Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Tools and Keeping it Simple

Tags

Apps, KISS, Monday, motivation, Resistance, simplicity, Simplify, tasks, Techniques, Tools

Have you ever found yourself using an app or some other tool to add some efficiency to your day? What happens when you find out that the app or tool is much less efficient than you initially thought?

There are some great apps and tools out there to help us become more efficient at what we do. Calendars, to-do lists, time-tracking, you name it. But sometimes these apps cause more work for us. I used to use an app called Any.do. Initially, it was terrific. My tasks were laid out each day and I check them off as I go. Then, suddenly, the app stopped working with Chrome and I could only access my to-do list through my phone or iPad. You already know where this is going. I dropped the app.

Whenever a tool becomes more of a chore than the actual doing of a task, it’s time for that tool to be gone. Take some time to reevaluate the tools you use. Do you suffer from the same thing, but didn’t realize it? It’s easy to do.

Keeping things simple is another aspect of motivation. When things become too complex or difficult to deal with, we tend to shy away from the doing. We resist it. This resistance can cause us to procrastinate or avoid the task altogether. Whenever this occurs in my life, I simply look at what the task involves and begin picking it apart for smaller things to do. The key to tackling this resistance is simplification. Simply reduce the complexity and you’ll find like I have that the resistance dissipates.

Another way to simplify a task is to take some time to learn more. Each month I have a report I have to kick into my organization. This report is in an MS Excel format. I decided that I needed to relearn MS Excel so I could put together better charts, create a better presentation, and take less time putting these together. I simplified the task by learning the tool I was using. Yet another way to simplify what you are doing. Simple translates into less resistance.

Well, that’s it for today. I hope all of you have a terrific Monday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday –

Tags

Energy, Interest, Meaning, Monday, motivation, Overwhelm, Simple, Simplify, time

There are so many ways and tools to plan and work your day. I’ve used Todo, Toodledo, and Todoist. After my Todo app began crashing (Google wouldn’t allow me to visit their web-version of the app, I decided to digress to Google Docs, Calendar, and Sheets. For me, this was a god send.

There’s also the To-do list itself or the daily recurring tasks that I always have, so I stay focused on what I want to accomplish each day. My big four are Reading, Writing, Learning, and Spirituality. One area I also consider important, but not as much any more is Socializing. I used to include this in my daily to-dos, but have lost interest in Facebook, and many of the social platforms. I still wish my friends happy birthday, enjoy looking at the pictures my friends post, and such, but I enjoy interacting with the community here much more.

Recurring tasks and checklists are awesome. I use these all the time. The problem: I tend to keep adding things until my schedule is an absolute mess. So, today’s article is about simplifying.

If you open your calendar up and it is literally filled with things to do, appointments, and tasks, it can be quite overwhelming. The key to motivation is setting up your day so you can actually get something done and not be immediately overwhelmed by the very tools you chose to improve your productivity. Have you ever seen a colleague spend hours planning their next day to only not do anything on their list? Much of this has to do with what I’m talking about. In my opinion, it is much better to get a few things completed than a bunch of stuff not completed. So stick to simple. Don’t put more on your plate than you can handle. This is particularly important for those of you who still work. One of the biggest considerations all of us have to make is not just the time we have, but the energy we have. If you have a laundry list of stuff to do on your personal calendar after you’ve been working all day, it is highly likely you will blow most of it off. You just won’t have the energy to accomplish all of it.

I enjoy doing little things each day that build toward my goals. Reading is one of the things I enjoy doing each day. I only have to read one chapter to check it off of my list. Do I tend to read more than that? You bet, but I only have to read one chapter. All of my tasks are set up like this. There’s a minimal threshold I have to achieve each day to check items off of my list. Writing involves writing to my wife daily, blogging, working on my book, and my journaling (dreams, gratitude, and another section I started this year, where I record my spiritual experiences and other ah-ha moments). All of this writing typically takes about an hour. Sometimes more, but typically one hour or so. When I’m motivated, I’ll write longer.

I do this with every task I have. If I open my calendar up and feel overwhelm immediately, I know it’s time to simplify it again. Pay attention how you react to your calendar and your daily tasks. If you feel overwhelm or resistance to doing anything on the list, get it off. There’s no sense in having a task on your list that you either blow off or continue to avoid. Get it off the list.

Well, that’s all I have for today. Remember that motivation depends on meaning, interest, time, and energy. A task has to mean something to you for you to want to do it. You have to have interest in it. You have to have time to do it. And you have to have the energy reserves available to accomplish it.

Have a great Monday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Reframing

Tags

Exercise, Monday, motivation, Read, Reframe, Simplify, Socialize, Spiritualize, Stick to basics, To-do Lists, Write

One of the benefits of retirement is I have a lot of freedom to choose what to do today or tomorrow or throughout the week. One of the detriments of retirement is I have a lot of freedom to choose what to do today or tomorrow or throughout the week.

When my daily to-do list gets out of hand, I return to the basics. I reframe what I need to do each day. It simplifies things, makes it easy to get done my most important tasks, and reignites my motivation to get things done, because I have “less” to do.

My key things are: physical (exercise, eat right, sleep, water), mental (read, write, learn), social (stay in contact with friends, colleagues via phone or social media), and spiritual (journaling, reading, spiritual exercises).

Obviously, things will come up, but my daily to-dos focus on doing something in each of these areas consistently every day. Over time one can get a lot done!

If you have found your motivation waning, it may have to do with stacking your plate too high with too many things. Or it may involve trying to do too much. For those that still work, this is a recipe for disaster. Keep it simple. If you want to read, read a chapter or a few pages, whatever time permits. If you want to write, start a simple journal like a diary, dream journal or gratitude journal, or for those of us here, write something in your blog. I try to keep my blog entries to within a 200-300 word chunk if possible. I also try to keep the volume of my writing in my journal to this amount as well. If you want to exercise, do something simple like walking up and down stairs, some pushups, situps, air squats, or inclined pushups on the stairs. Spiritual things like prayer, meditation, and the like are up to you. Read a spiritual book, meditate, pray at some point in the day. I find this to be most important to schedule. Then I know I’ll get it done and not miss a day of this important aspect of my life. Socially, I stick to family. After retirement and moving back to Michigan, many of my daily contacts have reduced to a facebook posting or quick response here and there. I focus on family first, then others if time allows.

Reframing your to-do list is a simple practice of reducing things down to the basics. Read, write, socialize, and spiritualize. If you can reduce your daily to-dos (habits) down to their core, you’ll find it much easier to tackle the list and get things done.

My exercise this week, will be another change of pace. I’m sticking to home this week, because the weather has turned absolutely brutal (it’s in the single digits outside) and I enjoy staying indoors. So this week, it’ll be a focus on upper body, lower body, and cardio (each of these twice a week). Here is what it looks like:

Lower body (Monday and Thursday)

Upper body (Tuesday and Friday)

Cardio (Wednesday and Saturday)

I hope all of you have a great week!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – May in Michigan

Tags

Accomplishment, Goals, job, Mood, motivation, reduce, Resistance, Simplify, weather

May is a very strange month for weather. It will either be sunny, calm, and getting warmer, or it will rain, stay somewhat cold, and continue for the bulk of the month. If your mood is impacted by the weather, you are not alone. Many people suffer ill effects when there is less sunshine.

Regardless of your mood, you have a job to do. You have goals to achieve. You have the means and ability to do what is required. So get out there and get it done! You’ll feel great when you achieve what you set out to do, be it a day, a week, month, or year.

Feeling overwhelmed by it all? No problem. Break down some of the steps in your action plan to an even smaller degree. You’ll see that the smaller the task, the less resistance you’ll have in completing it. That’s the key. Reduce your resistance to something you have to do, so you can do it, without procrastination rearing its ugly head. Once you’ve gotten some momentum going with these smaller tasks, you will see how quickly these small tasks build to bigger accomplishments.

Have a great week, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Weekly Ramblings – Rituals

Tags

minimalism, Prioritize, rituals, Simplify

Hi all!

Sorry, I’ve been away for a while. I took a trip to visit with my brother in Phoenix and got to hang out with my sister for a few days. When I’m with family I spend time with them and avoid online activities for the most part, including this blog, to really enjoy my time with my friends and family without distraction.

I’ve made a few adjustments to my life this year that have proven to be tremendous. I’d like to share these with you. The first change was my journaling practice. Toward the end of last year, I had a gratitude journal, a dream journal, the 5-minute journal, and the Bestself journal. Journaling is awesome, but all of these separate journals became too complex and started eating away at the benefit of journaling itself. So, when things get too complex I simplify. I now have one journal, a simple, 6-dollar journal by Amazon that I use for everything. I use it for my gratitude 3 (morning and evening) where I write down three things I’m grateful for. I do an affirmation exercise writing out what “I AM” fifteen times. I also locate and write down a meaningful quote each day.

The second change was the calendar system I was using. I used to use the Bestself calendar and Google calendar. Again, this was too complex, duplicating my efforts, and causing me to update two different calendars. The solution: Simplify. I now only use Google Calendar to track my important appointments and events that I will attend.

The third change was social media. I was predominantly on LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter. Well, a week ago, I discovered my Twitter account had been hacked. I decided to dump all of my social media to save myself time, lower my stress levels, and just simplify my life. I’ll tell you something. I don’t miss this at all. My phone is actually a phone again. When I spend time with someone I spend time with them. I am not constantly checking my phone for the next update on one of these huge “time bandits” to see if someone liked one of my postings. I may revive Facebook at some point, but for now, social media is gone and I’m not going back in the near future.

The fourth change was in my workout routines. I love the gym. I love to exercise. I love the feeling of satisfaction you get when you complete your workout routine. I adjusted my workout routine to a 7-day schedule and work one body part per day. Back, Chest, Legs, Shoulders, Arms and forearms, and abs and lower back. Day 7 is a day off with cardio only. Right now I only do the strength training for each body part, but will slowly integrate cardio into these workouts as I begin this routine in earnest. I normally workout in my home during the months of December and January because of the bad weather we get in Michigan and because I don’t like to deal with the big crowds in the gym at the first of the year. By late February early March, the New Year’s resolution crowds are gone and the gym is a great haven for health and stress relief.

The last change is my pursuit of publishing a book. I’m currently in a Master’s degree program pursuing a degree in Education, with an emphasis in Special Education. I’ve discovered that it is just too much work to work on a book and try to negotiate a Master’s degree simultaneously. The solution: Simplify. I will finish the degree, then pick up my book writing afterward.

Now that you know all of the changes I’ve made, let’s take a look at my priorities this year. First, I always seek improvement in 4 areas of life. These areas are physical, intellectual, spiritual, and social.

Intellectual -I learn something new every day (I do this by my schooling and free courses I find online). Right now I’m taking a free course on the Constitution offered by Hillsdale College, located right here in my state of Michigan. I also read a lot of blog articles and other articles recommended by the app Pocket.

Physical – I eat right, get plenty of sleep, exercise daily, and use beneficial supplements, the primary one being a good multivitamin. I currently take Opti-men by ON (Optimal Nutrition). I have memberships at two gyms. Planet Fitness so I can go to the gym wherever I find myself; the second is Cutting Edge gym for my weight training.

Spiritual – I journal my dreams, my gratitude, and reflect on my day. I read my bible daily, and pray twice daily (am when I rise and pm before I go to bed). I try to contribute to others by doing a random act of kindness with no expectation of reward. (paying it forward at the drive-through, paying for someone’s groceries, being friendly to people, picking up a mess when I find it, or volunteer at a local food kitchen or something along these lines.

Social – When I spend time with friends and family, my phone is away or off. Since I dumped social media, my phone is rarely a distraction and I can really focus and pay attention to the people I am with. I’m still amazed at all of the people on their phones in a restaurant or other public place when they are with their loved ones. When people are gopping at their phones, it’s like their company isn’t even there. I also took note of all of the social media leaders out there who refuse to let their kids get on social media (big ah-ha for me). If the creators of all of these social media engines refuse to let their kids participate, how good is it for you and me?

So, simplification and minimalism are the watchwords for this year.

I hope some of these ideas help you. The key to all of this is simplicity. Look for the BIG things you can do daily that will contribute the most to you. Look for areas you are doing the same thing two or more times using different things, reexamine your social media, reexamine your priorities, and reset your schedule and rituals. You’ll find you’ll achieve more, you’ll feel better, and you will accomplish a lot more. Most importantly, the important people in your life will take a priority over your phone.

Take care of yourself.

Until next time…

Dave