Via Boris
Category Archives: Personal Development
No Excuses
Having one of those days where you just don’t feel up to going to the gym? Too much work, stressed out, maybe didn’t eat right? Not enough sleep?
After that was written, he went 495/341/506 @220lb unequipped at the meet.
You don’t get to have excuses any more.
Neither do I.
Quote of the Day, Rippetoe Edition
From this fantastic article
I may be trying to piss up a rope here, but you guys have to get realistic about these things and quit letting the physique magazine/supplement industry make you stupid.
Read it all, please.
What strength looks like
It looks like not giving up.
Catching up on some blog reading, and saw this on Tommy Fannon’s blog. This is a hell of a lift. Giving up on it clearly wasn’t an option.
Are you working this hard?
Productivity Tip: Early to Rise
Improving your productivity is more than just implementing solid processes, it’s building solid habits. One of the most important habits I’ve built to improve my productivity by gaining time is to standardize the hour I wake/rise every morning.
A consistent early start time will improve your productivity. While not everyone is productive at the same times of day, and not everyone’s work conforms to early rising in a traditional sense, moving your wake up time earlier should result in more productivity, regardless of your schedule. I happen to wake at 4:55AM every day; my work day can start at 6AM (many of the folks I work with are also in the office that early, and on days I’m on the road, I’m often headed out the door earlier than that).
So here’s what I do…
I set my Blackberry alarm to go off every morning at 4:55. I don’t have a set routine every morning as I often have to get up and get out the door right away to get somewhere; but on the days I don’t have an early AM meeting, it’s pretty standard.
When the alarm beeps, I turn it off, take a big deep breath, stretch, and get up. Even if I don’t want to get up. Even if I was up until 12:30. Up. Now. Continue reading
Looking for the bag
Dave Tate shares a couple of things he does when deciding to work with a vendor.
I look in the trash can. I’m not going to give away all my secrets, but if the can is empty with no liner – I’m not doing business with them EVER. This can mean only a few things.
1. The don’t complete their work.
2. They get distracted easy.
3. They are not detail oriented.
4. If it isn’t their job, then they don’t check the details of their staff’s or custodial service work.
5. If they ran out of bags, they don’t know how to plan ahead.
There are some other things I think it can mean but the important part is that there’s nothing that can be good about this.
The one thing I always look for is if they have a BAG. If so, THEN I look for the balls to go with it.
Last week I was in an Operational Effectiveness workshop at one of the vendors working with me. (My role is to both manage the relationship between my company and the vendors doing service work for us, as well as support those vendors to ensure they are profitable and effective.) We were working on a process that is so screwed up we don’t even know if we have a problem. Anyway, the Director of OE at the vendor noticed the Director of Service Operations always parks his car next to the door of the warehouse in an area clearly marked as a no parking zone. The OE guy rightly called him out, saying that if the Director doesn’t follow the posted rules, why should anyone else?
Solution: if you want to park in the no parking zone, make it a parking spot. Otherwise, don’t park there. Likewise, when you see trash piled up somewhere instead of where you say it belongs, maybe where you need to move the trash can.
These little things say a lot. I know the guy who parks in the no parking zone is working hard and does a great job; but his entire organization disregards no parking zones. Which leads to things so out of control you don’t even know if you have a problem, much less what to do to make the business better.
Everything old is new again
This is an interesting little movement.
The Sabbath Manifesto was developed in the same spirit as the Slow Movement, slow food, slow living, by a small group of artists, writers, filmmakers and media professionals who, while not particularly religious, felt a collective need to fight back against our increasingly fast-paced way of living. The idea is to take time off, deadlines and paperwork be damned.
In the Manifesto, we’ve adapted our ancestors’ rituals by carving out one day per week to unwind, unplug, relax, reflect, get outdoors, get with loved ones and, if we’re lucky, get some booty, too. The ten principles are to be observed one day per week, from sunset to sunset. We invite you to practice, challenge and/or help shape what we’re creating.
The Ten Principles
1. Avoid Technology
2. Connect With Loved Ones
3. Nurture Your Health
4. Get Outside
5. Avoid Commerce
6. Light Candles
7. Drink Wine
8. Eat Bread
9. Find Silence
10. Give Back
I’m thinking this weekend’s National Day of Unplugging might just fit perfectly in to what I need to get done (work outside, clean out garage).
What’s in your inbox?
A quick productivity tip.
This is my email inbox.
What does yours look like?
Process your email just like a paper inbox. Don’t be a slave to it, process it a couple of times a day, and every email you read gets put in your system and moved out of the inbox. If it’s under 2 minutes, handle it. If it needs to be read later, put it in your ‘to read’ folder. If you need to do something with it, put it in your ‘to do’ list. If you need to schedule it, put it in your calendar. If you might need the information later, put it in the appropriate reference file. If you read it, don’t need it, and don’t need to do anything with it, delete it.
