Archive for the ‘General Productivity Articles’ Category
Owning Clubs Does Not Make You A Golfer (or, What’s a PIM and Why Should I Care?)
Actually, I don’t golf, but I like the analogy, which I first heard from my friend Rick L’Amie at Moxie Marketing. Conversations with him and others has started me thinking about the process for finding the right productivity tools, and first recognizing that there is a need. Golfing is kind of definitive, often something happens that makes you realize that you want to learn to golf, and it’s easy to know whether or not you are already a golfer. Productivity tools are different. Most people have very ingrained habits for how they deal with commitments, communication, and information – it’s just “how they operate,” and probably how they have always operated. It often doesn’t even occur to people to stop and ask themselves if they have a Process, and if the tools they have are working.
I recently saw someone with a paper-based planner. I asked him, “how does that work for you?” He was surprised by the question, and had to stop and think about the answer. So then he asked if we could sit down and talk about it, which I was happy to do. He started by asking about other tools, both paper and electronic, and so we talked about PIMS (personal information managers). I told him that to be sufficient, a tool had to do a good job at handling at least five things well: calendar, to-do list, email, contacts, and notes, plus a capture tool is necessary also. Then I explained that there are three things to consider about your personal productivity (“time management,” if you will, although I think that term is no longer relevant):
- Recognizing that a tool is necessary. Why? Because you can only manage things when you can see them, and you can only see them when they are out of your head. And ‘out of your head’ on little scraps of paper (physical or electronic) is not particularly helpful, so you need someplace to store all of it.
- Choosing the right tool. Before the advent of electronic organizers, there were many kinds of paper tools, but most were essentially the same, with a calendar as the main feature, and perhaps a place for notes and an address book. Early in the days of electronic tools, Microsoft Outlook was among the first and the most dominant, and it handles all 5 components pretty well (although most people use it only to a fraction of its potential, because of number 3.) Now the problem is that there are so many tools on the market, and most of them are very specialized, i.e. focusing on only one or two of the 5 components. So now people are faced with the task of having to assemble their own set of tools, and they don’t even realize it, nor do they know how to pick the best one for them, because they don’t have a Process. Which leads me to #3….
- Owning a set of clubs does not make you a golfer. In other words, the PROCESS is the missing piece to using these tools successfully. You could have all the latest gadgets and a whole arsenal of apps, but unless you have a methodology, a step-by-step process for exactly how you need to use these tools for effectively managing all the details, then you’ll be just another hacker on the golf course. I’ve spent my entire professional career developing my process, called the Empowered Productivity System, and through this company, RegainYourTime.com, I teach it to people. There are also others.
For more to think about regarding your own personal productivity, or “time management,” you might enjoy my earlier post, “Three Secrets to Personal Productivity.” Thanks for reading, and if you’re using Twitter, I’d love to connect with you there: @mnthomas. Also, I’d be happy to discuss your own process and tools with you any time. Advice is always free!
Why “Time Management” is No Longer Relevant
Search engines, billions of websites, targeted advertisement and easy access to digital content provide us with myriad ways of taking care of our most complex informational and entertainment needs. What is now scarce, and therefore valuable, is the user’s attention, which explains the intense efforts made to obtain it through focused advertising, pop-ups, short videos embedded in news portals and, most disheartening, spam.
-from THE ECONOMICS OF ATTENTION: MAXIMIZING USER VALUE IN INFORMATION-RICH ENVIRONMENTS
Managing your time used to be the same thing as managing your attention. If you designated some time to attend to something, it was more likely that thing would get done. This was back before the digital revolution so thoroughly changed the way information is generated and shared. In other words, before there were so many distractions. Now, the world is constantly available at our fingertips, with the plethora of radio, television, internet, scrolling marquees, skywriting & advertising, not to mention new ways to instantly communicate, and handheld digital devices that are becoming more and more omnipresent. Allocating time to something no longer means that it will receive your attention, and without attention, your time is somewhat irrelevant. Attention creates action, produces quality and facilitates productivity. Attention also has a dramatic impact on your life. What you give your attention to, is what determines your experiences.
Think about it…there are entire cultures built around subjects that probably don’t even register with you. Don’t you know people who are involved in things you know nothing about? Perhaps its monster trucks, or vampires, or science fiction, or quantum physics. There are people whose lives revolve around subjects that are barely a blip on your radar. Those people give their attention to those topics, and therefore have experiences around them. And you do the same. So, as William James noted, “your experience is what you choose to attend to.” And all of those experiences eventually add up to your life. But if most of the time, you don’t “agree” to give your attention; you are just constantly distracted and reacting to all of those things that are vying for your attention, then maybe you do not have as much control over your life as you might like.
So perhaps it’s time to reconsider the way you manage the details of your life. For most people, their primary tool is a calendar. A calendar is a time-based tool. Allocating your time on a calendar can help, but maybe it’s time to change your thinking. Consider a productivity system that will enable you to view, and therefore better manage, all of those details necessary to service your life. This is a better way of allocating your attention to them, and keeping them in your focus, making it more likely that they will get done. You can only manage things when you can see them, and you can’t see them when they are inside your head. If you can view your workload (or, more importantly, your whole life-load) in a meaningful way, and not just as random entries in your calendar, then those details are more likely to capture your attention, despite all the distractions. If they get your attention, it’s more likely that you will take action around them. Any good personal productivity system (of course I suggest my Empowered Productivity System, but you may already have a process that works well for you) has a comprehensive task management tool. I’m working on compiling a list with reviews, so be sure to check back. But in the meantime, here is a place to start.
For more beautiful photos from Shawn P. Thomas, check out his Flickr stream. Thanks for reading!
I Won! Would You Read This Business Book?
Well, the votes are in and thanks to all the wonderful support from my friends, clients, and colleagues, my book proposal was selected as the winner in the Business Book Pitchfest, sponsored by Networlding and Crowdspring. I am truly humbled by the support and grateful to every person who voted for me. I’m excited to put my work together in a book, and about the opportunities for new partners, customers, and directions that a published book could bring.
I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me, and first is deciding to self-publish (with a small boutique publisher) or pitch to an agent or a large publishing house. I look forward to learning about the publishing industry, and if you have any insight for me, I would be very grateful for you to share your wisdom with me. Please contact me directly at maura at regainyourtime dot com.
A short description of the book-in-process is below, and I’d also love to hear from you if you have specific challenges or areas of interest related to this topic, that you would like to see addressed in the book. Would you read this?
Book-in-Process: Control Your Attention, Control Your Life: Succeeding in the Attention Age
Summary:
Change is upon us. Technology is evolving faster than ever before, and the sheer volume of information to manage is staggering. Digital Convergence is changing the way we communicate and learn. Although technology evolves very quickly, our brains evolve very slowly, and the rapid advance in technology over the last 40 years is shaping that evolution. It is literally rewiring our brains. The old ideas of multitasking and time management in the “Information Age” are being replaced by new ideas of focus and the Attention Age. The secret of productivity, of getting things done, of living the life we want now comes down to the ability to manage our attention. This goes way beyond time management, and it’s much more complicated than a calendar and an address book, or even the latest gadget or app. It requires greater knowledge of how our brains work, an understanding of the demands on our attention, and a rich, but uncomplicated, arsenal of behaviors, techniques, and technology. This book will contain step-by-step instructions to learn to control attention by effectively managing the details of a busy life (commitments, communication, and information), discussing not only a behavioral methodology but also incorporating paper, PC, Mac, handheld, and cloud-based solutions.
I’d love to hear from you. Thanks for reading, and for voting!
What Martial Arts Teaches Me About Productivity and Control
I have the honor and the privilege of being a student of the Shoshin Ryu School of martial arts. I’ve recently returned from the annual Nationals conference, this year in Boise, Idaho, where students and sensei from the dojo all over the country gather for 4 days of intense training. It’s so inspiring and I always return with so much to reflect on.
One of the lessons, from Curry Sensei of the Alaska Dojo was “Eliminating Chosa” which was about refining your movements to remove wasted effort. It reminded me that efficiency is useful regardless of the application. In martial arts, conserving your energy by eliminating chosa can provide you with the extra burst you need to win a fight or escape an attacker. Throughout your day, how many times do you switch tasks, right in the middle, because something else called your attention? Switching between tasks greatly increases the time it takes to complete any task and also decreases the quality of your output, just like wasted movement in martial arts. Perhaps in your work day, the consequences aren’t as dire, but you still need more effort and get less done.
Another lesson was from Soucy Sensei of the Connecticut Dojo and he reminded us that if you understand the way that your joints and limbs move, where they are strong and where they are weak, you can control them and use that control to gain the advantage in a match or a self-defense situation. I believe his words were, “control or be controlled.” This is so true not only in martial arts, but it also reminded me of the value of controlling your attention. There are so many things competing for our attention, trying to take our attention from us, that if we don’t exert control, we are at risk of spending all of our time just blowing in the wind of reaction, too infrequently being purposeful and making choices about how we spend our time (more on that here). Just like in martial arts, if you can only react and defend, you can never take control of the situation.
Nationals reminded me that my practice with Shoshin Ryu is not only about sport or self-defense, but also about personal growth and discipline…an exercise for the mind and spirit as well as for the body. I am so grateful to all the Shoshin Ryu teachers and students for allowing me to participate and helping me to advance my art.
Thank you for reading!
The Planner vs. The Do-er
Before you get to today’s post, I’d like to remind you to please cast a vote in Networlding’s BizBookPitchfest Contest, where I am a finalist. The winner receives a coaching package to help get her book published, and the book topic with the most votes wins on August 5, 2010. I would really appreciate it if you would take a minute to vote, particularly if you vote for me! =)
Now…on to today’s post, which is from a big thinker on human development and potential, Shawn Thomas, M. Ed., M.S., who also happens to be my wonderful husband. He’s written a very interesting article about what it takes to change your behavior, and the struggle between our internal “planner” vs. “do-er.”
The Planner vs. the Do-er, by Shawn Thomas
We all have some aspect of our work, our lives, or ourselves that we think falls short. In these situations, it is important to know that to be successful at creating the change we desire, we must do two things: create a plan and take action.
In their book, Nudge, about decision making, Richard Thaler and Cass 
Sunstein describe the planner and the doer. The planner and the doer exists within each of us. As an example, the authors describe the planner as the part of us that sets the alarm clock at night with the intent of getting up early in the morning to exercise. The doer is the part of us that in the morning either hits the snooze button 4 times, or gets us out of bed to implement the planner’s plan.
Many of us have set our alarm again and again with great intentions only to have our sleepy doers foil our attempts to do something good for ourselves. And all of us tend to blame our doers for this lack of well-intentioned action. It is our doers, after all, that are ineffective at getting us out of that nice, warm bed and into our running shoes or the gym. It seems like the doer is at fault when we fail at implementing our plans and achieving our goals. But the real problem may lie with the planner. Any successful leader or manager can tell you that motivation is one of the most important keys to getting things done. In addition, they will tell you that part of their job is understanding exactly what motivates each of their employees. Therefore, one very important part of our planner’s job is to understand what will motivate our doer to take action. And this is especially true in situations where the action to be taken is challenging.
Let’s go back to the example of getting out of bed early enough to exercise before work and add an example of motivation. Getting out of bed to exercise in the morning can be especially difficult for anyone who is unaccustomed to the gym. One of the most significant barriers to exercise is a lack of experience or knowledge. Knowing that we may lack the sufficient experience or knowledge to feel comfortable using the gym equipment provides us with a good indicator of the motivation necessary to get us to the gym. In this case it would be best for us to have a plan in place to meet with a personal trainer who can guide us through the exercises that provide the best chance of helping us meet our goals. With the added motivation of having a knowledgeable personal trainer waiting to provide us with assistance, and the commitment we made to meet them there, we stand a much better chance of getting ourselves out of that comfortable bed.
Take some time to think about things that you would like to change. Identify in each case the work currently being done by your internal planner and doer. More than likely, if you identify things you’ve wanted to change for some time but have not found success at doing so, you have identified a problem for your planner to solve. Your next step then is to identify some things that will ensure that your doer has the proper motivation to take the right actions and get things done. Once you have identified the proper motivation, make completely sure that it is incorporated into your plans and you will soon find that you are finally making progress toward achieving your goals.
Thanks for reading! And please don’t forget to vote in the Biz Book Pitchfest!
Help Me Get My Book Published!
I’m very excited to announce that I am a finalist in Networlding’s BizBookPitchFest 2010! This is a contest to help an unpublished thought-leader become a published author. The judges were authors and publishing industry veterans Steve Farber, Kevin Small, Sarah Miller Caldicott, Melissa Giovagnoli, and Brett Farmiloe. Below is the premise of the book I’m writing. As it seems that everything is these days, the contest is using the “crowdsourcing” model, which means that public feedback will help determine the winner, just like American Idol. So I need your help! If you think that the book as I’ve outlined it below is something you’d be interested to read, please go here and vote for me (ok, even if you don’t plan to read the book, will you vote for me anyway? =). To vote, visit this page, scroll all the way to the bottom, and where it reads, “Submit a Comment,” type: “VOTE: Maura Thomas.” You can comment (vote) as a guest by filling in your first name and your email (your email address will NOT be published.)
I appreciate your help!
Book-in-Process: Control Your Attention, Control Your Life: Succeeding in the Attention Age
Summary:
Change is upon us. Technology is evolving faster than ever before, and the sheer volume of
information to manage is staggering. Digital Convergence is changing the way we communicate
and learn. Although technology evolves very quickly, our brains evolve very slowly, and the rapid advance in technology over the last 40 years is shaping that evolution. It is literally rewiring our brains. The old ideas of multitasking and time management in the “Information Age” are being replaced by new ideas of focus and the Attention Age. The secret of productivity, of getting things done, of living the life we want now comes down to the ability to manage our attention. And this is much more complicated than a calendar and an address book, or even the latest gadget or app. It requires greater knowledge of how our brains work, an understanding of the demands on our attention, and a rich, but uncomplicated, arsenal of behaviors, techniques, and technology.
The idea used to be that information overload was the problem. My work illustrates that itʼs not
the volume of information that exists, itʼs the fact that information is NO LONGER PASSIVE. It
gets pushed into our consciousness and competes for our attention. Consider this:
- In 2008, nearly 6,000 people died, and over a half million were injured in distraction-related driving accidents.
- 62% of at-work email users report checking work email on the weekends, and over 50% check it on vacation.
- More than one in twenty U.S. adults surveyed nationally said their relationships have suffered from excessive use of the Internet. (Stanford University School of Medicine Study, Impulse Control Disorders Clinic)
Letʼs face it. Our lives are out of control. Most days, we donʼt make decisions about how we
spend each minute or each hour or each day. Those decisions are made for us, by our phone, our email, or any of the other unrelenting bits of communication and information that insert themselves into our lives every minute of every day, which are designed to steal our attention from us. And if we donʼt make decisions about the minutes or the hours or the days, then weʼre at risk for losing control over our lives. Why should you give up the decision over one single second of your precious life? Studies show that people who exert cognitive control more often, report happier lives. This book is your key. It will contain step-by-step instructions to learn to control attention by effectively managing the details of a busy life (commitments, communication, and information), discussing not only a behavioral methodology but also incorporating paper, PC, Mac, handheld, and cloud-based solutions.
Thanks for reading, and please don’t forget to vote!
(Technorati Claim Code WS49C88MCN7N)
Welcome to the Attention Age
Social media is changing the way we communicate, make connections, and develop friendships. Digital convergence is changing the way we learn, think, and behave. The old ideas about “time management” and multi-tasking are no longer 
working. In fact, they seem to be making things worse. Some of the first studies showing that multi-tasking takes longer and decreases the quality of output came out almost a decade ago. It’s now widely accepted among researchers and scientists that constant multi-tasking even makes us worse at multi-tasking! The more we do it, the worse we get…at everything. The problem is that we have become so accustomed to instant gratification of our curiosity and our mental whims, that we have undermined our own ability to focus. New terms have been created to describe the fact that we are essentially giving ourselves Attention Deficit Disorder. And it’s almost impossible to control your “time” (and there are only 24 hours in every day anyway), until you can control your attention.
Digital convergence, the idea that all types of different technologies are merging into one ubiquitous “presence,” means that it’s almost impossible to escape the demands on our attention. And make no mistake, not only is more information being created than ever before, but it’s also being pushed to us in ways that are designed to take our attention from us. Virtually every new technology has some feature to get information in front of you, whether by popping up on your computer screen or handheld device, or by ringing, buzzing, or vibrating within earshot. Website creators speak in terms of “eyeballs” (get you to look at it) and “click-throughs” (get you to click on it). Marketers speak in terms of “taglines” and “calls to action” (make you notice and then do something). Have you ever noticed that commercials come on louder than the programming? The ability to write “attention grabbing headlines” is a valuable skill. New ways to get you to notice information are being invented and refined every day. The term “demands on your attention” was never more appropriate.
The philosopher William James was noted for saying, “my experience is what I agree to attend to.” But with the increasing adoption of ever-present technology, often times we don’t “agree” to attend to anything. We spend our days simply reacting to whatever happens to be buzzing, blinking, or vibrating in front of us. But if we’re not in control of our attention, can we really be in control of our lives?
So we’re moving into a new era. The “Information Age” is being replaced by the Attention Age, where attention is becoming the most valuable commodity, and focus the most valuable skill. But the ability to focus is like any other skill, if it’s 
not practiced, it’s lost. Children are showing signs of being easily bored without constant stimulation, and teenagers are scoring poorly on cognitive functioning tests designed to determine their reasoning and critical thinking skills, the kinds of skills that require deep thought and reflection.
The work we do at RegainYourTime.com is evolving with this societal change. Our training is designed to raise awareness about these issues, and call attention to individual behaviors that sabotage our client’s success, rather than support it. For more information about presentations or training on attention management, and others related to personal productivity and effective workflow processes, please click the links, explore the site, or contact us for a chat. We’d love to discuss it with you.
Top 6 Tips for Fighting Holiday Stress
In addition to managing stress by being in control of the details of your life, yesterday we had the first half of a guest post from Dr. Harvey Kitzman, explaining exactly what stress does and how it affects us. Below he shares his top 6 easy and inexpensive ways to help you start 2010 calm and capable.
Tips to Fight Holiday Stress and Holiday Blues, Pt. 2
by Dr. Harvey Kitzman
- Get enough rest. By making sure that you get enough sleep, you will decrease your cortisol levels (this is the hormone involved in the fight-or-flight response. Elevated levels contribute to adrenal fatigue and increased belly fat).
- Continue your exercise program. Many of us, especially when we travel, get out of our normal exercise patterns. Regular exercise is well document as having stress reduction effects, especially by increasing brain hormone levels that are involved in mood regulation. I know myself that after a few minutes warming up on the elliptical trainer, I get “in the zone”, and I find it to have a very calming effect. Be sure to continue both cardiovascular and weight training.
- Don’t overindulge on the sweet foods. I enjoy Mom’s Christmas cookies every year, so I am not telling you to avoid eating them. Just watch your amounts so that you don’t get the sugar crash and feelings of lethargy that accompany them.
- Watch your alcohol consumption. Alcohol is a depressant, and too much alcohol can affect your mood levels.
- Continue to eat well (as best you can). Rich leafy greens and fruits and vegetables that have deep rich colors not only provide the proper nutrients, but they can also provide the antioxidants that we need to fight free radicals. Again, you don’t need to avoid the holiday foods, just watch your consumption levels, especially if you are in a situation where you can not exercise.
- Nutritional supplements can help you to reduce holiday stress levels as well:
- A good multivitamin will ensure that you are getting the proper nutrients to maintain normal metabolic functioning, and to supplement nutrient deficiencies in diet. They will also help your body heal itself.
- Omega III Fish Oils perform so many helpful functions in the body. With respect to mood levels, they will provide essential fatty acids needed for normal neural functioning.
- A good antioxidant will scavenge free radicals, cutting down their levels.
- B Complex vitamins help decrease stress and improve mood, help maintain healthy levels of serotonin, increase energy, and help to maintain proper neural function.
- A good Greens supplement with probiotics will boost the immune system, and aid in providing the body with enzymes, nutrients, probiotics and phytonutrients that a vegetable-rich diet offers, helping individuals to receive well rounded nutrition.
- There are herbal formals available that contain adaptogenic herbs. Adaptogens are natural herbals products that help to increase the body’s resistance to stress, fatigues, trauma, and anxiety. They help to increase the body’s resistance to stressors and return it to normal physiological functioning.
If you have any questions about this information, or would like a free consultation to learn more about nutrition, nutritional counseling, or nutritional supplementation, contact Dr. Harvey Kitzman at hkitzman@austin.rr.com or 512-657-3432 (for your free consult, just tell him you read this article on the RegainYourTime.com Blog).
Have a happy and healthy holiday season!
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/harvey-kitzman/0/8b5/388
How Stress Hurts
I think the best way to deal with the stress of our busy lives is to be in CONTROL over the details, having everything out of your head where you can see it and manage it effectively. That’s why I teach people the Empowered Productivity System, to turn chaos into control. However my friend Dr. Harvey Kitzman has some other ideas about managing your stress levels, especially during the holidays, and I invited him to share them here. Today he’ll explain what stress is and ways it can affect us that you might not know about. Tomorrow he’ll provide 6 tips for beating stress, at the holidays and throughout the year.
Tips to Fight Holiday Stress and Holiday Blues, Pt. 1
by Dr. Harvey Kitzman
With the holidays already here, many people see an increase in their stress levels, and some people even have the holiday blues. Who doesn’t get stressed out with all of the shopping, cooking and travel plans that happen during the holidays? How many of us are time crunched and sleep deprived already? Add to that the fear of the flu bug and the H1N1 flu that we hear about on the news, and that worry just adds to our holiday stress levels.
What is stress anyway? Stress is an internal reaction to external events. It is an evolutionary response – the fight or flight response. Continuous stress can manifest itself as GI problems, losing sleep, increased fatigue, heightened blood pressure, headaches, concentration problems, adrenal fatigue and other symptoms. As we all know, many events can trigger the appearance of stress in our lives – job, marriage, money, new baby, holidays etc. The body does not distinguish between “good” stress (marriage, new baby, starting a new biz) and “bad” stress. It only knows that there is stress, and it reacts. Are there other types of stresses? Yes. Our bodies are subject to stress from many sources, both internal and external. Another type of stress we need to be concerned about is oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is defined as a condition of increased oxidant production in animal cells characterized by the release of free radicals and resulting in cellular degeneration. Think of this like taking a bite of an apple and letting it sit for a few minutes. The brown pigmentation that we see is due to oxidative stress. The same analogy can also be seen by rust forming on metal. This type of stress has been shown to be present in many types of medical conditions, including atherosclerosis, diseases involving inflammation, such as IBS, IBD, arthritis, periodontal disease, Crohn’s disease and Alzheimer’s. Free radicals are produced from both our internal cellular processes, such as the electron transport chain, and from the external environment. For example smoking is one method that is used by smokers to alleviate stress. When we smoke, however, each puff delivers 1027 of free radicals into our lungs. Think about that for a second. How much damage do you think this is doing internally?
Come back tomorrow to read Dr. Kitzman’s top 6 tips for fighting stress. All are easy and inexpensive, to make sure that you can start 2010 calm and capable!
If you have any questions about this information, or would like a free consultation to learn more about nutrition, nutritional counseling, or nutritional supplementation, contact Dr. Harvey Kitzman at hkitzman@austin.rr.com or 512-657-3432 (for your free consult, just tell him you read this article on the RegainYourTime.com Blog).
Have a happy and healthy holiday season!
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/harvey-kitzman/0/8b5/388
How to ADD Time to Your Day (Really!)
Feeling like there aren’t enough hours in your day? Doesn’t everyone? I’ve discovered a powerful secret that has given me several extra hours in my day to get things done. Impossible, you say? Read on…
One of the things that’s difficult for me to “find” the time for is exercise. Sometimes I’ll think, “if I skip my workout, I can make some real progress on my to-do list.” Skipping meals, especially breakfast, also seems to be a common time-saver among my friends.
I’ve come to realize that there is an important point that’s missing with this logic. Exercise and eating right, especially breakfast, actually add time to your day. We treat them like a net-negative when it comes to how much time we have in the day to do things. They are actually a net-positive, and not only on a cumulative basis, but on a daily basis. We all recognize that when we eat right and exercise, we have more energy and motivation. But even when you look at it that way, it makes it easy to think that skipping a day is ok, and before you know it, you’ve skipped many days. But what I’ve come to realize is that if I have a healthy bite to eat in the morning AND exercise for at least 20 minutes, I get MORE time IN THAT DAY than I had without it. On the mornings when I take 15 minutes to grab a bite for breakfast, and 20-30 minutes to exercise, I actually feel energetic and productive well into the evening. On the days I don’t, I’m typically drooping in the mid-afternoon, and then again by about 7pm. During these “droopy” times, I’m easily distracted, unfocused, and end up resorting to busy-work-type activities that don’t accomplish much, or sometimes even daydreaming or otherwise fussing around without getting anything done. On the days without breakfast or a workout, I’m longing to hit the couch by 7pm, the dishes stay in the sink and the dog doesn’t get a walk because I’m spent.
Exercise and breakfast actually give me more productive hours in my day. They help me to spend a productive afternoon focusing and getting important tasks accomplished, I whirl around the kitchen making dinner, cleaning up, walking the dog, tidying the house, preparing for the next day, and feeling great about it all. That 45 minutes or so I allow in the morning to take care of my body, easily adds several hours of productive time to my day. Now every time I feel like I “don’t have the time” for breakfast or a workout, I remember this and it’s a powerful motivator to lace up my running shoes! You might find that a change of perspective, from a good diet and exercise as a net-negative, to a net-positive of time in your day, might be just what you need to motivate you to change your habits.
Do you have anything to add? I’d love to read your comments. Thanks for reading!