Random Thoughts on Growth— Feb. 23, 2023
You don’t always have to get better by adding things. You can remove
items from your life too.
Something Cool I Saw Today…
Thoughts…
I was thinking about this year and the incredible strides I’ve made so far (geez, this sounds like a #humblebrag, but there’s a point I promise).
When thinking about trying to change and grow, most people think about what can add — What habit do I add to my routine? What food should I add to my diet? What gear do I to my office?
But oddly enough, I’ve seen the most progress by removing things. For January, that meant removing alcohol. The result was that I felt like I had unlimited amounts of energy, ultimately pushing me to work out in the gym again.
As I review my February, I realized that my meditation habit didn’t really take hold until I removed the friction. Yes, I struggled with keeping up with the habit at first, but I was able to realize that I could scale back to a manageable 5–10 minutes (rather than the 20 minutes + journaling I had initially set out to do.
Overall, when you try to change your life through addition rather than subtraction, you tend to get tripped up on the details. You spend too much time finding the one productivity app to make your morning routine elite rather than finding ways to limit your screen time.
Another example is trying to figure out that fancy new appliance that you bought to save you time and “buy back some of your hours”. I’m not saying that progress can’t be achieved by introducing something new into your life, but it’s often the easier (and better) route to look to removing something instead.
Put simply, my advice to anyone out there still looking to grow and/or hit their goals this month/quarter/year:
Do more by doing less — find one way to reduce or remove a habit or project that has been cluttering up your plate recently.
Here’s a fitting quote from the great Ella Fitsgerald:
Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.
Links…
SHORT Steal This Best-Selling Author’s 3–3–3 Method for Managing Your Time
This Inc article presents a solid framework for getting way more done throughout the day than you probably have all week. Here, author Tom DeMarco explains how he breaks down his days by focusing on the most important thing, three smaller tasks, and then three ‘admin’ activities. The part I enjoy about this framework is that it leaves room for ‘slack’ or buffers for rest and recovery so that your time is more manageable.
…
LONG Is ‘Monk-Mode’ more than a Tik-Tok trend? This CEO shares his findings
Sure ‘monk-mode’ might sound like it belongs with ‘Sigma male grindset’ but hear me out. In this Insider post, a CEO details his experience with trying out ‘Monk Mode’, a trending productivity framework where you block out distractions and focus solely on one goal. While it may sound like the concept of ‘Deep Work’ I appreciate the latter’s catchiness, but I’ll let you read and be the judge.
Hope you enjoyed everything here. If you’d like to get this sent to your inbox, you can subscribe here. Be sure to follow me on Instagram for updates on my 12 habits in 12 months challenge. I’m wrapping up meditation and moving into [_______].
As always, I’m always looking for better ways to do things, so let me know your thoughts. In the meantime…
Live, Laugh, and Learn.
Bas
P.S. Want more tips/advice on how to live your best life? You can listen to my podcast, “So I Was Thinking,” or join my fortnightly “Random Thoughts” newsletter (max 10 mins out of your day). Don’t forget to share this article if you found it helpful.