“Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” Mark Twain
This is the premise behind a great little productivity book, Eat That Frog! To quote, “Your ‘frog’ is is your biggest, most important task, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don’t do something about it. It is also the one task that can have the greatest positive impact on your life and results at the moment.”
What is your frog today? If it’s something small, consider eating that frog first thing this morning–you’ll feel better the rest of the day!
If it’s something more involved, try to break the task down (see Improve Your Productivity, Part 1 if you need help with that), then do one “Pomodoro” (25 minutes of focused, uninterrupted work–remember that from Improve Your Productivity, Part 2?).
If you’re feeling ambitious, Eat That Frog! is one of those books worth having on hand. It’s about $9 for paperback or Kindle download. It’s 120 pages long, has 21 practical tips to improve your productivity, and it’s motivating!
So quit spending your energy thinking about what you should be doing and Eat That Frog!
“Today was a good day.”
When is the last time you said that to yourself? Do you know why it was a good day? I’m not referring to a day on vacation or other special occasion–just a regular day that left you feeling satisfied and content.
If you can remember the last time you had that kind of day, ask yourself the following questions. See if you see put your finger on what constitutes a good day for you.
One caveat–the “good day” has to include your current life circumstances. For example, if you’ve lost your job, can you remember having a good day since you lost your job?
If you can’t remember when you last had a good day with your current life circumstances, Set a Realistic Goal for tomorrow (go the Easy route!), work on your Daily Rituals, then ask yourself these questions tomorrow evening. In general, look for themes that stand out as contributing to your sense of well being, then try to replicate that!
How did the day start?
- Did you wake up in a good mood, or did you have to work your way into it? (Do Sleep and Morning Rituals play a role?)
- How long did it take to transition to the productive part of your day?
- Was it a work day or leisure day?
- Whether work or leisure, did you have goals for what you wanted to do?
- Did you accomplish anything? Was it something large or a small series of tasks? (Leisure pursuits that involve a specific agenda or goal count here!)
- Were you active or sedentary?
- How did you manage your time?
- How much did you connect with other people vs spend time by yourself?
- Did you exercise or get outside?
- Were your activities quiet or stimulating?
- What was your eating like? Did you Have a Good Food Day?
- With whom did you spend time or otherwise connect? Equally important–was there someone you avoided today?
If you’ve been doing a Daily Accounting, hopefully you’re already learning what leads to a feeling of contentment and satisfaction at the end of your day!
I’ll end with one of my favorite quotes: “Today is gone. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one!” by Dr. Seuss
In previous posts, I’ve discussed many ways to manage stress, worries, and anxiety.
Today, I want you to learn to manage anxiety with visualization.
Visualization is similar to mental rehearsal, but visualization is based on imagery or metaphor as opposed to mental rehearsal of an actual event. Visualization is especially useful for intrusive thoughts–these are the thoughts and images that pop into your head and cause you distress.
Example of an intrusive thought–after a breakup, you have thoughts of your ex with someone else–an upsetting thought that does not need to rent space in your head. Here’s a simple exercise–like many things psychological, the premise is elegantly simple but the execution takes practice and discipline!
So try this mental imagery for intrusive thoughts:
You’re standing by a stream, watching the water flow by. On the surface of the water are many leaves, floating down the stream. No one leaf has any particular significance–they all just float by. The leaves represent the many random thoughts that flow through your mind in a day. Now visualize that your intrusive thought, or worry, is one of these leaves–watch it float past and disappear. There’s no need to focus on that one leaf–just let it float on by, out of your sight and out of your awareness.
Or, you may prefer the “chalkboard technique” (or “whiteboard,” either way!)–simply imagine that you’ve written the intrusive thought on a chalkboard, and visualize yourself erasing it.
This visualization tool is not to be used for worries and stressors that need to be problem-solved and dealt with, of course.
For those concerns, you may want to seek support in working through the challenges or use the focused problem-solving technique in Stop Worrying. But visualization is great for helping you mentally shift away from distressing, intrusive thoughts.
If you’re not currently struggling with any intrusive thoughts, good for you! You may want to practice visualization today with a negative or frustrating thought that pops into your head, just to get the hang of it. Then tuck this technique away in your tool kit for future reference.
If you need a refresher on managing anxiety and using relaxation techniques:
Get Moving, Part 3 (I hope by now you understand that exercise is one of the best things you can do to decrease anxiety!)
Identify Cognitive Distortions
What inspires you? If you read Jane McGonigal’s essay, Build Resilience by Wasting Time, you’ll recall that an important component of rehabilitating from her brain injury involved doing things that made her feel happy–things as simple as looking at cute animal pictures online. Feeling inspired is a close cousin to feeling happy–inspiration evokes a positive mood, but also tends to move us toward some sort of action to better ourselves. Of course, inspiration can be fleeting–it must be nurtured on a regular basis to take root. If you already know what inspires you, try to devote time to it today, or even better, every day over the next week. If you’re searching, here are a few ideas:
- Try to put yourself in environments and around people who inspire you–seems obvious, right? If you completed the exercise in Reexamine Your Commitments, did you find that you devote a reasonable amount of time to pursuits that allow (force?) you to grow and learn? How can you fit this into your regular schedule?
- For a quick dose of inspiration, check out www.values.com. This website is run by a non-profit whose sole task is to share inspirational stories, motivational quotes, and “inspire universally accepted values” such as character, perseverance, and kindness. They have no political or religious affiliation, don’t accept donations or request volunteers, and they ask only one thing–“Pass It On.” You can sign up to receive their daily quote, or just check out dailyshoring.com–their daily quote now appears on the blog!
What inspires you? Please share with other readers!
In Reexamine Your Commitments and Make a Commitment to Yourself, I encouraged you to consider your priorities and commitments.
Today, I want you to focus on daily priorities and how to stay (mostly) on track! Common barriers to staying on track with your daily goals:
- Unplanned demands on your time
- Underestimating the amount of time you need to complete a task
- Inefficient planning/organization of your day
- Poor productivity and/or avoidance
The good news is that becoming aware of your most common barriers is half the work!
Can you identify which barriers interfere most with your productivity and goals? Are the challenges different for the work/productive part of your day versus leisure/family time?
Chances are that a few extra minutes of planning & organization, either the night before or first thing in the morning, will help. And it’s ideal to allow time for unplanned demands on your time, especially if you have a work situation that requires flexibility and responding to immediate demands.
For today, plan your priorities for the day and track (mentally, or even better–on paper or with an app) your progress, barriers, etc. Tomorrow, when planning your day, consider the barriers you ran into today and think about how you can compensate. Considering the barriers to your productivity is a key step–don’t skip it!
For a great productivity app that adds a little humor, check out Carrot.
If you’re feeling motivated, consider brushing up on your time management techniques.
You already know that I like David Allen’s Getting Things Done for organization. I also recommend Stephen Covey’s work on planning, prioritizing, and organizing. If you’re not familiar, here are a few suggestions:
Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits, summarized by Business Insider
