How to Be a Time Warrior

Today's blog post is from a podcast on The Art of Manliness and continues in the vein of time management that we've been talking about this week:

If you struggle with procrastination, goal-setting, and generally moving ahead in life, the heart of your struggles may be your view of time. More specifically, that you look at it too linearly.

That’s the argument my guest today makes. His name is Steve Chandler, he’s a success and business coach, and the author of many books, including the focus of our discussion today — Time Warrior: How to Defeat Procrastination, People-Pleasing, Self-Doubt, Over-Commitment, Broken Promises and Chaos. At the beginning of our conversation, Steve shares how he personally overcame years of failure and addiction to find a fulfilling life and career. He then explains why looking at time too linearly can lead to putting things off to the future, overwhelm and over-thinking, and perpetually trying to find more information before moving on an idea. He argues that we’re better served by adopting a concept of non-linear time management, which pushes us to approach life with a bias towards action, privilege the energy of “want to” over “know-how,” and act in the now. We then discuss other tactics and mindsets you can adopt to become a “time warrior,” including being creative rather than reactive, seeing life as a game, and serving people rather than pleasing them. We end our conversation with what to do when you feel like you don’t know what to do with your life.

 Here are the highlights from the show:

• What was life like for Steve before he found his purpose?
• What is non-linear time management?
• Why do traditional approaches to time management sometimes cause procrastination?
• How we trick ourselves into thinking we’re taking action
• The decreasing value of more and more information
• Why you should re-read impactful books
• How and why to break big tasks into small, even microscopic steps
• Gamifying your to-dos
• Overcoming being behind on things (on a mental level, too)
• How people-pleasing gets in the way of our accomplishing things
• What’s the role of goals in non-linear time management?
• A time warrior knows what he wants to do; what if you don’t know?

Interesting days

Today - Iced Tea Day and Ball Point Pen Day

Tomorrow - Yarn Bombing Day, Jerky Day, Farm Workers Day, Corn On The Cob Day and German Chocolate Cake Day

Next Wednesday - Eat Your Vegetables Day, Garbage Man Day, Tessellation Day, Cherry Tart Day and Apple Strudel Day

July 10 - Kebab Day, Piña Colada Day, Teddy Bear Picnic Day and Don’t Step On A Bee Day

Week long celebrations:

Jul 6 - Jul 12: Great British Pea Week

How Do You Use Your 168 Hours Each Week?

This ties in with yesterday's blog post that dealt with determining whether the tasks/activities that you do are urgent and/or important.

Today's blog post is based on an article in Slate.

Laura Vanderkam is a work-life-balance expert who believes we have time to do it all—at least, all that is important to us. For three years, she meticulously logged and analyzed how she spends her hours, and has also researched how other people spend the 168 hours we all have each week. Her conclusion: We have enough time to do most things—we just need to prioritize and be realistic about our expectations.

Off the Clock, Vanderkam’s seventh book, offers advice for releasing ourselves from the shackles of busyness. She works full time, is raising four young kids, and runs at least a mile each day (even during a bout of stomach flu). By her logic, if she has time, so do we. It starts by changing our mindset about just how busy we are. By viewing our weeks in terms of hours available, even a 15-minute increment can open up opportunities for relationships, hobbies, and workouts.

The remainder of the article is an interview with the author:

Rebecca Gale: You’re well known for your time-log technique, where people, including those in high-powered positions, can track their hours and discover that they have more time available for things they prioritize. But doesn’t this include some assumptions that people can control a number of aspects of their life? How does time logging speak to someone who has less control over their day-to-day time? 

Laura Vanderkam: Different people have different amounts of control over their time. Even people who don’t have control over some aspects of their time often have control over other bits of time. I was recently talking to people from a company known for extreme work hours and travel: “When I show up at the client site at 8 a.m. until the end of the day, I don’t control what I do.” But if you don’t control what happens from 8 a.m.–8 p.m., you might control from 6 a.m.–8 a.m. People who did wish to do things would get up and run, or swim in the hotel. Some people elected not to use that, and they would be more prone to think, “I don’t have time available.” It’s very seldom that someone would have all 168 hours dictated. 

That includes people with young children. People staying at home with young children may feel like they don’t have space for anything. There are strategies you can still use to find time, such as during naptime, after bedtime, trading with a partner or friends. 

It’s about changing our story from “no time” to “some time.” The latter story is far more useful. You can do something with that. If you spend 15 minutes a day reading, you can read whole novels in a month. 

One of my favorite lines is this: “The most common reaction other people will have to your shedding an obligation is nothing.” I’m curious if this is something you’ve found to always be true, or if there are notable exceptions? 

Of course there are some exceptions. If it were easy to get rid of all obligations, more people would do it. We often build up things in our mind and think someone is noticing them more than they are. “Oh, I can’t take a real break at my office.” Well, people go to the bathroom. Probably, no one is actually tracking you. Women in particular have stories of things they absolutely have to do on the homefront, but might realize that other people don’t care as much. “I have to pick up the toys before I can relax.” No, you actually don’t. 

There are other evidence-based conversations about busyness and policies that would help alleviate some of the busy-related stress: paid family leave, investments in transportation that would lower commute times, and livable wages, which would allow a breadwinner to support a family by working 40 hours a week. What role do such legislative priorities play in allowing more people to feel less busy while getting more done? 

Well, there needs to be a conversation about paid family leave. From conversations that I’ve had with plenty of women looking at where the tough times are, needing to go back [to work] earlier is often a trigger for people winding up saying they can’t do it. When you get longer maternity leaves, they are coming back at a time when they feel they can do it. 

I think that the issue with a lot of policies is that you can see it going different ways. Among the policies mandating a certain livable wage, there isn’t as much of an opportunity for flextime, or work at home for more low-skilled people, which maybe more women are interested in. If you’re requiring a family-supporting wage, that may be more suited to people working 40 hours a week. You always have to be careful of unintended consequences. If wages have to be a certain way, it can discourage people from hiring those with spottier employment histories. People who have been out of the workforce may find it harder to get back in. Employers might be able to take a risk on those without straightforward employment histories. 

We can work for various changes, but what we do in our own life matters as well. I don’t think these are in opposition. I think we can do both. 

The tag lines and blurbs on your book talk about “doing more,” but much of the book actually advocates doing less: lingering awhile and making open-ended plans to chat with friends. How do the less-is-more tactics jive with getting more done? 

It’s about spending less time on the things you don’t want to do so you can spend more time on the things you do want to do. If you’re focused on a really important project at work that you’re passionate about achieving, it’s a better use of time than sitting in four meetings that are not advancing. Time is time, but it’s a trade-off too. Time spent on one thing is time not spent on something else. Doing less and doing more are related in that way. 

So is productivity overrated? 

I think productivity is getting to do what matters to you. I don’t think there is anything wrong with getting what matters to you done. The fact that you got your inbox down from 150 unread messages to 50 unread messages does not mean that anything got done. You want to make sure you are using the right metrics. 

I think I’m at 200 unread messages. 

[Laughs] I probably have more than that. Getting what matters to you done is awesome. I think that is entirely compatible with having open space in your life where you don’t have to be on your phone every minute. It’s about filling your time with what matters and leaving open space for opportunity. If that is productivity, that’s great. If it’s about emails you delete or how many meetings you can cram into one day, that is a different matter.

The good thing about the pandemic for me has been working from home. I went from sleeping from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, with about 2 hours before I had to leave for work, to sleeping from 4:30 AM to 11:30 AM with having to "leave" at 6:30 PM. Unfortunately, I'm pretty much wasting most of those additional hours. I need to start logging my time and then using the Eisenhower Matrix from yesterday to help me prioritize everything.

At the bottom of this article from The Art of Manliness are some tools that you can use to help you track your time. Probably the simplest tool is this time logging sheet by Laura Vanderkam from the article above.

Interesting days

Today - Rosé Day, Donald Duck Day and Call Your Doctor Day

Tomorrow - Iced Tea Day and Ball Point Pen Day

Week long celebrations:

Jun 8 - Jun 14: Love your Burial Ground Week

Next Tuesday - World Tapas Day, Fresh Veggies Day, Fudge Day and Arborist Appreciation Day

July 9 - Sugar Cookie Day

Week long celebrations:

Jul 6 - Jul 12: Great British Pea Week

The Eisenhower Decision Matrix

Today's blog post is based on an article from The Art of Manliness.

If you've read "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People", then you're familiar with the matrix (unfortunately, I can't seem to upload the diagram). The diagram is divided into quadrants, labeled Urgent/Important in Quadrant 1 (upper left), Not Urgent/Important in Quadrant 2 (upper right), Urgent/Not Important in Quadrant 3 (lower left), and Not Urgent/Not Important in Quadrant 4 (lower right).

Here's what's meant by the terms urgent and important:

Urgent means that a task requires immediate attention. These are the to-do’s that shout “Now!” Urgent tasks put us in a reactive mode, one marked by a defensive, negative, hurried, and narrowly-focused mindset. 

Important tasks are things that contribute to our long-term mission, values, and goals. Sometimes important tasks are also urgent, but typically they’re not. When we focus on important activities we operate in a responsive mode, which helps us remain calm, rational, and open to new opportunities.

We tend to believe that all urgent activities are always important but that's seldom actually the case, and it's made worse by today's technology:

Modern technologies (24-hour news, Twitter, Facebook, text messaging) that constantly bombard us with information have only heightened this deeply engrained mindset. Our stimulus-producing tech treats all information as equally urgent and pressing. Miley Cyrus’ Twerk-gate is given the same weight as important D.C. policy discussions.

Here are descriptions of the various quadrants:

Quadrant 1 tasks are both urgent and important. They’re tasks that require our immediate attention and also work towards fulfilling our long-term goals and missions in life. 

Quadrant 1 tasks typically consist of crises, problems, or deadlines.

Quadrant 2 tasks are the activities that don’t have a pressing deadline, but nonetheless help you achieve your important personal, school, and work goals as well as help you fulfill your overall mission as a man. 

Q2 tasks are typically centered around strengthening relationships, planning for the future, and improving yourself.

Quadrant 3 tasks are activities that require our attention now (urgent), but don’t help us achieve our goals or fulfill our mission (not important). Most Q3 tasks are interruptions from other people and often involve helping them meet their own goals and fulfill their own priorities.

Quadrant 4 activities aren’t urgent and aren’t important. They’re what I like to call “dicking around” activities. Q4 activities aren’t pressing nor do they help you achieve long-term goals or fulfill your mission as a man. They’re primarily distractions.

There's a lot more information on each quadrant in the article, as well as examples of activities that fall into each quadrant.

Another diagram that I found (and also can't upload) gives a descriptive word to each quadrant:

1. Do
2. Plan
3. Delegate
4. Eliminate

The quadrant 2 activities are the activities that you put in your calendar mapping, while quadrant 3 activities are the kinds of things that you might assign to a virtual assistant.

Here are a couple of tools to help you out:

To help you apply the Eisenhower Decision Matrix, we suggest checking out the following tools.

Eisenhower App. This is an iPhone app that allows you to easily organize your task according to the Eisenhower Decision Matrix. I had a chance to play around with it a bit and liked what I saw. Haven’t been able to find anything similar for Android. 

Download the Eisenhower Decision Matrix Worksheet. I created a snazzy little PDF of the Eisenhower Decision Matrix available to download for free. Print one out tonight and set aside 30 minutes for personal reflection. Make a list of the tasks you spend most of your time on and assign them to an appropriate quadrant in the matrix. Doing so will give you a rough idea of whether you’re spending time on activities that are actually important.

After you do that, think of ways you can reduce the amount of time you spend on Q1, Q3, and Q4 tasks and increase the amount of time you spend on Q2 activities.

I downloaded the app plus I downloaded a similar one (this one's for iOS also)...I'm going to check them both out.

Interesting days

Today - Best Friends Day, World Oceans Day and Upsy Daisy Day

Tomorrow - Rosé Day, Donald Duck Day and Call Your Doctor Day

Week long celebrations:

Jun 8 - Jun 14: Love your Burial Ground Week

Next Monday - Nature Photography Day, Beer Day Britain, Lobster Day, World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, Magna Carta Day and Smile Power Day

July 8 - Math 2.0 Day, Chocolate with Almonds Day and Scud Day

Week long celebrations:

Jul 6 - Jul 12: Great British Pea Week

The month in review - May 2020

The week ending May 1:

Monday - "If You’re Going to Grow a Quarantine Mustache, Listen Up" Words of wisdom.

Tuesday - "The reason Zoom calls drain your energy" Are you worn out after a day full of Zoom meetings?

Wednesday - "Could Time-Blocking Replace Your To-Do List?" What is time-blocking?

Thursday - "Why You Should Talk to Strangers #TBT" That's not what mama said.

The week ending May 8:

Monday - "The 4 Sport Coats of a Well-Rounded Wardrobe" From The Art of Manliness (where else?).

Tuesday - "Better late than never" Maybe.

Wednesday - "All the world’s a stage" Replays are still available every hour on the hour.

Thursday - "I have nothing for Throwback Thursday #TBT" Five years to choose from and nothing.

The week ending May 15:

Monday - "18 At-Home Date Ideas" This seemed timely.

Tuesday - "#WorldCocktailDay" More shelter-in-place fun!

Wednesday - "Yesterday was #NuttyFudgeDay" This is actually a post about how to get more engagement.

Thursday - "Beach Money #TBT" This is a very autobiographical post.

The week ending May 22:

Monday - "What Board Games Teach Us About Life" From The Art of Manliness.

Tuesday - "No blog post today" Oops.

Wednesday - "Who wants some fudge?" Another giveaway.

Thursday - "Duplication principles #TBT" From Jordan Adler, one of the Top 200 network marketers in the world!

The week ending May 29:

Monday - "#MemorialDay" A simple post in honor of the fallen.

Tuesday - "#MapReadingWeek" Fun with map and compass.

Wednesday - "#FudgeGiveaway" More fudge fun.

Thursday - "Custom branding #TBT" Interesting...all the blog posts this week have a hashtag in the title.

Interesting days in review

Your weekend guide to interesting days - May 2, 2020

Your weekend guide to interesting days - May 9. 2020

Your weekend guide to interesting days - May 16, 2020

Your weekend guide to interesting days - May 23, 2020

Your weekend guide to interesting days - May 30, 2020

Your weekend guide to interesting days - June 6, 2020

This week

Sunday - World Meditation Day, No Tobacco Day, Macaroon Day, Web Designer Day and Save Your Hearing Day

June will be Guitars On The Beach, Pride Month, Care For Your Grandparents Month, Audiobook Month, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Month, International Mud Month, Candy Month, Great Outdoors Month, Country Cooking Month, Soul Food Month, Iced Tea Month, Dairy Month and Camping Month

Monday - Say Something Nice Day, Thank God It’s Monday Day, Go Barefoot Day, World Milk Day, TableTop Day and Love Island Day

Tuesday - Rocky Road Day, Rotisserie Chicken Day and Leave The Office Earlier Day

Wednesday - World Bicycle Day, Running Day, Chocolate Macaroon Day, Insect Repellent Awareness Day, Repeat Day and Chimborazo Day

Thursday - Hug Your Cat Day, Corgi Day, Cognac Day, Old Maid’s Day and Tailors Day

Yesterday - Sausage Roll Day, Doughnut Day, Coworking Day, HIV Long-Term Survivors Day, Moonshine Day, Fish and Chip Day, Hot Air Balloon Day and World Environment Day

Today - Gardening Exercise Day, Caves and Karst Day, Trails Day, Applesauce Cake Day, Yo-Yo Day, Russian Language Day and Drive-In Movie Day

Week long celebrations:

May 25 - Jun 5: Italian Beef Week

Next week

Tomorrow - Cancer Survivors Day, VCR Day and Chocolate Ice Cream Day

Monday - Best Friends Day, World Oceans Day and Upsy Daisy Day

Tuesday - Rosé Day, Donald Duck Day and Call Your Doctor Day

Wednesday - Iced Tea Day and Ball Point Pen Day

Thursday - Yarn Bombing Day, Jerky Day, Farm Workers Day, Corn On The Cob Day and German Chocolate Cake Day

Friday - Superman Day, Red Rose Day, Flip-Flop Day, International Falafel Day, Peanut Butter Cookie Day and Loving Day

Saturday - World Gin Day, Sewing Machine Day, World Softball Day, International Axe Throwing Day and Worldwide Knit in Public Day

Week long celebrations:

Jun 8 - Jun 14: Love your Burial Ground Week

Next month

June 31 - There is no June 31

July will be Plastic Free July, Bank Account Bonus Month, World Watercolor Month, Sarcoma Awareness Month, Picnic Month, Cell Phone Courtesy Month, Independent Retailer Month, Horseradish Month and Ice Cream Month

July 1 - Joke Day, Gingersnap Day, Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day, International Reggae Day, Postal Worker Day, Zip Code Day, Second Half of the Year Day and Canada Day

July 2 - Anisette Day, World UFO Day and I Forgot Day

July 3 - Air Conditioning Appreciation Day, Eat Beans Day, Chocolate Wafer Day, Disobedience Day, International Plastic Bag Free Day, Compliment Your Mirror Day and Stay Out Of The Sun Day

July 4 - Hop A Park Day, Independence Day, Independence From Meat Day, Barbecue Day, Spareribs Day, Caesar Salad Day and Jackfruit Day

July 5 - Apple Turnover Day, Bikini Day, Mechanical Pencil Day and Build A Scarecrow Day

July 6 - International Kissing Day, Fried Chicken Day, Virtually Hug a Virtual Assistant Day, Umbrella Cover Day and Take Your Webmaster To Lunch Day

Week long celebrations:

Jul 6 - Jul 12: Great British Pea Week

The week in review - June 5, 2020

Monday - "Calendar mapping" I need to get started. "This is one of the topics in Darla DiGrandi-Aguilera's year-long course "Master the Art of Human Connections"

Tuesday - "How much does it cost to be kind?" Apparently $97 (plus tax). "Normally for $97 per month you can send unlimited heartfelt promptings cards anywhere in the world (including postage) but since ending racism is so important to the founder of SendOutCards, you can now include a 2 pack of brownies for free (shipping included) starting today at 8:00 MDT through the 8th."

Wednesday - "Millionaire Money Game" What am I going to do with all my money? "A trip around the world - this is a 111 day around the world cruise on Princess Cruises starting in either Ft. Lauderdale or Los Angeles."

Thursday - "Sleep Better - Day 2 #TBT" I think the title is pretty self explanatory. "Our bodies are wired for a siesta in the early afternoon...around 1 - 3 PM. If you can take a nap during that time, perfect!"

Interesting days

Today - Sausage Roll Day, Doughnut Day, Coworking Day, HIV Long-Term Survivors Day, Moonshine Day, Fish and Chip Day, Hot Air Balloon Day and World Environment Day

Tomorrow - Gardening Exercise Day, Caves and Karst Day, Trails Day, Applesauce Cake Day, Yo-Yo Day, Russian Language Day and Drive-In Movie Day

Week long celebrations:

May 25 - Jun 5: Italian Beef Week

Next Friday - Superman Day, Red Rose Day, Flip-Flop Day, International Falafel Day, Peanut Butter Cookie Day and Loving Day

Week long celebrations:

Jun 8 - Jun 14: Love your Burial Ground Week

July 5 - Apple Turnover Day, Bikini Day, Mechanical Pencil Day and Build A Scarecrow Day

Sleep Better - Day 2 #TBT

Today's blog post was originally published last year:

They got the problem fixed today, so here's part 2 of how to sleep better. If you haven't read part 1 yet, click here.

Again, there are 2 videos today...about 10 minutes each.

Video number 1 talks about alcohol and caffeine...two of the biggest sleep disruptors.

Alcohol is the most common "sleep aid" but it usually does more harm than good! Approximately 90% of Americans drink alcohol in one form or another and approximately 20% use it as a sleep aid every night!

You don't need to give up alcohol, but there are a couple of steps you need to take to make your alcohol consumption more sleep friendly.

1. Drink one glass of water for each alcoholic drink
2. For each drink that you have, you need to quit drinking one hour before bedtime

The water will keep you from getting dehydrated and will reduce some of the bad effects of the alcohol. Alcohol also disrupts your sleep cycles. Although you may fall asleep sooner with alcohol, your cycles will be off. You'll tend to have less REM sleep in the first half of the night and too much in the second half. So, if you have 2 drinks before bed, you need to stop 2 hours before your bedtime.

What about caffeine? I've written about caffeine before. Caffeine is the most widely abused drug in the world. There are a few things you can do to make your caffeine consumption a little more sleep friendly. First, try to reduce your overall caffeine consumption. Second, drink caffeine only between 90 minutes after you wake up and 2:00 PM, since the half life of caffeine is approximately 8 hours. Check out the blog post linked at the beginning of this paragraph to learn more.

In the second video, Dr. Breus talks about napping, sunlight and exercise.

As far as napping, it's ok for the most part...although it's not recommended for insomniacs. Or Dolphins. Our bodies are wired for a siesta in the early afternoon...around 1 - 3 PM. If you can take a nap during that time, perfect! Although, the duration of your nap is important. Either less than 25 minutes. Or 90 minutes. If your nap is less than 25 minutes long, then you won't enter deep sleep. You'll be able to wake up refreshed. If you want to sleep longer, then you'll need to sleep for an hour and a half, so that you can have a complete sleep cycle and again wake up refreshed. If you sleep more than 25 minutes, but less than 90, you'll wake up feeling worse than if you hadn't taken a nap.

Sunlight is the biggest regulator of our hormones. You should aim to get at least 15 minutes of sunlight within 30 minutes of waking up. Also, lunchtime sunlight will help wake you up if you're unable to nap in the afternoon.

Exercise is also highly important to improving your sleep. Exercise plays a few roles in improving your sleep. First, it reduces stress and anxiety, and reduces depression. It also increases your sleep drive...making you sleepier so you can fall asleep more quickly. It also increases the amount of deep sleep.

Day 1
Day 2

Day 3
Day 4 - 6
Day 7 - 8
Day 9 - 10

Interesting days

Today - Hug Your Cat Day, Corgi Day, Cognac Day, Old Maid’s Day and Tailors Day

Tomorrow - Sausage Roll Day, Doughnut Day, Coworking Day, HIV Long-Term Survivors Day, Moonshine Day, Fish and Chip Day, Hot Air Balloon Day and World Environment Day

Week long celebrations:

May 25 - Jun 5: Italian Beef Week

Next Thursday - Yarn Bombing Day, Jerky Day, Farm Workers Day, Corn On The Cob Day and German Chocolate Cake Day

Week long celebrations:

Jun 8 - Jun14: Love your Burial Ground Week

July 4 - Hop A Park Day Independence Day, Independence From Meat Day, Barbecue Day, Spareribs Day, Caesar Salad Day and Jackfruit Day