The Tao of How

We don't engage in self-experimentation in an effective way. When done correctly, self-experimentation can open doors and move you forward in a number of different directions. What often happens, however, is that we try things and don't collect enough data. We go by our reaction do doing something a limited number of times and sometimes assign blame to the new variable instead of looking at other factors. Case in point. My running for the last few days has been difficult. I'm looking for reasons why this may be and I'm assessing the things over the last few days that have been different in my regular routine. My usual response is to examine my hydration, my diet, or my sleep patterns. It could very well be that these are contributors, but are they the reasons? Or is there something else? This is where self-experimentation comes in. Often we are dealing with too many variables. We introduce something into our routine, give it a few days, and decide we eithe...

You can have the best laid plans, but they can go absolutely awry if you don't get enough sleep. Yesterday was a great example of how significant sleep can be (or lack thereof) in creating a barrier to productivity. I wear a CPAP because I have sleep apnea. For the last two days I didn't wear my CPAP mask because I was trying to determine if the new mask I was using was actually working. Turns out, it was. I had not worn the mask on Saturday night or Sunday night, so when Monday morning came around I was useless. I woke up and began my morning routine and promptly fell asleep on the couch downstairs while I was trying to drink a cup of coffee. It did not get better from there. Sleep is often the first thing we sacrifice if we have things we're trying to accomplish in a given day. Maybe it is business travel for which we end up having to get up at the crack of dawn. When I travel I like to take early flights so I can get to where I'm going and have some time ...

When I started out this year, I created a Google doc to draft my goals for the year. Before we even get into the setting of goals, let's talk about cloud-based document management for a moment. I've used Google Drive for years now, and there's just no other way to do it than to have your documents cloud-based so you can access them from any computer or mobile device. If you're not doing this, please join the 21st century. We're now in 2020, and if you're saving things locally or carrying around a flash drive, please stop. Back to goals. I started a Google doc and jotted down some thoughts. I left the document open, and it is still open as a tab on my browser. I revisited it a few days later and categorized the goals. Looked for themes and trends. I looked at it again, and began to add bullet points under each goal in each category. The original exercise of brainstorming has no evolved into an organic planning document. Here's a suggestion. If yo...

What would you do if you didn't have your iPhone? Specifically, what would you be doing right now instead of using your phone? Phones have invaded our lives. We have them easily accessible whenever we find a few minutes of idle time that need to be occupied, and so we go to them for countless games and social media options. All are literally at our fingertips. This is an interesting exercise for those of us who had a life before we had a phone, and can remember (albeit with some difficulty) what it was like not to be plugged in all the time. Those who are a bit younger will always remember a time they had a phone, perhaps, but maybe for them it will be remembering how life was before the 'smart' phone. The younger generation will not know life without a smart phone. This concept of life with a smart phone available at all times has created a shift. In the no-phone generation, the individuals who had a life before a phone, we were deliberate about the times we e...

The year is 2020. We've reached the 8th day of the year, and I've spent these 8 days thinking about changes I can make that would help me to be more productive, live a healthier life, and optimize the time I spend investing in the things that will make me an overall better person. I've thought about the time wasters that are dragging me away from the things I should be doing, and of the good things I could do that would start to move the needle in the right direction away from unproductive to productive. So what are the changes I want to make this year? Sure, there are the standards that I think about every year. Lose weight. Run more. Eat better. Try to develop better sleep habits. Then those just seem to go by the wayside. I have years of journals I can look back on and see exactly how little progress I've made in these areas. No, this year is different. I want to make changes that will help me be a more productive person. Diet and exercise are tangential...