Archive for January, 2006

Where will you be in 5 years? What will your life be like? What will you do for a living? These are questions that many of us think about this time of year. When I look back at previous choices that I have made in my life I realize what profound differences a simple decision can make.

I am currently reading a simple but profound little book entitled “Don’t Eat the Marshmallow Yet!” Author Joachim de Posada, a world-renowned motivational speaker, writes about a landmark Stanford University study of children who were able to delay gratification in the form of a marshmallow they’d been given to eat with the promise that they’d be rewarded with an additional marshmallow if they resisted eating the first one for fifteen minutes. Revisited ten years later, the children who held out had grown up to be significantly more successful than those who had eaten their marshmallow immediately.

When most people think about “success” the subject of “delayed gratification” rarely comes up yet as Joachim points out in the book it may be the single most important decision you can make on your life journey. The decision to say “I pass” so we can say “I won” is significant.

A simple decision to put away $50 a week instead of spending it now on frivolous things can lead to a significant savings account over the period of a few years. A decision to save for a down payment on a house instead of moving to a larger apartment has created many prosperous property owners. The decision to finish school instead of taking that entry level job may pay big dividends.

As Joachim puts is so succinctly in his book; Successful people are willing to do things that unsuccessful people are unwilling to do.

Why not take a few minutes today and create a 5 year personal development plan for yourself. Visualize yourself as successful and write down your passions and visions of your life 5 years from now. Write down what you see in your mind. Only a small percentage of the population ever set goals for their lives, yet the ones that do have much greater success than those that don’t. Develop a marshmallow mindset and develop some long term habits that will take you to your destination.

My daughter and son-in-law gave me this book for Christmas. I want to say “Thank You” for the timely wisdom that this little book extols. This is life changing stuff!

Can you imagine the perfect day? A time where you feel energetic and focused. Your mind is sharp and tasks seem easy. Imagine developing some new habits that work together to promote a healthier and more productive life that will bring you closer to that ideal day. Let’s take a look at sleep, diet and exercise and how they tie together. An interesting concept is created when we put all the pieces together.

The idea is called Quadraphasic Living and it is designed around a sleeping technique that my dad used when he was working. The basic plan divides a 24 hour day into four quadrants. The four quadrants being morning, afternoon, evening, and night. The simple technique my dad used was taking a 15 minute nap between quadrants. Simply put he took a 15 minute nap at lunch and another 15 minute nap in the evening.

I’ve been testing this idea and doing some research on different sleep patterns. It seems that my dad was on to something. Researchers have found that taking a midday nap of 15 to 20 minutes can improve alertness and productivity by 30 to 40 percent over those who did not sleep. The effects are the same for an evening nap. And the results improve over time. Research showed greater improvement after 5 days of consistent napping than at the beginning.

This is actually pretty easy to do for most people. The key is to have a quiet place to sleep and a timer to awake you at the end of 15 minutes. I find that I can go home for lunch or rest in my car. The evening nap is a little easier as I can do it after I get home. I have tested different sleeping times and found that 15 minutes works best for me. Make sure that you wake up promptly as a nap over 30 minutes will leave you feeling very sleepy.

When I wake up from a nap I am usually a little groggy for a few minutes. I find that doing 5 minutes of light aerobics helps get me going and I am soon energized and ready for the next few hours. I work a standard 8 to 5 workday and this nap has really helped my afternoon productivity. I find I can focus better and I can work on tedious data tasks with renewed vigor. The evening nap has allowed me to work more effectively and actually get something done at night.

Napping is only part of a complete Quadraphasic lifestyle. It also entails diet and exercise. In all of the books I have read about effective exercising, the most effective time for aerobic exercise is in the morning. Scientific studies indicate that fat is burned up to 300% faster when you exercise in the morning in a fasted state and respondents are also more alert during the day with a morning routine.

So as we design our “perfect” day let’s start out with 30 minutes of interval based exercise in the first quadrant of our plan. A daily combination aerobic-resistance plan will fit here nicely. As far as diet goes the plan will have one meal and one snack in each of the first three quadrants.

The key to success on any diet plan is to make it doable and offer foods that you enjoy. After all this is a lifestyle not a diet. The key to feeling good throughout the day is to eat low glycemic foods that do not spike your blood sugar. The easiest way to do this is to have some protein with your carbohydrates. There are many diet books that offer a myriad of low glycemic choices including Eating for Life, the South Beach Diet Maintenance Plan, Eating in the Zone, and many others.

A simple rule will keep things under control. No more that 500 calories per meal and snacks of 200 calories or less. If you need to lose weight you can reduce these numbers somewhat.

The final component of this plan is to stay well hydrated by drinking at least 2 quarts of water per day. This is pretty easy to accomplish by drinking a tall glass of water (12ounce) with each meal and snack throughout the day.

The last phase of the program is the sleeping phase. This can vary in length from a low of 6 hours to 8 hours or more. The key here is to find a sleep length that leaves you feeling energized throughout the day. Currently I have found that 7 hours works very well for me.

The bottom line of this plan is to develop a system that will keep you at your peak throughout the day and be simple enough that it will be easy to stay on. My dad used this basic plan for years and it kept him going well into his nineties.

Over the next few months I want to develop these different attributes as habits and refine the system to make it as easy as possible to follow. In testing these naps I have felt much more energized and alert. The nice thing is you can take a day off a week and not ruin your whole plan. It is real easy to get back on the system the next day with no ill effects.

I think this can be developed into a 12 month program creating a new habit each month for a year. I’ll keep you posted on my progress along with some articles on diet and exercise.

Dwayne Melancon over at Genuine Curiosity has a post today about his “love it and hate it” attitude to David Allen’s Getting Things Done time management system.
He writes…

As a long-time Getting Things Done (GTD) follower, I love it and I hate it. I love it because it’s simple, powerful, and flexible. I hate it because it’s too flexible. I’ve had a hard time getting a specific workflow down and sticking to it. GTD doesn’t have rigid “props” for me to use as mental queues like many other systems (with the Franklin-Covey systems, you can “ground yourself” to the daily task list - with GTD, there are a number of lists).

 Part of my new year reset is to try to streamline my use of GTD and establish better rituals to help me keep up a consistent approach to evaluating my choices, scheduling, etc. (if you’ve visited here in the past, you’ll know that this sort of thing is a recurring theme for me - I’m a bit of a GTD binge user).

If you have experiences or resources that have helped you create a set of daily habits for GTD, please let me know.

I have had a similar experience with GTD. You end up with a lot of projects and next actions especially if you use the GTD plug-in for Outlook. You can end up doing a lot of things in a day but not getting anything tangible done. I found a little GTD hack that has really worked for me. I wrote about it last April and I though I would share it again this year. The additional step goes like this…

As an avid fan of David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” process, I’ve found some tweaks that make it much more useful for tech work. When I first read David’s book I spent two days going thru my 1100 e-mails and overfull inbox. I purchased his Outlook plug-in and converted e-mails to projects. This was amazing to say the least.

I now have a manageable in-box and a great project list. With David’s technique of identifying the “next action step” and his GTD Outlook software I am able to sort action steps by area (phone calls, computer, errands, etc). This has really helped identify the steps but it can lead to doing a lot of little things and not really “accomplishing” anything.

With some trial and error the following procedure has evolved that helps me stay on track much better.

Projects are identified as “tasks that require more than a day to accomplish”
Accomplishments are identified as “project steps that can be done in a day”
Action Steps are the individual steps to complete the project.

To complete my process I use a “Hipster PDA” from the 43folders website as a place to list and mark-off accomplishments. My daily ritual consists of perusing my projects list and coming up with milestones or “accomplishments” that can be done in a day. I ask the question “What is the Next Accomplishment?” I list the accomplishment at the top of an index card and then numerically list the next action steps down the card. I post the card prominently on my desk or work area so I am reminded of the “action steps”. I check off the individual steps as they are completed. When I go from place to place, it’s easy to put the card(s) back in my hipster and take them with me. I have found that adding the extra category of “accomplishments” has really helped me focus on getting something tangible done everyday.

This process still works well for me a year later. I find a standard desk pad also works well for the “accomplishment’s list” and is a nice place for notes. When I’m done for the day I can open the GTD software in Outlook and update my project lists in a matter of minutes and print out a new list for the next day. The real secret to fully implementing the GTD system is to try different things and see what works for you. It’s a simple yet incredibly powerful system for time management.
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When I was a kid I received a new erector set for Christmas one year. It was cool because it had all the pieces I needed to create all sorts of things. I was able to create buildings, cars, and even powered toys. It was so cool because it had everything that I needed in one package. It was a complete kit!

I would like to introduce you to the concept of a success kit.

The idea is to take an existing success program such as Weight Watchers, Body for Life, or Toastmasters and tie it into our concept of 12 habits. We break the program down into one month increments and add a new habit each month that ties in with the program. At the end of the year you will have developed 12 new habits and made the program easier to follow since we have focused on one element each month.

The habits reinforce values and items from the existing program and help make the program a permanent success.

My goal this year is to create some success kits that you can download and use with current success programs. A one year succession of habits that will take you closer to your goal. I am collaborating with people who have been successful in different professional success programs to develop habit resources that will enhance their existing materials.

The kits will be located in our articles section and include a simple printout that will list the 12 new habits. These habits can be modified to work with your unique situation and are designed to be simple and easy to do.

Our first kit is one that is really exciting to me. It is based on Toastmasters International Communications and Leadership program. We have taken the 10 basic speeches that come with the program and designed compatible habits to help enhance each one. We have added an introductory habit and one that will help you branch out into professional speaking.

The 12 habits for Effective Communication are…
1. The “Yes” habit
2. Write your stories down
3. Collecting Information
4. Listening
5. Vivid Descriptions
6. Watch Other Speakers
7. Vocal Variety
8. Research
9. Props
10. Problem Solving
11. Be Inspired
12. Opportunities

Here is an excerpt from the”12 Habits to Better Communication” article

I have a bright and shiny Success Kit for you. It has 12 pieces that can help you become a better communicator. The neat thing… it’s all here. It’s a proven package and thousands of people from all over the world have found success with it. It doesn’t cost much (under a $100) and it takes only a year to complete. Each piece of the kit takes a month to finish and the results can change your life.

The name of the kit is Toastmasters and it comes in a large white envelope. Let’s open it up and see what’s inside. As we open the envelope we see that there is a book called the Communication and Leadership manual. It has 10 speech projects in it and it will be the main focus of our success program. We also have a membership certificate to Toastmasters International and some smaller pamphlets on other aspects of the program. It looks interesting!

Let’s break the program down month by month and see how it works…

We will be expanding our list of “success kits” and other habit development resources over the coming months. I am excited about the potential that they hold for success in 2006.

Success Kit for Better Communication

To my great surprise my post, “12 Habits in 2006” really took off last week. My one day stats for last Wednesday surpassed my largest monthly totals to date. This was clearly an exciting day and many thanks go out to lifehacker.com and other popular sites for running with the post and trackingback. Since this is a popular topic of conversation I thought I would post an update on my progress so far and some interesting things I’ve learned along the way.

The basic premise is each month of this year develop one new habit. Make it simple and doable. At the end of each month decide on a new “habit” for the next month and continue doing the existing habit. At the end of the year 12 habits will be developed.

I am now into my fourth month of the program and I have learned many things along the way. Here are a few tips to get you started.

1. Keep it Simple: The best way to get started is to download the 5 minute success form. Visualize yourself in 5 years. Who are you? What are you doing? Where are you? What do you look like? How are you dressed? Visualize yourself in one year. Ask the same questions. Then set a timer for 5 minutes. Write down a brief description of what you saw in the five year box and in the one year box. Then write down one simple habit that will take you closer to your one year goal. By visualizing yourself you’ll be able to better develop habits to take you there.
2. Start with Something Achievable: Your first habit should be simple. You should be able to write it down in one sentence. Make sure it is measurable and doable. Set a milestone date to start the habit (first day of a month is a good example). Pick up any materials that you will need to accomplish the habit before you get started.
3. Replacement Habits Work Well: Lets say you have a bad habit of going to the snack machine at work and buying cookies everyday. You could make a habit of “not having cookies” everyday, but that will probably fail unless you replace the cookies with something else. For example, replace the cookies with an apple, a much healthier alternative.
4. Word it in a Positive Way: If your goal is to replace cookies with an apple try keeping the goal positive. Worded as not having cookies or even replacing cookies with an apple will keep you focused on the cookies. If you just word the goal “I will have a delicious apple every morning” you will be much more successful since your focus will be on something new and delicious.
5. Put Your Written List Where You Can See It: One of the biggest causes of failure when trying to develop a new habit is forgetting to do it. You need a way to remind yourself everyday both a home and at work. Writing down the goals and habits and copying them can be very helpful. Keep a copy on the refrigerator, one by the front door, and one on your desk at work. Write a copy down on a business card and keep it in the car where you will see it. If you remember it you will do it.
6. Write Down One Habit At A Time: To reduce your stress and keep you focused start off your plan with only one habit listed. Focus on that habit for the month and then spend a few minutes at the end of the month planning the goal for next month. By dealing with only one habit at a time you will be able to stay on track better. When you start month two your primary focus should be on the new habit, but make sure to continue with existing one.

My journey has been a lot of fun and some surprising things have happened along the way. I have discovered that writing everything down is the most important key of the whole program. If you see it… you will remember it… and you will do it. I’ve also found it takes much longer than 21 days to make a habit “automatic”. Persistence is a key element of this program. My four habits that I’ve been working on so far are..

1. October 2005: Drink Two Quarts of Water a Day
2. November 2005: Take My Lunch to Work
3. December 2005: Eat an Apple a Day
4. January 2006: Write One New Blog Article A Week.

My goal for the year is to become a paid professional speaker (defined as someone paying me to speak to their group this year). As I visualized myself as this speaker I noticed that I was 10 pounds thinner, I had a new professional wardrobe, and I had professional seminar materials in my hand. My habits have helped in unexpected ways.

Drinking a lot of water has replaced many sodas and other high calorie drinks. Taking my lunch has saved both calories and money and has led to fixing breakfast at home. Taking an apple has replaced the snack machine and writing articles have definitely helped create some seminar materials. Here are the stats…

Taking breakfast, lunch, and an apple a day along with replacing sodas with water have saved me almost 700 calories per day and over $160 per month in restaurant fees. This will definitely help with the weight loss, help pay for the new wardrobe, and give me plenty to write about.

Hmmm… what habit will February bring?

Now that the new year has started and most people are back to work, you may find it hard to find time to set some written goals. Before you know it it will be December again and those lofty ideas that sounded so great in January will still be just that… lofty ideas. I propose that you take the Success Begins Today 5 Minute Success Challenge. It’s simple, it’s easy, and it may even impact your life.

Here are the three simple steps to success in 2006.

1. Download the 5 Minute Success Form and print it out.
2. Set a timer for 5 minutes
3. Fill in three boxes with a marking pen. Write down a five year goal, a one year goal, and a simple habit that you can develop this month. That’s it!
4. There is no step four

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Let me give you an example of how this works. Let’s say you have a health and fitness mindset and you really want to run a marathon in the next five years. You put the word “marathon” in the five year goal box. The holidays have added to your waistline and your one year goal is to lose 20 pounds. Put lose 20 pounds in the one year goal box.

You now have 12 monthly boxes on the sheet. Write one simple habit that you can develop this month that will move you closer to your one year goal. Make it easy, measurable and attainable. For our example you might put down “walk 15 minutes every morning” in the January box. Post this sheet where you can see it everyday such as on the refrigerator door.

To be successful, focus on this one habit until the end of the month. Make sure you are diligent and write the number of each day that you accomplish the goal in the January box. Keep this up till the end of the month.

On the last day of the month write down a new habit that will move you closer to your one year goal in the February box. As with January make it easy, measurable and attainable. For our example let’s put down give up french fries. This simple habit will save thousands of calories over the period of a month.

The key to this simple system is to keep doing January’s habit while developing the new habit in February. Repeat this pattern month after month and you will have twelve new habits by the end of the year. March may be “give up sodas”, April might bring “have an apple a day” and on and on.

Use your imagination and make this fun. Pick things that are attainable and that you can write down in one sentence. Nothing complicated here. Don’t kill yourself if you miss a day but make sure you get back on track the following day.

Researchers say it takes 21 days to form a habit. This plan gives you 30. You can reprint the success challenge each month and mark off each successful day in each months category. The key to this whole plan is simplicity and WRITING things down.

Please keep us all informed how you do. Use the contact form or leave comments on your progress.

In the coming days we’ll have strategies and plans to help you make this simple plan a success!