Why People Don't Know How To Be Productive At Home
Sure, you're used to a different work routine.
Maybe you travel a lot. Maybe you commute to an office every day.
Whatever it is, many people are trying to figure out how to be productive at home.
Being off your normal routine is part of the problem, but here's a bigger part that is somehow in everyone's blind spot.
Accountability.
You might find yourself having to virtually report to your supervisor every day and leaving out the half-hour you did laundry and watched an episode of Tiger King.
You might find yourself without your usual gym buddy, sleeping in and slacking.
You might find yourself stacking up those nachos with extra cheese. I know I am.
When left to our own devices, there is little incentive for staying disciplined.
The lesson here is that we may be leaning a bit too much on external sources of discipline. When they disappear, we find ourselves 4 hours into Fortnite covered in Cheeto dust.
So, we overreact, overschedule ourselves and come up with a P-L-A-N.
That oughtta do it, right?
I don't know how to be productive at home because I don't have a PLAN!
Obviously, we know how this one ends.
Here's what I would recommend . . .
- Put down the productivity hacks.
- Put down the article on which software tool is right for you.
- Close the YouTube video on how to set up your desk for optimal workflow.
2 Minute Action:
Call or text three trusted people in your life.
Ask them if they are interested in being your accountability partner.
Ask them to text you each day to see if you're staying on top of the work you want to be doing.
You can also offer to return this favor and do the same for them.
Life is easier when you're on a team with people who have your back.
Set your life up this way and you'll be amazed at what you can do.
Read This If You Like Superhero Movies
(This is a repost/edit of a full blog post I made on Medium a few months ago. I felt it needed to be reshared, here.)
In some, eery parallel universe, in a land far far away, something strange is happening.
One must be endowed, either by the cosmos or some stroke of chance, with the ability to help people.
And if neither the cosmos nor some radioactive bug exists, our only hope of being more than just ourselves is falling into a vat of toxic waste.
I don't know about you, but I have no idea where to find a good, deep vat of toxic waste.
The allure of superhero movies is typically the transformation from the reluctant, mild-mannered, everyday human to the genetically superior and morally obligated superhuman. Only after we are endowed with this unnatural capacity can we train our minds with a small green mentor or train our bodies on some distant, high-gravity planet.
Since we, unfortunately, live here on Earth, this proposes a small dilemma.
No vats. No radioactive bugs. No cosmic alignment.
No alien technology. No Dragon Balls. No Infinity Gauntlet.
Bummer.
So, now what?
Well, you guessed it.
You have to make a choice.
Most people stay stuck and thus choose the belief that "I don't have the ability to change myself, nor can I acquire the ability to change myself. Power and ability are unlearned traits that are solely endowed by fate."
But, not you, right?
Ask yourself something . . .
Do you feel strong when you watch a superhero movie?
Most people do and that's the point. We feel empowered to change the world or at least the part that interests us.
You have to choose if you believe that you can change yourself or if you believe you can't.
Most people choose to be a superhero without knowing it.
The problem with "superhero thinking" is that we often get charged up and attack the problem by ourselves. We suffer for the greater good, make sacrifices, and spin our wheels harder than we ever thought we could.
We charge the beach and don't see the .50 caliber on the shoreline.
Charging a beach alone like a superhero isn't valiant or noble.
It's stupid.
Real-life real-world problems cannot be solved by an individual.
Real-life real-world problems are solved by teams with systems.
Sounds really sexy, right?
"Superhero thinking" is sexy! It's romanticized! Superheroes can do it all!
We want the gadgets, the moral compass, and the abs, oh good lord the abs.
And we want it all before we even start.
We want the diet pill, the salary raise at work, and mountain top mansion all before we change ourselves.
I'm sorry, but we're not superheroes. We're humans.
It's up to us to do all the changing.
The human brain is plastic.
That means that when you practice something a lot, it gets easier.
Your brain isn't a muscle. Your muscles are more like your brain.
The first time you play the piano, it's terrible. You don't have the dexterity you need which makes the process of learning frustrating and unenjoyable.
After two years of performing the same motions over and over, your brain has rewired to make it easier. You can now do something you couldn't do before and guess what?
Now it's fun.
You are the same person.
Same name. Same face. Same DNA.
You just earned a new ability which can serve you in a new way.
Maybe it's a creative outlet that helps you regulate emotions. Maybe it's a source of income. Maybe it's a way to connect with your friends.
Some abilities are easier to learn than others.
For example, if you wanted to learn how to "walk the dog" with a yo-yo, it's probably only going to take you 45 minutes.
If you want to integrate evidence-based learning practices in public school districts across the country, it's probably going to take you a whole career.
So what happens when we raise our children to believe in superheroes?
Look, I'm not saying that superhero movies aren't fun to watch.
They're fantasy. It's fun to pretend we could be like that caped silhouette on the screen.
And that's exactly my point. It's make-believe.
Not just the radioactive, toxic waste part--the whole mindset.
Here are some ways to tell if you are using "superhero thinking" without realizing it:
- Sometimes you have to stay late at work and make sure the job gets done. The keyword here is "sometimes." If you are staying late more days than not, you are probably using "superhero thinking."
- If your work often requires you to make personal sacrifices to get it done, like missing your kid's baseball season, you are probably using "superhero thinking."
- If your mindset is that no one is better than you at this one skill, so you shouldn't let anyone else have the final say about that part of the project, you are probably using "superhero thinking."
- When a teammate breaks something and you run in to take the task away and solve it yourself, you are probably using "superhero thinking."
- If your child continues to struggle in school and you continue to sign absence notes and do their homework for them, you are probably using "superhero thinking."
I sort of tricked you.
I wrote this post about superheroes, but it's really about pragmatism, leadership, and the important commitment we owe ourselves to self-improvement.
It's also about media consumption.
You are what you eat, read, and watch.
We are each from different walks of life and have different predispositions, demons, and access to resources.
Regardless of where you are, today:
- You alone are responsible for deciding what's fantasy and what's real.
- You alone are responsible for developing yourself.
- You alone are responsible for building teams and systems that actually help people, long after you're gone.
Consider this your origin story.
There's no vat. There's no secret government lab. There's no mutating serum.
You are faced with the choice of whether or not to develop your own superpowers with the skills and abilities you have today.
You are faced with the choice of whether or not to decide your own destiny.
You are faced with the choice of whether or not to take responsibility for helping people other than yourself.
We live in a distressed world with real people in it. There are real lives at stake.
You must choose to be the best version of yourself.
You must choose to help others become the best versions of themselves.
You must choose to protect yourself from "superhero thinking."
I know you can do it.
We're all counting on you.
Read This If You Have Lots Of Ideas
Maybe you've heard this before, but maybe you haven't.
Ideas aren't really useful.
By themselves, they don't do anything.
It's the executing of the idea that helps people and is valuable.
So, stop looking for ideas.
Look for actionable insights.
2 Minute Action:
It helps if you know what to do and when to do it.
It also helps if you have someone in your life who can keep you accountable.
Take an idea you had recently and make it actionable.
Decide, in the next 2 minutes, what first step you're going to take, when you will do it, and who you will call to ask to keep you accountable.
You've got this.
We're all counting on you.