Ratcheting
It occurs to me that as a person with a high need for achievement, the most valuable type of achievements (to me) are the ones that "ratchet".
I was so excited when I finally got my degree in Engineering because I felt that I finally had something that no-one would be able to take away from me. No matter where I would go from that point forward, I would always be someone who held a degree in engineering.
I felt the same way when I finished my first book. I would never go back to being a person who had never published anything. I'd never again be someone who had never finished a significant self-driven project.
Over the past few months I've been working at completing my Professional Engineering application. I will need to work to maintain my status as a professional engineer for the rest of my life, but still... once I've got it, I've got it. It's a ratchet goal.
What ratchet goals are you striving for right now?
The Danger of Focus
Over the past few years, I've been putting a heavy emphasis on GTD. (For the purposes of this article, GTD ('Getting Things Done' means attacking large lists of tasks and completing them as efficiently as possible). This year, however, I'm trying to learn how to instead direct all of my energy into ONE project at a time and really pushing to expand my boundaries and abilities. I'm trying to knock myself out of a comfort zone and achieve a higher level of ability with my Work.
It's been going okay. I mean, it's been very hard, and draining, and I don't think I've progressed much, but I have been successfully putting a sincere effort into it. I do feel as if I'm actively climbing the right road, even if the road is super steep and I'm tripping a lot.
One thing I've been noticing, however, is that when I channel all of my energy into fighting the Resistance, my GTD efforts suffer. (In other words... I'm behind on a lot of mundane chores).
Motivation is an exhaustible resource.
When I put my all into a challenging creative project, I'm exhausted and unable to GTD. When I switch and put a ton of energy into GTD, I'm too exhausted to push myself creatively.
Making a standard webcomic update no longer scares me creatively, and so I'm not usually exhausting my scarce motivation resource. Now that I'm actively attacking the Resistance, I no longer have the energy to maintain my lists, keep my inbox clean, and stay on top of my chores.
This is a new level that I'm seeking and it's not something that's going to come instantaneously. I'll need to work to find balance because this is a looooooong big project and important aspects of my life will suffer if I continue to fail at keeping up with the mundane tasks that fill our days.
Tactics to Try:
1) GTD for one hour per day. In the past I've been trying to use the 'one hour' rule to chip away at creative efforts, and used the rest of my time to GTD. Now I've swapped: I spend about 4 hours in my evenings at this creative project, and almost no time at GTD. I need to make sure to spend at least one hour on my lists, maybe that will be enough. I worry that even an hour of GTD will exhaust me creatively, but hopefully it will work out. It's all about habits.
2) Alternate days: If the daily GTD hour doesn't afford me enough time/energy to keep up, I might try an alternate-days tactic. Mondays work on Big Thing. Tuesdays work on GTD. Wednesdays work on Big Thing. I have a few worries about this tactic: for one, I feel that the only way I've started to make progress on The Big Thing is by attacking it every single day. You can't schedule your muse: "Ok I'll see you Tuesday at 6pm." The muse shows up when it wants to, you just have to give it enough time. I worry that if I try this, I'll either lose my momentum on the Big Thing, or get so wrapped up in momentum that I'll fail to GTD on the days I'm supposed to!
3) Early riser GTD: I still think this is a good tactic but, brother, every time I even THINK about waking up earlier I fail SO HARD because of my sleep problems. Originally I was thinking of waking up earlier and working on The Big Thing but it TOTALLY wasn't working out. To make matters worse, I find that I've been putting out my best creative work between 10-1am. YEESH. Still, it might come down to 'do or die'.
I'll let you know how it goes.
On the Regrets of the Dying…
Came across this article on the regrets of the dying that I found very interesting. I don't think it was a revolution in my way of thinking, but it confirmed and rephrased a lot of things that I've been thinking about for awhile. I highly recommend you jump over there and read the article, I'll wait. (It's pretty short)
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More people, obsessive overachievers in particular, need to put a greater emphasis on happiness in their lives. This is something that I've been saying since the beginning of this blog: the goal is HAPPINESS.
I don't believe that happiness is rocket science...
- Pursue your dreams as best you can
- Live a life that is true to yourself, as opposed to what is "expected"
- Spend as much time as possible with your family and friends
(Easier said than done, of course- and my goal with this blog is to find ways to get everything else out of the way so we can achieve these things.)
One thing that was surprising to me was: "I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings." I don't entirely understand that yet, I need to think about it a bit longer, but here are some thoughts:
Our culture places a very high value on self-monitoring of emotions. We respect most the person who seems to 'have it all together' and keeps a calm, neutral face for every situation. We frown on people who give in to outbursts of anger or sadness, who speak their mind too plainly. As a result, I feel we devalue a lot of important emotions: passion for love and life, impulsiveness, and being mindful of joy, pain, grief, love... we don't want to give ourselves over to these emotions because it means relinquishing control of our societally-accepted face.
We don't like to lose control to our emotions.
And as a result, we are missing out on a true experience of life and the highs and lows that it can bring.
Courage does seem to play a big role here. Courage to not work as hard and spend time with family and friends instead. Courage to pursue dreams. Courage to express self more. Courage to let self be happier.
The Resistance wants us to swim with the school, blend in, and follow a list of checkboxes. That way "everything will be ok". When we fight that, we run into fear, and to face fear we need courage.
Is "ok" good enough to avoid deathbed regret?
Digitial File Optimization
Physical clutter is easy to spot. Keeping it under control is a challenge, but it feels so good when you have a clean environment.
What about digital clutter?
In a way, we're really not prepared to cope with digital clutter. Let's be honest... it's pretty new to us! Digital files, whether you have one or 1 million of them...take up the same physical space (to a point). It's difficult to find the right systems to manage them--it's not as simple as buying the right shelf or box. Even worse, in a way they're MORE difficult to part with. It's just a few more kB... what if I need this file someday?
Even if it doesn't affect us as much emotionally, DIGITAL clutter DIRECTLY affects our PRODUCTIVITY. How many file trees do you have to click through to find a file? How well does your search work?
THE GREAT COMPUTER CLEANUP OF TWENTY ELEVEN
It might surprise you to learn this, but my computer at home is a complete disaster. My computer at WORK is alright, but when I get home I spend all the time at the computer CREATING, I don't want to waste time to admin. As a result, the system that I have in place is... organic to put it gently. I have one folder that's a GIANT backup of my computer as it was in 2007. ANOTHER giant backup from how it was in 2002. My files are mixed up, duplicated, all over the place, and overall just clumped together in ONE BIG MESS.
The Phase One project for 2011 is OPTIMIZE and I decided it was DEFINITELY time to give this home PC the care it deserves. As I said, I don't have much time to work on it, but I want the time I have on it to be as efficient as humanly possible.
RECTIFYING THIS HORRIBLE SITUATION
1. Build your new computer in its own new folder. You're building a completely new structure that is ideal, and you'll do it by gradually transferring files from your "old computer" to your "new" one.
2. Start at the very top of your folder tree.
Go through your folders one by one, clearing them out completely. If the top folder has a sub-folder, first click on the top sub-folder. And if that folder has a sub-folder....... keep digging until you hit the bottom.
Look at every single file. What is this? BE LIBERAL WITH THE DELETE BUTTON.
- Is it an older version of something? - delete.
- Is it something that you were working on temporarily... a task that you needed to do for someone else but will probably never get asked about again? The form you needed to fill out in 2006? - delete.
Ask yourself honestly... is this something you care about? Can you re-create or re-acquire it if you absolutely need to?
3. Build a new tree
When you're building your perfect system, the key question to ask is NOT what IS this, but HOW AM I GOING TO LOOK FOR THIS IN THE FUTURE? Try to put yourself in the situation where you might be looking for this down the road. What is the SIMPLEST way to structure it?
The fewer the folders the better.
- I only tend to create a folder if there are enough files to cause me to scroll.
- Modern operating systems have some very powerful sorting mechanisms... why do you need to create folders for different date ranges and types when you can just SORT the files that way if you need to?
4. When you've finished cleaning out the folder...
....transfer everything to its home in "new computer", and delete the old folder. Get started on the next folder in line.
CLEANUP TIPS...
- Rip out the Zips
Zips are harder to search. Unzip everything and delete the original zip folder. Yeah, you're sacrificing some hard-drive space, but digging through a mountain of cryptically-named zip folders to find a particular file is NOT fun.
KEEP your CREATIONS and PHOTOS
- If you're a creator of anything, take my advice... save EVERYTHING you've created, and save it in the highest resolution/fidelity/quality you can manage.
IT'S ALL IN THE NAME
Make the filenames as DESCRIPTIVE as you HUMANLY CAN. Use codes to divide similar files that are slightly different. (I like to use "_big" (high res) "_web", "_thumb", "_draft"...) Don't use acronyms and weird naming shortcuts that you might forget in five years.
DELETE "COLLECTIONS" - LEVERAGE THE CLOUD
I'm definitely guilty of this... I get infatuated with a certain comic series or concept and I start saving every image I can find of it. But then... I can't actually remember a time when I went BACK to look through those folders. All of my time was spent looking for new pictures to add to the folder. Unless you're saving the images for a specific purpose... it's clutter and it should begone.
If you can remember enough about a funny image, you can probably find it faster in a google image search than digging through your folders. The rule for funny video clips is "if I can find it in better resolution in 20 seconds online, don't keep the file." I was very sad to part with certain clips that I've had forever, but it's for the best.
LET THERE BE TAGS
Something that I am quite bad at is tagging. Modern operating systems have a lot of integrated tagging for photos and music. But if you don't keep up with it (or build it at all) it a powerful built-in tool that is useless to you.
With tags: more is better. Think, again, of how you might possibly try to FIND this piece of data in the future rather than describing what it is. Are you going to remember "Manning Park", or are you trying to just find pictures of "trees"? (that was a trick question... use both tags 
STAY MOTIVATED!
Getting through a big folder a nice feeling... until you realize how many more folders you have to go through...
Remember: "It will be so nice when it's done". Keep your focus on the folder at hand, not how many folders you have to go. Set a timer and keep at it for at least fifteen minutes every day. You'll be surprised at the progress you can make like that!
BACKUP
When your computer is clean, you should set in place a good backup system. (Can you believe I didn't have one until now? I'm terrible!)
Some good backup ideas:
- On a portable external hard drive (in case your hard drive explodes)
- On a portable external hard drive in another location (in case your building explodes)
- On a "cloud" system like Carbonite or Dropbox or SugarSync (in case your province explodes)
- ALL OF THE ABOVE
Set a reminder on your calendar to do your backup periodically.
KEEPING IT CLEAN
Of course, keeping your file structure clean after cleaning it is almost as big a challenge! One thing that I've found helps is a "THIS MONTH" folder.
I have a folder on my desktop. By default, every download, everything I save or create, goes into this folder. Why? Because when I'm focused on research or creating, I don't necessarily want to interrupt my train of thought to carefully consider where the file should go. I just want to GET IT, WORK WITH IT, and be DONE.
By keeping a central location for all of my "working" files, I can easily find everything that I'm working on recently. At the end of every month, I go through the "this month" folder and decide: keep (and where to keep it) or delete?
I'd love to hear your computer-organization tips, I've got a lot to learn still! 
Keep Dreamin’
"Someday, I'll be able to make a living at this. Someday, I might finish that book. Someday, I'll get hired at there. Someday..."
"Yeah, right! Keep Dreamin'!"
It's often said sarcastically, but you should keep dreaming.
Without the dreams, we have nothing to strive for, nothing to pull us forward. Nothing to push us out of our comfort zone, or to act as our light when times are dark.
Why shouldn't we dream? Why should we be satisfied with the way things are? Dreams are free, dreams are easy. Obviously there's a whole lotta reality between you and that goal. It's cold, and it's hard and it's spiky.
But why stop dreaming? The dream is what will lift you up, will keep you trudging up the path, over obstacles and past nay-sayers. The dream is what enables you to achieve what most see as impossible.
If you keep dreaming, and the dream is strong enough to get you to keep moving, is it possible that one day you'll turn around and find it's a reality?
...keep dreamin'!
Book Response: The Kaizen Way
I was recently forced to read "the Kaizen Way" as part of a change management program at work.
As far as books that I'm forced to read go, I rather liked it. It made sense, I got something out of it, and most importantly: it was pretty short. If you can get it out of the library, I would recommend it. I got it on the company's dime, but had I shelled out cash for it I would have felt a bit jipped. If you took all the content it was little more than a series of blog posts... with big font, huge margins and a thick cover.
But it was an easy, quick read with good tips and a solid message.
Really the only thing I didn't like about this book was the name. ("Kaizen" is kind of a dorky name that never really made sense to me. It's over-fluffy.)
Here is the gist of the book:
Big things freak us out. They trigger our lizard brain, and make us want to run screaming in the opposite direction.
Instead of trying to take drastic, massive steps, try to take the SMALLEST step possible towards your goal. Steps that take thirty seconds, one minute. Steps that are SO easy you can't possibly make an excuse not to do it.
Honestly, some of the steps that it suggested were so minuscule that they seemed kind of pointless and ridiculous, but the book itself was conscious of this fact. They said that the process was actually about building a pain-threshold for things that you fear, getting yourself in the habit, and chipping the mountain away pebble by pebble.
I've started incorporating a little bit of this into my personal life. If I'm confronted with something I'm really not into doing (usually: cleaning or some other chore), I "Kaizen it to death". There's a cluttered table, but I'm not super into clearing it off right now, so I'm just going to take ONE thing off every time I pass by.
Also I've started this approach to my passion projects.
I'm exhausted by the time I get home. Sometimes the prospect of setting up to work on a huge scary project is just too much. Before I drift into a time trap (TV or internet eye-candy) and lose the whole night as a result, I resolve do to at least ONE small thing towards my goals.
Ask yourself: "What is one tiny thing I can do TODAY to make life better?" Even if it's as simple as adding just the profile photo to my Linked In profile, or deleting one file I don't need. Sending ONE email.
Start with small steps, but take them every day.
Kaizen it to death.
5 Ways to Fight the Blahs
We all fall prey to 'the blahs' sometimes. You know how it is:
You're not sick, you're wide awake (usually the middle of the afternoon), but you're bored and unable to get motivated to do much of ANYTHING. There's things that you should do, could do, might do, but you can't even get into procrastinating. You're not necessarily sad or depressed, just... uninspired.
When you're suffering from the blahs, it's easy to get sucked into passive timetraps like TV. You know you should get up. You know you should finish that thing or work on something or call so-and-so back... right after one more episode of Lost.
The blahs are one of the enemies between you and your goals. Here are five ways to fight:
1) Shut down your time traps.
Turn off the TV. Close distractions on your computer. Better yet: step away from the computer altogether for awhile. The first step to getting out is to make the choice to NOT get sucked into something. Even if you're just staring at a wall, that's better than being amused to death.
2) Get a pen and paper.
Put the pen on the paper. Move the pen. It doesn't matter whether you're writing or drawing or just making random marks. Making your hands move is the first step to getting your thoughts flowing. As thoughts flow, energy flows, and soon you will be moving again. (writing not your thing? As an alternative you can bounce a ball against a wall...not recommended for <800sqft apartments)
3) Go outside and explore. (ON FOOT)
Often I find that the blahs are a result of cabin fever. Find an excuse and a destination - it can be anywhere as long as it's farther than to the corner coffee shop and back. Stretch your eyes (focus on things at a distance), take the time to look and examine your surroundings. Investigate shops you've never taken the time to enter before. Take a bus somewhere random (the same bus will always be able to take you back).
Find somewhere new. It's stimulating, and a sure cure for the blahs... as long as you can get yourself motivated enough to get out the door!
4) Go see a friend, or just give them a call.
Is it too cold or rainy to get motivated to go outside? Seek stimulation from other people - just NOT on the internet!! The computer is a timetrap. If you can't get through, call a parent or grandparent. Trust me - they ALWAYS want to talk.
5) Don't fight it.
Sometimes the blahs are a sign of creative burnout. If you're an introvert, you may just need some alone time. Instead of forcing yourself back to the grindstone, take some time to creatively recharge. Get inspired - read or re-read an interesting book, lay back and listen to an audiobook or your favourite album.
Sometimes we just need a BREAK.
If you choose option 5, think of it as a sick day for your brain. You're proactively electing to lose one day to the blahs instead of a week to lackluster creativity. If you're in day 2 or 3 of the blahs, get off your butt and try some of those earlier tips!!
The blahs are no fun, get inspired and go kick some ass!
What do you NEED?
Have you ever felt guilty for being sad, even though you have so much?
Ever wonder why money never seems to be enough, even though, compared to many others in the world, you are wealthy? Have you tried to motivate yourself with some material reward, but you didn't end up getting anywhere? Why not?
There are many things that our bodies need.
The lizard brain (amygdala) deep inside us drives us to find food, safety, shelter and sex. When we need these things it is VERY hard to ignore. ("You won't like me when I'm HUNGRY!")
It feels selfish to be sad when these base needs are satisfied. We are so lucky just to be safe and fed.
But the mind itself also has needs.
- Companionship.
- Self-Worth.
- Challenge.
Needs don't exist in isolation, they exist in a HIERARCHY.
Hierarchy of Needs
Physiological > Safety > Social > Esteem > Self-Actualization
BASE NEEDS
Your CORE needs. If these needs are not met, nothing else really maters
- Phisiological Needs: Hunger, Thirst, Shelter, Sex
- Safety Needs: Security, Protection from physical and emotional harm
INTERMEDIATE NEEDS
Humans, for better or worse, are social creatures. Our mind craves human interaction, and if our social needs aren't met, it leads to deep feelings of unhappiness. It's an archetype we're all familiar with: the miserable millionaire without any true friends.
- Social Needs: Affection, belongingness, acceptance, friendship
HIGH LEVEL NEEDS
Even the luckiest people - those with wealth, family and wonderful friends, can start to feel unsatisfied. At this point, you start to spend a lot of time worrying about your 'purpose', lamenting wasted talents and missed opportunities. High level needs drive us to better ourselves, they are why we get such a charge out of learning something new, or achieving something that, on a fundamental level, may not matter (as in, it isn't directly keeping us alive and safe).
- Esteem Needs: Self-respect, autonomy, achievement, status, recognition
- Self-Actualization Needs: Growth, achieving one's potential, self-fulfillment
These needs do not necessarily go in order. More than one need may be working to motivate you at the same time.
The point is this: Unsatisfied needs motivate. Satisfied needs don't motivate.
This is why you don't feel satisfied, even when compared to so many others you are so, so lucky. I mean, you're sitting here in the 21st century reading my words on the internet! You're not out working in a field. You have electricity! You might be lucky enough to be loved, to have dear friends and a great family.
When all of these needs are wholly satisfied, you start searching for more.
What is my purpose in life?
Am I achieving my full potential?
I wish I could be recognized for my talents.
So what should you do?
- Take stock of what you have and be grateful- you really are lucky!
- Don't feel guilty for wanting more. You can't change your brain!
- Look at the needs that may not be fulfilled: a sense of belonging, self-respect, fulfilment. Are one of those intrinsic needs unfulfilled for you? Maybe that's where you need to look next to seek happiness.
- Set, review or adjust your goals: If you already have enough money to survive, but all of your goals are financial, this may be why you're not motivated to meet them, or why you still feel unhappy when you ARE meeting your goals. Reframe your goals in terms of what you really may need: make new friends, improve yourself, gain a new skill.
Seven OTHER Reasons to Get Healthy
WHY GET HEALTHY?
Okay okay, so we all know that being healthy is better than being unhealthy. There are lots of differing opinions on what exactly 'healthy' is, and there's disagreement on the best ways to get there. But hopefully we can agree: health is good. Health is important.
And yet, when it comes down to it-- getting to the gym (ah-GAIN), putting down that donut, quitting that destructive habit... we stall. We cave into the short-term benefit and lose out on the long-term goal.
Sometimes it seems that the "because being healthy is good for you" is not quite enough to make ourselves commit to enduring something mildly unpleasant. So I'd like to share with you some of my OTHER reasons to get healthy. It's silly, but these superficial reasons are sometimes much more motivating!
Your Secret Weapon Against Procrastination: a Count-Up Timer
Some people might say that using a timer is taking the term "Time Management" a bit too literally, but I've found my simple count-up timer to be an invaluable asset. Here's what you need, and five different ways you can use it to get a productivity boost.