While Daring Greatly

When I started my first agency, we had a client I didn't love. He was a nice guy, and I liked his work, but I thought he was annoying and frustrating, and we ended up firing him as a client. The funny thing is, we probably shouldn't have.

I think I'm going to try out James Clear's morning routine. I read a Medium article on it here: https://medium.com/illumination/i-followed-james-clears-morning-routine-for-1-week-here-s-what-i-learned-1bd19f7c5e10 and thought it was really interesting.

James Clear's morning routine is pretty simple, though I can't do some of the items in it. It is:

1. Prepare for the next morning the day before

2. Don't set an alarm

3. Drink a glass of water

4. Write three things you are grateful for

5. Meditate for 2-minutes

6. Read 20 pages of a book

7. Do your most important thing first

8. Create when your creative energy is high

9. Don't check email until noon

10. Leave your phone away from you

11. Work in a cool space

12. Sit or stand, don't lay down while working

In this episode I talk about:

- On this stream I want to help people:

- get more focused and get more done

- navigate the inefficiencies of the professional world

- grow as a leader, team member, and professional

- enjoy life without getting lost in the black hole of work

- Who am I?

- Husband of 19 years

- Father of 5, almost 6 (someday)

- Serial Entrepreneur

- growing three companies now

- previous exit

- I've worked remotely for my entire career

- I've worked with young, talented teams and helped them grow as professionals

- Who I am not

- I'm not a self-promoting, self-proclaimed expert on all things

- I'm just a guy that obsesses about personal improvement and I want to share what I am learning.

- What do I want?

- I want to get better every day.

- I believe one of the best ways to learn is to teach what you are learning, this is my way of doing that.

- I'm on this journey, and I hope to take as many people with me as want to join.

- What will I be talking about?

- A few things on my list so far:

- How I plan priorities by the Month, Week, and Day

- The productivity apps I use and why

- Everyone should take notes in meetings - why and how

- How to time block to get things done

- How to avoid meetings the right way

- Creating a schedule that allows for maximum effectiveness, and works for your boss

- Using the Pomodoro Technique minimize distractions, get things done, and work less

- How to avoid toxic productivity

- Always bring value

- Create systems instead of goals

- 5 rules for sending a great email, and 3 times to break them

- 5 ways to improve remote work and collaboration today

- 3 things teams can do to move toward asynchronous work

- What do you want to hear about, or learn about?

There is one moment in my life when fear washed over me more powerfully than ever before. It was a phone call I will never forget.

If you know me at all, you know I have five (almost six), kids. You know  I wear hats and love to be around people. Right now, I’m writing this from my kitchen table, locked in a house with my wife and five kids, and loving it.

As the world has been on lock-down, I’ve been thinking about our time at  home. It’s a burden, but can it also be an opportunity? Sure, it’s an  opportunity to spend time with family, most of us got that on day one.  But, I wonder, is this an opportunity for more? 

We tend to think of facts like concrete, a solid foundation. They aren’t. Facts are fluid because our knowledge is always growing and expanding.

“Facts change all the time. Smoking has gone from doctor-recommended to deadly. We used to think the Earth was the center of the universe and that Pluto was a planet. For decades we were convinced that the brontosaurus was a real dinosaur.”

- The Half-Life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date by Samuel Arbesman

In high school, my small business teacher was an enigma. Before I met him, I noticed him. I would see him in the halls and immediately had assumptions about him. The often severe look on his face, combined with his fast walk and unflinching stare, always made him look serious, intimidating, and a bit scary. Then one summer, out of the blue, he called me at home. That call changed everything.

Recently I got the chance to sit in a talk given by David Abney, CEO of UPS. It was fantastic, and his perspective on leadership was inspiring. Here are some of the things I learned.

It's time to think about productivity tactics. These are the tools and approaches used to remain productive. Tactics will be different for every person, so I won't get into specifics. But, I think it's important to outline some categories to give us a framework for our thinking.

Today we are considering mindsets related to productivity. How we think about work and the beliefs we hold about getting things done will influence all we do. It's essential to examine our beliefs, test our thoughts, and decide what mindsets we want to live by, not accepting the mindsets that we have by default.

Yesterday we worked on creating our perfect week keeping in mind the things that are important to us, our goals, and what gives us energy.  Today we will be creating our perfect month and year.

Today I’m working on mapping out my perfect week. This will include my  morning and evening routines, as well as other routines that are important, like one to wrap up work, or start work.

Today I’m looking at my evening routine. I want to think about how much sleep I need and when I need to be in bed. I also want to consider the things that are important to me from Day 1 and the things that give me energy from Day 3 to see what I might incorporate.

Today I’m looking at my morning routine. Routines are the cornerstone of productivity. They are the operating system that allows you to get things done efficiently and consistently.

Today we talk about how to manage our energy to make sure we aren't getting drained. We will make two lists, listing out what gives us energy and what drains our energy.

Today I go over setting goals and my simple method for how to think about that. We will make sure our goals for the year, week and day all align, leading us to where we want to go.

Today I'm making a list of all the important things I want to do on a regular basis. This will include things like dates with my wife, important meetings, excersize, etc. Then, once I have a list, I'll put my items into categories to see where I want to spend my time.

Hi, I'm Adam and I'm obsessed with productivity. But, over the last few months, my life has been turned upside down and my productivity has suffered. So, I'm putting myself through this experiment to get back on track, and you can follow along, maybe even getting more productive as well!

Have you ever thought about running experiments on yourself to improve your life? I hadn't either, until now. Now I want to run two-week experiments to see how I can make minor improvements to my life and world. And, you can too.

My kid taught me that mean people are list withering trees. Best avoided and stuck in their place.