Productivity 1.0

Mont Vert Walking Track 1 git

Productivity and Time Management for the Overwhelmed - Josh Paulsen

This is Magic. I am able to recollect the entire course in < 5 minutes. Thanks to Memory Palace and Jonathan Levi. I will always be greatful to you.

Ramp - Fear

Fear and Our Brain’s Default Setting

If I had to pick the number one silent killer of our productivity and the biggest thing that holds people back from being as productive as they can possibly be, that would be your own brain and its desire to keep you safe.

Now, all of us struggle with procrastination from time to time. In fact, in many cases, our procrastination is simply a symptom of fear, whether it be fear of failure, being concerned we won’t live up to expectations or produce good enough work, or even if it’s just a task that’s outside of our comfort zone, we’ll rationalize reason after reason.

But it’s not just physical harm that your brain is trying to protect you from. It’s also emotional harm.

But because our brain doesn’t distinguish the difference between physical or emotional harm, it wants to avoid both.

Courage is not the absence of fear. It’s the willingness to act in spite of fear.

Dance Fear - Forgetting Steps, Taking a lot of time to learn, Upset when girl says no.

Practise and Make a Routine for different dance forms.

AWS Exam Fear - Device a System, that will help you learn and remember things. To begin with, memory palace and association looks great options.

Let this be 1st thing that you want to do daily.

Canada Fear - There is nothing much you can do about it. Keep doing proper follow up and thats all for now.

Seating Arc - Overwhelm

Overwhelm - How it holds you back and how you can beat it

Now, here’s the thing. When your brain gets overwhelmed, it’s kind of like a breaker being shut off. Your brain just completely shuts down. Now, I hear this from my clients and my students all the time. They’re overwhelmed and they don’t even know where to start. And in many cases, when this happens, they freeze, it paralyzes them and they’re just stuck in the mud. But the problem is those tasks don’t go away. That only makes the problem worse. I do have some good news for you. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. You see, overwhelm really is subjective. It’s much more of an emotion that it is a reality. With the right system or structure in place, you can manage just about anything that comes your way. Please don’t leave this lecture without really internalizing this fact. With the right system or structure in place, you can manage just about anything that comes your way.

The first thing you’ve got to do when you get overwhelmed is to get all those thoughts out of your head.

And once you’ve got it on paper, you can then start to organize it and create a plan

Soft Skill Courses - So many and which one to do. Whatever comes to mind, write it down.

Technical Course - So many and which one to do. Whatever comes to mind, write it down.

ToDo - Endless List, what to do what not to do. Whatever comes to mind, write it down.

Daily Activities - So many of them. Make exhaustive list of everything.

Soil/Earth - Plan

Failing To Plan

The first thing that planning is going to do for you is provide clarity now, planning forces you to get clear on what it is you actually want to accomplish. It allows you to really decide how to invest your time and what your most important tasks are. Now, as silly as this sounds, many don’t even know. And it sounds simple, I know, but I can’t tell you how often when I sit down to write out the three most important tasks that I want to accomplish that day, how frequently I pause and have to really give it some serious thought. This is a really critical first step. Another key benefit of having a plan is the locks you in. And once you lock in to your priorities of the day, it’s really going to help you lock out all the distractions and all the things that pop up along the way. They can get you sidetracked. And lastly, a plan creates great subconscious accountability. When you’ve got a system and you’ve got a plan and you actually write out what your top priorities are for the day, I’m telling you, it will nag at you until you get it done. And I’ve found that this will at least double your chance of actually completing that task if you commit to it in writing. Please don’t underestimate the power behind this particular advantage, because be honest, we all love Crosson. Those things off our To-Do list. Now, if you don’t consistently plan your week and plan your day and you’re not doing that already, your job is to start planning your day and planning your week before the end of this course, I’m going to get into more depth and walk through this in more detail in future lectures. But like Benjamin Franklin said, failure to plan is planning to fail.

Soft Skill Courses - So many and which one to do !

Follow the plan on Notion.

Technical Course - So many and which one to do !

ToDo - Endless List, what to do what not to do !

Daily Activities - So many of them !

Vehilce Mirror - Perfect

Waiting for Things to Be Perfect

Our next silent killer of productivity is waiting for things to be perfect, you see, unproductive people are great at waiting for the time to be right. They’re great at waiting until they feel like it, waiting until they’re in the mood to get started. The door of opportunity is right there for them to walk through it, but they’re waiting for it to open now. Rarely does the perfect time ever come. So let’s take a look at our rocket right here. Now, with the rocket such as this one, there’s something called escape velocity. Now, a rocket must reach a speed of about seven miles per second to escape the earth’s pull of gravity. But almost all of that energy is needed at the beginning when a rocket first launches. You and I are no different. But the good news is that objects in motion tend to stay in motion and all you need to do to get started is to get started and the rest will usually take care of itself.

On the dance floor, you will never be prefect. Enjoy the journey, not destination.

Tree - Multi-Tasking

The Myth of Multi-Tasking

So this next silent killer of productivity might surprise you is multitasking

We’re only able to actually focus deeply on one task at a time. In fact, according to one researcher, instead of making you more productive, multitasking can actually double the amount of time it takes you to complete a specific task while also potentially doubling your mistakes. That’s a pretty significant mental cost. And to make matters worse, when you get distracted. It takes you almost 15 minutes on average to get fully back in the flow

ou’ve got to turn that phone off, shut off your email alerts and put everything else aside. And just by focusing on your most important task, first, by blocking off that time, specifically where all you focus on is that critical task, you’ll see huge results

path of diminishing returns

Mobile is a big distractor. Follow 1 hour strategy

Fence Wall - Fake Breaks !

Time Leaks & Fake Breaks

I am sitting on the Fence Wall, and taking Fake Breaks

Your brain and your body does need time to rejuvenate and needs breaks in order to perform this optimal level. But these types of activities, surfing the web, checking your email, looking at your Facebook page, these are fake breaks. They don’t actually reset your willpower, reset your focus or help you increase your energy. They’re actually making it worse now

Fence Railing - Emotional !

Poor Emotional and Energy Managment / EE

If you are sitting on Fence Railing, it has to be power pose

Amy Cuddy is a social psychologist and professor at Harvard Business School, delivered a great TED talk that shows the power of influence we have on ourselves and specifically regarding the way that we use our own body. In her studies, she put participants into high powered poses or low power poses for just two minutes now. You’ll see over here on the left, we’ve got our high power poses. This one right here has been dubbed the Wonder Woman Pose. But in each one of these scenarios, you’ll see that they’re making their body wide and or expanding their stance, and over here on the right hand side, you’re going to see low power poses. They’re making themselves small or closing their body language. And after just two minutes, they test the participants hormone levels to see if it had any effect. And quite frankly, I found the findings astounding. Now, those who struck the high power pose, so a 20 percent increase in testosterone and a 25 percent decrease in cortisol, cortisol being a hormone most times associated with stress and those that spent two minutes in the low power poses saw a 10 percent decrease in testosterone and a 15 percent increase in cortisol

Speed Limit - Email

One of the biggest Silent Killers of Productivity

Visitor Parking - Time Managment

L Shape - Time Managment V/s Self Management (Small L V/s Big L).

And whether we like it or not, each minute is only made up 60 seconds and each week one hundred and sixty eight hours. And those are going to pass us by at the same speed no matter what we do. And in reality, when we’re talking about time management, what we really should be talking about is self-management, because the one and only thing that we have one hundred percent total control over is what we do and how we manage that time. Now, my suggestion is don’t wish you had more time. Instead, wish you had better self-management, better systems, better tactics, better habits, and probably most importantly, better execution on the stuff that you already know how to do and actually put it in a play which you already know you should be doing but aren’t doing. These are the things that really make a difference. And these are the things that you have. One hundred percent total control over time. If you don’t know how to manage yourself, if you don’t know how to set up and actually consistently use the right systems, it wouldn’t matter if you could make more time up here. You wouldn’t be able to fully take advantage of that extra time. So I’m going to encourage you right from the start to instill a new belief. And it’s not about time management. It’s about self management and making the most of the time that you already have. Because if you do make the most of that time that you already do have, you’re going to double and triple the results that you’re getting now.

Start using in-door cycle and rowing machine, while watching movies

Overhead Park Fencing / Railing - Spending Time

Spending Time vs Investing Time. A big clock hanging, and time is ticking.

Now, one of the biggest mistakes, I think unhappy, broke and unsuccessful people make is in thinking short term versus long term when making decisions.

And most people, myself included in the past, is typically focused on how they’re spending their time each day instead of focusing on how they’re investing their time

And there’s a huge difference now when most people think of time management productivity, it’s in regards to getting the maximum number of things done in a day, a week or a year. But I’m going to encourage you to look at it from another perspective. When you invest in something, you hope that will give you a return that’s greater than what you invested. For example, if you put five dollars into a stock, you hope to get much more than that, five dollars over time. And I encourage you to look at time the exact same way. Spending your time is about getting things done, investing your time is about setting up systems and delegating tasks that will literally save you hours and create new hours in the future.

Now, many people won’t take the time to train someone else to do that task or automate that task because it usually requires more effort in the short run.

Many of the people that I speak with, a lot of them have trouble delegating and letting go. But once you understand the difference between spending your time and getting more time back in the future by investing your time, it becomes a real game changer.

So focus more on time investing activities that will pay you back each and every single day and are going to make you more and more productive.

Identify tasks where there is scope for investing time

Speed Breaker - Sleep

The Importance of Sleep to Your Productivity

According to the University of Pennsylvania, if you get six hours of sleep per night for two weeks straight, which is a little less probably than you need, your mental and physical performance declines at the same level as if you stayed awake for 48 hours straight.

Another solution can be to take what I call a power nap. And most sleep research will suggest to keep it to less than 30 minutes to keep it from interfering with your normal sleep schedules and circadian rhythms. Even something as small as a 20 minute nap has been proven to improve your memory

Let power nap be power nap

Gas Bank Door - Water

The Healthiest Energy Drink That Most of Us Have Access to For Free!

When your brain is fully hydrated, you think faster, you’re more focused, you have more creativity and more clarity. But most importantly, you’d be more productive. While your brain only makes up about three percent of your body mass, it actually uses up to 20 percent of the water and nutrients that you take in. And just like with sleep deprivation that we just got done talking about, even small amounts of dehydration can lead to big effects. Just one percent of dehydration can lead to a five percent cognitive decline

If you’re not sleep deprived and you don’t have as much energy as normal usually is because of dehydration. Start with water and nine times out of ten, that’s going to solve the problem. So I’m going to encourage you to drink water early, drink water often and stay hydrated. You’ll notice the difference and I promise you’ll thank me later

Gas Bank Fire Extinguiser - Energy, Mood, Emotional

Mastering Your Energy, Mood & Emotional State

You’ve got two choices. You can direct your attention to those things that are going well, things that are great in your life, things that are where you want them to be, and things that are within your control. And when you do that, how do you feel? You might feel a sense of gratitude, hope, appreciation and progress. But what if you instead choose to focus on what’s missing in your life, what’s going wrong, and focusing on all the things that maybe you’re going wrong in that are missing, that you can’t even control in that instance, how do you feel

The tough part is that most of our thoughts and behaviors are habits, the things that we do and thoughts that we think over and over again without even really giving it any conscious thought. So over time, you’ve developed automatic patterns and you habitually lean towards thinking one way or the other

Another major contributor to your mood is how you’re using your body at any given moment. As I mentioned in that earlier lecture, studies have shown that something as simple as how you use your body posture and have a hormonal effect specifically as it relates to testosterone and cortisol

Gas Bank Window - Will Power

How Will Power Really Works - I can sticker all over the window

Lover’s Point - Knowing and Doing

Knowing and Doing Are Completely Different Things

Give me a mediocre idea that’s flawlessly executed and I will win every single time over a genius idea that never gets off the ground. Now, most people love to put their focus on the latest and greatest thing, the new idea, the sexy idea. But those that execute the fundamentals actually get the best results

Now, I’m sure you’ve heard the term knowledge is power, but I disagree. I don’t think knowledge really is power. I truly believe that knowledge is potential power, potential power, but only power, if actually acted upon and used that real power comes from its application or execution because without action, there’s no results

Basketball Board - The Warren Buffet Productivity Secret

I think one of the best ways to get better results is to model with the ultra successful people do sustain success is never one hundred percent luck. That just happens to people. Those who are really successful always leave a trail of clues. They simply approach things differently than the rest of us. Now, I mentioned Warren Buffett in a previous lecture and in a previous section, but I want to come back to him one more time. And just as a reminder, he’s worth more than 60 billion dollars, and that’s with a B and as one of the most successful investors of all time. So what’s his secret? His secret is simply saying, no. This is a quote from Mr. Buffett. The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything is sounds too simple, doesn’t it? I mean, we can all pronounce the word no. We all know how to say it, but just about all of us don’t say it enough. Maybe you’re a people pleaser and you want to help others. Or maybe you’re ambitious and want to tackle it all. Or maybe you’re like my wife and you just have foma fear of missing out. Either way, if you’re overwhelmed, this is the place to start. Scott Densmore wrote a great article about a story that he was told to by a friend of his. His friend was a pilot for Warren Buffett at the time. And one day Warren went up to his pilot and jokingly said, the fact that you’re still working for me tells me I’m not doing my job. You should be out there going after more of your goals and dreams were and then asked the pilot to make a list of his top twenty five priorities or goals just to write them all down on a piece of paper. So I threw out a couple of examples right here on this slide to mimic a little bit of what the pilot went through to jot down some of the top priorities and goals that he might have had once the list was complete.

Warren asked the pilot to review the list and circled the top five that were most important. And those top five, that would make the biggest impact, the ones that he prioritized over everything else. And he insisted he could choose only five

So let’s say, for example, that these were the five. That he chose to enroll in school, you know, maybe take the family to Disney World, see lose 20 pounds and create a website. And moved to Texas, who doesn’t want to move to Texas now after these top five were selected, Warren asked him to create a plan for accomplishing all five.

There’s nothing earth shattering in this yet, right? Pretty standard stuff. But after they went on to discuss how he was going to accomplish the top five items, Buffett asked the pilot what he planned to do with the remaining 20 items. What are your plans for those? The pilot said, well, those 20 are a close second to my top five, and they’re still very important to me. So I’ll work on them intermittently as I have time while I’m working on my top five items. Wrong answer. Warren said that those other 20 items are now his avoid at all costs list. No matter what, those things get absolutely no attention until he’d succeeded with the other five.

Now that right there is the magic, the power of focus and saying no and you will hear all the really successful people talk about it. Now, many of us have a to do list, but how many of us have a not to do list? Think about the difference in clarity and focus when you have tunnel vision on your top priorities and nothing else, and this is critical not only for your goals, but for your daily activities as well, potential distractions will only increase with new technology. And as you become more and more successful, those are never going to go away. You will need to become more and more successful and skilled as saying no. So you might as well start exercising that muscle now. So let me ask you. What’s in your top five? I encourage you to perform the exact same exercise using the page and the resources, write down and just get it all on paper, your top twenty five goals and dreams and really sit down and circle the top five. The most critical five is going to give you 80 percent of your results and take you where you want to go.

  • I want to improve my DANCE / I want to take my dance to next level.
    • Make a plan
      • Work on your body stiffness. Do Proper Stretching / Yoga daily.
      • Daily 30 minutes without fail for dance.
      • Don’t take up any dance form randomly. Plan what you want to do for the day.
      • Start going to Socials
      • Make a routine / Append to the existing routine. Try that routine with every possible dancer on dance floor.
      • Create a dance book.
    • Udemy Course on dance for Shuffle
    • Udemy Salsa
    • Udemy Kizomba
  • I want to do certification (AWS, TOGAF)
  • I want to have good physique
    • Work on weak spots
    • Yoga, Stretching and Weight training. Make a detailed plan
    • Find out good course on body building on Udemy
  • I want to do 1 soft skill course every 1 Month (including Memory Palace)
    • This is highly likely and doable. Go for it.
  • I want to have very sharp and good memory
  • I want to increase my salary by 50%
    • This cannot be goal. It will be offshoot of number of things that you would do (Certification, Job Change, OnSite etc.)
  • I want to travel abroad
    • Patience is the game
  • I want to be able to finish one book every month
    • For now let this wait for Udemy / Pluralsight courses. I am doing very well there.
  • I want to have some good friends / relationships
  • I want to learn one good video editing tool
  • I want to get over my fears and procrastination
  • I want to become cool / bold / fearsome / dude
  • I want to build a bigger social and professional circle
  • I want to learn JIRA

Basketball Board Ring - The First and Most Technique

Start your day with focused effort on your most important, highest value and highest impact activity. Now, here’s a way you might go about figuring out what that task is, and you can ask yourself what is the one thing that if you accomplished it today, would make your day a success and would make everything else that follows easier

Basketball Board Pole Support - Your Productivity Secret Weapon

The biggest challenges with many of these tasks is that they lack a deadline

Basketball Court Inner Circle - Parkinson’s Law

Using Parkinson’s Law to Your Advantage

I highly encourage you to challenge yourself with aggressive deadlines, to really take your productivity to the next level

Basketball Court Outer Circle - Themes

How to Use Daily Themes to Enhance Your Productivity

He gives each day of the week a theme so that he can assure that he’s not just putting out fires all day and working only on the urgent tasks, but he’s working on those things that will really have an impact on the results of both companies

Now, this strategy helps you be intentional on what you’re focusing on, but also utilizes the power of batching activities. Batching is simply a type of time management strategy that groups similar tasks that require similar resources together in order to streamline their completion in the most efficient way possible. Now, batching or using theme days minimizes distraction because it keeps your focus narrow. You’re only focused on one item or theme at a time. It also allows you to get into the flow much more easily and be efficient with your resources.

Harvard Business Review, Peter Bregman notes that our productivity goes down by 40 percent when we try to focus on several things at once. In addition to batching, setting a theme to your day really allows you to make sure that you’re putting in enough time on the important high value activities that are really going to give you your best results.

Basketball Court Center - Resurrecting Your Dead Time

Lately I am watching a lot of movies. I could use this time more effectively.

  • Cycling
  • Rowing

Case Studies

Mind Mapping

Mind Mapping Mastery Effective Mind Maps Step by Step - Barry Mapp

Problem Statement: What can I do to make use of above skills that I have learnt.

  • It will help me to address the overwhelming information by organizing them into Mind Maps
  • I will not wait to be perfect. For now I will use coggle.it, and the see how things go. Period.
  • I have started investing time to convert information into Mind Maps
  • I Know it and I have also started doing it.
  • First Thing First, I started with DEFM, as it is long due, and advisable.
  • I want to make it timebound, but it is listening course.