Morning all,
Starting much later than normal again today.
It’s clear to see the impact that the events of the last few weeks have had on my health.
The last few weeks is trying to sort out our lead-generation team to get them as quickly as possible to the standard that’s required to be successful.
What’s ironic about this all – is that in some senses – it’s like this blog that I’m writing now.
I’ve just realized I’ve walked for 15 minutes to my favorite local café (Coffee Underground in West Kensington) and that I’ve not bought my Macbook charger with me.
That means I’ve got (hold on let me check):
This much battery before I need to head off and grab my charger – and as discussed I’m ALREADY behind with my day.
Today – given I didn’t write yesterday means I need to produce 2 blogs to just ‘break even when it comes to my daily writing regimen.
This brings us back to that question of applied pressure.
I have my normal 20-minute block AND the problem of limited power to make the time that I have here in the café as effective as possible.
And that means it will likely (as I feel it is) – make me hyperproductive.
This is exactly what has been happening with my clients over the last several weeks when it comes to the applied pressure part.
The expectation is there, I’ve got a limited amount of time to make things happen – and so with this in mind, I’ve got to use the time I’ve been given to really just ‘get things one.
Just now – as I’m sitting here in the café
Just as I’m here now in the café:
Just as I’m sitting here now in the café:
The clock is ticking
And the fight to do something ‘quickly’ and to do something ‘well’ continues.
This is basically the eternal battle of everyone.
But I want to take this opportunity to outline the value of applying such pressure to yourself from time to time (or all the time if it comes externally):
We are driven by ‘fear’ and ‘urgency’ – so there’s a range of tactics all at play literally right now –
Let’s go through them one by one:
- I’ve got a limited battery on my Macbook so I need to make the time that I have very effective
- I’ve got my countdown clock/Pomodoro app floating on top to remind me that the time (20 minutes is counting down)
- I’ve enabled the ticking sound as you can see to create the sense of urgency that we’ve been conditioned to experience when you hear ticking clocks (probably worth a Google to understand why ticking clocks do that – but of course, it underlines ‘time is running out
- I’ve got white noise playing to cut out 95% of the ambient noise in the background so it can help supercharge my focus.
- Doing this in the café in spite of me sitting next to Josh, and being around John and Jay – lets the people around me know that I’m focussed and hard at work
So when you combine all of these elements together – you get applied pressure that’s coming from both the limited battery life that I’ve got – as well as all of the additional elements I’m adding to the fore.
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- Writing a whole blog about applied pressure – reinforces the muscle memory I am exercising right now. This isn’t a ‘way of life but rather a ‘muscle’ that needs continual reps – now and for the rest of my life
- I have taken the annoyance of my realization that I left my Macbook charger at home – and I’m using the opportunity to produce something useful and effective in the time I have
So…on balance – am I happy that I’ve found myself in this world of applied pressure…as the clock runs out:
Well, the real truth of it I’m wondering now – is how I can reproduce such activity WITHOUT leaving my MacBook charger at home.
I want to find myself even MORE in environments like this where I force myself into a place of extreme focus to drive big results.
It does, all in all – make you realise that life is composed of a never-ending delta of small sprints.
Scuttling from one activity to another, from one task to another – and that the goal is, is to maximise the value I can drive in the limited time that’s allocated to each task.
I was just reading a Blinkist called ‘Activate Your Brain’ by Scott G.Halford – literally on my way to the café.
The subtitle reads ‘How Understanding Your Brain Can Improve Your Work and Your Life’ – and one of the things it spoke about was how ’60 minutes of focussed work’ is like ‘4 hours of unfocussed work’.
And well….the time is up:
I’m 33 seconds into the red zone…and in just over 20 minutes – look how much ‘value’ (I hope!) I’ve produced….
That’s it guys ☺
