Category: Personal Productivity

I found the Resistance concept (yes, Resistance with capital R) the first time on the book TheWar of Art of Steve Pressfield and I have been fascinated by it for the longest time.
Also for the longest time, Resistance has been getting a lot of times the best of me. I am a Writer. Yes, I do a lot more things that just write. I am a Business Development Professional and a Best Selling Author that enjoys Connecting Invisible Dots for People and Organizations. That’s a long title, but it is what I do.
I wish to tell you that I battle with Resistance only on my writings, but the reality is that I battle against resistance in everything I do. Resistance is Self-Sabotage at his best.
Resistance has had the best of this blog. Resistance has had the best of my next book. Resistance has had the best of me many times.
The Good news is that you can try again and by trying again you may have a chance to beat Resistance at least today.
Today I beat you! See you tomorrow.

I found the Resistance concept (yes, Resistance with capital R) the first time on the book TheWar of Art of Steve Pressfield and I have been fascinated by it for the longest time.
Also for the longest time, Resistance has been getting a lot of times the best of me. I am a Writer. Yes, I do a lot more things that just write. I am a Business Development Professional and a Best Selling Author that enjoys Connecting Invisible Dots for People and Organizations. That’s a long title, but it is what I do.
I wish to tell you that I battle with Resistance only on my writings, but the reality is that I battle against resistance in everything I do. Resistance is Self-Sabotage at his best.
Resistance has had the best of this blog. Resistance has had the best of my next book. Resistance has had the best of me many times.
The Good news is that you can try again and by trying again you may have a chance to beat Resistance at least today.
Today I beat you! See you tomorrow.

Productivity per se don’t need to be something really complex, and actually it is not, a soon as things begin feeling complex you are most likely already not-productive. Of Course, Productivity isn’t easy either, and it isn’t mostly because we insist in make things more complex than they need to be.
Take your list of projects and tasks. How easy is for you to know what you need to do? How about what you can to do in the current context? How about what you can do now that the meeting is cancelled and you have an extra two hours of working time?
It is not difficult, but need two things, Thinking Time and Planning Time.
You need thinking time because you need not only to find what it is what you really need to do, because you are most likely like every one around you, overwhelmed. That means that every step you take need to be a precise one if you want to really take control over the stuff you need and want to do. The busier you are, the more thinking time you need, because you need to make sure that the step you will take it is really the best possible step.
You also need Planning time. You will ask: How is Planning Time different from Thinking time? Planning time has two parts, one is the result of that thinking, and are those actions that you will take to move those important projects forward. It also has a second part that includes taking in consideration the things that can happen, the things that will change from your original planning and how are you going to reach to them.
For example, if you get behind, do you know what are you going to drop out of your planning schedule? If you get a meeting cancelled, do you know what you are going to do in that time?
Planning Time will include not only what you will be trying and hoping that you will accomplished but also what will happen as time pass if you get more or less of it.
Most people when they got a meeting cancelled instead of use that time to move forward their most important project, they run to Twitter or Facebook. If you don’t plan for the chance that somethings get cancelled (and others take longer than expected) you can’t be in the top of your game…
You need not only Thinking Time, that for many of the people I work with is almost non-existent, but you also need Planning Time, to be able to really get the most out of your Thinking Time. Planning Time it is no other thing that getting your Thinking Time in movement, is making sure that you are putting your thinking time in action and adapting the result of that thinking time to the constantly evolving conditions that your working environment and schedule produce.
If you don’t pay attention to the Planning Time because you don’t even have time to do the Thinking Time, what happen is you miss those opportunities that will have done a difference, those opportunities that can actually change the world.
 
 
Originally Published on: Sep 29, 2014 @ 17:15 http://www.conqueringproductivity.com/?p=205

The short answer is yes. It is possible to be #iPhone6+Only as much as it was possible to be #iPhoneOnly for a while. We had not been the first people to go #iPadOnly and to do things with the iPad or the iPhone as the Main Machine.
In 2012 Patrick Rhone wrote his book ”Enough” just using his iPhone and the iPad. Patrick had constantly mention that he works on his iPhone constantly, even more than what he sometimes uses his iPad.
The reality is that for many people their iPhones are their main machine – they just don’t know it, but it is the computer they use most often – and as their main machine the new big screen on the iPhone 6+ will allow you to do even more, more comfortable.
In my initial play with the iPhone 6+ I really got fascinated. The size makes the typing on the iPhone even better. I can’t type (at any decent speed) on Portrait Mode on my iPad (even that Portrait is my favorite position if I am using a keyboard) what creates that if I am not going to be off a table and it is something short, I will pick the iPhone over the iPad.
Based on the initial tests, with this screen I will be even able to read better and write faster, that are two things that really I am interested in. I think the device will play an important role in my arsenal of technology when arrives. I understand that in my ear looks really big, but I rarely pick the phone, I usually use the headset, so that part doesn’t bother me at all.
Since the iPad came into the market we have read about this or that device that it is going to kill the iPad, that it is going to make the iPad obsolete, but so far no one had accomplish that mission. I think that for the first time such device exist for all those users that need to use a Laptop in addition to their phone, there is really no need to use the iPad. For everything else you will use the computer (and if you have a Mac you will use continuity that based on my beta tests is amazing!). If you are now #iPadOnly the story may play differently.
I think that for many the iPhone 6+ it is going to be the device that will kill the iPad, for many this is the first device that will create that addiction that the Blackberry created many years ago. The device is amazing.

The question is if It is possible to be #iPhone6+Only?

There are people that will be able to do it, without any issues. I particularly don’t see myself going that route, but without a doubt I see myself carrying the iPad much less in favor of the iPhone 6+, specially when it is a short trip in the city.

Forget about that all nighter you are considering right now.
Even better, forget that it is a great idea.
Even better, forget about how much are you going to be able to catch up, and go to sleep.

I use to play the all nighter card, multiple times a week in the past, I don’t know it was the fact that I was younger or that I required less horse power the day after, but I was convinced that I was not only able to do that, but to be productive the next day.
With age, not only I am not productive the next day, sometimes take me days of recovery for a night of poor performance. There is nothing wrong with the days of recovery if you have an amazing performance, the problems comes when the performance is mediocre at best. We convince ourselves about how much we will be able to accomplish, and sometimes we actually do, but most times we just waste time, procrastinate and just loose our sleep.
I wish to say that even today it is an automatic behavior, it is not. I have been waking up at 4:00AM for a long time, even wrote a book about it (Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble) and had learn that those hours in the morning are maybe my most productive of the whole day, but in days that the level of satisfaction is low, I try to negociate with myself about staying up, one more hour.
I sometimes considered, even many times stay a little more late than what I should, but under really defined conditions. If I begin to browse, I go to bed. If I begin thinking on reading or watching TV, I go to bed. If I start daydreaming -as a form of procrastination-, I go to bed.
The cost of staying all night is way to high, I pay for it in the next days for sure. It is not that you stay later, it is that you understand those things you do that are not productive. Reading a chapter of a book to find inspiration to write, it is not OK, I sent myself to bed and rest.
Make sure that if you are going to make an investment in time -you will be sacrificing the next couple of days of productivity most likely and that it is a big investment- you get out of it the most value, otherwise, you do better going to sleep and waking up an hour earlier.

One of the biggest problems when we lost momentum is get it back, because even when we know it is not going to be the same, we insist on recover it. We want to recover the momentum that we lost and many times, as we discover is impossible, so we stop doing that thing.
Write daily on a blog is hard, write daily on a book is even harder. Write a blog and a book at the same time it is a complex work.
Sometimes the best thing we can do with those projects we love, is giving them space, discover if it is just a habit – even a bad one- or if that love we feel is in a certain way real.
That is in a certainly the story of this blog, it was necessary for me to let it go, even that I was hoping that it will came back and hoping to have again the opportunity to sit in here daily also. I knew that some will never read this message, but also knew it was important that those discover if they stop here because of a habit or something more.
This is not an apology, is simply a moment of reflection that you can even bring to your own life, it took me six months to understand that write this blog is something more than a habit. Took me six months to change from the habit to the need. Took me six months of missing it daily because I knew the momentum and the motivation was lost, but I also knew that I wasn’t looking to recover them, if I was going to return, I want it to return for something differnet…
The risk of lose momentum isn’t only try to recover it, even more dangerous is not try to find something new, something that with a little luck it is going to be more powerful.

Failure it is part of life. Failure in a certain way it is even good, at least it is good if you can learn from it and move on. When we had our kid early this year I was sure that with enough methodology and organization I was going to be able to maintain the business, write more books and be as productive as I was back then. I tried. I really did. I failed. A massive failure.
As much as I love to have my son and daughter around, I miss some working time, quiet time, loud music time. I miss be able to work for longer than an hour without interruptions. I miss have mental space. It is because of that that I choose to send my son to a small daycare at the same time that my daughter is at school so I can give me some space to work and accomplish the stuff I am working on, that it is simply getting behind by the hour.
Sometimes we forget that we are humans. That there is only so much we can do. That Focus time is so important. It is not a matter of more hours working, it is a matter of work the right amount of them with the ability to focus and concentration.
Even that I failed, I am glad I try it, I am glad I discover once more, that I have limits, because it is this kind of information what allow me to be even more productive.