Life Above

It is an undeniable truth that there is only a limited amount of attention each of us has to issue to other people or things.

We often do not think about it, but our attention should be budgeted or allocated based on those things we value.

Think of it this way. When an athlete is running, it is very important that as little movement as possible is wasted. Every part of a runner’s movement should in some way at least contribute to creating forward motion. Otherwise, it is wasted, and does not add value.

Just as an athlete has to examine their technique in order to maximize the effectiveness of their movement, we must take inventory to make sure we are maximizing our attention. This may mean that we do a weekly review to keep ourselves in tune with the things we value. It could be something we do prior to retiring in the evening to prepare for the next day. In any event, it is important to align our attention with those things we value, especially when we are in periods when our attention is a hot commodity.

So what has your attention?

Do those things align with what you value?

If not, how will you approach reallocating your attention?

Let’s talk about it on the Facebook page.

-Jason

Down time is just as important as the time we spend cranking out work.

Wow…did I just say that?

Yes I did.

We are always discussing ways in which we can use our time more effectively.  Typically we are thinking that productivity and the effective life is all about being always on the go. Doing is definitely important…vital, in fact. However, the eventual result of that kind of lifestyle is burnout. Once we have reached that point…being truly productive and focused is almost impossible.

We need to embrace a truth today.

Sometimes the most effective thing we can do…is shut down.

I am not here to give you five bullet points on how to maximize the effectiveness of your downtime (though…I could). I would hope I would be insulting your intelligence to do so.

What I do want to do, however, is make sure we understand that resting is just as much a part of the puzzle of effectiveness as doing. So let’s take care of our minds and bodies. Let’s make sure we get the rest we need. Let’s take time every now and then to shut down for a few days, and do something fun and relaxing with people we love being around.

I promise you, it will make a difference when we turn the doing dial back up to get things done.

Following up on a great post from Jason yesterday, I wanted to help you try to discover when your most effective time to do anything might be.

The first thing that most should determine is if they are morning people or night people. Once you have a sense of that, then you have narrowed down half of the day.

I am MOST definitely a night person, as is Jason. There was a time that staying up past midnight was a no-brainer. The kids and wife go to bed during the 9 o’clock hour on most nights, so that would leave me with at least 3 hours each night to work on different things. These are the nights that we came up with Black Belt Productivity and Life Above for your reading pleasure. Unfortunately, this does not help my work task list too much.

I have never been a morning person. I LOVE to sleep and I hate the act of waking up. Ince I am up, I am generally ok. I have read many things about how to become a morning person, but I am not all that interested in that.

But by knowing this, I can alter my work tasks accordingly. I can do some low energy/priority tasks in the morning when I first get to work, and then dig deep into some project task in the mid-morning. When I focus hard at that time, I try to go for 90 to 120 minutes then take my lunch break. Usually after a big lunch (Cinco de Mayo!!!), I am not in a very productive mood. I can hit email or RSS whenI get back and then work back into a productive state by continuing with the pre-lunch project or moving to another one. Another good 90-120 minutes on that project, then I can wind the day down by reading trade mags or whatever book I may be reading at the time (probably something on VMware virtualization or Exchange servers).

Tomorrow (May 6) is going to be a special day in may ways. We are having our first meetings with my next two BIG projects. The first meeting is with the Architects and Construction folks about the internal renovations that are about to start on Northport City Hall. I am one of the first people to move out of my office because it is the only inhabited office in the first phase of construction. My second meeting is with the Project Manager of the renovation to discuss the data/phone plan for the renovations. After lunch, my first meeting is with the newly hired design firm that will be redesigning our city’s website, then that merges into our weekly Department Head meeting. After that, the fun begins…The Blue Angels are performing here this weekend and tomorrow afternoon they will fly their first practice over City Hall. I can tell you, from experience last year, it is pretty DANG HARD to work with up to 5 F-18 Hornets flying overhead.

I am not expecting a lot of effective work happening for me! I do not have to sit in many meeting as an IT Manager, but I have found that the 30 mins leading up to and the 30 mins following are not very effective times for me. I don’t want to start something that I have to stop to go to the meeting. After the meeting, there is usually some items that I need to follow up on, or make some action items for myself that came out of the meeting.

Try to track when you feel that are being especially productive/effective over next week. if you see some patterns emerging, then use that to your advantage. Schedule in some project work, or some work that you really need to concentrate on during that time, and see if you can really get some good time with it. Like Jason said yesterday, “Seize it and make it effective for you.”

Do you know when you are most effective?

- Michael

Sometimes I get on here and ramble on about things that I personally struggle with…or simply what is on my mind at the time.

Recently, I have been thinking more about how I manage my time at home. This involves an inventory of what is important to me. One of the things that I have been missing in recent months is writing. I enjoy writing. I get personal satisfaction and fulfillment from writing my thoughts about life, productivity and the like.

So what is keeping me from writing?

Well, there are a number of factors. My schedule as a coach to my son’s ice hockey and baseball teams has kept me away from it to a degree. However, if I could attribute it to one thing more than any other, it would be that I have allowed some bad habits to creep into my lifestyle. For example, I love sports. I will watch just about anything but cricket. If it does not involve a ball or puck…I am typically not interested.

Is that a bad thing. No…not necessarily. However, if it is causing me to waste time that I can be using to do something more fulfilling, it is probably something I should cut back on. Someone once said that the good is the enemy of the best. That is true for me. I am allowing something I enjoy to rob me of something else that I truly value.

So this past weekend, I started to block off time in the evening to write a couple of entries. Why the evening? For me, my most effective and creative times are later in the evening. The children are in bed. My wife typically goes to bed earlier than I do. It is quiet around the house. Sunday night, the weather cooperated, and I was able to sit on the deck and write while listening to the rain.

Your best time to get something done may be different, it could be early in the morning, before anyone else gets up. It could be over your lunch hour. The trick is to find your best and most effective time…and make it yours. Seize it and make it effective for you.

So what is it that you could block off some time to do that would help you be more effective and fulfilled?

What is it that is robbing you of your most effective time?

Its one thing to understand…and completely another to do something about it. So what are you going to do to reclaim your most effective time?

-Jason

Jason Echols and Michael Ramm met online in early 2006. They shared a love of Atlanta Braves baseball, Alabama Crimson Tide football, the weather and more importantly, personal productivity. After numerous discussions, they decided that they wanted to enter the blogosphere and Black Belt Productivity (BBP) was born. The blog was launched in April of 2006 and was well received by the productivity seekers of the internet amassing a readership that surpassed 6000 subscribers at its heyday. Their first major project for BBP was to write a ‘GTD Primer’ based on the remarkable book Getting Things Done by David Allen. The ‘GTD Primer’ was well received and still requested by readers as late as this year.

In recent years, the productivity movement has moved away from discussions about systems, in favor of discussions about lifestyle. This movement has embraced words like minimalism and simplicity. Personal productivity has expanded its horizons to touch almost every aspect of our lives. 

Productivity is growing up.

Jason and Michael some time ago started discussions about how they could also expand their horizons to add their voices to this exciting new discussion.

After a long time of reflection and review, they decided to make a few big changes.

So what are they doing?

They are changing the name of the blog…or better said…creating a new blog @ LifeAbove.net.

Why LifeAbove.net?

Life is getting more hectic by the day:

• There are more demands for our time from employers and clients
• There are a lot more potential distractions working their way into our lives
• Our families are involved in more and more activities
• True valuable relationships are harder to create and maintain
• It is becoming more and more difficult to live the lives we want to live in a way that we value

The answers to these questions touch every aspect of our lives, as well as the lives of their readers.

LifeAbove.net will remain true to the original vision of BBP, but they will also be expanding to include a lot of things that are moving them at a particular time.

For Jason and Michael, this is a journey, and they want to share it with their readers. As they learn, everyone else gets an opportunity to learn as well.

Follow LifeAbove on twitter, and (coming soon) Facebook.

Thanks for stopping by, and please visit us again!