I can usually get a few pointers from a podcast or TED Talk, but this podcast from The Product Breakfast Club got me thinking. And that usually gets me writing, which is also a good thing.

I’ve really come to like the AJ&Smart YouTube channel. I came across it while learning more about UX Design, and not only do they have some great ideas, it’s very entertaining.

I think what really got me into this episode though was their guest. They were interviewing Jason Fried from BaseCamp. Not to sound like an endless promoter, but I really like his writing. The book It doesn’t have to be crazy at work was awesome, and pretty much discribes my dream work enviroment. Check it out… No affiliat links here, just think it was a pretty cool book.

Anyway, there are a few parts that just stuck with me and I wanted to share them here. Nothing verbatium, but just what I took from it.

Use your own process…

Yes, it’s tempting to follow what the most successful people or compaines around you are doing. It’s easy to forget that what works for one, doesn’t really translate to the other. especially when you are just rushing to try to move the needle.

I’ve been just as guilty wasting time checking out some framework or app that might be all the rage today Medium, or whatever other super productivity guru you might follow. I have a few if you need some recomendations , by the way…

Just focus on the process that works for you. Don’t fall into a defualt just becuse it’s “best practice”, or most deffinalty when it’s the way it has always been done. Find your way of doing things, and just get stuff done. It may not need to be anything fancy, or have a cool name. However you work best, just do it that way.

Work on short projects

Now this sounds like a great concept to me. They discuss getting a project done anywhere from five days to six weeks, and how great it is to have an end in sight. Better yet, what can we do in a week?

This would be fantastic! I would think it’s much easier to keep up the motivation when you know that you will be done, and moving on to the next cool thing in a few weeks.

But, I work on projects that generally take a few months to move into production, and even then I continue to manage the now active program to help ensure it becomes successful. With all the moving parts, I don’t see much happening in a week. I had a little chuckle when I was asked recently how we could get something implemented in 30 days.

Here I caught myself falling into that defualt state of mind mentioned earlier. Just because I haven’t been able to get things done in a somewhat quick way in the past doesn’t mean we can’t do it now. A challenge? Most deffinalty, but I guess anythign is possible.

The question now… How would I do this thing, while unblocking all the obsicles in the way? I’ll ponder on that one a bit more.

Be willing to just do it…

You have to do the work. I’ve looked for all the quick angles, and any shortcuts but nothing relpaces the work.

If you want something you are going to have to show up and do what needs to be done to finish. And, you need to just let it finish when it’s time to be done. I don’t know how many times I will need to read that, or hear it to finally just do it.

Let go of perfectionisum, becasue it’s never going to happen anyway, and just let that thing go into the world to do what it’s meant to do. You can always come back and fix something that isn’t quite right later.

I have struggled with this in my writing, and now most recently in my UX Design studies. I try so hard to be on par with those that I admire, that I end up getting nothing done because I think my work is so inferior. But, best that you can do at that moment is more than enough to get to that next level and then the next. It will always take more of just showing up and doing the work.

Figure out what really matters, and focus on that…

This is a hard one. I have plenty going on, and it all matters becasue everything I’m doing is supporting my end goal. I can’t let one thing slip as I’ll just fall behind in another as I catch up.

So I guess the question here is, how do you find out what it is that really matters? That would depend on what type of problem you want to solve. Are you trying to fix something at work, or at home? Business or personal?

As much as I like to keep business and my personal life as separate as possible, we really are what we do for a living. Or, what we do for fun.

When you meet a stranger, what do you talk about?

Make the time to make it happen…

Schedule a day with no meetings.

Decide to do something, and just go do it.

Here we are nine days into the new year, so I guess it’s time to reflect on all things accomplished in 2018.

To be honest, 2018 was one of the most difficult periods of both my personal and professional life.

It was the year we welcomed our third child, and the year I lost my dad. The year I became incredibly fustrated with corporate America, and began to learn all I could about writing, design, coding, and how technology fits into our lives.

I didn’t write as much as I wanted, but picked up my first freelance writing clients almost by accident.

If I had to pick a word to describe 2018, it would be fustration.

I was bogged down looking for ways to express my thoughts while still looking professional. Not writing here due to lack of focus on where I really wanted to take my little website. Should it remain a personal blog, or build a professional writers website? Or both?

2019 has already given me the opportunity to be much more focused on what I would really like to accomplish.

The word used to describe this year will be growth.

Growth in experience, skills, and knowledge needed to support my new freelance business and provide true value to clients and readers.

Here’s to a productive and prolific 2019!

Why do we need to spend every free moment doing stuff?

Lately, I’ve come to notice that I really harp on myself if I don’t fill my free time with doing something productive. Of course something falling into the “productive” category is very subjective.

Since I try to do too many things at the same time I can’t ever choose which goal or project I should devote that few moments of focus I find from time to time.

I would like to spend more time writing, but also feel obligated to continue learning to code. Most times, I try to spend free time with family.

To be honest, I would rather spend the little bit of free time I get sitting down and doing nothing. Doing nothing is really under rated. Just sitting, lost in my own thoughts, and allowing my mind to wander. True rest.

I’ve stopped reading articles on being productive. I get that there are opportunities to get more work done faster, but is it really that important? Maybe at work, but in life I’m leaning more towards slowing things down.

Might just be me, but I’m seeing more people wanting to shift from the so called normal life of wake up, go to work, come home, do chores, go to sleep and repeat. Just trying to survive until the next vacation. Problem is that when you get back, all the work you missed is waiting for you.

I don’t know many co-workers that even use up all thier vacation time each year.

Everyone is working so hard to be productive, but never taking any time away from work. Just getting more work complete that is replaced by, you guessed it, more work.

What does that say about us in the corporate workforce when it’s less stressful to just stay at work than to actually take some time off?

Think I’ll just go take a nap in a hammock somewhere. Work will still be there when I get back. Why rush?