SS01/01 | How to plan to take over the industry, while buying milk.
A shorticle on creating clarity in clutter.
If you find yourself in a similar situation like the thumbnail, you know how it feels to be spread too thin or just have too many distractions going on in order to achieve what you really intended to achieve, this might be of use to you.
As most of my content is from an entrepreneurial mindset (the daily struggles, innovations, failures, and successes that come with that lifestyle), the following content is applicable to anyone who has to manage or create stuff, it’s all about context and how you adapt it to your world.
✍🏽 | Context
Have you ever walked into your kitchen or living room and realized you’ve forgotten why you went there in the first place? Or started to work only to discover 2 hours later that you ended up doing something totally different and didn't even realize it...
If this is the case, you’ve fallen into an attention overload trap. This happens to the best of us. We try to cram too many things into our attentional space, the TV show that was playing in the background, random thoughts, the Weibo or IG page you just read, your shopping list, etc...
I'm starting to think in the near future attention disorders will be normalized.
So what will we talk about? In this edition, we'll be talking about intention and hyper-focused planning. We'll also cover a few key factors to consider when taking this approach.
I've also got a bonus announcement below, so stick around! 🎁
⏱ | Why it's about time, but also NOT about time
Our world is getting increasingly crowded and too many things are fighting for precious real-estate in our attention space, this holds especially true as a bootstrapping entrepreneur and someone operating in the Branding space.
This is why I don’t approach productivity from a time point of view anymore but from an intention point of view. Doing this has resulted in more freed-up time (ironically).
Approaching it from a time POV, if very much factory-style thinking.
Productivity is not about cramming more into our days but about doing the right thing in each moment and accomplishing it (intent and action).
We have to work with intention as much as possible, this is especially true when we have more to do than time within which to do it. It enables us to prioritize so we don’t overload our attentional space. Doing so also leaves us feeling calmer.
😏 | Size does matter
I’ve always been an advocate for structure, discipline, and systems thinking, so “productivity tools” have pretty much been essential in my entrepreneurial toolkit (current favorites: Goodnotes5, Moleskin Journey, and my own "Lemonade Chronicles Kit". The biggest secret about productivity and progress I learned, was how important it is to deeply care about why you want to become more productive.
No amount of tools will help you become more productive if you cannot muster the extra work you actually still have to put in. Working intentionally and purposefully throughout the day can make or break how productive you are. The tools are just supplementary. Just like protein powder on its own is not going to make you grow muscle.
You need to actually care about the changes you’re trying to make, else you won’t have the motivation to sustain these changes in the long term.
For me productivity is connected with so many things I value at a deep level: efficiency, meaning, control, discipline, growth, freedom, learning, staying organized. They are not just valuable on a personal level, but also valuable because they have a significant impact on my own work and the work I try to do for clients.
This is why switching off “autopilot mode” is so critical.
You need to be present and intentionally direct your attention toward the most important object of your choosing—and then sustaining that attention— this is the most consequential decision we will make throughout the day. We are what we pay attention to.
Not all tasks are created equal; there are certain tasks in your work that, for every minute you spend on them, let you accomplish more than your other tasks. Taking a step back from your work to identify your highest-impact tasks (sort of hyper-focusing) will let you invest your time, attention, and energy in the right things.
🤷🏽♀️ | So how to go about it?
I think the most straightforward way to measure productivity is to ask yourself a very simple question at the end of every day: Did I get done what I intended to?
If you find yourself answering “NO” more often than “YES”, you might need to rethink your approach to getting shit done.
The most overlooked simplicity is to not set yourself up for failure. If you’ve accomplished what you intended to do, and you were realistic and deliberate about the productivity goals you set, in my opinion, you are productive. For me, this works best when I strip all the non-essential crap out of my process.
That’s why some people think they tend to do their best work when they approach a deadline and have little time left to do what has to get done (*cough procrastinators). Because you have to strip away all non-essential tasks and distractions and go hyper-focused on what you intend to accomplish.
Now the trick is to create the routine of activating this mental model regardless of a time crunch.
All seems very common sense, right?
Unfortunately, you’d be surprised how ironically uncommon common sense is.
This is very similar behavior in client work as it is in being an entrepreneur in general. When someone consults or tells you something most of the time you are aware of its truth and think am I paying for this? Or does this person think he/she is more insightful than me? Or whatever.
The thing is when you know something to be true, doesn’t mean you’ll act on it—even though acting on what you know is exactly what you have to do in order to become more productive.
Intention without action is merely planning or wishful thinking.
This is where for most people being productive is a challenge.
🔌 | OK... So now how to put this into practice?
Everyone approaches this differently, but if you stuck around till this far, chances are you wanna hear my take on it.
I regularly design my own systems to improve my efficiency and productivity. One of my latest tools is the “Lemonade Chronicles”. A downloadable PDF that has all the instructions in it, so I won’t go into that. Stick around till the end and see how to collect your copy today.
Now let's get into the mechanics and how to approach it. 😉
If you’re merely looking at it as a to-do list in pdf format, you’re leaving productivity on the table.
Approach it like such and you’ll just focus on getting a bunch of stuff done and the dopamine hit you get after checking the “task complete box”. This is the problem with just using a generic to-do list for all things that have to get done.
You might need to put in work to get through that list (not questioning that), but you might be drowned out by the clutter and not focused on working smart on the best possible tasks to accomplish the high-value tasks.
So let’s take a different approach, which is to work smarter and more focused.
Sit down, and determine the highest-impact tasks in your work, project, or business, and deliberately work on those tasks.
Best is to narrow down your general work into smaller nodes (for us these are “Chronicles”).
These Chronicles represent narrowed down projects within your work to accomplish overall goals and objectives, they function as a junction between the overall big project or goal (whatever that might be) and the more narrowed down focus projects within.
What sounds more useful to you right now? Giving this approach a shot or spending time on the items that happened to fall onto your to-do list and magically seems to grow longer and longer and at the end, you forgot why they were there? Perhaps they were there just for the sake of being there (filling the list to create the illusion of being busy).
This style of planning (to-do list style) has a purpose, just not for what we’re trying to achieve here. Use that style for the less essential tasks, let’s say (context withheld) the type of tasks you could easily outsource if you had the chance.
“Productivity isn’t about doing more things—it’s about doing the right things.”
📓 | Is there an app for that?
The reasoning behind it being in a PDF format and not a web app or mobile app is because it defeats the purpose, and the likelihood that you will succeed if we did that.
Print it out and chronicle them in a binder per project or month or whatever floats your boat. Old-school is sometimes still effective. For me, I print them out for certain cases, but most of the time I use them on my iPad in Gooodnotes5 and edit there. I minimize distractions from these devices during focus bouts and this is vital.
There is no messenger app, social media, VPN on it, and I turn off email and other notifications on this device. It’s my productivity escape but still digital.
When planning/breaking down my projects with the Chronicles, I leave my phone aside. Do it outside with a coffee and afterward, you can go back into your digital hyper-connected chaos.
🤓 | How can I get it?
You can “Grab it” in the link below.
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