Adventures in Lifestyle Design from a Path Less Traveled
The Decision Economy (Danger: This Post Contains Rebuplicans)
My Mom would hate me for saying this, but I love Republicans.
I can’t get enough of them. Newt Gingrich is one of my favorites!
However, this has absolutely nothing to do with politics.
You see, Republicans are absolute masters of a certain strategy that helps to create an extremely strong and dedicated following.
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Quitting Your Job vs. Moving Toward Passion
What was the worst job you’ve ever had?
Back in 2008, I had a summer internship between my first and second year of grad school. (“Intern” in the architecture field doesn’t mean unpaid coffee-fetcher, it’s more like a normal job but with a crappy title.)
I got to spend my days “designing” big box chain stores. I use the word “design” in quotes because there really wasn’t much design involved. Basically we would get a prototype set of blueprints from the client. (“Prototype” means that if you died and went to heaven and there was a Wal-Mart, or whatever, there, this is what it would look like.)
It was a very boring job. I spent most of the time using drafting software, pushing and pulling walls so that the prototype would fit on the lot of land that our client had. Moving a wall 3 feet to the left can be a very tedious task when you have to make sure that the changes are on a 50 page set of construction documents.
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What Is Kaizen? (Increasing Productivity Through Continuous Improvement)
[Note: This is a continuation of the January Increasing Productivity challenge for the 10x10 Thing--If you have any thoughts on what you’d like future months to focus on, let me know :)]
Surprisingly, getting into the groove with my system for increasing productivity has been a lot easier than I remember it being. Perhaps that’s because I so desperately need to be doing this stuff right now!
Anyway, a couple observations on my part:
1. I used to rip up each note card after completing the task on it. This gave me the instant gratification that I was kicking my to-do list in the ass. However, it also left me at the end of the day feeling very good, but completely unable to recall exactly what I did that day.
So, I’ve decided to not rip up my note cards once I complete the task. Instead, I’m saving them in a separate stack to review on a monthly basis.
2. Most of my procrastination is based around fear of reaching outside my comfort zone. At the beginning of the day when I look through my daily note cards on what I need to do for the day, I initially feel drawn toward the easy things, and dreading those big or confusing things like “Learn how to use 1ShoppingCart” or “Send email to [extremely influential person] asking for help with [Project XYZ]”
What is the solution to overcoming the fear of taking action?
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My System for Increasing Productivity (Taught to Me By a Psychologist and Grad School Professor)
This month, I’m focusing on increasing productivity. (I polled readers here for my 10×10 monthly challenge, and productivity was the winner–let me know if you have any suggestions for future months)
Back in grad school, a friend and I were on the verge of a nervous breakdown at the thought of doing a thesis while taking 3 other classes and working at the same time (all that stuff really cuts into the time you can spend at happy hour).
So, we talked to one of our professors, who is a clinical psychologist (I’m still not sure why he was teaching in the design school, though…). He suggested that we do a “special topics” course with him on productivity and mindfulness.
For those of you who don’t know, “special topics” just means that you think all the other classes that the school offers suck and so you make up your own class with your favorite professor.
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Are You Ready to Dunk on the New Year? (2012 – The Year of the Baller)
(photo from a silly sticker I saw on a wall in Tokyo)
So, 2011 turned out to be a mixed bag of successes and challenges.
And, although the taste of Top Ramen is started to grow on me, I have decided that I’m going to earn a decent living online no matter what it takes in 2012.
I think with the 10×10 success group and the Benefiting from Bangkok Manifesto as a foundation I should actually be in a place where I can do this… with or without Google.
Now, I’m out to kick ass and I’m not going to let anyone in Mountain View, California (or elsewhere) stop me.
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