60 useful seconds with kalaboukis

Seriously. At last count, there are studies out there that say we consume up to 3+ hours a DAY just sitting back and watching TV. What do you get out of that? Sure we say that we might like to “relax” and “veg-out” in front of the TV, and it might have some benefits in allowing us to relax and de-stress. But 3 hours a day? Think about all of the time that you are wasting doing this instead of writing a blog post, emailing a potential client, reading a book, or watching a YouTube video to learn something. You must pare back your complete leisure watching of TV back as far as you can. Is your life so stressful that you NEED to watch that much TV?  support the show: https://anchor.fm/60usefulseconds/support

I love the Getting Things Done methodology – when it swept Silicon Valley, I got swept up in it as well, and it is still a very valid way of doing business. Simply put, if a task comes across your desk, which you can complete in less than 2 minutes, just do it. Suppose you can’t then schedule a time to complete the task on your Calendar. Very useful for most things.  support the show: https://anchor.fm/60usefulseconds/support

How many of you have no plan at all? I’m all for going through life in an agile way, after all, I’ve written such doozy’s as “Stop Planning Now” and other posts which talk about getting rid of planning altogether (in some cases is it warranted), but if you want to be productive, you still need to figure out what it is that you want to produce! If you don’t know that, how will you know if you are successful? At least spend some time every day planning your work, then work your plan.  support the show: https://anchor.fm/60usefulseconds/support

This may or may not work for you, depending on how music affects you – I use music to speed up and focus – whenever I need to focus on powering out a set of blog posts or a report I take my writing device, my noise-canceling headphones, put on my blogging playlist, zone out and power out my writing. I then go back later and edit it, but when it comes to pure pushing it out of my head and onto the paper, nothing beats a hard-driving beat. For you, it might be a more chill soundtrack – I use Spotify to put together my own unique blend, but there are thousands of other soundtracks out there that you can try and customize to your individual needs. Or if you want to chill, I highly recommend a selection from SomaFM.com in San Francisco, my favorite stations there are Groove Salad, Lush, and Illinois Street Lounge. If you like their music, toss them a donation, its all free stuff.  support the show: https://anchor.fm/60usefulseconds/support

Sometimes wherever you happen to be is the distraction – if you are at work, most people are in open offices with people always milling about – if you are working at home, maybe you see all of the housework that you need to do. Pick up your stuff, throw it in your car on or your back and head to the nearest coffee shop or library and work from there. Studies show that switching locations not only improves productivity; it can also enhance creativity.  support the show: https://anchor.fm/60usefulseconds/support

Do you need to think about every meal? Some meals can just be sustenance – why not just eat the same thing, day in day out? For example, your go-to AM meal could be oatmeal or Greek yogurt or a spinach omelet. Think of the time and cognitive cycles you will save by eating the same meal every day. Sure it might be boring, but if you always have the ingredients in, then you don’t need to spend time and cycles thinking about it, thus saving that time for other more important things.  support the show: https://anchor.fm/60usefulseconds/support

Jobs did it, Zuckerberg does it. You should do it too. Instead of wasting your cycles trying to figure out what to wear each day, just come up with a “uniform,” some set of clothes that you look good in, and just wear the same damn thing every day (except for specific occasions). If you are jeans and hoodie guy, then get a bunch of those and wear them every day. If you are a white shirt, jeans, and jacket guy, do that. Just pick one single outfit and wear it all the time.  support the show: https://anchor.fm/60usefulseconds/support

We all have hundreds of little things we do every day, week, month, and year. If you can figure out a way to automate those things – do it. Automate your bill pay, automate your lights, automate absolutely anything that you can. Automate your shopping – if you know how much milk you go through in a week, then have it auto-delivered. Look at your entire life and see what can be automated, then do it.  support the show: https://anchor.fm/60usefulseconds/support

Those apps which “feed you,” like Facebook and Instagram? Think of them as time-sucking drugs that are constantly feeding your emotions and sucking you in. They are continually reading what you are looking at and giving you more and more addictive content the more and more you use them. The best way to use those apps is not to use them at all. Remove them from your phone, and if you must use them, use them sparingly and, most importantly, set a time to make you stop.  support the show: https://anchor.fm/60usefulseconds/support

Why are you watching TV? Why are you watching a goofy YouTube Video? Every moment that you spend doing something unproductive IS A MOMENT LOST FOREVER. You simply cannot “make up time.” Time is just gone. That’s it. No matter how hard you try, you can never get that moment back. So stop wasting time and get back to work. With the technology at our fingertips, you can work at any time of the day or night, from anywhere. Can’t sleep? Get to work. Are you waiting for the doctor? Get to work. On the bus? Get to work. Is nothing stopping you from working every waking moment and reading this blog post? Stop immediately and get to work.  support the show: https://anchor.fm/60usefulseconds/support