Category Archives: Discipline

Workflow

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If you’re like me, there are so many tasks that demand our attention.  As I get deeper into the business world and try to manage family, work, hobbies, and recreational activities I find it so easy to get overwhelmed.  A couple years ago I stumbled upon David Allen’s project called Getting Things Done, often abreviated GTD.  What a concept!  Get things done.  It doesn’t get much simpler than that.  Yet it’s extremely relevant because life is really about what you produce.  You can think, dream, plan all you want – believe me, I have!  But at the end of the day it’s ultimately about what you have done, what you have created.

As I wrote about last week, I am really against New Year’s Resolutions.  I see too many people pursue drastic lifestyle changes from fitness to nutrition to reading to you name it.  And it’s just not an effective way to facilitate changes.  At the same time, the new year is naturally a great time to reflect on the previous year and plan out some goals and changes for the next year.  This is a good thing, a natural thing, and I would argue one that successful people have mastered.

Do you have a concrete workflow?

Today I want to challenge you with this: do you have a workflow?  Do you have a set of routines, a list of tasks, or some plan that you follow on a fairly regular basis?  I guess I’ll let some people off the hook right now.  If you can get up, go to work, be less than inspired, come home and make some dinner after watching a few shows only to return to the tv after dinner, then this post isn’t for you.  But if you’re someone who wants to start a business on the side, start a non-profit organization, volunteer somewhere, serve at church, write a book, or change the world, then let’s keep this going.  That was a little rant, but let’s be clear: you were created to create.  I give you ultimate freedom to decide the scope of that creativity, but contribute something to this society – we need you.

So for me, I wear a lot of hats.  Here’s a quick overview of the projects on my plate:

  • I am developing this blog which will eventually lead to a small business
  • I have a rough (very rough) outline for a book which is very related to the business
  • I’m pursuing a masters degree in leadership and management (not really) from all the books and blogs I read
  • I’m pursing an actual masters degree in Kinesiology from UW
  • I tweet daily as I go through #EatThisBook
  • I’m collecting recipes for another book, a fun recipe e-book to come out this summer
  • Oh, and I have a family!

I do not (do. not.) say this as a form of bragging.  If anything it would be easy to argue that I’m spreading myself out too thin.  But this is my reality, and this is my attempt at being transparent (it worked).  Here’s my point: none of this gets done if I do not have an excellent workflow to manage these projects.  And in another attempt at transparency, I’ll admit that I currently do not have that workflow developed.  But I’m getting there.  Here’s the kicker: I know from experience that things will contantly demand my time, and I will be a slave to the fun and interesting things on Twitter, blogs and Facebook if I am not careful.  Instead I need to have a workflow that ensures I get done the work that’s most important.  Sometimes that changes per day, even per week.  But it should intuitively make sense that without a solid structure for the day, without a process and protocol for managing inputs that happen over our 18 waking hours of the day we cannot expect to be as productive as we should.

So I don’t have the answers, for you at least.  I have a great start for myself.  But I want to challenge you to reflect on your daily workflow and determine if some changes (yes, slight changes) could make your day more productive.

 

Finding my Voice

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I’ve been blogging for about five years now. It was back in 2006 that I started a Blogger account and said “hello” to the world. Back then it was a blog about adventure while I planned and executed my Game Plan. Starting a blog was a great way to find a voice and process my thoughts. I didn’t have many readers, but I still grew a lot and created a small community of followers.

Today my blog looks completely different. I’ve upgraded from the Blogger platform to WordPress. I’ve significantly improved my following and the quality of the content that I publish each week. But I’m still trying to find and establish my voice.
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Halftime Speech

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Summer is about half over.  Our warm weather months have reached the halfway point.  How are you feeling?  Is the summer as busy as usual?  Have you reached your workout and fitness goals?  You know I’m big on S.M.A.R.T. goals! It always seems that if you blink during the summer it’s over.  Well the good news is that we have three solid months of good weather, and if November treats us well it will be great conditions for a turkey trot.

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The Difference

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There’s a difference between saying you’re going to get healthier and actually getting healthier.  Which side are you on?

Do you have plans to start a walking or running routine?  Does P90X sound like a formidable challenge?  Are you going to go biking for 40+ miles this weekend?

Work in Progress? Or just talking about it?

Are you talking about what you’re going to do?  Or are you actually doing it?

If you’re really honest with yourself and you’re really just saying you’re going to do these things, then frankly you’re just a liar.  Call it what it is.  I’m no psychologist, but if you’re lying to yourself about that, where does it stop?

There’s a lot of people who don’t have to say, “I’m going to start that exercise routine next week.”  They’re already doing it!  “I’m going to go get that bike tuned up and go out for 30 miles this weekend.”  Their bike is already primed for the season, everything is ready to go.

Those that say they want to be fit and in shape but aren’t committing to any exercise program are only kidding themselves.  Believe me, they’re not kidding any of the rest of us.  Am I talking to you?  Or are you actually doing the work?

It comes down to an honesty issue: are you gong to lie to yourself or are you going to commit and move to action?  Are you willing to do the work and talk about what you’re doing or are you going to settle for talking about your plans for starting that workout next week?

Is your health a work in progress or are you just talking about it?

Finish

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Late last year I had this picture on my desktop.  I had hit a place in life where I was starting a bunch of things but many weren’t coming to fruition.  I wasn’t finishing.  The classic case is the books piled up on the night stand.  I love reading books – well, I like starting books and then I get bored so I start another books.

  • I had about 8 books I was reading.
  • I had 15-20 blog post ideas but hadn’t finished publishing them.
  • I was studying for two certifications.
  • I had numerous house projects unfinished.
  • I had numerous magazine and blog articles I hadn’t got to.

Many people have problems finishing.  I think a lot of it is our culture shifting to a mindset that we can have anything and everything at our fingertips, and that knowledge and power temps us to move on to the next “rush” or exciting new venture, leaving things unfinished.

I’ve tried a few things to compensate for my propensity to start without finishing.  One has been to keep a journal, a log of what I’m doing so that I can sit down at my desk and see what projects I have going on, how far I am, and what I can realistically take on.  I’ve had some success with this but I’m recruiting Katie to help me organize it a little more.  It has some leaks and her accountability will help.

Along those same lines, I’m trying to look to my athletic world for other strategies.  As a personal trainer, I’m constantly insisting to clients that they need to have a goal in mind.  That goals should usually be a competition which is on the calendar and you can see it every day you train.  THis give context to your training.  In the same way, my reading and writing log gives me context to what I’m doing and I can quickly see when I’m getting off track or when I’m not focusing on the 3-5 projects at the top of my list.

You can see the two strategies that I’m finding fundamental to this process: documenting and accountability.  If I’m trying to DO THE WORK and SHIP, meaning coming up with creative value to my resume and knowledge base, I need to document the process and have someone review my work to keep me motivated and on track.

What about you?  Do you struggle with finishing projects?  Does journaling or working with other people help you to those ends?  What other ways do you process how you get things done?

Patience in Training

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I’m up against a wall.  I had a good training program going this spring as Katie and I were getting ready for Madison Marathon on May 29th.  The miles were building on schedule and I went on the record to post some lofty goals.  I’m also running to raise money for World Vision.  Here’s where you can join that team!

But about three weeks ago I suffered a minor injury.  Working in the woods one day I slightly tweaked my ankle.  By slightly I mean I hardly noticed it.  But my ankles are very weak from too many basketball injuries.  When I got home that night I could tell it was more than I’d thought.  I couldn’t run on it.

So I’ve been patiently waiting for recovery.  Knowing the miles required for this race has made it difficult to stay off the ankle and wait.  I could go out tomorrow and run 13.1 but it would be slow and not enjoyable.  I need these miles to have a good race but the ankle was preventing that training.  Patience was essential.  Hurry up…. and wait.

Last week I got out for a couple short runs to test out the ankle.  Things went well, but I could still feel the ankle’s tendency to favor a certain motion.  Still, I knew I had recovered and I knew the limitations of my body.  I decided to join Katie for her 10-mile run on Saturday.  It went better than I expected for not having run for almost 20 days.  Then I’ve been out twice this week and I can already feel myself getting stronger.

It’s absolutely essential to listen to your body and be smart in your training.  It helps you grow more mature as an athlete and it makes the quality of your training better.  And true test of will and skill often arise in the face of adversity.

One of my goals this summer is to run the fastest half marathon I’ve ever run.  That won’t happen at the Madison Half Marathon, but I have a few more opportunities later this year.  Still, I’m running the race and asking team members to join me and donate to World Vision, a world-class organization.  Please consider joining my team.

Shipping Friday

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On Friday I’ll be shipping a new website for H&H Arborists.  It’s been a fairly big project because I’ve worked with two programmers and a photographer.  I’m acting more as an executive producer, but I’m ok with that.  I received the latest copy tonight and I’ve been working on our last round of adjustments for a couple hours.  I’m so excited to go live with this site.Shipping this Friday! You?

Shipping is important for small businesses and creative people.  I ship blog posts about twice a week.  I try to ship interesting things on Twitter (which posts to Facebook, to some people’s dismay).  But what I’ve realized is that successful people need to ship.  Shipping just means putting out quality product.  Some people think it should be perfect.  I think it should be a work in progress.  Of course you always want it to be excellent, but don’t wait for perfect.  Is anyone perfect?  You’ll find a laundry list of failures when you look closely at any “successful” company.

Shipping gets it out the door and into the hands of people to use it.  You can always make adjustments, right?  When Tom sent me this last draft tonight, I learned a ton about things I should have thought through.  So I’ll make some adjustments and ship on Friday as planned.  It will be a huge sense of accomplishment and the learning will continue as I mess with the site more and help it evolve.

Do you ship?  Do you create?  Blogging is a great way to ship.  Twitter is easy because you can grab other people’s important Tweets and retweet.  Do you have a book in you?  You could write the first chapter and I’d help you get it online for the world to see.

Think about what you have to offer and make a plan to ship by next Wednesday.  You thought I’d say Friday, didn’t you.  Ship Wednesday – because you can.

GTD: Moving From Hope to Trust

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Simply put, Getting Things Done has revolutionized my life.  Excuse the drama – but this book has made a huge difference in my life.  Now I don’t want you to think that now everything is perfect and this is the cure-all book that guarantees success.  That’s not what I’m saying.  What I’m saying is that for where I’m at in life, I manage an extremely busy schedule consisting of multiple projects (both personally and professionally), raising two small children, trying to always be a better husband, training for half marathons, and maybe sitting back with a beer and a good book once in awhile.

I’ve always struggled with productivity and even organization.  Still, I’m moving right towards it and I’ve identified “discipline” as a characteristic essential for my success.  I started reading David Allen’s classic management book Getting Things Done.  I also checked out the audio book from the library so I could listen to it now that sports radio is essentially useless until football returns in the fall.  I digress.

One of the most practical advances in my productivity has been the move from hope to trust.  GTD hinges in the following idea: for you to focus on your work, you need a trusted system to collect all your thoughts and projects, organize and prioritize this list, and consistently review this list to make sure you’re doing what needs to get done.  This idea was about three chapters in the book, so don’t worry if you don’t totally get it.  But the part that was always tripping me up was the bucket.  The bucket is where you collect all your ideas throughout the day.  It’s a big list.  I keep mine in Evernote.  My problems was that I was carrying multiple lists and storing them in multiple locations.  I know – it sounds crazy now that I think about it.  One point for humbly admitting my failures.

I had multiple lists in multiple places.  Things got lost OR things were so disorganized that there was no way I could plan my workflow appropriately.  But thanks to Allen’s system, I’ve created a system of my own.  Here’s the catch: I trust that everything is in the bucket or in my Weekly Review.  So I don’t have to duplicate anything.  And I don’t have to worry about “really remembering this task or that list” because it’s all in one place.  Allen calls this RAM, like a computer – constantly having thoughts and ideas stuck in your head.  Less RAM means more time to be productive.

I’m willing to bet you could find a few ways to improve your productivity and manage your stress level better if you read Getting Things Done.

Poking Thoughts Into Seth Godin’s New Book

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Seth Godin

Seth Godin’s new book is titled Poke The Box (Amazon affiliate link).  If you are at all interested in creativity and starting a business, Seth is your guy. It takes a little bit to figure out his style of writing. It’s not smooth, it’s not polished, but it’s effective. He has one of the most read blogs in the world – for a reason.

Why should you read Poke the Box? Because you want to start something. You have an idea, a business, a book, or a blog and you want to create. Not everyone may have this, but you do. “But will anyone care? Will anyone read it?” Doesn’t matter. Go. Do. Ship.

In the business world you want to ship. Create a product, offer a service, and ship it. Send it out. make it go viral. Ship. “But it’s not ready yet… I need a few more weeks to get it finished.” Ship.

One of my biggest goals last year was to start this blog. I had a blog going over on Blogger but I wanted my own self-hosted WordPress blog like so many of the men and women I admire online. But it wasn’t ready. It didn’t look finished, the content wasn’t complete and I couldn’t stand putting a project out there that I wasn’t fully proud of or wasn’t fully complete. Then I realized it would never be exactly where I wanted it to be – it needed to get published, it needed to ship. I launched the next week.

Go buy it - I loved it on Kindle App for iPad

You see failure isn’t an option. “It isn’t an option” a.k.a. “it’s going to happen.” Failure is essential for success. If you haven’t failed, you haven’t been taking many chances, and chances are your product isn’t very good. Check that – it probably *is* good, and that’s the problem. You’re looking for extraordinary.

I go on this “failure” rant because it’s one of my favorite part of Seth’s book.  Do you know how many times Joe Torry got fired?  Fired!?! He failed at his job and they fired him! Three times.  Have you ever been fired?  He was fired three times.  Oh, and now he’s one of the most successful managers in Major League Baseball.

I’ve written about failure before.  I’ll continue to fail and I won’t like it but i know it’s essential for success. Poke the box is about poking the box and taking initiative. Create something. Then ship it. You may fail, you should fail. But you’ll be on the cutting edge and if you really care, you’ll make your adjustments and ship again.

Go buy Poke the Box.

Book Review: Creating Your Personal Life Plan by Michael Hyatt

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This week one of my favorite voices on the internet, Michael Hyatt, came out with an e-book entitled “Creating Your Personal Life Plan.”  The premise of the books is that if you don’t plan your life and take initiative, you will end up somewhere you don’t want to be.  For Michael that was burning out and breaking down, professionally and personally.

I’m not a fast reader, and I read this book in one night.  It’s a collection of blog posts that he wrote over the last few years.  He’s polished them up and blended them into a very practical game plan.  Hyatt organizes the book into three sections – outcomes, priorities, and action plans.  Some of his thoughts are based off of David Allen’s Getting Things Done which I wrote about earlier.  I also see a big influence from Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

For me the book was a good reminder that I need to start with the end: how do I want people to remember me?  What do I want to accomplish at the end of my life and career?  Then I need to carefully process next action steps towards those goals.  The book is a perfect length for this type of reflective activity.  You can read the book in one or two nights, but that’s where the whole process simply begins.  The real soul of the process comes in the planning part of “Creating your Personal Life Plan.”  What you need to do is take these tools, these ideas, and reflect on where you want to go, who you want to be, what you want to do.  And he gives you the tools.  He’s included simple Word and Excel files for you to use as you brainstorm and plan this activity.

Do you feel like you’re in control of your destination?  Is life pushing you around?  Could this book be worth one evening of reading?  Oh, did I mention it’s free?!??

Check out Michael Hyatt’s free e-book and invest a couple days in yourself.  You’re worth it.