Week of Productivity, Level 2

Check, please?
Another Week of Metacognition?  Check!  As I've discussed, I've been playing around with these Daily Mind Games to practice thinking in new ways, and hopefully make some improvements to how I think.  For me, it's been an interesting and challenging experiment.

Tell me: do the Daily Mind Games do it for you?  I know I have a smattering of readers out there, so please!  Give me some feedback. Do you like the format of the posts?  Too short, too long?  More posts, fewer posts?  Be honest - I can take it.  I think :)

I ask, because I fear the DMG-format may have run it's course.  For starters, It's actually very difficult to conceive of, and write up a game every day.  I do have a full-time job :)

In addition, many of these concepts are better thought of powerful habits, rather than isolated "games", although I do think it's important to focus.  In any case, I think I sometimes fail to get my point across when I just rattle off a game.  Instead, I may be better able to communicate with a pithy "article", complete with useful links and references to support my claims.

This Is For You

I'm going strong this week: pushing out the work like a man possessed.  Why? Cuz, I've got the skillz to pay the proverbial bills when it comes to conquering procrastination.  For starters, I'm focused on productivity, not procrastination, because that's what approach goals are all about.  Also, I'm treating work like a game to get into the zone, and reminding myself of the bigger picture to stay motivated.  Finally, I'm taking breaks and scheduling not-working because life would stink otherwise.  But all this has been about me, me, me.  If i'm really going to conquer procrastination, I need to make it about more than just me.

Do it for them.
That's right.  There's nothing more motivating than having someone to work hard for. It can be a child or a spouse, a mom or a brother.  It doesn't even have to be a family member: anyone you respect can be someone to work hard for.  Your boss.  Your mentor.  Your colleagues.

Today, increase your motivation by surrounding yourself with objects and images that remind you of the people who depend on you.  When you see their smiling faces, or the objects that remind you of them, you'll get back to work real quick.  Fo' sho.

Unschedule

Time to get this Week of Productivity, Level 2 back on track.  Previously, we played around with some Daily Mind Games that were designed to get our motivation up, get us in the zone, and make getting things done fun. Today, we're switching from overt productivity to a psychological trick to make ourselves work harder with less pain.  It's time to put ourselves first!

All work and no play...
When it comes to productivity, often the problem is that we're too hard on ourselves: we push ourselves too hard.  I do this all the time.  I think the answer to getting more out of myself is to keep pushing the pace.  Unfortunately, all that drive for more, more, more creates feelings of self-resentment, burn-out, and even fear.

Instead, when I schedule times for recovery, relaxation and reward, I am much more likely to work without resentment and burn-out.  Paradoxically, by putting pleasure first our work sessions will be more effective, because we can see a light at the end of the tunnel and can pick a more appropriate pace.

Kudos

A scheduled break.
My homunculus has been doing such a great job this week, I think he deserves a little reward.  First, the little fella got all positive about his goals for me.  Next, he became all excited when I made my to-do list into a game.  And, yesterday, he was all pumped up after I reminded him of what all the work was about.  Yes, Homunky has been cooperating, so I think a little treat is in order... After we get just a tiny bit more work done.

One of the more demoralizing aspects of most jobs is that it seems that the work is endless.  It just keeps coming with no end in sight!  Even thinking about that fact makes me squirm a little bit.  So, in order to avoid going all cra-cra it helps me to set scheduled work-bouts followed by a scheduled break, or some other reward, for a job-well-done.  Knowing that I have something to look forward to (in my case, some time to goof-off) makes me much more likely to stay focused.

Kudos

Task: Reward yourself for predetermined lengths of focused work.

Info: Depending on my level of motivation, I typically settle on either half-hour or hour-long bouts of work followed by 10-15min bouts of fun.  This strategy is most useful for tasks that are really hard to get started, like long, written documents.  When I promise myself a break after a certain amount of work, I'm much more likely to get started because I know the pain won't last forever!  The more nasty the task is, the shorter the work periods and the longer the break periods should be in order to overcome the inertia of getting started.  Finally, stick to your break schedule!  Even if you're in the zone, I'm of the opinion that working for longer that promised causes some amount of self-resentment.  Instead, take the scheduled break and make the next work-period a little longer.

Goal: Get started on an onerous task using a reward as a motivator.

Don't forget! If you subscribe to The Happy Homunculus by RSSemail, ortwitter, you'll stay up-to-date on all the Daily Mind Games!

To-do to Goal

Our to-do list as a game: it's a fun, mental trick to help us make it though a day of arduous tasks.  However, eventually, treating our tasks as a game is going to lose its luster.  Even the most fun games can become tiresome after time, especially once we've plateaued, because they seem arbitrary.  Once we "beat" the game, why continue to play without greater meaning?  So, we must layer on an additional trick of motivation to keep our work-day fresh.  Today let's give our to-do list purpose.

What's the goal?
A common problem I experience is that I often lose sight of the bigger picture when I'm trying to get stuff done.  I start to go through the motions, checking things off a list I made, without remembering the reason for an individual task.  My list becomes a generic "inbox", and once items make it into the list, I often just do them without giving it much thought.

However, this lack of "purpose" is a quick path to procrastination.  Why work without a reason? So, today, let's go through our list of things to do and link each element with a larger goal.  What goal does the task address?

To-do to Goal

Task: Assign a larger goal to each item on your to-do list.

Info: This is an easy DMG.  At the end of each task, in parenthesis, come up with some larger purpose or goal that is associated with the task.  For this exercise, the "bigger picture" the better.  You want to remind yourself of the reason you're doing something in the first place.  When I do this, I'm quickly motivated to push through and get to work, because now I have a reason to do so.

Goal: Increase motivation by giving your work purpose.

Don't forget! If you subscribe to The Happy Homunculus by RSS, email, or twitter, you'll stay up-to-date on all the Daily Mind Games!

Game Time

Yesterday, we discussed the merits of framing goals as approach goals.  In simple terms, we want to achieve something, not avoid something.  Avoiding stuff doesn't get us anywhere, we need to do something positive to make our lives meaningful.  In that spirit, today's Daily Mind Game is simple and fun.  It's about our to-do list, which normally isn't fun. But, today, we're going to approach our list as, well, as a series of approach goals.  As many as we can.... Before time runs out!

Approach

Approach.
OK, the good news is that my homunculus is on-board:  "Listen boss, no more procrastinating, you hear?  If you waste any more time, I'm going to get really cranky and that will be bad news for you."  However, the really bad news is that my homunculus is a terrible motivator.  Why?  Because he's framing our goal as an avoidance goal: something NOT to do.  Unfortunately, thinking about something, even in a negative way, is just giving the bad-thing too much of our valuable attention.  Time to re-frame the problem.

Goals can be thought of in two ways: avoidance (don't, stop, no) and approach (do, go, yes).  For example, I could say to myself: "Self, stop procrastinating."  I could also say: "Self, do one task today".  By framing goals as approach goals, we're much more likely to succeed because we are turning our attention to what we want to do.  In contrast, by thinking about what not to do, we are focusing on the very thing we're trying to avoid.  This is the trap of thought suppression in action: don't think about a pink elephant.

Approach

Task: Frame your productivity goals for today as approach goals.

Info: Bottom line: be nice to yourself.  You could say: "Don't procrastinate." But that's mean.  Instead, say: "Just complete that one nagging task and see how you feel."  Every time you find yourself thinking of a motivational issue in terms of avoidance, re-frame the problem in terms of approach.

Goal: Feel good about your goals for the day.

You may have noticed that I've added some advertisements to The Happy Homunculus.  Yes, I'm a sell out.  But, I also want to make some cash!  So, if you see an ad that's relevant to you, do me a favor and click, click, click!  

If clicking ads is distasteful to you, then maybe you'd like to check out The Procrastination Equation.  The book inspired all of this week's DMGs. Thanks :)

Week of Feedback

Give your monkey-brain a pat on the virtual back: some positive feedback for a job-well-done!  The Week of Feedback is over here at The Happy Homunculus, and we've done some good work getting (and receiving) feedback.  Getting feedback about our performance is a straight shot to awesomeness, so let's searching for criticism.  It's the fastest way to be amazing!

Friendly Feedback

Hmm, perhaps I should have dubbed this week the Week of Getting Feedback instead of the Week of Feedback.  I mean, all the Daily Mind Games this week have been dedicated to getting more information for, and about, ourselves.  Maybe my homunculus has a selfish streak or something, but I just love getting feedback, since it's all about me, me, me.  However, giving feedback is a critical skill too, and one I desperately need to improve.

Feedback Friend

You know what stinks?  Getting feedback.  You know what stinks more?  Working hard to get feedback.  While we know that feedback is good for our development and performance, it still stings to hear about how we could do better.  So, why make it worse by having to struggle to get valuable criticism?  Instead, let's use the buddy-system!

Physical Feedback

If you've been channeling an ostrich as your spirit animal, it's time for an upgrade.  How are we going to be more awesome if we just stick our head in the sand and pretend we're perfect?  I've got a newsflash for you Walter Cronkite, you won't.   That's why we've dedicated this whole week at The Happy Homunculus to getting ourselves some feedback.  However, while previous Daily Mind Games focused on verbal communication, today we're going all non-verbal on this feedback thing.  Say wha?

Tell Me About Myself

I just realized that seeking feedback is a very selfish thing.  As I've discussed before, the act of talking can be thought of as an act of charity: you are giving away your hard-earned experience for use by others.  In contrast, the act of listening is an exercise in selfishness: you are more likely to gain new information and expertise.  After simple listening, asking questions is even more selfish!  By asking questions, you can steer a conversation in a direction that is interesting or useful to you.  Today, we're going to take selfishness to a whole new level.

Question and Question

This week at The Happy Homunculus, it's all about feedback for us and our homunculi, and if we're ever going to get and use quality feedback to be awesome, then we need to work on a few mental-ninja-skillz.  Yesterday, we practiced not speaking and used our aural acumen as a first step to learning something new.  Today, we're going to take things a step further and prompt for more information: forget Q&A, today is all about Q&Q.

All Ears

Welcome back to The Happy Homunculus!  If you want to get better at anything, then this week of Daily Mind Games will scratch you right where you itch.  We're all about information this week.  Specifically, our goal is to collect information about ourselves.  Yes, the name of the game is feedback, and if we want to improve at life, then a Week of Feedback is what we need.

Week of Sleep

Week of Sleep? Check!
The Week of Sleep worked for me.  I'm being totally serious.  I followed my own good advice and was blown away by the results.  Setting up a relaxing, circadian-cycle-friendly nighttime ritual (and sticking to it) has wired my brain to sleep on command.  Now, when my old-person bed time rolls around, I start to get all blinky-eyed and fuzzy-headed instantaneously.  How about you?

Did you miss the Week of Sleep?  Do you want to take your sleep routine to the next level?  Here's the summary:

Week of Sleep

Day 1: Bed Time - Set the clock.
Day 2: Dim - Let there be dark.
Day 3: Bedtime Snack - The way to sleep is through the stomach.
Day 4: Low Flow - Do something.
Day 5: Passive - Do nothing.
Day 6: Bright - Re-Set the clock.

I don't know if you noticed this (I didn't and I wrote all the posts), but the bedtime routine we've developed seems like something that would work for putting a toddler to bed.  And, now that I think about it, that's a pretty smart way to approach our own sleep habits.  I mean, if this approach works for the creatures with the least amount of self-control (i.e. little kids), then it should work for our inner children too.  Or, should I say, our inner monkeys!

Next week, the Daily Mind Games are going to be paused while your humble author heads to an awesome, geeky conference.  While I'm away, I'd love to get some feedback about future Weeks of Metacognition.  What kinds of topics would you like to see?  I've been thinking about Weeks of: Feedback, Creativity, Interaction, Toughness, or Open-Mindedness.  If you have any preference, please let me know in the comments.  Also, if you have any ideas of your own, I'd love to hear them.  I would love some feedback from my readers about topics of interest.  So, please!  Where we should go from here?

Until then, here's some fun/interesting stuff that's come my way over the last week, enjoy!

Homunky's Hot Hits:

To start, here's a retelling of an allegory/experiment about learned anxiety that I've encountered before.  Does anyone know the source of this?  Is it a real experiment?

Next, we've talked about Flow a lot here at The Happy Homunculus, but here is a great Intro to Flow if you'd like a fresh point of view on the topic.  And, of course, if you haven't read the original, you should do it.  Click the link and buy the book to support Homunky!

As someone interested in improving my performance and, as part of that, my pain tolerance, here is a great summary linking meditation, mindfulness, and improved pain tolerance.  This seems to be totally in line with the Mindfulness, Acceptance, and Commitment model for peak human performance: avoiding negative emotions and sensations is the sign of a beginner, while accepting the negative consequences of a task allows full engagement and eventual mastery.

Finally, on a more serious note, HelpForDepression.com is running a fundraiser in support of the non-profit To Write Love On Her Arms, a group dedicated to improving the lives of people struggling with depression and other mental health challenges.  They would appreciate any form of support. Thanks!

Bright

Up and at 'em sunshine!  The Week of Sleep is almost complete - just one more Daily Mind Game and you've earned your black belt in sleep.  That's not a real thing, by the way. Sorry.  But don't fret, this final challenge has nothing to do with sleeping.  In fact, the goal for today is to become as "awake" as possible.  It's time to reset our clocks.