my very first “think week” ritual.  Though modeled off Bill’s idea, my think week was not nearly as extravagant. Instead of a cabin in the woods with a private chef, I opted for an all-inclusive resort. Instead of reading research papers (which I do most days, anyways), I brought a bunch of books that could help with the problems I was incubating. (If you’re curious, those books were: Thinking in Systems; Joyful; The E-Myth Revisited; and, the odd one out, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.) My time in Jamaica wasn’t only about consuming and thinking about information. I also made sure to set intentions for the year ahead, and brainstorm and reflect on a few projects that have been brewing, including new book ideas.  At the end of my seven days I made a list of the five greatest lessons I learned from taking this Bill Gates-inspired think week. These have changed the way I see my own work.  1. The more time you spend keeping up, the less time you spend getting ahead Keeping up with your daily to do list will only get you so far. The more time you spend focusing on the work that’s already on your plate, the less time you have to think about the projects that you could or should be mulling over. I had fallen into this trap of keeping up—letting my incoming work dictate what I should be focusing on each day.  There’s nothing wrong with keeping up with daily work. In fact, if you’re part of a team, keeping up probably means you’re pretty productive, and might even earn a promotion once in a while. But here’s the thing: you reach a point where keeping up no longer feels like enough.  The more autonomous your work, the more valuable reflection time becomes. Reflecting helps you step back from your work so you can think about new opportunities that are out there, process your challenges, and question what you could be doing differently.  Here are a couple examples. If you’re an executive, your current projects will only last so long—at some point you’ll need to step back and identify new opportunities for your company. If you’re a freelance designer, new clients may approach you, but at a point you’ll probably also need to pitch new projects and think about how you should be spending your time.  You can lose sight of your most valuable tasks and projects when you focus too much on keeping up. This was my problem—I was spending every day replying to emails and planning upcoming talks and consulting commitments. These things are important, but they aren’t everything. My think week allowed me to reconnect with my most important work—writing! It also made me realize I need to say “no” more often and give myself the mental space to plan for the future. 2. We need to strike a balance between reflecting and doing The busier our lives, the less likely we’ll have the time to step back and reflect on them. We delay a lot of stuff when we’re busy at work. We postpone vacations, spend less time mentally recharging, and just generally spend more time doing rather than reflecting. Being busy makes us feel important and wanted. But it also prevents us from stepping back. Reflection allows us to place the hypothetical rudder with intent, correcting our course so we can travel in a more productive and meaningful direction. The value of reflection applies to all critical areas of our lives. The more you reflect on your work, the more meaning you’ll find in it, and the less you’ll get caught up on unimportant tasks. The more you reflect on your personal life, the more you’ll start noticing and experiencing moments with your loved ones.  Pre-think week, my time to reflect was running on deficit. In Jamaica I had the chance to reflect on the habits and rituals I value, the meaning I find in my work, and the important relationships I’ve gathered throughout my life. I also had the chance to think about the slightly less pleasant elements—like how much time I had been spending on my email! All of this may have gone unnoticed without the time to reflect. Heading home at the end of my think week, I doubled down on my good habits that had slipped. I began reading more fiction instead of only non-fiction. I implemented email free days where I turn on an auto-responder and take the day to hyperfocus on my most important work. I also started working out in the morning and took that time to think about the day ahead.  My think week made me realize how badly I needed this reflection time—how much we all do.  3. Stepping back can reveal everything you’re underappreciating As part of my year-long productivity experiment, I lived in total isolation for 10 days. This experiment was similar to my think week in some ways, and both made me realize how grateful I am for things in my life.  I recognized how lucky I was to have this week to myself, and how I had the privilege of time to think about ideas and plan for the future. I reflected on how grateful I was for my lovely wife, who not only puts up with my weird experiments, but is also my greatest source of happiness. I thought about my family and friends who were more than supportive of the fact that I was disconnecting and would be unavailable for the week. And I gained perspective on how fortunate I was to have this job—that somehow I get paid to run experiments and write about how to become a better human being.  Most importantly, my think week reminded me of a lesson I’m constantly re-learning: that when you step back from your life, you reflect on it. This helps you note what’s truly important and what affects your happiness the most. You also get to see how the different elements of your life are interconnected.  There is immense beauty in this gratitude if you take the time to see it.  4. Our lives need more solitude Solitude can take many forms. For some, it can be a quiet moment away from the kids. For others, a jog in the park, or a the feeling of peace that comes when you listen to your favorite album.  My preferred definition of solitude comes from Raymond Kethledge and Michael Erwin’s book, Lead Yourself First. They define solitude as a state in which your mind is free from input from other minds. However you define it, solitude is key to productive reflection. I’m lucky—few of us have the flexibility in our work and home lives to take a full seven-day think week. At the same time, there are ways to bring the values of a think week into your life in general. A trip to Jamaica is not required! We can do this by finding more solitude in our lives. There are two levels of solitude. The first comes in the form of small blocks of reflection time (waiting in line without your phone, quietly sipping your morning coffee). The second is the extended periods of reflection time where we get to disconnect for the weekend or take a temporary digital detox during a long flight. We need more of both.  Fortunately, there’s often time that can be repurposed for solitude. To pinpoint these moments, ask yourself: when do you mindlessly check through your phone, scroll through social media, or listen to audiobooks and podcasts? When do you do mindless chores like laundry, the dishes, or house cleaning? These are the perfect opportunities to introduce more solitude. Instead of listening to a podcast during your commute, use this time to reflect. Instead of half-watching the TV while doing laundry, try slowing down and letting your thoughts roam free.  Though it was much needed, I sadly didn’t find much solitude at the resort where I did my think week. Turns out a resort is not the best place to free yourself from the inputs of other minds, and lots of folks strike up idle conversation when you’re at a resort by yourself. The few moments of solitude I did have made the entire week worthwhile, though, and they allowed me to deeply reflect.  5. We need think breaks more often Yes, my think week made me realize I needed more think weeks.  Unless you have an insane amount of flexibility in your schedule, your think breaks probably won’t be a week long. That’s okay! It’s still possible to take one, even if you have a busy life at work and at home. In fact, this is when you’re likely to find the most value in it.  In the next article I’ll be sharing how you can plan a think break of your own. But in the meantime, it’s worth considering how to introduce more thinking and reflection time into your own busy schedule. When evaluating different strategies for becoming more productive, there’s one yardstick that I always turn to: For every minute I invest into a productivity tactic, how many minutes do I earn back? When you earn your time back—and then some!—a productivity ritual is easily worth the time it takes. Spending seven days in the sun isn’t the most obvious strategy for becoming more productive. But if you find yourself responding to the daily slog in a reactive way, and that fewer ideas are coming to you as you go about your days, a think break may be exactly what you need. The post What I Learned Taking a Bill Gates-Inspired “Think Week” appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Takeaway:A while back I spent seven days in Jamaica conducting a “think week.” This time in the sun was loosely modeled on Bill Gates’ annual think week ritual. I learned five key things: the more time we spend keeping up the less time we spend getting ahead; that we need to strike a balance between reflecting and doing; that stepping back from our daily grind helps us to be grateful of the lives we lead; that our lives need more solitude; and finally, that we all need to take more think breaks, regardless of their length. Estimated Reading Time:9 minutes, 27s. Podcast Length23 minutes, 34s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). Several months ago, I realized the busyness of work had started to fill my schedule to the brim. With each passing day I was having less and less time to reflect on the state of my work and life.  The negative effects of this period manifested in curious ways. I found it difficult to manage my energy levels, my exercise ritual fell by the wayside, and I began to eat more junk than ever before. At the same time, I started checking my inbox and social media more often so I could keep up with messages—or at least this is what I told myself. Even my <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/meditation-guide/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">meditation and mindfulness rituals</a> began to falter. I felt like I was hunkering down, and yet my productivity was shot and I was working with less intention than ever before.  With so much occupying my days, I had significantly less time to think and reflect. I was working in a reactive way, rather than being thoughtful about how I should spend my time. I knew something needed to change, and that I needed to strike a better balance between thinking and doing.  Lost in a daydream, I thought wistfully of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Twice a year, Bill travels to a cabin in the woods where no one can reach him. Once there, he devours countless papers about the future and plots what to do next in his professional and personal life. He has said this “think week” is when he <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB111196625830690477" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">comes up with his best ideas</a>, and is also how he reflects on the difference he’s making in the world.   This got me thinking: could I pull a Bill Gates? Would a week away from the distractions of everyday life boost my productivity? Would such a ritual allow me to accomplish more overall? Would it let me again work in a way that was less responsive and more intentional? Last-minute travel deals are made for these precise thoughts, and I soon found myself on a plane to Jamaica to try my very first “think week” ritual.  Though modeled off Bill’s idea, my think week was not nearly as extravagant. Instead of a cabin in the woods with a private chef, I opted for an all-inclusive resort. Instead of reading research papers (which I do most days, anyways), I brought a bunch of books that could help with the problems I was incubating. (If you’re curious, those books were: <a href="https://amzn.to/2UIOSvs" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Thinking in Systems</a>; <a href="https://amzn.to/2Sz4Fdt" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Joyful</a>; <a href="https://amzn.to/2OH3BmE" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The E-Myth Revisited</a>; and, the odd one out, <a href="https://amzn.to/31OGlIT" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry</a>.) My time in Jamaica wasn’t only about consuming and thinking about information. I also made sure to set intentions for the year ahead, and brainstorm and reflect on a few projects that have been brewing, including new book ideas.  At the end of my seven days I made a list of the five greatest lessons I learned from taking this Bill Gates-inspired think week. These have changed the way I see my own work.  <h2>1. The more time you spend keeping up, the less time you spend getting ahead</h2> Keeping up with your daily to do list will only get you so far. The more time you spend focusing on the work that’s already on your plate, the less time you have to think about the projects that you could or should be mulling over. I had fallen into this trap of keeping up—letting my incoming work dictate what I should be focusing on each day.  There’s nothing wrong with keeping up with daily work. In fact, if you’re part of a team, keeping up probably means you’re pretty productive, and might even earn a promotion once in a while. But here’s the thing: you reach a point where keeping up no longer feels like enough.  The more autonomous your work, the more valuable reflection time becomes. Reflecting helps you step back from your work so you can think about new opportunities that are out there, process your challenges, and question what you could be doing differently.  Here are a couple examples. If you’re an executive, your current projects will only last so long—at some point you’ll need to step back and identify new opportunities for your company. If you’re a freelance designer, new clients may approach you, but at a point you’ll probably also need to pitch new projects and think about how you should be spending your time.  You can lose sight of your most valuable tasks and projects when you focus too much on keeping up. This was my problem—I was spending every day replying to emails and planning upcoming talks and consulting commitments. These things are important, but they aren’t everything. My think week allowed me to reconnect with my most important work—writing! It also made me realize I need to say “no” more often and give myself the mental space to plan for the future. <h2>2. We need to strike a balance between reflecting and doing</h2> The busier our lives, the less likely we’ll have the time to step back and reflect on them. We delay a lot of stuff when we’re busy at work. We postpone vacations, spend less time mentally recharging, and just generally spend more time doing rather than reflecting. Being busy makes us feel important and wanted. But it also prevents us from stepping back. Reflection allows us to place the hypothetical rudder with intent, correcting our course so we can travel in a more productive and meaningful direction. The value of reflection applies to all critical areas of our lives. The more you reflect on your work, the more meaning you’ll find in it, and the less you’ll get caught up on unimportant tasks. The more you reflect on your personal life, the more you’ll start noticing and experiencing moments with your loved ones.  Pre-think week, my time to reflect was running on deficit. In Jamaica I had the chance to reflect on the habits and rituals I value, the meaning I find in my work, and the important relationships I’ve gathered throughout my life. I also had the chance to think about the slightly less pleasant elements—like how much time I had been spending on my email! All of this may have gone unnoticed without the time to reflect. Heading home at the end of my think week, I doubled down on my good habits that had slipped. I began reading more fiction instead of only non-fiction. I implemented email free days where I turn on an auto-responder and take the day to <a href="http://hyperfocusbook.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">hyperfocus</a> on my most important work. I also started working out in the morning and took that time to think about the day ahead.  My think week made me realize how badly I needed this reflection time—how much we all do.  <h2>3. Stepping back can reveal everything you’re underappreciating</h2> As part of my<a href="http://productivityprojectbook.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> year-long productivity experiment</a>, <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/productivity-and-reclusion/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">I lived in total isolation for 10 days</a>. This experiment was similar to my think week in some ways, and both made me realize how grateful I am for things in my life.  I recognized how lucky I was to have this week to myself, and how I had the privilege of time to think about ideas and plan for the future. I reflected on how grateful I was for my lovely wife, who not only puts up with my <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/experiments/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">weird experiments</a>, but is also my greatest source of happiness. I thought about my family and friends who were more than supportive of the fact that I was disconnecting and would be unavailable for the week. And I gained perspective on how fortunate I was to have this job—that somehow I get paid to run experiments and write about how to become a better human being.  Most importantly, my think week reminded me of a lesson I’m constantly re-learning: that when you step back from your life, you reflect on it. This helps you note what’s truly important and what affects your happiness the most. You also get to see how the different elements of your life are interconnected.  There is immense beauty in this gratitude if you take the time to see it.  <h2>4. Our lives need more solitude</h2> Solitude can take many forms. For some, it can be a quiet moment away from the kids. For others, a jog in the park, or a the feeling of peace that comes when you listen to your favorite album.  My preferred definition of solitude comes from Raymond Kethledge and Michael Erwin’s book, <a href="https://amzn.to/2UFxGaf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lead Yourself First</a>. They define solitude as a state in which your mind is free from input from other minds. However you define it, solitude is key to productive reflection. I’m lucky—few of us have the flexibility in our work and home lives to take a full seven-day think week. At the same time, there are ways to bring the values of a think week into your life in general. A trip to Jamaica is not required! We can do this by finding more solitude in our lives. There are two levels of solitude. The first comes in the form of small blocks of reflection time (waiting in line without your phone, quietly sipping your morning coffee). The second is the extended periods of reflection time where we get to disconnect for the weekend or take a temporary digital detox during a long flight. We need more of both.  Fortunately, there’s often time that can be repurposed for solitude. To pinpoint these moments, ask yourself: when do you mindlessly check through your phone, scroll through social media, or listen to audiobooks and podcasts? When do you do mindless chores like laundry, the dishes, or house cleaning? These are the perfect opportunities to introduce more solitude. Instead of listening to a podcast during your commute, use this time to reflect. Instead of half-watching the TV while doing laundry, try slowing down and letting your thoughts roam free.  Though it was much needed, I sadly didn’t find much solitude at the resort where I did my think week. Turns out a resort is not the best place to free yourself from the inputs of other minds, and lots of folks strike up idle conversation when you’re at a resort by yourself. The few moments of solitude I did have made the entire week worthwhile, though, and they allowed me to deeply reflect.  <h2>5. We need think breaks more often</h2> Yes, my think week made me realize I needed more think weeks.  Unless you have an insane amount of flexibility in your schedule, your think breaks probably won’t be a week long. That’s okay! It’s still possible to take one, even if you have a busy life at work and at home. In fact, this is when you’re likely to find the most value in it.  In the next article I’ll be sharing how you can plan a think break of your own. But in the meantime, it’s worth considering how to introduce more thinking and reflection time into your own busy schedule. When evaluating different strategies for becoming more productive, there’s one yardstick that I always turn to: For every minute I invest into a productivity tactic, how many minutes do I earn back? When you earn your time back—and then some!—a productivity ritual is easily worth the time it takes. Spending seven days in the sun isn’t the most obvious strategy for becoming more productive. But if you find yourself responding to the daily slog in a reactive way, and that fewer ideas are coming to you as you go about your days, a think break may be exactly what you need. The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/experiment-taking-a-bill-gates-think-week/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">What I Learned Taking a Bill Gates-Inspired “Think Week”</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

22: What I Learned Taking a Bill Gates-Inspired “Think Week”

Takeaway:You have a lot in your life to be grateful for. Make sure to recall these things as the year draws to a close. Estimated Reading Time:1 minutes, 17s. Podcast Length4 minutes, 58 s. Each New Year, I look back on the year that went by to recall a few things I’m grateful for.   Today, I look back at 2019 with gratitude for all that happened in my personal life—getting married to an awesome lady, going on some cool trips, and hitting some other personal goals—but I also can’t help but feel grateful for my work life.    More than any single milestone, though, I’m grateful to have you with me, along for the ride.   This is not hyperbole: every day I wake up, feeling like the luckiest guy in the world because I get to write and speak about how we can all become better people (and somehow make a living doing it). I have no idea how long this journey will last, but I’m so happy to have you along for the ride. And, more than that, I hope my work can continue to help you out for some time to come.   So, corny as this may sound, this is just a small note to say that I’m grateful for you.   I hope that, as this year draws to a close, you’re able to recount all that you’re grateful for as well.   We live in a world that doesn’t stop; a world full of constant news updates, stress, and never-ending lists of things to do. But this new year, I hope you can pause for a second or two, take a deep breath, take a look around, and recount how many things you have to be grateful for.    After all, you deserve it!   Happy New Year! The post What are you grateful for this New Year’s? appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Takeaway:You have a lot in your life to be grateful for. Make sure to recall these things as the year draws to a close. Estimated Reading Time:1 minutes, 17s. Podcast Length4 minutes, 58 s. Each New Year, I look back on the year that went by to recall a few things I’m grateful for. Today, I look back at 2019 with gratitude for all that happened in my personal life—getting married to an awesome lady, going on some cool trips, and hitting some other personal goals—but I also can’t help but feel grateful for my work life.  More <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu4Yvq-g7_Y" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">than</a> <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/hyperfocus-comes-out-in-paperback-today/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">any</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Chris_Bailey/status/1123271040631746561" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">single</a> <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/becoming-better-episode-0-a-pitch-for-your-time-and-attention/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">milestone</a>, though, I’m grateful to have you with me, along for the ride. This is not hyperbole: every day I wake up, feeling like the luckiest guy in the world because I get to write and speak about how we can all become better people (and somehow make a living doing it). I have no idea how long this journey will last, but I’m so happy to have you along for the ride. And, more than that, I hope my work can continue to help you out for some time to come. So, corny as this may sound, this is just a small note to say that I’m grateful for you. I hope that, as this year draws to a close, you’re able to recount all that you’re grateful for as well. We live in a world that doesn’t stop; a world full of constant news updates, stress, and never-ending lists of things to do. But this new year, I hope you can pause for a second or two, take a deep breath, take a look around, and recount how many things you have to be grateful for.  After all, you deserve it! Happy New Year! The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/what-are-you-grateful-for-this-new-years/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">What are you grateful for this New Year’s?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

What are you grateful for this New Year’s?

Takeaway:There are countless ways you can lose weight, all backed by science, as Dr. Michael Greger covers in his new book How Not to Diet. A few that I’ve expanded upon below: eat way more fiber, consume foods that contain a lot of water (like vegetables and fruit), and consume most of your calories in the morning. Estimated Reading Time:8 minutes, 27s. Podcast Length24 minutes, 15s (link to play podcast at bottom of post).  How Not to Diet Let me get this out of the way: I am not a fan of weight loss books. I like to align my life with science as much as possible, and when it comes to books about what we should eat, there’s just so much bull$#!† out there. It can feel impossible to wade through it all.  Amidst the fray of bad advice, though, there is one author who writes about food that I trust: Dr. Michael Greger. Greger is the founder of Nutritionfacts.org, a nonprofit organization that pores through all of nutritional research published each year, in order to separate what works from what doesn’t. His previous book, How Not to Die (which I consider to be one of the greatest productivity books), covered what we should eat in order to minimize our odds of dying from the 10 leading causes of death. In his latest book, How Not to Diet, Dr. Greger turns his attention to the science of weight loss.  Here’s what separates Dr. Greger’s work from everything else:  He puts the science of food above all else. He’s terrific at wading through troves of often-conflicting research to find the most reliable, dependable studies. He has no agenda: he really, truly lets the science speak for itself, and donates every penny that he earns from his books, talks, and DVDs to charity.  In short, if you are interested in a book about weight loss, you should pick up How Not to Diet. It’s the only diet book you’ll ever need.   10 proven ways to cut body fat So how can you get rid of the excess fat that’s marbling your organs, muscles, and body? Here are just 10 of my favorite strategies—of the hundreds in the book—that have been shown to accelerate fat loss, which you can start doing right away. 1. Consume more fiber. Greger writes: “telling people to increase their intakes of fiber-rich foods may actually be one of the single most effective pieces of advice for weight loss.” A high-fiber diet leads your body to absorb fewer calories: increasing your daily consumption to the recommended daily minimum actually leads you to absorb 100 fewer calories a day, even when you eat the same amount. Another reliable study found that the eight types of gut bacteria that fight against weight gain all feed on fiber. A high-fiber diet also leads you to eat less in future meals, suppressing your appetite up to 10 hours after you eat it. Our bodies are designed to get 100+ grams of fiber a day, and only 3% of Americans consume the recommended daily minimum. Fiber is only found in plants (fiber supplements derived from these plants don’t work nearly as well). 2. Consume foods that contain the greatest amount of water. Curiously, we eat a fairly consistent weight of food on a daily basis (around 3 pounds), and how much food weighs depends most on how much water food contains. Water, of course, contains zero calories, and so the more water a piece of food contains, the fewer calories it has. Unfortunately, as Greger writes, “we appear to have an inborn drive to maximize calories per mouthful.” You burn fat by minimizing how many calories you consume per mouthful, because your body will stick to eating around 3 pounds of food a day. A couple of my favorite examples from the book of foods that contain a lot of water: “eating 240 calories of carrots could take you more than two and a half hours of constant chewing”, and “you’d have to eat a wheelbarrow full of cabbage before you’d ever need to begin worrying about overindulging.” Most unprocessed, whole plant foods—vegetables and fruits included—contain an unusually high amount of water, and fill us up more as a result. Cucumbers have so few calories you’d need to eat more than 150 cups of them a day to gain weight; kale has so few calories you’d need to eat 250 cups of the stuff. (Our stomach capacity is around 4 cups.) It’s worth noting that drinking water alongside meals doesn’t have the same effect as consuming food with the water trapped inside of it.  3. You can eat an unlimited amount, as long as you eat the right stuff. One study allowed participants to eat an unlimited amount of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans for just 21 days. In those 21 days, participants lost an average of 17 pounds (7.7 kilograms). The reason for this was simple: participants automatically ate foods higher in fiber and water, and we tend to eat the same weight of food each day. For these reasons, how much you eat doesn’t matter nearly as much as what you eat. You can eat as many whole-food, plant-based products as you want each day and still lose weight. 4. Steer clear of artificial, zero-calorie sweeteners, which actually trick your brain into eating more. Artificial sweeteners make certain foods taste sweet—and as a result, your body expects your blood sugar to spike after eating them. When your blood sugar doesn’t spike, your brain feels cheated, and consumes more calories later on in the day in order to compensate. Your body does this without your knowledge or permission. For this reason, artificially-sweetened products are in practice just as fattening as the same product with sugar added. 5. Give healthy foods time to taste good. The longer we eat healthfully—consuming food that’s grown, and not made—the better real food tastes. As Dr. Greger writes, “the food industry has so deadened our palates with hypersalty, hypersweet, hyperfatty foods. The ripest peach in the world may taste sour after a bowl of Froot Loops.” Give your palette a few weeks to adjust, and your waist line will thank you. Eating real food burns more fat, but doesn’t taste as good as ultraprocessed foods at first, while your palate adjusts. 6. Eating plant-based foods leads your body to burn more fat. Our body is built to burn unprocessed plant foods as fuel. According to one study, if you feed people the same number of calories, but “simply switch out meat and butterfat for olive oil, nuts, and avocados, you lose nearly six more pounds of fat in a single month.” Another study found that your “odds of obesity may increase by 18 percent for every 1 percent increase in calories from red meat, poultry, fish, or shellfish.” If you like meat in your diet, according to Greger you should consume wild game, which has less unhealthy animal fat. 7. There are foods that reliably suppress your appetite. Some examples from the book: vinegar (which also burns more fat—balsamic vinegar tastes great drizzled over a salad or with whole-wheat bread); ground flax seeds (throw some in your morning smoothie); cumin (especially black cumin powder); saffron (though it can be expensive); and water (especially when you consume a couple of cups before each meal). 8. There are foods that reliably lead you to burn more fat. Foods that lead us to burn calories are nutritious, yet contain very few (if any) calories. Some examples of fat-burning foods from the book: hot peppers (including red pepper powder and hot sauce); ginger (dried ginger works better than fresh, surprisingly—ginger tea is a great-tasting fat-burner);cinnamon (I love throwing some in the coffee maker, right on top of the ground beans); peppermint; and tea (each cup of tea burns around 25 calories, and contains none, assuming you don’t add milk or sugar! Green tea works best, though black coffee still leads you to burn around 17 extra calories per cup.) 9. Consume most of your calories in the morning. According to research, “morning calories don’t appear to count as much as evening calories.” In my interview with Dr. Greger (linked at the bottom of the post), he mentioned this was one of the most surprising findings he stumbled upon in writing the book. Our bodies metabolize medications differently depending on what time of day we take them—and food is the same way. As one study bluntly put it, “If you want to lose weight, eat more in the morning than in the evening.” We burn 50% more calories digesting a morning meal than we do an evening one—as Greger puts it, “our bodies just aren’t expecting us to be eating when it’s dark outside.” We even burn fewer calories when we sleep during the daytime. Because our body’s rhythms matter so much, Dr. Greger also recommends not eating past 7 p.m. if you wish to optimize fat loss: this has been shown to lead you to lose about one extra pound a week, and the best part is that you don’t have to make any other changes to when and how much you eat the rest of the day. 10. Focus on diet, not exercise—exercise is an ineffective way to burn body fat. One large study, which summarized the findings of 18 other studies that took place over a minimum of six months, found that those who dieted and exercised did not lose more weight than those who just invested in diet alone. Research suggests that we need to exercise at least 300 minutes a week in order to lose a noticeable amount of fat. The reason exercise is so ineffective is interesting: the more we exercise, the less we instinctively move the rest of the day, too. We burn most of our calories moving around throughout the day, and actually move less on days we work out. There is a saving grace to this, though: we burn far more calories when we work out before breakfast, when we haven’t eaten for a little while—around 90% more calories. As one study put it, “If exercise were a pill to burn body fat, it would be effective only when taken before breakfast.” — As How Not to Diet makes clear, the solution to fat loss is a simple one. The best, most reliable food research suggests that we should be eating real food that grows out of the ground. This means cutting out processed food, along with meat, eggs, and dairy, while maximizing how much fruit, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and herbs and spices we eat each day. The more plants you eat, the more weight you’ll lose. The post 10 proven strategies to burn more body fat appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Takeaway:There are countless ways you can lose weight, all backed by science, as Dr. Michael Greger covers in his new book <a href="https://amzn.to/2sqoNVI" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">How Not to Diet</a>. A few that I’ve expanded upon below: eat way more fiber, consume foods that contain a lot of water (like vegetables and fruit), and consume most of your calories in the morning. Estimated Reading Time:8 minutes, 27s. Podcast Length24 minutes, 15s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). <h1>How Not to Diet</h1> Let me get this out of the way: I am not a fan of weight loss books. I like to align my life with science as much as possible, and when it comes to books about what we should eat, there’s just so much bull$#!† out there. It can feel impossible to wade through it all.  Amidst the fray of bad advice, though, there is one author who writes about food that I trust: Dr. Michael Greger. Greger is the founder of <a href="http://nutritionfacts.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Nutritionfacts.org</a>, a nonprofit organization that pores through all of nutritional research published each year, in order to separate what works from what doesn’t. His previous book, <a href="https://amzn.to/2PkbMGh" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">How Not to Die</a> (which I consider to be <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/if-you-want-to-die-later-buy-this-book/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">one of the greatest productivity books</a>), covered what we should eat in order to minimize our odds of dying from the 10 leading causes of death. In his latest book, <a href="https://amzn.to/2sqoNVI" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">How Not to Diet</a>, Dr. Greger turns his attention to the science of weight loss. Here’s what separates Dr. Greger’s work from everything else: <ul> <li>He puts the science of food above all else.</li> <li>He’s terrific at wading through troves of often-conflicting research to find the most reliable, dependable studies.</li> <li>He has no agenda: he really, truly lets the science speak for itself, and donates every penny that he earns from his books, talks, and DVDs to charity.</li> </ul> In short, if you are interested in a book about weight loss, you should pick up <a href="https://amzn.to/2sqoNVI" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">How Not to Diet</a>. It’s the only diet book you’ll ever need. <h1>10 proven ways to cut body fat</h1> So how can you get rid of the excess fat that’s marbling your organs, muscles, and body? Here are just 10 of my favorite strategies—of the hundreds in the book—that have been shown to accelerate fat loss, which you can start doing right away. 1. Consume more fiber. Greger writes: “telling people to increase their intakes of fiber-rich foods may actually be one of the single most effective pieces of advice for weight loss.” A high-fiber diet leads your body to absorb fewer calories: increasing your daily consumption to the recommended daily minimum actually leads you to absorb 100 fewer calories a day, even when you eat the same amount. Another reliable study found that the eight types of gut bacteria that fight against weight gain all feed on fiber. A high-fiber diet also leads you to eat less in future meals, suppressing your appetite up to 10 hours after you eat it. Our bodies are designed to get 100+ grams of fiber a day, and only 3% of Americans consume the recommended daily minimum. Fiber is only found in plants (fiber supplements derived from these plants don’t work nearly as well). 2. Consume foods that contain the greatest amount of water. Curiously, we eat a fairly consistent weight of food on a daily basis (around 3 pounds), and how much food weighs depends most on how much water food contains. Water, of course, contains zero calories, and so the more water a piece of food contains, the fewer calories it has. Unfortunately, as Greger writes, “we appear to have an inborn drive to maximize calories per mouthful.” You burn fat by minimizing how many calories you consume per mouthful, because your body will stick to eating around 3 pounds of food a day. A couple of my favorite examples from the book of foods that contain a lot of water: “eating 240 calories of carrots could take you more than two and a half hours of constant chewing”, and “you’d have to eat a wheelbarrow full of cabbage before you’d ever need to begin worrying about overindulging.” Most unprocessed, whole plant foods—vegetables and fruits included—contain an unusually high amount of water, and fill us up more as a result. Cucumbers have so few calories you’d need to eat more than 150 cups of them a day to gain weight; kale has so few calories you’d need to eat 250 cups of the stuff. (Our stomach capacity is around 4 cups.) It’s worth noting that drinking water alongside meals doesn’t have the same effect as consuming food with the water trapped inside of it. 3. You can eat an unlimited amount, as long as you eat the right stuff. One study allowed participants to eat an unlimited amount of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans for just 21 days. In those 21 days, participants lost an average of 17 pounds (7.7 kilograms). The reason for this was simple: participants automatically ate foods higher in fiber and water, and we tend to eat the same weight of food each day. For these reasons, how much you eat doesn’t matter nearly as much as what you eat. You can eat as many whole-food, plant-based products as you want each day and still lose weight. 4. Steer clear of artificial, zero-calorie sweeteners, which actually trick your brain into eating more. Artificial sweeteners make certain foods taste sweet—and as a result, your body expects your blood sugar to spike after eating them. When your blood sugar doesn’t spike, your brain feels cheated, and consumes more calories later on in the day in order to compensate. Your body does this without your knowledge or permission. For this reason, artificially-sweetened products are in practice just as fattening as the same product with sugar added. 5. Give healthy foods time to taste good. The longer we eat healthfully—consuming food that’s grown, and not made—the better real food tastes. As Dr. Greger writes, “the food industry has so deadened our palates with hypersalty, hypersweet, hyperfatty foods. The ripest peach in the world may taste sour after a bowl of Froot Loops.” Give your palette a few weeks to adjust, and your waist line will thank you. Eating real food burns more fat, but doesn’t taste as good as ultraprocessed foods at first, while your palate adjusts. 6. Eating plant-based foods leads your body to burn more fat. Our body is built to burn unprocessed plant foods as fuel. According to one study, if you feed people the same number of calories, but “simply switch out meat and butterfat for olive oil, nuts, and avocados, you lose nearly six more pounds of fat in a single month.” Another study found that your “odds of obesity may increase by 18 percent for every 1 percent increase in calories from red meat, poultry, fish, or shellfish.” If you like meat in your diet, according to Greger you should consume wild game, which has less unhealthy animal fat. 7. There are foods that reliably suppress your appetite. Some examples from the book: vinegar (which also burns more fat—balsamic vinegar tastes great drizzled over a salad or with whole-wheat bread); ground flax seeds (throw some in your morning smoothie); cumin (especially black cumin powder); saffron (though it can be expensive); and water (especially when you consume a couple of cups before each meal). 8. There are foods that reliably lead you to burn more fat. Foods that lead us to burn calories are nutritious, yet contain very few (if any) calories. Some examples of fat-burning foods from the book: hot peppers (including red pepper powder and hot sauce); ginger (dried ginger works better than fresh, surprisingly—ginger tea is a great-tasting fat-burner); cinnamon (I love throwing some in the coffee maker, right on top of the ground beans); peppermint; and tea (each cup of tea burns around 25 calories, and contains none, assuming you don’t add milk or sugar! Green tea works best, though black coffee still leads you to burn around 17 extra calories per cup.) 9. Consume most of your calories in the morning. According to research, “morning calories don’t appear to count as much as evening calories.” In my interview with Dr. Greger (linked at the bottom of the post), he mentioned this was one of the most surprising findings he stumbled upon in writing the book. Our bodies metabolize medications differently depending on what time of day we take them—and food is the same way. As one study bluntly put it, “If you want to lose weight, eat more in the morning than in the evening.” We burn 50% more calories digesting a morning meal than we do an evening one—as Greger puts it, “our bodies just aren’t expecting us to be eating when it’s dark outside.” We even burn fewer calories when we sleep during the daytime. Because our body’s rhythms matter so much, Dr. Greger also recommends not eating past 7 p.m. if you wish to optimize fat loss: this has been shown to lead you to lose about one extra pound a week, and the best part is that you don’t have to make any other changes to when and how much you eat the rest of the day. 10. Focus on diet, not exercise—exercise is an ineffective way to burn body fat. One large study, which summarized the findings of 18 other studies that took place over a minimum of six months, found that those who dieted and exercised did not lose more weight than those who just invested in diet alone. Research suggests that we need to exercise at least 300 minutes a week in order to lose a noticeable amount of fat. The reason exercise is so ineffective is interesting: the more we exercise, the less we instinctively move the rest of the day, too. We burn most of our calories moving around throughout the day, and actually move less on days we work out. There is a saving grace to this, though: we burn far more calories when we work out before breakfast, when we haven’t eaten for a little while—around 90% more calories. As one study put it, “If exercise were a pill to burn body fat, it would be effective only when taken before breakfast.” — As <a href="https://amzn.to/2sqoNVI" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">How Not to Diet</a> makes clear, the solution to fat loss is a simple one. The best, most reliable food research suggests that we should be eating real food that grows out of the ground. This means cutting out processed food, along with meat, eggs, and dairy, while maximizing how much fruit, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and herbs and spices we eat each day. The more plants you eat, the more weight you’ll lose. The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/10-proven-strategies-to-burn-more-body-fat/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">10 proven strategies to burn more body fat</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

19: Losing Weight Through Science

Takeaway:When we have a bit of time to relax, we tend to spend time on activities that provide us with a quick dopamine hit. This is especially the case when we spend our downtime in the digital world. The key to relaxation is to invest in strategies that make your mind less stimulated. Usually this means spending more time in the analog world. Estimated Reading Time:2 minutes, 53s. Podcast Length23 minutes, 38s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). How to Relax For the past few months, I’ve been poring over quite a bit of research on the topic of relaxation. If there’s one thing that has become clear from this deep dive, it’s this: true relaxation is something that few of us achieve. I’d include myself in this group—up until recently, I’d been doing relaxation wrong. When many of us have some time to relax, we distract ourselves—turning our attention to social media, YouTube, Netflix, and other things in the digital world. In the moment, these things feel like a reprieve from the stressors of daily life. But the truth is that tending to them in our downtime may hurt more than help. There’s a reason for this: digital activities rarely lead us to relax. So what should we do to relax? The key is to do things that actually make your mind less stimulated. Each time we pay attention to something new and novel in our digital world, our brain rewards us with a hit of dopamine, a pleasure and reward chemical. We get a hit each time we refresh YouTube. We get another hit each time we check news websites like CNN and the New York Times. We get yet another hit when we refresh Instagram. This dopamine release feels good in the moment. But it can also lead our mind to become overstimulated when we turn to our digital devices too often. If you want to relax and recharge during your breaks, it’s essential that you try to settle your mind, by engaging with activities that don’t lead to a quick dopamine release. Digital distractions feel like a break, because they’re different from our work, but they don’t allow our mind to actually settle. Analog activities, on the other hand, do settle our mind. They stimulate us, without overstimulating us. This is not to say that your favorite websites and apps shouldn’t have a place in your life. But because they lead you to become overstimulated—especially when you’re already tired—they’re not great activities to engage in if your intention is to relax. The Two Types of Relaxation The best relaxation activities are found in the analog world; you should almost always avoid the digital world if your intention is to recharge. Depending on how you’re feeling, and how much energy you have, there are great ways to relax both actively and passively.  Active activities can include things like:  Going for a run; Attending a yoga class; Practicing an instrument; Hitting the gym, or playing a sport; Playing with your kids; Spending time on your favorite art—writing, painting, or writing poetry.  Passive tasks include things like:  Doing a guided meditation, or solo meditation; Reading; Doing a gentle yoga video (here’s my favorite yoga channel on YouTube); Listening to an audiobook with a cup of coffee—while putting your phone on airplane mode.  Most of these are analog activities—and as such, they don’t just lead to a quick dopamine release, which can lead you to feel even more stimulated and tired and fatigued. Activities like these are less novel than your work and digital life, and so they settle your mind as a result. A settled mind is a productive mind. The more relaxed your mind, the more recharged you feel, the greater mental clarity you have, and the more ideas and plans you generate.  The next time you want to relax, be sure to spend time on analog activities that don’t just lead to a quick dopamine release. You won’t just feel better—you’ll actually get a chance to recharge. The post The Key to Relaxation appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Takeaway:When we have a bit of time to relax, we tend to spend time on activities that provide us with a quick dopamine hit. This is especially the case when we spend our downtime in the digital world. The key to relaxation is to invest in strategies that make your mind less stimulated. Usually this means spending more time in the analog world. Estimated Reading Time:2 minutes, 53s. Podcast Length23 minutes, 38s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). <h2>How to Relax</h2> For the past few months, I’ve been poring over quite a bit of research on the topic of relaxation. If there’s one thing that has become clear from this deep dive, it’s this: true relaxation is something that few of us achieve. I’d include myself in this group—up until recently, I’d been doing relaxation wrong. When many of us have some time to relax, we distract ourselves—turning our attention to social media, YouTube, Netflix, and other things in the digital world. In the moment, these things feel like a reprieve from the stressors of daily life. But the truth is that tending to them in our downtime may hurt more than help. There’s a reason for this: digital activities rarely lead us to relax. So what should we do to relax? The key is to do things that actually make your mind less stimulated. Each time we pay attention to something new and novel in our <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-gain-control-over-your-digital-life-chris-bailey/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">digital world</a>, our brain rewards us with a hit of dopamine, a pleasure and reward chemical. We get a hit each time we refresh YouTube. We get another hit each time we check news websites like CNN and the New York Times. We get yet another hit when we refresh Instagram. This dopamine release feels good in the moment. But it can also lead our mind to become overstimulated when we turn to our digital devices too often. If you want to relax and recharge during your breaks, it’s essential that you try to settle your mind, by engaging with activities that don’t lead to a quick dopamine release. Digital distractions feel like a break, because they’re different from our work, but they don’t allow our mind to actually settle. Analog activities, on the other hand, do settle our mind. They stimulate us, without overstimulating us. This is not to say that your favorite websites and apps shouldn’t have a place in your life. But because they lead you to become overstimulated—especially when you’re already tired—they’re not great activities to engage in if your intention is to relax. <h2>The Two Types of Relaxation</h2> The best relaxation activities are found in the analog world; you should almost always avoid the digital world if your intention is to recharge. Depending on how you’re feeling, and how much energy you have, there are great ways to relax both actively and passively.  Active activities can include things like: <ul> <li>Going for a run;</li> <li>Attending a yoga class;</li> <li>Practicing an instrument;</li> <li>Hitting the gym, or playing a sport;</li> <li>Playing with your kids;</li> <li>Spending time on your favorite art—writing, painting, or writing poetry.</li> </ul> Passive tasks include things like: <ul> <li>Doing a guided meditation, or solo meditation;</li> <li>Reading;</li> <li>Doing a gentle yoga video (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here’s</a> my favorite yoga channel on YouTube);</li> <li>Listening to an audiobook with a cup of coffee—while putting your phone on airplane mode.</li> </ul> Most of these are analog activities—and as such, they don’t just lead to a quick dopamine release, which can lead you to feel even more stimulated and tired and fatigued. Activities like these are less novel than your work and digital life, and so they settle your mind as a result. A settled mind is a productive mind. The more relaxed your mind, the more recharged you feel, the greater mental clarity you have, and the more ideas and plans you generate.  The next time you want to relax, be sure to spend time on analog activities that don’t just lead to a quick dopamine release. You won’t just feel better—you’ll actually get a chance to recharge. The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/the-key-to-relaxation-how-to-relax/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Key to Relaxation</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

17: How to Relax

Takeaway:Three ways to hold yourself accountable for doing aversive tasks: get a deadline (however you can); fire up Focusmate; and get an accountability partner. Estimated Reading Time:2 minutes, 2s. Podcast Length16 minutes, 33s (link to play podcast at bottom of post).Research shows that the more unstructured a task is, the more likely you are to procrastinate on it. One of the best ways to combat this? Get other people to hold you accountable for getting your most aversive tasks and projects done. In this week’s episode of Becoming Better, Ardyn and I chat about our favorite strategies for doing this. It’s a bite-sized episode this week, but in case you don’t have the time or the inclination to listen, here are three simple accountability strategies we chatted about! 1. Get a deadline. You should be able to feel deadlines approaching. There are a lot of productivity tactics and hacks out there—but hardly anything will make you as focused or productive as a fast-approaching deadline. If you don’t have a deadline for an unstructured project, get one. If a project is so big that you can’t feel the deadline for it approaching, ask for deadlines for major milestones with the project. However you can, however you need to, get a deadline. Tell someone about your deadlines, for added accountability. 2. For instant accountability, fire up Focusmate. Or as an alternative, work alongside someone who’s as focused as you desire to be. I’ve written about Focusmate quite a bit lately, for good reason: it’s a way to instantly hold yourself accountable for working on something you’re stuck on. The website works by teaming you up—via live video—with someone who also wants to focus on work for a 50-minute block of time. It’s one of the best productivity websites out there, and it allows you to instantly enter into hyperfocus mode. 3. Find an accountability partner. At the start of each week, my wife emails me the three main things she wants to accomplish in her research that week. And then, at the end of the week, she follows up on that email to tell me how things went. It’s a simple ritual that takes her just a few minutes, and it’s all the motivation she needs to actually get those things done. Find an accountability partner who you can update on your work each week; send them your intentions and goals, and check in with them when the week is done to tell them how it went. With so many of us doing knowledge work for a living, our work is highly unstructured. These three simple tactics let you hold yourself accountable, and as a result, make you significantly more likely to get your work done.  The post 3 simple ways to make yourself more accountable appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Takeaway:Three ways to hold yourself accountable for doing aversive tasks: get a deadline (however you can); fire up <a href="http://focusmate.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Focusmate</a>; and get an accountability partner. Estimated Reading Time:2 minutes, 2s. Podcast Length16 minutes, 33s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/why-you-procrastinate-10-tactics-to-help-you-stop/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Research shows</a> that the more unstructured a task is, the more likely you are to procrastinate on it. One of the best ways to combat this? Get other people to hold you accountable for getting your most aversive tasks and projects done. In this week’s episode of <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/becomingbetter/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Becoming Better</a>, Ardyn and I chat about our favorite strategies for doing this. It’s a bite-sized episode this week, but in case you don’t have the time or the inclination to listen, here are three simple accountability strategies we chatted about! 1. Get a deadline. You should be able to feel deadlines approaching. There are a lot of productivity tactics and hacks out there—but hardly anything will make you as focused or productive as a fast-approaching deadline. If you don’t have a deadline for an unstructured project, get one. If a project is so big that you can’t feel the deadline for it approaching, ask for deadlines for major milestones with the project. However you can, however you need to, get a deadline. Tell someone about your deadlines, for added accountability. 2. For instant accountability, fire up <a href="http://focusmate.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Focusmate</a>. Or as an alternative, work alongside someone who’s as focused as you desire to be. I’ve written about Focusmate quite a bit lately, for good reason: it’s a way to instantly hold yourself accountable for working on something you’re stuck on. The website works by teaming you up—via live video—with someone who also wants to focus on work for a 50-minute block of time. It’s one of the best productivity websites out there, and it allows you to instantly enter into <a href="http://hyperfocusbook.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">hyperfocus mode</a>. 3. Find an accountability partner. At the start of each week, my wife emails me the <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/rule-of-three/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">three main things</a> she wants to accomplish in her research that week. And then, at the end of the week, she follows up on that email to tell me how things went. It’s a simple ritual that takes her just a few minutes, and it’s all the motivation she needs to actually get those things done. Find an accountability partner who you can update on your work each week; send them your intentions and goals, and check in with them when the week is done to tell them how it went. With so many of us doing knowledge work for a living, our work is highly unstructured. These three simple tactics let you hold yourself accountable, and as a result, make you significantly more likely to get your work done.  The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/simple-ways-to-make-yourself-accountable/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">3 simple ways to make yourself more accountable</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

10: How to Stay Accountable

Takeaway:There are things you can reflect on each day that will make you more resilient. It’s worth beginning each morning by reflecting on what you’re grateful for, what you intend to focus on, and what you want to let go of. Estimated Reading Time:1 minute, 37s. Podcast Length32 minutes, 31s (link to play podcast at bottom of post).I read Neil Pasricha’s latest book, You Are Awesome, in two sittings. I’ll cut right to the chase: this book is one of the best (and most vulnerable and entertaining) books on resiliency out there. If you’re looking to become more resilient, you should pick this one up. A thought became very clear once I began digging into the book: I absolutely had to interview Neil on the podcast. Luckily, he agreed. (You can listen to our conversation at the bottom of this post.) There are so many nuggets of insight from our conversation that I think you’ll find enjoyable, but one of my favorite ideas that we chatted about, which you can implement immediately, is about some questions we can ask ourselves each morning to boost how resilient we are. Neil suggests beginning each day with three reflections:  Today, I am grateful for _______. Today, I will focus on _______. Today, I will let go of _______.  Daily gratitude reminds us of how lucky we are. Choosing a focus lets us set a purposeful direction for the day. And choosing something to let go of allows us to remind ourselves that not all of our baggage is worth carrying. In our conversation, we also chat about the stories we tell ourselves, and how we can question whether or not they’re true. When you find that the dialogue in your head has gotten heated, and you’re not sure whether you should believe it, it’s worth asking yourself three questions:  Is this just a story I’m telling myself? Will this matter on my deathbed? Can I actually do something about this?  When it is just a story, if it won’t matter, and if you indeed can’t do anything about it, it’s not a story worth buying into. If I’m honest, resiliency is not something I’d thought a lot about, until I picked up this book. I’m sure that, should you decide to dig into this interview (and the book!) you’ll find the exact same. Enjoy! The post A daily reflection that will make you more resilient appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Takeaway:There are things you can reflect on each day that will make you more resilient. It’s worth beginning each morning by reflecting on what you’re grateful for, what you intend to focus on, and what you want to let go of. Estimated Reading Time:1 minute, 37s. Podcast Length32 minutes, 31s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). I read Neil Pasricha’s latest book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1982135883/?tag=aloproductivity-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">You Are Awesome</a>, in two sittings. I’ll cut right to the chase: this book is one of the best (and most vulnerable and entertaining) books on resiliency out there. If you’re looking to become more resilient, you should pick this one up. A thought became very clear once I began digging into the book: I absolutely had to interview Neil on the podcast. Luckily, he agreed. (You can listen to our conversation at the bottom of this post.) There are so many nuggets of insight from our conversation that I think you’ll find enjoyable, but one of my favorite ideas that we chatted about, which you can implement immediately, is about some questions we can ask ourselves each morning to boost how resilient we are. Neil suggests beginning each day with three reflections: <ul> <li>Today, I am grateful for _______.</li> <li>Today, I will focus on _______.</li> <li>Today, I will let go of _______.</li> </ul> Daily gratitude reminds us of how lucky we are. Choosing a focus lets us set a purposeful direction for the day. And choosing something to let go of allows us to remind ourselves that not all of our baggage is worth carrying. In our conversation, we also chat about the stories we tell ourselves, and how we can question whether or not they’re true. When you find that the dialogue in your head has gotten heated, and you’re not sure whether you should believe it, it’s worth asking yourself three questions: <ul> <li>Is this just a story I’m telling myself?</li> <li>Will this matter on my deathbed?</li> <li>Can I actually do something about this?</li> </ul> When it is just a story, if it won’t matter, and if you indeed can’t do anything about it, it’s not a story worth buying into. If I’m honest, resiliency is not something I’d thought a lot about, until I picked up <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1982135883/?tag=aloproductivity-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this book</a>. I’m sure that, should you decide to dig into this interview (and the book!) you’ll find the exact same. Enjoy! The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/daily-reflection-to-become-more-resilient/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A daily reflection that will make you more resilient</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

16: Becoming More Resilient

Takeaway:Over the next 13 weeks I plan on losing 20 pounds by doing three things: making myself more accountable, tracking my weight and food intake, and anticipating any weekly obstacles that might arise. Want to join me? Estimated Reading Time:2 minutes, 30s. Podcast Length25 minutes, 27s (link to play podcast at bottom of post).Between now and January 14th (the next 13 weeks), I plan on losing 20 pounds, going from 190lbs to 170 lbs. Of course, a 13-month weight loss challenge is anything but a long-term solution to eating better and living a healthier life. But I plan on experimenting with that idea, too. Lately, I’ve been slacking in the healthy eating department. Between work travel, writing deadlines, and personal events—including getting married and going and on a honeymoon—my food habits have slipped, and I’ve become a tad heavier than I’d like. Nothing crazy, just some extra weight that it’s now time to kick. It’s time to bring more awareness back to eating, and develop some healthy eating habits that stick. In this week’s episode of Becoming Better, my cohost/wife and I dig into this challenge (she’s planning on losing 10 pounds along with me).  My question for you is, want to join us? At the end of the episode, we put a call out, asking if anyone listening to the episode—and now, reading this post—is game to participate in this same challenge with us, to lose a specific amount of weight by January 14th. If you want to join, just shoot us off an email with how much weight you plan on losing by January 14th. Set a calendar reminder to follow up on that message when the 14th comes around, to let us know how it went! We’ll expect your response If you’re looking for some inspiration for what to do differently—beyond bringing some awareness to what you eat, and reconnecting with what constitutes a healthy diet, perhaps by reading my favorite food book How Not to Die—below are the three main strategies we’ll be using to keep ourselves motivated! 1. Accountability Accountability can help immensely in the formation of new habits. Here are a few ways we plan on becoming more accountable for the next 13 weeks:   By finding an accountability partner. I’m partnering with my friend David—who wants to shed a few pounds as well. I’ll also, of course, be partnering with Ardyn at the same time.  By tracking each other’s activity (through the Apple Watch Activity app). By developing joint rituals, like eating and working out together more often.    2. Tracking In addition to taking before and after pictures, we’ll be tracking our progress through daily weigh-ins on our smart scale, which allows us to see how our weight changes over time. I’ll also chat on a regular basis with my accountability partner (every week or two), so we can chat about how things are going, and whether we’re on track to meet our goals. In addition to recording weight, Ardyn and I (and my accountability partner David) will be recording everything we eat in MyFitnessPal, the popular food-tracking app, to curb overeating. 3. Anticipating Obstacles When you try to develop a new habit without first anticipating obstacles that might get in the way of the habit, you’re far more likely to fail. For this reason, I’m making it a weekly ritual to anticipate any obstacles to eating healthily every Sunday, when I also plan out my week. Obstacles are infinitely easier to deal with before they arise, rather than after. — If you have a few pounds to part ways with, I hope you’ll join us on the challenge! The post Want to join me in losing some weight? appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Takeaway:Over the next 13 weeks I plan on losing 20 pounds by doing three things: making myself more accountable, tracking my weight and food intake, and anticipating any weekly obstacles that might arise. Want to join me? Estimated Reading Time:2 minutes, 30s. Podcast Length25 minutes, 27s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). Between now and January 14th (the next 13 weeks), I plan on losing 20 pounds, going from 190lbs to 170 lbs. Of course, a 13-month weight loss challenge is anything but a long-term solution to eating better and living a healthier life. But I plan on experimenting with that idea, too. Lately, I’ve been slacking in the healthy eating department. Between work travel, writing deadlines, and personal events—including getting married and going and on a honeymoon—my food habits have slipped, and I’ve become a tad heavier than I’d like. Nothing crazy, just some extra weight that it’s now time to kick. It’s time to bring more awareness back to eating, and develop some healthy eating habits that stick. In this week’s episode of <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/becomingbetter/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Becoming Better</a>, my cohost/wife and I dig into this challenge (she’s planning on losing 10 pounds along with me).  My question for you is, want to join us? At the end of the episode, we put a call out, asking if anyone listening to the episode—and now, reading this post—is game to participate in this same challenge with us, to lose a specific amount of weight by January 14th. If you want to join, just <a href="mailto:chris@chrisbailey.com">shoot us off an email</a> with how much weight you plan on losing by January 14th. Set a calendar reminder to follow up on that message when the 14th comes around, to let us know how it went! We’ll expect your response If you’re looking for some inspiration for what to do differently—beyond bringing some awareness to what you eat, and reconnecting with what constitutes a healthy diet, perhaps by reading my favorite food book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1250066115/?tag=aloproductivity-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">How Not to Die</a>—below are the three main strategies we’ll be using to keep ourselves motivated! <h2>1. Accountability</h2> Accountability can help immensely in the formation of new habits. Here are a few ways we plan on becoming more accountable for the next 13 weeks:  <ul> <li>By finding an accountability partner. I’m partnering with my friend David—who wants to shed a few pounds as well. I’ll also, of course, be partnering with Ardyn at the same time. </li> <li>By tracking each other’s activity (through the Apple Watch Activity app).</li> <li>By developing joint rituals, like eating and working out together more often.</li> </ul> <h2>2. Tracking</h2> In addition to taking before and after pictures, we’ll be tracking our progress through daily weigh-ins on our <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B071XW4C5Q/?tag=aloproductivity-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">smart scale</a>, which allows us to see how our weight changes over time. I’ll also chat on a regular basis with my accountability partner (every week or two), so we can chat about how things are going, and whether we’re on track to meet our goals. In addition to recording weight, Ardyn and I (and my accountability partner David) will be recording everything we eat in <a href="https://www.myfitnesspal.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">MyFitnessPal</a>, the popular food-tracking app, to curb overeating. <h2>3. Anticipating Obstacles</h2> When you try to develop a new habit without first anticipating obstacles that might get in the way of the habit, you’re far more likely to fail. For this reason, I’m making it a weekly ritual to anticipate any obstacles to eating healthily every Sunday, when I also plan out my week. Obstacles are infinitely easier to deal with before they arise, rather than after. — If you have a few pounds to part ways with, I hope you’ll join us on the challenge! The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/want-to-join-me-in-losing-some-weight/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Want to join me in losing some weight?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

15: The Weight Loss Challenge

Calm

Takeaway:Henry Emmons’ book, The Chemistry of Calm, is a practical and tactical deep dive into what makes us anxious and what helps us find calm. In our interview, Henry talks about how flexibility and acceptance—with ourselves and with the world around us—can help us find calm in these stressful times. Estimated Reading Time:1 minute, 26s. Podcast Length 28 minutes, 45s (link to play podcast at the bottom of post). We’ve spent the last few episodes of the podcast talking about calm—and how it can seem so elusive right now. All it takes is a quick glance at the news or social media to feel the onslaught of panic and anxiety.  There’s not always an obvious way to set aside our restless feelings and attain a sense of calm, especially when many of our normal coping mechanisms are off the table. I wanted to get another take, and was joined on the podcast by an expert on the topic: Henry Emmons, a clinical psychiatrist and the author of The Chemistry of Calm.  I was curious about how Henry views the relationship between calm and anxiety, especially at a time when the world is collectively so far down the “anxiety” end of the spectrum.  Interestingly, Henry considers calm to be our natural state. At the same time, he acknowledges it’s absolutely normal to be experiencing some level of stress or anxiety right now. At its core, the coronavirus crisis is a survival threat, and being alert and on guard is what we’re biologically programmed to do.  We’ve spoken a lot on this podcast about the tactics you can take to find calm, including active relaxation, stepping away from the digital world and into the analog one, and creating a gratitude list. As Henry shared, flexibility is another trait he’s seen help people get through these recent lifestyle changes and attain a sense of calm. Flexibility and an openness to adapt can be a secret weapon against fear and anxiety—whether we’re dealing with a global pandemic or a stressful situation in the office. It’s what allows us to accept what is happening in the world around us, internalize and process that reality, and use it to guide life decisions.  This sense of flexibility doesn’t only apply to the external world—it also affects our inner mindset, too. It offers us the ability to treat ourselves with kindness and be flexible with the expectations we place on ourselves, especially in the context of our current crisis. This self-acceptance and kindness can help us push back against the expectation that we should be working at 100% productivity, capable of balancing homeschooling with team video calls, or baking the perfect loaf of sourdough bread.  Henry sees rigidity as the enemy of joy and calm. Being kind to ourselves doesn’t mean settling for mediocrity and stasis. Instead, it grounds us in a mindset where we accept where we are, what our current limitations may be, and how we can realistically move forward.  The Chemistry of Calm looks at how we can use a whole host of tactics to reduce anxiety. Here are a few of the other topics our conversation touched on:  Meditation as a universal self-care practice. While it takes a bit of work to get started, a meditation ritual can help us respond to stressful situations effectively and with a sense of calm.  See this time as a personal retreat. This pandemic is a break from life as usual and, for those of us who are fortunate to be able to do so, we can view this as a chance to slow down and reconnect with our loved ones and the world around us.  We’ve got a lot to learn from nature. All other plant and animal species take the time to rest, regroup, and rebound—the opposite of our productivity mindset. Slowing down can be a good thing.   A big thanks to Henry for joining me on the show. He shared so many more interesting tidbits, and they’re really useful in changing the way we think about calm and anxiety, especially at a time like this. Enjoy our conversation and take care of yourself! The post Flexibility as a Source of Inner Calm appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Takeaway:Henry Emmons’ book, The Chemistry of Calm, is a practical and tactical deep dive into what makes us anxious and what helps us find calm. In our interview, Henry talks about how flexibility and acceptance—with ourselves and with the world around us—can help us find calm in these stressful times. Estimated Reading Time:1 minute, 26s. Podcast Length 28 minutes, 45s (link to play podcast at the bottom of post). We’ve spent the last few episodes of the podcast <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/how-to-find-calm-right-away/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">talking about calm</a>—and how it can seem so elusive right now. All it takes is a quick glance at the news or social media to feel the onslaught of panic and anxiety.  There’s not always an obvious way to set aside our restless feelings and attain a sense of calm, especially when many of our normal coping mechanisms are off the table. I wanted to get another take, and was joined on the podcast by an expert on the topic: Henry Emmons, a clinical psychiatrist and the author of <a href="https://amzn.to/2W1uvd0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Chemistry of Calm</a>.  I was curious about how Henry views the relationship between calm and anxiety, especially at a time when the world is collectively so far down the “anxiety” end of the spectrum.  Interestingly, Henry considers calm to be our natural state. At the same time, he acknowledges it’s absolutely normal to be experiencing some level of stress or anxiety right now. At its core, the coronavirus crisis is a survival threat, and being alert and on guard is what we’re biologically programmed to do.  We’ve spoken a lot on this podcast about the <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/ways-to-invest-in-mental-health-during-self-isolation-coronavirus/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">tactics you can take to find calm</a>, including active relaxation, stepping away from the digital world and into the analog one, and creating a gratitude list. As Henry shared, flexibility is another trait he’s seen help people get through these recent lifestyle changes and attain a sense of calm. Flexibility and an openness to adapt can be a secret weapon against fear and anxiety—whether we’re dealing with a global pandemic or a stressful situation in the office. It’s what allows us to accept what is happening in the world around us, internalize and process that reality, and use it to guide life decisions.  This sense of flexibility doesn’t only apply to the external world—it also affects our inner mindset, too. It offers us the ability to treat ourselves with kindness and be flexible with the expectations we place on ourselves, especially in the context of our current crisis. This self-acceptance and kindness can help us push back against the expectation that we should be working at 100% productivity, capable of balancing homeschooling with team video calls, or baking the perfect loaf of sourdough bread.  Henry sees rigidity as the enemy of joy and calm. Being kind to ourselves doesn’t mean settling for mediocrity and stasis. Instead, it grounds us in a mindset where we accept where we are, what our current limitations may be, and how we can realistically move forward.  <a href="https://amzn.to/2W1uvd0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Chemistry of Calm</a> looks at how we can use a whole host of tactics to reduce anxiety. Here are a few of the other topics our conversation touched on: <ul> <li>Meditation as a universal self-care practice. While it <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/meditation-guide/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">takes a bit of work to get started</a>, a meditation ritual can help us respond to stressful situations effectively and with a sense of calm. </li> <li>See this time as a personal retreat. This pandemic is a break from life as usual and, for those of us who are fortunate to be able to do so, we can view this as a chance to slow down and reconnect with our loved ones and the world around us. </li> <li>We’ve got a lot to learn from nature. All other plant and animal species take the time to rest, regroup, and rebound—the opposite of our productivity mindset. Slowing down can be a good thing. </li> </ul> A big thanks to Henry for joining me on the show. He shared so many more interesting tidbits, and they’re really useful in changing the way we think about calm and anxiety, especially at a time like this. Enjoy our conversation and take care of yourself! The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/flexibility-as-a-source-of-inner-calm/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Flexibility as a Source of Inner Calm</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

28: Flexibility as a Source of Inner Calm

Takeaway:We procrastinate when a task is boring, frustrating, difficult, ambiguous, unstructured, or lacking in personal meaning or intrinsic rewards. By reversing these triggers—a few suggestions for how to do this are below—we can overpower our urge to procrastinate. Estimated Reading Time:1 minute, 41s. Podcast Length 23 minutes, 24s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). Procrastination is a fascinating topic—and just as fascinating is the science behind it. Research suggests that there are seven attributes a task can have that make us more likely to put it off. We’re far more likely to procrastinate when a task is:  Boring (e.g., doing our taxes); Frustrating (e.g., learning a complicated new skill); Difficult (e.g., solving a math proof); Ambiguous (e.g., training for a marathon); Unstructured (e.g., undertaking a home renovation project); Lacking in intrinsic rewards (e.g., not getting feedback while we’re writing a 50-page report); Not meaningful (e.g., cleaning up the home office).  The more of these attributes a task has, the more likely we are to put it off. On this week’s podcast, we dig into how to flip these triggers so we can use the science of procrastination to our advantage. There are countless ways to do this, depending on which attributes a task has. For example, we can:  Form a simple plan to make boring tasks more fun (e.g., buying an audiobook for doing mindless chores around the house); Set a time limit for frustrating tasks (e.g., making a game out of something we don’t want to do, by filing as many papers as we possibly can within 20 minutes); Work with someone on difficult tasks, so we have more support while doing them (e.g., hiring a virtual piano teacher, instead of learning via an app); Make a plan for ambiguous and unstructured tasks (e.g., taking 20 minutes to map out next steps for a home renovation project); Treat ourselves while doing unrewarding tasks (e.g., putting $1 in a frivolous spending account for every five minutes we spend on our taxes); Journal about tasks we find meaningless in order to connect with them on a deeper level (e.g., journaling about why cleaning our office will make us feel calm as we work).  Procrastination is a human phenomenon—everyone on the planet puts things off. The next time you notice yourself procrastinating on something, bring some awareness to what triggers the task is setting off, and form a simple plan to overcome them. You’ll get a lot more done as a result. The post The 7 Triggers of Procrastination appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Takeaway:We procrastinate when a task is boring, frustrating, difficult, ambiguous, unstructured, or lacking in personal meaning or intrinsic rewards. By reversing these triggers—a few suggestions for how to do this are below—we can overpower our urge to procrastinate. Estimated Reading Time:1 minute, 41s. Podcast Length 23 minutes, 24s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). Procrastination is a fascinating topic—and just as fascinating is the science behind it. <a href="https://amzn.to/2XRsUIn" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Research</a> suggests that there are seven attributes a task can have that make us more likely to put it off. We’re far more likely to procrastinate when a task is: <ol> <li>Boring (e.g., doing our taxes);</li> <li>Frustrating (e.g., learning a complicated new skill);</li> <li>Difficult (e.g., solving a math proof);</li> <li>Ambiguous (e.g., training for a marathon);</li> <li>Unstructured (e.g., undertaking a home renovation project);</li> <li>Lacking in intrinsic rewards (e.g., not getting feedback while we’re writing a 50-page report);</li> <li>Not meaningful (e.g., cleaning up the home office).</li> </ol> The more of these attributes a task has, the more likely we are to put it off. On this week’s podcast, we dig into how to flip these triggers so we can use the science of procrastination to our advantage. There are countless ways to do this, depending on which attributes a task has. For example, we can: <ul> <li>Form a simple plan to make boring tasks more fun (e.g., buying an audiobook for doing mindless chores around the house);</li> <li>Set a time limit for frustrating tasks (e.g., making a game out of something we don’t want to do, by filing as many papers as we possibly can within 20 minutes);</li> <li>Work with someone on difficult tasks, so we have more support while doing them (e.g., hiring a virtual piano teacher, instead of learning via an app);</li> <li>Make a plan for ambiguous and unstructured tasks (e.g., taking 20 minutes to map out next steps for a home renovation project);</li> <li>Treat ourselves while doing unrewarding tasks (e.g., putting $1 in a frivolous spending account for every five minutes we spend on our taxes);</li> <li>Journal about tasks we find meaningless in order to connect with them on a deeper level (e.g., journaling about why cleaning our office will make us feel calm as we work).</li> </ul> Procrastination is a human phenomenon—everyone on the planet puts things off. The next time you notice yourself procrastinating on something, bring some awareness to what triggers the task is setting off, and form a simple plan to overcome them. You’ll get a lot more done as a result. The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/what-triggers-procrastination/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The 7 Triggers of Procrastination</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

27: The 7 Triggers of Procrastination

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: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 <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/how-to-work-from-home-coronavirus/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">hard to be productive right now</a>. 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.  <ul> <li>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.</li> <li>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.</li> <li>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. <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/100-things-to-be-grateful-for/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Here are 100 suggestions</a>, for things to be grateful for, sent in by readers.</li> <li>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 <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/meditation-guide/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">everything you need to get started</a>. 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.</li> <li>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.</li> </ul> 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 <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/how-to-find-calm-right-away/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">5 ways to find calm right now</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

26: 5 Ways to Find Calm Right Now

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: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 (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here’s my favorite YouTube yoga channel</a>). 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 <a href="https://seths.blog/2020/02/wasting-it/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">written</a>, “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. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NPZZ1JW/?tag=aloproductivity-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Here’s</a> my happy light of choice, which Wirecutter <a href="https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-light-therapy-lamp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">recommends</a>. 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 <a href="https://hbr.org/2015/09/consuming-negative-news-can-make-you-less-effective-at-work" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">27% less likely</a> to rate themselves as happy at the end of the day. The information you consume each day <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/what-information-to-put-into-your-mind/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">matters</a>. 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 <a href="https://lauravanderkam.com/2020/03/life-updates-and-working-from-home-with-kids/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">write-up</a> 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 <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/rule-of-three/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Rule of 3</a> (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 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lo-fi+hip+hop&amp;sp=EgJAAQ%253D%253D" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">lo-fi hip hop</a>, 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. <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/how-to-track-your-time/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Track your time</a>. 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 <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/how-to-work-from-home-coronavirus/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">How to Work From Home (During a Difficult Time)</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

25: How to Work From Home (During a Difficult Time)

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.

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: <ol> <li>Make a list of every single activity you do in your job over the course of a given month.</li> <li>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 <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/work-on-most-consequential-thing/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">consequential</a>?</li> <li>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?</li> <li>Which is your third most important activity?</li> </ol> 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: <ul> <li>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, <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/4-types-of-distractions-that-derail-your-productivity/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">tame it.</a> 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.</li> <li>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 <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/rule-of-three/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">three daily intentions</a>.</li> <li>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.</li> </ul> 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 href="https://chrisbailey.com/how-to-discover-your-most-important-tasks/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A five-minute activity to discover your most important tasks</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

24: A Five-minute Activity to Discover Your Most Important Tasks

Takeaway:All of the information you consume—what you read, watch, and learn—can be divided into three categories: useful information, balanced information, and entertaining information. To think smarter, more clearly, and more intelligently, consume more valuable information—while throwing in some entertaining information, lest you turn yourself into an information-munching robot. Estimated Reading Time:3 minutes, 10s. Podcast Length28 minutes, 44s (link to play podcast at bottom of post).The quality and content of the information we consume matters. It influences pretty much every part of who we are, including:  what we think about,  how we think, what we pay attention to in the world around us, what we notice, the quality of our decisions,  how intelligently we work, the richness of our personal lives, how many ideas we come up with, how much we consider other people in our actions and decisions.  Generally speaking (as I write about in Hyperfocus), when it comes to what we consume, practicality does not always equal entertainment. To illustrate this, we can chop the above chart up into a few slices, which have varying levels of usefulness and entertainment value: Useful information is typically highly-useful, but not very entertaining. A few examples: books, journal articles, online courses, and academic conversations. Information in this category is actionable, accurate, and typically remains relevant for a long time. Balanced information is slightly less helpful, but more entertaining, so it’s easier to consume. A few examples: documentaries, TED talks, and popular psychology books. The final third—which contains both entertaining and trashy information—contains entertaining content that’s still a bit useful (and highly-entertaining), and also information that’s trashier, which we often consume in large doses. Some examples of information in these categories: many YouTube videos, some podcasts, romance novels, late night talk show clips, and our social media feeds. Every single thing you consume falls into one of these categories. Useful information is usually worth taking in when you have the most energy; balanced information is great for when you have a bit less energy (but still want to feel like you’re accomplishing something); entertaining information is fun for when you want to veg out. Trashy information is probably worth consuming less of—and plus, there are far better ways to recharge. So what can we do with this knowledge? On this week’s episode of Becoming Better, Ardyn and I dig into the sorts of things we consume each day—as well as the meaning and enjoyment it all brings. Knowing where on this chart you spend most of your time is critical—as is making an effort to take in more valuable information over time. There are countless ways you can do this. For example, you can:  Get things to bid for your attention. See the descriptions of audiobooks, podcasts, and TV shows as pitches for your time and attention. Are they worth the time you’ll put into them? Think of a few valuable things to add to what you consume. What’s a skill you haven’t developed in a while? What’s a topic you’ve always been curious about? Could you learn about it instead of scrolling through your social media feeds? Notice what you consume on autopilot mode, without thinking. This is usually when we consume the least valuable information. Consume what you care about, that few other people do. For example, I love reading journal articles about productivity. While this is admittedly a weird fascination, I find that it gives me an edge—few other people find these journal articles entertaining. As a general rule, it’s worth building upon knowledge and skills that you uniquely care about. Veg out intentionally. You’d become a robot if you only consumed useful information. To enjoy vegging out a bit more—like the next time you sit down to watch a bunch of episodes of your favorite Netflix show—do so intentionally. Plan out how many episodes of the show you’ll watch, what you’ll eat when you do, who you’ll invite over to watch, and so on. You won’t just have a better time, you’ll also feel less guilty about it.  As I write about in Hyperfocus, no two pieces of information are created equal. We perceive the world around us through the information we’ve consumed in the past—this is one of the myriad reasons why the state of our attention determines the state of our lives. The strategies above are all great ways to spend your time and attention better—all while increasing the quality of your attention. The post What to Put Into Your Mind appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Takeaway:All of the information you consume—what you read, watch, and learn—can be divided into three categories: useful information, balanced information, and entertaining information. To think smarter, more clearly, and more intelligently, consume more valuable information—while throwing in some entertaining information, lest you turn yourself into an information-munching robot. Estimated Reading Time:3 minutes, 10s. Podcast Length28 minutes, 44s (link to play podcast at bottom of post). The quality and content of the information we consume matters. It influences pretty much every part of who we are, including: <ul> <li>what we think about, </li> <li>how we think,</li> <li>what we pay attention to in the world around us,</li> <li>what we notice,</li> <li>the quality of our decisions, </li> <li>how intelligently we work,</li> <li>the richness of our personal lives,</li> <li>how many ideas we come up with,</li> <li>how much we consider other people in our actions and decisions.</li> </ul> Generally speaking (as I write about in <a href="http://hyperfocusbook.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hyperfocus</a>), when it comes to what we consume, practicality does not always equal entertainment. To illustrate this, we can chop the above chart up into a few slices, which have varying levels of usefulness and entertainment value: Useful information is typically highly-useful, but not very entertaining. A few examples: books, journal articles, online courses, and academic conversations. Information in this category is actionable, accurate, and typically remains relevant for a long time. Balanced information is slightly less helpful, but more entertaining, so it’s easier to consume. A few examples: documentaries, TED talks, and popular psychology books. The final third—which contains both entertaining and trashy information—contains entertaining content that’s still a bit useful (and highly-entertaining), and also information that’s trashier, which we often consume in large doses. Some examples of information in these categories: many YouTube videos, some podcasts, romance novels, late night talk show clips, and our social media feeds. Every single thing you consume falls into one of these categories. Useful information is usually worth taking in when you have the most energy; balanced information is great for when you have a bit less energy (but still want to feel like you’re accomplishing something); entertaining information is fun for when you want to veg out. Trashy information is probably worth consuming less of—and plus, there are <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/the-key-to-relaxation-how-to-relax/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">far better ways</a> to recharge. So what can we do with this knowledge? On this week’s episode of <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/becomingbetter/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Becoming Better</a>, Ardyn and I dig into the sorts of things we consume each day—as well as the meaning and enjoyment it all brings. Knowing where on this chart you spend most of your time is critical—as is making an effort to take in more valuable information over time. There are countless ways you can do this. For example, you can: <ul> <li>Get things to bid for your attention. See the descriptions of audiobooks, podcasts, and TV shows as pitches for your time and attention. Are they worth the time you’ll put into them?</li> <li>Think of a few valuable things to add to what you consume. What’s a skill you haven’t developed in a while? What’s a topic you’ve always been curious about? Could you learn about it instead of scrolling through your social media feeds?</li> <li>Notice what you consume on autopilot mode, without thinking. This is usually when we consume the least valuable information.</li> <li>Consume what you care about, that few other people do. For example, I love reading journal articles about productivity. While this is admittedly a weird fascination, I find that it gives me an edge—few other people find these journal articles entertaining. As a general rule, it’s worth building upon knowledge and skills that you uniquely care about.</li> <li>Veg out intentionally. You’d become a robot if you only consumed useful information. To <a href="https://www.vulture.com/article/how-binge-healthy-tv-movies-netflix-disney-plus-streaming.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">enjoy vegging out</a> a bit more—like the next time you sit down to watch a bunch of episodes of your favorite Netflix show—do so intentionally. Plan out how many episodes of the show you’ll watch, what you’ll eat when you do, who you’ll invite over to watch, and so on. You won’t just have a better time, you’ll also feel less guilty about it.</li> </ul> As I write about in <a href="http://hyperfocusbook.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hyperfocus</a>, no two pieces of information are created equal. We perceive the world around us through the information we’ve consumed in the past—this is one of the myriad reasons why the state of our attention determines the state of our lives. The strategies above are all great ways to spend your time and attention better—all while increasing the quality of your attention. The post <a href="https://chrisbailey.com/what-information-to-put-into-your-mind/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">What to Put Into Your Mind</a> appeared first on <a href="https://chrisbailey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Bailey</a>.

23: What to Put Into Your Mind

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