Have you ever had one of those days where no matter how you tried you were just very unproductive? I seem to be having one of those today. It is frustrating. Normally I aim to have this blog post written and published by 10am. And am working on getting it done earlier still. Today, I’m starting to write it at 1145.
So far this morning I have done nothing of any real substance other than the bulk of my morning routine. Except that I got sidetracked before finishing the blog post part of it.
The sad fact is that no matter how hard you try there are always copious distractions. I touched on this in my post about interruptions. It still staggers me that after an interruption it takes us 24 minutes before we start focusing again.
Today I want to talk about an idea I have that I hope will get me back on track. So I thought I would share it with you. Perhaps it might give you some ideas too.
Recently, I was listening to a podcast. It was with an entrepreneur called Maneesh Sethi. He has developed a product called Pavlok. This is a wearable that gives you electric shocks when you don’t do the things you should.
As an aside, electric shock therapy is the most effective method of stopping smoking. A few decades ago this was in common practice. It had a success rate of over 50%, compared to just 8% for Nicorette. Had I known I might have tried it when I first started attempting to stop smoking. Fortunately I have finally stopped!
Anyway, I’m not prepared to give myself electric shocks to help me change my behaviour. It did though give me the idea that I need to try and develop some kind of a trigger to help me get back on track.
Last year I went to a conference run by a guy called Mario Brown. One of the things he did was to give us all one of those rubber wrist bracelets. I can’t remember the exact phrase that was on this. I think it was “Massive Imperfect Action”. The idea though was that you could flick it against your wrist and it would inspire you.
Last night on my run I listened to a Tim Ferriss podcast. In this he mentioned the idea of wearing a rubber band on your wrist. You could then use this to help you stop complaining. His suggestion was that you go on a 3 week campaign of not complaining. Every time you find yourself complaining you flick the band against your wrist.
So it struck me that this could be a great idea to help get me back on track when things are not going the way they should be. It is all very well having plans and goals. But if you aren’t taking any action they are completely meaningless.
Probably the standout book I have read this year is Straight-Line Leadership: Tools for Living with Velocity and Power in Turbulent Times
. The core premise being to stop going round in circles in your life and business. Instead find the straight line from A to B. This makes complete sense, it may not always prove as easy as it sounds.
One of the many things I wrote down from the book was this:
At least fifty times a day ask yourself if you are doing the necessary required action for what you are up to in life
So I am going to try a band round my wrist. I might even get some made up, so if you want one leave a comment. It will say something along the lines of “Take the Required Action”. If you have a better idea let me know.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments on how you get yourself back on track again.
Time written: 19 minutes
From Start to finish: 19 minutes
Time editing 26 minutes
Happy with results: 7<
some plan to do less, accept the interruptions.
or buy an uncomfortable chair to sit in when you expect interruptions.
use your comfortable chair for when you are in the right mood.
I like the uncomfortable chair idea. There again my chair isn’t that comfortable in the first place. Not happy with the idea of doing less though! Someone told me recently that a treadmill desk helps concentration. I like the idea of that, especially as we all apparently sit too much! Just a little worried how much space it would take up! Thanks for commenting with some ideas.
To get unstuck I will go back to one of my reoccurring tasks that I alway feel better afterwards. Taking on something you know you will accomplish successfully is a step in the right direction to get back into the flow.
Thanks Gary, Like the idea of going back to re-occurring tasks, although I try and get someone else to do most of those. Definitely important I think to take on something you know.
Great post. Two things I like to do that helps.
To go along with the reminders that you mentioned, I’ve set an alert to go off every hour to make sure I’m staying on check. So every hour my computer and phone pops up a message and a little ding. The message is “Stop and take a deep breath. Am I being productive? Am I BEING the person I say I want to be? Are my actions congruent to my goals? Refocus and recommit.”
That’s been helping me stay on track each hour and really manage my thoughts and actions before they get too off track for the day. Helps for all areas of life.
Also, I’ve benefited from having a procrastination to-do list.
So if I’m working on something and feel the need to “procrastinate” and do something else, I try to have a big list of things to do. But this list is actually little goals and things I need to do anyways, so my procrastinating still ends up being productive. =)
Some cunning ideas here. I like the idea of a procrastination to-do list, even though it seems against my desire to have a not to do list. And a frequent reminder is a solid idea I think. I have tried it a few times, but tend to find them a bit distracting when I am in the zone. I think I should revisit them though, at least on the odd day each week.
Justin, this is a really great post! Something I think about a lot and am still searching for the perfect solution. I probably do similar things to the person who commented last regarding having a ‘to do’ list, which gives me the satisfaction of ticking things off as well as breaking up overwhelmingly large tasks into smaller bite sized chunks.
Thanks Megan, Let me know if you find the perfect solution! I think there is a lot to be said for To Do Lists. I use something called Trello and one of the columns I have there is a to do sometime list and if something starts to distract me from what I think is my core I try and add it to that one and come back later. I find that helpful.