1% Better

=Hey. Chad here, coming to you over the digital Airwaves on the 1% Better podcast.  I mentioned technique yesterday that I wanted to elaborate a bit more on for those of you that might not be familiar with them. So in conjunction with. The time timer I use a technique called the Pomodoro Technique.

[00:00:29] And Pomodoro is tomato in Italian the name comes from the kitchen timers that are a tomato that you kind of that are split in the in half and you can you know time your eggs or whatever you have in the oven.

[00:00:49] It's a genius way of using a simple tool like the kitchen timer to be really really productive. I want to give a big shout-out to Francesco [00:01:00] Chirillo who is the originator of this technique. And again, it's going to be so simple. You won't think that it works, but I'm a huge believer in it and use it practically every single day as I'm working to get get everything done 

[00:01:18] And it's just really three simple steps.

[00:01:21] The first thing is you write down the tasks that you would like to get accomplished. Not something as big as a project [00:01:30] not something may be as simple as just sending one quick email but something that could fill about a half an hour to maybe 90 minutes worth of time and I wouldn't list more than three things.

[00:01:46] Choose the one thing that you would be happiest accomplishing by the end of the day set your timer for 25 minutes and go. 

[00:01:56] The reason that this technique is so effective for me [00:02:00] is that I have a singular focus and all I'm doing is working on that one task. Now things may distract you but because you know, you have this timer going you somehow give yourself the permission to delay and say wow. Yes. I got that phone call, but they can wait 22 minutes because I have 22 minutes left on this timer, and I'm going to get this thing done because I know that if I get it done I'll be really happy at the end of the day. 

[00:02:28] So if you're trying to figure out which tasks you [00:02:30] should start first, I just try to imagine, "okay, which one would I be happiest having accomplished at the end of the day?" 

[00:02:39] Once the timer goes off and you haven't finished the task. That's okay because you will continue that task in the next in the next Pomodoro with that's what I call the little time segment. But you're not going to start working on it immediately, but you're going to take a five-minute break and I [00:03:00] take sometimes, you know between a five to ten minute break stand up go and get some water eat a little snack.

[00:03:08] I think it's really important to to get up. Maybe do a little stretching and move a little bit before you sit back down and do the next Sprint. This isn't the time to like tab over into Facebook or Twitter or check your email if you're working on something else because you're gonna you know, go down that [00:03:30] rabbit hole. I use it as a time to just take a break stand up walk around and come back.

[00:03:37] If you did finish the previous task, then just choose the next the next item on the list and again set the timer for 25 minutes and go.  Once you've done anywhere between three or four Pomodoro's I like to take a longer break, so I half an hour break or an hour long break and [00:04:00] that's when maybe you can listen to some podcasts brush up on the latest YouTube videos that maybe you've missed and and get distracted but. What you will have done is accomplished two to four most important things for that for that given day. And if you do this, you know first thing when you get in I have found that you can actually [00:04:30] accomplish more in four to six of these, you know, 25 minutes stretches then oftentimes I would get done and then the entire day.

[00:04:40] I would highly recommend just Googling the Pomodoro Technique. There's lots of free PDFs and guides and visuals that explain the technique you can use the timer on your phone and computer. That's all you need. You make your list of tasks that you want to do. You set the [00:05:00] timer for 25 minutes and then at the end of the 25 minutes set a timer for 5 to 10 minutes and take a break.

[00:05:07] And be sure that when you've gotten, you know, three to four five or six of these little work sprints completed take a longer break reward yourself before sitting down to do the next one's and know that you're getting the most important things done. 

[00:05:24] So I hope that little productivity hack was helpful to [00:05:30] you. I've been using it for years and it's probably the. The productivity hack that I return to most often in my day-to-day.  

[00:05:43] I'm curious what other sorts of productivity hacks you might have. So text me or leave a voice message at 917.971.3737 

[00:05:57]I can't wait to hear what you all [00:06:00] share and I just wanted to give a huge shout out and thank you to everyone that has commented, interacted, texted me.  Thank you so much for sharing.

Hey. Chad here, coming to you over the digital Airwaves on the 1% Better podcast. One of the things that's been immensely helpful to me when it comes to staying focused and getting a lot of things done in a short amount of time is a tool called the Time Timer. This [00:00:30] isn't something that I discovered on my own. A friend of mine, Carson, if you're listening, shout out to you!

[00:00:38] The time timer is a physical timer. I know this sounds super simple, but trust me. It's really cool. It's a physical timer. It's a plastic timer with a white background and minutes numbered from zero all the way to. To 55 or 60 but going [00:01:00] backwards. So when you turn the timer a red wedge tells you how much time has been set on the timer. So if you set the timer to you know where six o'clock is to the 30, then that tells you you have 30 minutes and there's a red semicircle that slowly gets smaller and smaller over time. 

[00:01:26] And the genius part of this timer is that [00:01:30] with just a really quick a glance and maybe not even having to look at it, you can just see it in your peripheral vision. You can see time slowly ticking away and it's just that little bit of oomph that I need to keep me on task. 

[00:01:48] And so I use this in combination with the Pomodoro Technique, which is a technique where you set a timer for 25 minutes and you work on a singular [00:02:00] task and it's kind of you don't pick up your pen so to speak or stop typing until the 25 minutes is up. And then you take a short 5 maybe 10 minute break and you sit right back down and do another one. 

[00:02:16]this timer in combination with this Pomodoro Technique means that the first thing I do when I sit down at my desk is I set the timer for 25 minutes and I jump in right to the first task of the day. You know, I open up the computer [00:02:30] set the timer and I'm off to the races so that could be something like recording this podcast clearing my inbox sending those emails that I need to at the beginning of the day.  And I'm able to do three four five of these in a row first thing and the timers invaluable

[00:02:50] And so for me, I have this pavlovian response to this.

[00:02:58] That's the sound that the [00:03:00] timer makes when it goes off in that just tells me hey good job, you sat down done the 25 minutes of work and can move on. 

[00:03:12] If you just search Amazon or Google for time timer, you'll find about a dozen different versions. My personal favorite is the MOD m-o-d time timer. It's just I think a cute design comes in a couple different colors and [00:03:30] it's a little bit more maybe versatile and durable then some of the plastic ones they also have like an 18 inch time timer. If you're maybe facilitating a meeting or an r in a large group, they also have a digital app that you can use as a timer as well. 

[00:03:53]I'm sure that you all have so many other physical tools [00:04:00] and. You know things that help you get better every single day and I would love to hear what that is for you.

[00:04:08]I've been so encouraged by the community that's come here and responded everywhere I have posted you texted left messages. I want to continue to build this community of all of us getting one percent better together. 

[00:04:23] So again, text me 917.971.3737 and thank you [00:04:30] for sharing.

[00:00:04] Chad: Hey Chad here coming to you over the digital Airwaves on the 1% better podcast.  If any of you have seen my work space or maybe my my closet at home, you know that I'm a real [00:00:20] stickler for like cards. Books any kind of like physical materials and tools when it comes to learning or training facilitation Etc.

[00:00:32] And I wanted to give a shout out to a really cool deck of cards that I just got this week [00:00:40] from a neighbor. It turns out but his name is Matthias. Jakob senoir. Jacobsson. I hope I'm saying that right Matthias he. He's from the think clearly.com and that's think clearly without any vowels. So it's th in K C [00:01:00] LR L why he's a really cool thinker.

[00:01:06] But even more than that, he's a visual thinker which is one of my favorite kinds of thinkers for all of you Visual facilitators and expert doodlers. I am quite envious. So that might be something that [00:01:20] I'm going to turn my attention to when it comes to getting one percent better. But Matthias had just come out with these deck of cards one is called question cards, and the other is called strategy cards and.

[00:01:35] Not only when I'm working with clients, but also if I'm interviewing someone on a [00:01:40] podcast or you know, even just discussing things with friends being able to ask the right question is invaluable.  My my favorite or my favorite way to get into questions actually is just saying, you know, I'm curious and [00:02:00] signaling to the other person that you're curious helps them open up and be a little bit.

[00:02:04] More vulnerable maybe with what they're sharing with you and it just signals are than that you're generally interested in understanding what they want to know, but I think having a range of questions in your toolbox is invaluable when it comes to [00:02:20] just connecting deeper with friends or you know, helping clients understand what their their challenges are and how they might overcome them.

[00:02:27] So I'm just gonna unbox these cards right here on the podcast. So I'm looking at the question cards. And Matthias says it's deck of cards each with one powerful question or prompt [00:02:40] we can use these cards to get clarity for ourselves and others. So if we open up the pack here, there's a couple of cards on how to use them.

[00:02:51] And so he's talking about why questions and reflection is important for us. It's a structured way of [00:03:00] processing our experiences. I can say that journaling the reflection process of journaling is is invaluable.  And then he says okay here's how to reflect. He gives a process for pulling out your pen and notebook and then [00:03:20] drawing a card and then by writing or drawing without pausing.

[00:03:26] Respond to the prompt. It's important not to judge. What comes out.

Matias also gives us a way to reflect as a group and how we might do this as a group and share everything in the group as I'm it's [00:03:40] about the size of a normal deck of cards. I don't know how many cars that maybe about 50 cards and it looks like it's broken into one two, three four sections section one is Beginnings section 2 is feelings.

[00:03:55] Section 3 is insights in section 4 is [00:04:00] actions. I think that's a really interesting way to break up. Not only the Reflection process but to be able to capture the feelings. That are brought up by those Reflections the insights from those feelings. And then I think most importantly what actions you might take.

[00:04:19] So I'm [00:04:20] just going to read maybe one or two cards from each of these to give you a sense of.  Of what's included? So in the beginnings section, he says draw a timeline of what has already happened.  This is interesting reflecting on maybe a project that you've done in capture. Everything that's happened [00:04:40] to date.

[00:04:41] So looking in the feelings sections. I might ask myself. What doubts do I have?  So looking at the timeline and seeing well, maybe we've slipped on a couple of these dates. Maybe a doubt is that I don't know that we're going to be able to get it done on time. And that scares [00:05:00] me. So in the inside section, there's a question that says what is truly important to me and list those priorities in order.

[00:05:11] So if I'm afraid that these dates are going to be slipping this question can really help me understand. Okay. Well if we have to make some compromises what am I [00:05:20] willing to compromise on and what am I not?  and I think this last one for actions is. This ties into the last episode on Walden perfectly.

[00:05:32] The last one in the actions section says who will I ask to hold me accountable.  I think that's a [00:05:40] really perfect and emergent reflection process of me. Just drawing cards at random from this question stack so Matthias, I wanted to say thank you for this question deck. I can't wait to use it. Not only here as I'm making the 1% better podcast, but [00:06:00] again also like maybe with client work and having fun discussions with with friends or colleagues.

[00:06:07] So I'm going to put this deck away and open up the strategy deck.  So I found through the questions deck beforehand, but I haven't opened this one up. So the strategy deck is a deck of cards to help you make strategy more simple and clear using visuals. All right, that sounds [00:06:20] cool. Each card has a drawing organize the cards on the table to show a strategy and so we'll see.

[00:06:28] Let's see what these look like.

[00:06:34] So again, there's kind of some how to use cards like what is a strategy.  And [00:06:40] then on the on the backs of the cards. There's a bunch of words. So I'm just going to take one. This one says content contract file proposal writing reading paperwork and documenting and [00:07:00] then on the other side, there's a there's like a little icon of three pieces of paper in the top one has some writing on it.

[00:07:06] So it's like an icon for a document that you might see So I think what he's asking us to do is so he says strategies the art and practice of getting from here to there and he's asking us to select images to [00:07:20] answer these questions. So, where are we now? Where do we want to go? What's standing in the way? What choices do we have? And what choices are we making?

[00:07:34] And I love his drawing style. It's really what drew me to think clearly and Matthias [00:07:40] his work in the first place. Very simple kind of pen drawings. I think the way he draws people is is is very cute and unique. It's not just like the star the star person with a circle head. And I mean there's there's a guy parachuting.

[00:07:59] There's a guy running. [00:08:00] There's a guy holding a 50-pound kettlebell over his head other things like a balance. Here's a really fun just scribbly hairball. It's interesting because. On The Backs, he's kind of giving key words of what it might represent. So the the crazy scribble hairball is [00:08:20] chaos complexity unpredictable Evolution mess and pattern so I'm really fascinated by how how we might be able to like storyboard a strategy using these visuals.

[00:08:40] [00:08:40] I think when I'm facilitating meetings or work with clients.  Getting out of the chairs getting away from the Whiteboard actually can be really helpful in a tool. Like these cards is really fascinating. You know, there's the kind. Joke of Consultants [00:09:00] or in design thinkers using like a thousand Post-its in there stuck, you know everywhere from the Whiteboard to the table to to the door, but these cards are really interesting prompt that I'd be fascinated to see how how th...

[00:00:02] Chad: Hey Chad here on the 1% better podcast coming to you over the digital Airwaves. I want to give a shout out and thank you to a team a product a service that has been very [00:00:20] instrumental for me in. Not only committing to be one percent better, but actually holding me accountable to becoming one percent better.

[00:00:29] I would not be coming to you on this podcast if it were not for them. And so I'm giving this shout out to Walden or if you go to [00:00:40] Hello Walden.com, h-e-l-l-o. Wa lden. It's a really great service where  you sign up and they will help you stay and get organized to launch your next big thing.

[00:00:55] So, of course for me this podcast was kind of my [00:01:00] next big thing and I've been working with Madeline the founder and the team at Walden for several months now and they've been instrumental in helping keep me on track to becoming one percent better. Every day   the way it works is they match you with a coach and like unlimited [00:01:20] text access to this coach that can help you set your goals figure out the Milestones that you need to achieve to reach those goals, and then they'll check in with you.

[00:01:34] So you can do a call with them to kind of get to know one another and then share your [00:01:40] goals and then that call Wreckers, you know, like on a monthly or quarterly basis, and but the coolest part is like the texting in the chatting because essentially at the same time every day, I get a message. From Walden reminding me like hey Chad.

[00:01:59] We're looking [00:02:00] forward to hearing from you tomorrow on the 1% better podcast and it's just like this. reminder that hey, you know, I've got listeners and people that are expecting to hear from me and it's like really just a kick in the ass to to get things done.  

[00:02:18] I [00:02:20] cannot tell you how invaluable that accountability has been to me. Again. It's the reason that I'm sitting here now recording this episode is really the follow-up from the team at Walden and they can help you come up with ideas. If you're not quite [00:02:40] sure which project. That you should work on right now or the help you kind of manage tasks across the different projects and there's some really cool kind of tracking features that will help.

[00:02:53] You know, if you're meeting your Milestones to dick to get to your goal. And again, if you've got [00:03:00] a if you've got a project that has been a side project maybe for a little too long and you want to make it. A main project. I cannot recommend this service enough. I think they have a free trial going right now.

[00:03:16] And for what you get, it's [00:03:20] super super valuable you get unlimited messaging you get the project plans you get, you know, the the coaching calls for those of you that are like. Super busy or have lots of projects, you know, they have a plan where you can get like I [00:03:40] think up to four calls with your coach the coaches that they have signed up our Bar None, you know, I'm I'm lucky enough to be connected to and working with the founder Madeline, but they've got.

[00:03:55] Coaches from the startup world that have been founders of [00:04:00] really successful companies. They've got lots of creatives they can help you with things like podcasting others that you know where Ted speakers that can help you craft your public speeches and so many more. I think when I started there was just maybe one coach now.

[00:04:18] I think there's almost a [00:04:20] dozen. So again, I just want to give a huge shout out and thank you to Madeline. I would not be doing this without you and hey, they have a 7-Day free trial.

[00:04:31] I would encourage each of you to check them out and see if they might be the key to helping you unlock getting one percent better every [00:04:40] day.

[00:00:02] Chad: Hey there, Chad coming to you over the digital airwaves on this podcast one percent better. Thanks for joining me on the first quote unquote real episode where I really just wanted to give credit to James clear. The author blogger [00:00:20] that really crystallized this idea of one percent better for me. So if you just search one percent better.

[00:00:27] James Clear, you'll find his blog as well as some diagrams that really just made this hit home for me. And I think I've read a couple of James's other books [00:00:40] and it didn't really click for me until this idea of personal productivity and personal development. Kind of merged with what I'm doing in business in this idea of continuous Improvement and lean Lean Startup [00:01:00] where those two ideas just kind of collided for me in this diagram, which I'll put in the show notes and I was like, well, of course if we're helping clients achieve these breakthrough results through continuous Improvement in all ways.

[00:01:17] Build measuring and learning from [00:01:20] running different experiments inside of the business. Well, why can't we do it in our personal lives? So whether that's training for particular athletic pursuit or even just developing our minds as we're learning new skills and in learning, [00:01:40] you know Gathering as much knowledge as we can and.

[00:01:47] I've always struggled with citing really big hairy audacious goals, but often times they can seem really far out into the future [00:02:00] and people like James clear and others like James all teacher another person that inspired me with this idea of continuous improvement in incrementalism even over, you know vast leaps into the 
[00:02:20] unknown . So what I'm trying to do on this podcast is bring all of the different people that I have learned from focus it here to share it with you and the hope is that both by me going out and sourcing all of. Interesting information and ways that we can [00:02:40] grow both professionally and personally, but that's helping me get 1% better every day.

[00:02:46] But I also want to share that with you and my friends colleagues maybe even strangers across the globe again as we're committing to one another to get 1% better every day.  And I want to be really clear [00:03:00] that. This is this is by no means just my show. I'm really interested in what you The Listener both are learning and want to learn and how you're also going on this journey of one getting one percent better every day.

[00:03:19] And I have a [00:03:20] friend that has committed to doing a drawing every single day. In order to improve his drawing skills both can professionally as an architect and designer but as well as personally, you know doing things like sketching an illustration of [00:03:40] different characters, maybe for like a graphic novel that he wants to create.

[00:03:45] So by no means is this just a show for myself. I really want to foster a community of people that are. Committed to getting one percent every day. So I just wanted to say [00:04:00] thank you for coming along this. Thank you for coming along this journey with me and I'm going to keep the call-to-action pretty simple.

[00:04:10] You can actually just text me at 917.971.3737 comes right to my phone and I would [00:04:20] just love to hear from you like what you're doing to get 1% better every day. So again thanks to James clear for inspiring me to create this and so I would encourage you to not only check out that blog post, but he's gotten several different books one called Atomic [00:04:40] habits.

[00:04:40] And out how to how to build habits and a cool little notebook as well as so many blog posts and articles about how to get the one one percent better everyday, but also many other kind of personal productivity tips [00:05:00] tricks and hacks. So that is the very first episode of one percent better every day and I'll see you tomorrow.

[00:00:00]Chad: Hey, Chad here coming to you over the digital Airwaves on this podcast one percent better. You might be wondering why one percent better. It was not that long ago that I came across [00:00:20] a visual just a chart with time on the x-axis and results on the y-axis. And the idea is really just demonstrating the power of tiny incremental gains.

[00:00:37] And if you get 1% better [00:00:40] every day for 365 days at the end of the year. You'll be almost 38 times better than where you started and you know, for those of you who know about compound interest and and you know, working with [00:01:00] exponential growth in that way. This shouldn't come as a surprise to you, but I think for me it's comforting to know that if we.

[00:01:11] Just focused on getting a little bit better every single day did that's actually easier and more achievable 

[00:01:20] than if we try to go 10x in just one day or in one week or even in in one month or one quarter. And this is really just kind of a hack for myself I know oftentimes we think progress should be linear like okay.

[00:01:39] Well, I'm [00:01:40] I'm getting better and better and better, you know at this particular skill or. To achieve this but it's actually a very very slow start like that curve at the beginning of that charts very flat and it takes actually quite some time for it to start going up. But if we [00:02:00] just show up every single day then you know in the latter half of that chart its kind of explosive growth and so really my aim here is just to sit in this chair.

[00:02:13] And share with you what I'm doing to get 1% better every day. And so you [00:02:20] can expect things like new books that I'm reading pieces of media that I'm discovering maybe online courses also, you know skills and techniques that I'm picking up going to different meetups or workshops. Cool Tools that I've discovered hat tip to Kevin Kelley and his Cool Tools [00:02:40] blog and podcast and potentially even interviewing others to learn from them as well.

[00:02:47] So I'm going to be experimenting with the format here. Thanks for coming along for the ride, and I hope to see you on the next one.