Lifehacks (Mindhacks) - What is the cost of doing nothing? Hint: it's not nothing.

Over the weekend I was listening to Tim Pychyl's iProcastinate Podcast, and for a very short time during this podcast Dr. Pychyl and his guest talked about a way to improve follow through on goals.

We human beings are terrible at predicting the future. It's one of the reasons large long term goals are rarely completed. We overestimate our future abilities and mood. We put off what should be done now in preparation for the future. This procrastination causes disappointments in ourselves, and can lead to a vicious downward spiral.

I often do not wish to get things done now. I would much rather put it off later. For large goals it makes sense to write the goals down. Research shows writing your goals down and reviewing them will lead positive outcomes.

However, here is a hint on how to improve the odds of finishing your goals.
 Hopefully by performing this excersice you will give a boost to your willpower, overcome procrastination, and accomplish great things.

When you do not wish to follow through with an action, ask yourself two questions. Question 1: What is the positive outcome of me performing this activity? Question 2: What is the cost of doing nothing?

By asking yourself these questions we can begin to see past our human nature and see some of the true costs of not following through. Here are some examples.

I don't wish to go for my training run today.
1.) However, if I do run, I will feel better after (I never feel worse). I will feel happy that I accomplished something today. My fitness will improve. Future runs will be easier.
2.) The cost of not running are my fitness will not improve. I will be more likely to skip the next workout. I will not have base miles to perform up to my expectations in my next race.

If I want to give in and drink that soda.
1.) If I don't drink the soda, I will be proud of myself. I will be able to add another day of going soda free. The cravings of soda will decrease each day.
2.) If I give in, I will likely give in again. The cravings will return and I could backslide.

You can go on and on for every activity. You can come up with many pros and cons of performing the activity. By thinking about these two questions you become more likley to accomplish your goals. Better yet write down these pros and cons and put them in a place you can review them often.

 Your will strenghten your will to get better. It's not fail safe, and you will fail, but with practice it will get easier.

Hope this helps. See you tomorrow.

-P

Stuck in a rut? - Try changing your physical appearance.

In honor of my favorite hockey team,the Chicago Blackhawks (perhaps you heard of them?), I decided to jump on the bandwagon and not trim my beard or cut my hair for the duration of their time in the playoffs.

What that means is that I put off my annual ritual buzz cut for the summer. Until yesterday, that is, because my Hawks are now NHL champions! So, anyway, yesterday I shaved my beard and my head.

I shave my head every summer to institute a physical change in my appearance. The act of making a change in my apperance helps move me into summer mode.

In addition, when I shave my head, I look lighter and more athletic. The wind blowing through my hair makes me feel faster. Partially because of this physical change, I actually work out more and have more confidence.

So here's a suggestion. If you feel like you are in a rut or are not happy with your station in life, try making a physical change in your appearance. This change can alter your mood and increase your confidence, making your life change easier and longer lasting.

Want a different career? Try dressing and grooming yourself in the same way as someone with that career. Putting on glasses makes people feel smarter. Dressing up in ties and power suits makes people feel more confident.

This is the reason swimmers shave their heads. The physical drag reduction is minimal. Swimmer shaves because the swimmers "feel" faster, then believe they are faster, and finally they swim faster.

This is the reason job coaches tell their clients to dress up for even the most casual phone interviews. And they tell job hunters to always dress up as if they were going into the office even when performing their search.

Now, I am not saying you should spend money on plastic surgery or make drastic expensive changes. Even small changes can lead to large mental changes. If you want to make a life-change, try making a change in your appearence.

See you tomorrow.

-P

How to Be Succesful: Rewiring Your Brain to Be Happy in 5 Steps.

Yet another Life-Hack TED talk from Netflix. This one is Shawn Achor's talk about The Happy Secret to Better Work. Watch the video here:

Shawn's premise is this: You can't become happy by achieving success, but must instead be happy in order to achieve success. If you define happiness by your successes you will always push your definition of success one step higher, and therefor happiness will always be on the horizon. Instead, train yourself to become happy, and you will have an easier time at school, work and in your social life. This will lead to success.

This video hits hard for me. I've been know to be negative about the future, and Shawn is right if you base happiness on successes you will always be hunting for the next slightly bigger, slightly better success to hang your happiness on.

Shawn claims that you can rewire your brain by doing 5 things for at least 21 days. Here are those five things.

1. Write down three Gratitudes - Find three things that you are grateful for each day. Finding three new things each day will train your brain to find the positives in life. We often focus on the negatives; which lead to stress and disappointment.

2. Journal about good thing that happened to you in the past 24 hours. Once again, journaling will help you focus on the positive.

3. Exercise - Increases the efficiency of your circulatory and respiratory system which feed your brain all the nutrients and oxygen it needs. It also causes your brain to release positive feeling chemicals.

4. Meditate- In our go go go society it is important to train your brain to focus. Find a quiet space and do nothing for a short period of time. I have seen articles and talks suggest a minimum of 10 minutes. I will expand upon this in a future blog post.

5. Random Acts of Kindness - Each day write a letter or e-mail to someone in your social group praising them or letting them know how much they mean to you.

If you do this for at least 21 days Sahwn believes your brain will begin to adapt and feel happier, and a happy brain means increased motivation and activity. Give it a try.

PS: Even though my 30 days of creation challenge is done, I am going  to continue to blog once or twice a day for the duration of the summer. Tomorrow I will start two new challenges. Challenge one: 21 days of happiness (adapted from Mr. Achor's talk). Challenge two: 30 days of organization.

So, I will see you all tomorrow. Build those cathedrals.

-P

Five Deathbed Regrets... and why Gaming is Good.

I have been on a TED talk kick lately, as you can likely tell from previous blog posts. Currently I am working my way through the eight episode package about life hacking on Netflix.

 There is a talk by game designer Jane McGonigal who talks about why playing games will extend your life and the top five regrets that people have on their death bed. Here is the aticle Ms. McGonigal References: from the Guardian.

Here are the top five regrets people have on their death bed:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
Be a wolf not a dog.

2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard. This one is especially poignant as a new father. I need to make sure I keep doing it for her, but I also need to do it with her.

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings. This is especially hard for me. I am a work in progress.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. I think I really need to work on getting that weekly (biweekly game night going).

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier. Isn't that this whole point of the blog?

I was listening to Tim Pychylof iProcrastinate Podcast the other day, and he said something especially deep. He was asked about what he thinks about the concept of tomorrow in regards to people saying that they will "do it tomorrow." He responded, and I paraphrase, that always living in tomorrow is not the best idea. One of the only truths we have is that eventually, for all of us, there will come a day where there will be no tomorrow.

Let's not have regrets when that day comes.

-P

Day 29/30 Almost there!

Weighing future Outcomes? Reasons to Do Things That Suck- Life Hacking

Last week, as I was cheating and biting into a impulse-buy brownie, I thought to myself. "Self, this tastes so good now, but it will feel bad in a couple of hours. It's going to cause my stomach to be upset, my blood sugar to crash, and I will
feel cranky and tired soon." Then I ate it. Then I started thinking about how, unless I am at peak condition. "Man you really love the fact that you lifted or ran after the fact, but the whole time you are exercising you are complaining in your head how much it sucks." So here's what I did.

The "One Touch Rule" - Lifehacking

Happy Sunday. Back to the grind tomorrow.

I have been trying something lately, and it seems to be working. It is a habit in line with the "Do it Now" mantra.

It's called "The One Touch Rule". This rule applies to those tasks that are undertaken countless times during the week: email, snail mail, dishes, laundry, blog posts, etc. I can't take credit for coming up with this idea. I have read it in many self help books, I'm not sure who gets the props

If you don't know "The One Touch Rule", it goes like this.

1.  Before beginning a task: Decide if you have the time to complete the task properly.
2. If you have the time: Complete the task 100%.
3. If you do not have the time: Do not start the task until you have the time.

Completing tasks 100% might seem like  more time, but in reality you are saving time in the long run.

Example: You finish eating dinner. You scrape off your dish and put it in the sink. You leave the dish in the sink. You do something else. You return to the sink. You take the dish back out rinse it, and put it in the dishwasher.

Those are a lot of actions. Each time you change actions your brain wastes time deciding what to do next. In addition, leaving tasks unfinished puts stress on your mind and body. If you are anything like me, you run the risk of forgetting about the dish, and having to rinse the dish more thoroughly the second time around.

Instead, by following "The One Touch Rule" you scrape your dish, rinse it off, and place it in the dishwasher. You will not have the stress of an unfinished task, your brain will not waste as much time switching between tasks, and you've saved yourself a trip to and from the kitchen sink.

This might only save you a few seconds to a few minutes and you might be tempted to say, 'I'll get around to it later. It's not saving me that much time'. Remember though, you are following "The One Touch Rule" numerous times during the day. Added up, you can save yourself tens of minutes and mental stress you may not have known you had.

As an added bonus, each time you complete a task 100% your brain releases hormones that produce a pleasant effect; building your self esteem and motivation, and diminishing that nasty "I'm scared" excuse.

Keep up the awesome work. I'll see you tomorrow.

-P
Creativity Challenge: 11/30

Create a Launch Pad

So. I realized that I am really ADD. Like really. I can't focus. I forget things. I'm ADD. It's ticking me off how little I am getting done, because I am constantly chasing shinnies. I am at the point that I am so worried about it that I am actually going to the doctor to get diagnosed and checked out for the condition. Hopefully there will be strategies that I can put into place.

So I started checking out a bunch of books about ADD. One book suggested that I start a launch pad. A place where I can put things so I don't forget them on my way out the door.

Here is what my launchpad consists of:
A 2.99  snap case - where I put my wallet and my keys as soon as I walk in the door.
A 4.00 on sale carry case. (It's actually a scrapbook case- see through). I use this to bring things with me in my car, so they are all in one place and I can see through the case to know what I have to do. This way the things keep clean and they don't get lost.
A 6.00 laundry basket- So I can hide it when guests come.
In the basket I put the two cases.

I also add to the basket:
2 pairs of gloves - one running one driving.
a knit hat for running and housework
my water bottle
my lunch bag
some tupperware

So far it is working. It's been a week and I havent lost my keys! So much time gained in the morning!

-P