Productivity Voice

Steve Jobs was famous for taking long walks. I had been famous for avoid them.
I need to remind me to walk, to leave iPhone behind, music behind and just walk for a little bit. Every time I do it, its magical, you can re-focus, concentrate, get ideas, see things that in the middle of the mess you are living you are not seeing.
When was the last time you disconnect and just walk for a little bit. I have a recurring item on my system that remind me of this. My agreement is to do it once a week, at least ten minutes.

I know, this is crazy. If you can create the most important rule, why are you reading so many books, blogs and even any more tips on this site?
The reality is that more than ten years ago when I begin using tricks to be more productive, the most important and significant where all those tricks that I create and put in place.
Doesn’t matter how you do it, what you do, when you do. Doesn’t even matter if that productivity rule is not that productive. The important is that works for you and make you more productive.
i.e. I think it was around 2004 when I decided that I wasn’t going to skip lunch anymore. If you need to meet with me at lunch time, you need to invite me for lunch. The first time I told my boss that I do not have meetings at my lunch time unless he paid for lunch, he look at me like I was insane. The first time was hard, as where the ones after that. I don’t have that problem anymore, if you want to meet with me at my lunch time, you need to provide me with lunch, otherwise, begin the meeting before (and make sure is done by lunch time, otherwise, I will leave the meeting) or after lunch. This is one of those really important rules, that I create and without a doubt had make me more productive.

Each kid should get weekly time in which you will stop and focus your attention to play with them. It’s fine if you also do all kids play time, but you should have some time that it is play one on one with each of your kids.
As you may enjoy or not play with My Little Pony or Lego (Love the second one, not so much the first one) it is that little time what later on will transform in significant time to discuss more important things.
That half an hour or an hour a week will transform your life, get to know your kid in a way that seems impossible, but more importantly will reinforce in your kid that they are important and that you have always quality time to spend with them, even when you are busy and the time is limited.
During the adolescence years, you will be grateful.
i.e. You can even let them pick the activity, it can be a movie, it can be go outside, it can be ride the bike. Simply make sure it is focus time and it is about your kid.

My new book: 4:00 A.M A Productivity Argument is out on the market today.
You can download a free Kindle version from March 6 to March 10. (if you don’t have a Kindle check at the bottom of this post)

About the book:
As you will discover in these pages that I begin testing the idea of waking up at 4:00 A.M. out of desperation and frustration, I never expect to find two full hours of focus and concentration.
In my experience (guess what I used to do too) this is what people do:
Wake up Running, Run to Work, Run at Work, Run to Home, Deal with Family Routines, Hope Family goes to bed, Work on your most important stuff.” 
We have done it for generations, and it is wrong. We should:
“Work on your most important stuff so we don’t need to run to work, at work, to home and instead of dealing with family, enjoying family” 
When you think about it makes sense to do your most important stuff first, but for some reason we do it last. To accomplish that, you need to switch your pattern, I did it, and the experience was fantastic.
Think about the following: When was the last time you got two hours of Focus Work?
(My answer is this morning, at 4:00 A.M.)
*If you don’t have a Kindle, Amazon had a free Kindle Application for almost any platform. Follow the link

I had mention this so much, that I sometimes think I am annoying about it. I have wrote posts about this, I mentioned on my book 25 Tips for Productivity. I had mention this in podcasts and interviews and to anyone that had been around me long enough.
Studies said that we type more than 50,000 words on a year. (I am not talking writers, I am talking people that simply email and chat and do Facebook), that means that if you are an average person that type 20 words per minute (go and test yourself, there are plenty of free places to get tested and to learn how to type) you spend almost 42 hours typing a year. Imagine for a moment that you work hard and learn to type 60 words per minute. (Trust me, it is not that fast and not hard at all) Now you will be doing that same typing in less than fourteen hours. Guess what you just gain 28 hours for the next year (2.33 hours a month. What cool activity are you going to do there)
i.e. I get ask why I mention this so much, and the reason is simple. When I went from 20 to 40 words per minute was incredible. From 40 to 80 words per minute was something magical. Now that I write over 100 words per minute, I can write in the little amount of free time that I get much more than what I dreamed possible when I was simply typing with two fingers.

I am not saying do the shopping list before you get to the groceries. I am saying had one that you can check. That contain the items you are constantly buying, so before you leave to do groceries, you can check.
Nothing worse that come back from the store and discover that you forgot to get beans or toilet paper and then you need to do a second trip. It is not only extremely frustrating but honestly, most of us don’t have that amount of time to waste. This is not a list to bring to the groceries, this is a list to make sure, you are not going to forget anything before you get to the store.
Toilet Paper, Klennex, Kids Juice Box, Kids Milk Box, Milk, Eggs, Vitamins…
I have a list that include the Veggies, Babies Stuff, Cleaning Supplies, Food in General, Freezer Stuff, Bathroom Stuff, Pets…
Once a week, I open this list and walk around the house to make sure I will not need anything that it is on that list in the next week of two. Then simply add it to the shopping list.
i.e. I used to be the person that for a couple of mornings, every once in a while curse the fact that my deodorant was almost gone and I need it to stop on the store. I know I always one extra. When I am doing this review, if the extra is not in the closet, I add it to the grocery list, but the trigger many times is this checklist.

If you are married, how many times you had made a promise (or an agreement) with your significant other and had simply forgot.
You are not ignoring the commitment, honestly you have no recollection you made it. Even if I remind you, you remember it differently.
It’s all fine, except that are those little things what deteriorate relationships at the end of the day, she remembers one way, you said it was in another. You remember one thing, she said it wasn’t like that.
The solution is simple, write it down. You can’t make the other write it down and remember it how it was, but at least you can do your part. Write in detail the agreement and the promise. You will be able to come back to that list and remind yourself, not only the agreement, but the reason you did it. Think on this like writing a note to your future self, that will have no clue about this day.
i.e. Years ago, my wife got offered a job ninety seven miles away from our current home. We talk, and decided that it was going to be a good thing for her to take the job. As part of that agreement I was going to drive over one hundred and ninety miles each day. It’s easy to say, exhausting to drive. The only reason I did it for more than two years, was the note that remind me Why I decided to do that. I drove more than one hundred thousand miles, and every time I got tired of frustrated, I open the list, read the agreement, and the why: “You are doing this, because one of my goals in life is making my wife happy.” and so I drove that morning or that afternoon.

You get to the weekend so tired, that your only option is eat outside, fast food and poor options. I understand, you work fifty to sixty hours. Sleep little. You are exhausted. You have no energy to think or to cook.
Create a Weekend lazy Eating List. This contain a couple of things, one is places you can go an eat that are healthier than a fast food place. Second are recipes that you like that require zero energy to make.
The problem is, that while you are on that weekend mode, exhausted, depleted you can’t think on any of this options, so you go and grab the fast food and the bad call.
In our list for example is Chili, PB&J, Pasta with Meat Sauce, Lasagna that we freeze in advance, frozen taquitos. We also have a short list of places where we can go and make a better decision than the greasy burger and the pizza.
i.e. I love Pizza it’s one of my favorite things, but I am aware that a weekend full of trash food will never help me to begin a better week on Monday. Again while you are there is not the time to think how to get out, it is the time to recover, the planning need to happen in advance. Have those easy meals list (you will not think on the frozen taquitos even if see the box on the fridge, if you are that tired) or those places that you can go and make a better call.