<ul><li>Remind yourself that you are not alone. When we feel down, we isolate. That’s when we need others most to speak truth into our lives.</li><li>Talk to people you respect and trust. In our society today we don’t have community like we used to. We fabricate or numb the pain. We work harder.</li><li>Find another interpretation. When we look at our lives and assess what’s going on around us, we can interpret stories that aren’t always true.</li><li>Invest in relationships but learn when to prune them. </li></ul>

4 ways to work through life’s tough seasons

The general manager of a major sports racetrack in the United States and most of his staff spend the calendar year preparing for a handful of giant races. Hundreds of thousands of people fill the…

Stashed ideas

How to get through a tough personal slump

Always keeping emails short is a simple rule, but the effects can be profound. Once you no longer think of email as a general-purpose tool for talking about anything at any time, its stranglehold on your attention will diminish.

There is an underlying belief, in the knowledge sector, that hyper-communication equals work. We are part of a workflow centered around ongoing conversations fueled by unstructured and unscheduled messages delivered through digital communication tools like email and instant messenger services. Constantly switching tasks and responding to email fuels our human need to rationalize what is happening around us, often helping us flee from the more nuanced and complex reality.

The Hyperactive Hive Mind

According to data gathered by the time-tracking software <a href=https://www.rescuetime.com/ class="idea-content-link" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">RescueTime</a><ul><li>Half of the users check communication applications like email or Slack every six minutes or less.</li><li>The most common average checking time was once every minute.</li><li>For half the users studied, the longest unbroken period of work was no more than forty minutes, with the most typical longest time being only twenty minutes.</li><li>More than two-thirds of users never experienced an hour without an interruption.</li><li>For business users, the average email volume was 126 messages per day.</li></ul>

A terrible way to extract value from human neurons

Attention switching costs are huge on our brains and workflows. This means that constantly jumping from one task to another brings with it a significant cognitive load that slows down our ability to focus and get the most out of our work. Yet, reactively replying to emails appears to be a “productive” use of our time on most occasions, due to the perceived convenience of this workflow in the short run.

Email reduces productivity

For those individuals who score high in neuroticism (a <a href="https://simonesmerilli.com/life/personality-big-five" target="_self">personality trait</a> that is correlated with high levels of anxiety and negative emotions), the mere thought of batching email replies or using a more mindful approach to this tool can be stress-inducing. This is because of the paleolithic nature of our social-animal brains, who feel FOMO (fear of missing out) and uneasiness at the mere thought of not replying instantly to interactions with other human beings who are part of our same tribe.

Email makes us miserable

There's nothing fundamental about these newly increased workloads; they're instead an unintended side effect—a source of stress and anxiety that we can diminish if we're willing to step away from the frenetic back-and-forth that defines the hyperactive hive mind workflow.

The rate of spread of email since the 90s has been outstanding, almost to such a point that the hyperactive hive mind workflow has chosen us. 3 main drivers for this<ul><li>“The hidden costs of asynchrony”: synchrony might be “expensive” to set up, but constant asynchrony is much more expensive in the long term, as issues that may be solved in a couple of minutes tend to stretch in long threads of mindless back and forth.</li><li>“The cycle of responsiveness”: Email fuels an endless feedback loop, that no one actually actively decided to implement rationally.</li><li>"The caveman at the computer screen"</li></ul>

Email has a mind of its own

Once we understand the contours of our frustrations with knowledge work, we recognize that we have the potential to make these efforts not only massively more productive but also massively more fulfilling and sustainable.

Attention capital is creating workflows that optimize the human brain's ability to add value to information. Not just to chase our own tails and send and receive more emails. The optimal way to deploy our human brains is sequentially. There are 2 main components to knowledge work:&nbsp;<ul><li>work execution, which requires more autonomy and is where knowledge workers use their brains and skills</li><li>&nbsp;workflow, which is where you need less autonomy because it is the structure and coordination of the work</li></ul>

The attention capital principle

Incorporating efficient production processes into knowledge work can make an incredible difference in increasing performance and minimizes ambiguity as to what to work on at any given time. Task boards like Asana and Trello are some of the key tools when it comes to setting up processes. For a production process to be effective, it should be:<ul><li>Easy to review who's working on what and how that work is going</li><li>Possible to make progress without lots of unscheduled communication</li><li>Known procedures for updating assignments to minimize both unscheduled communication and ambiguity</li></ul>

The process principle

By spending more time setting up rules or protocols for work in advance, we can spend less effort coordinating the work at the moment. An eg: The standard protocol meeting scheduling is "energy-minimizing email ping pong," which has a low energy cost at the moment but large cognitive costs long-term. Something like a scheduling link or open office hours can change that dramatically. Consider, customer support protocols like using team emails instead of personal ones Also, consider email protocols like not promising to reply to every email and keeping emails short.

The protocol principle

The specialization principle says that doing fewer things with higher quality and more accountability can significantly improve productivity. Basically, applying essentialism to knowledge work. Less intense ways to further specialize are:<ul><li dir = "auto">Outsourcing what you don't do well</li><li dir = "auto">Giving your <a href="https://workbrighter.co/remote-management/" target="_self">team</a> more autonomy</li><li dir = "auto">Sprinting on specific projects</li><li dir = "auto">Considering budgeting attention, workloads, or meeting time</li></ul>Companies should also consider supercharging support staff and making those roles more efficient, building smart interfaces between specialists and support or different departments.

THE SPECIALIZATION PRINCIPLE

Outlines recommendations for business leaders on how to maximize a working team's professional productivity by improving administrative support and streamlining digital traffic.

A World Without Email - Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload

Learning new skills increases your motivation, makes you more adaptable, relatable, interesting and helps you get better jobs and earn more money.

Learning to Learn

Writing helps you define your voice. It helps you get clarity on who you are and who you want to become.Your story is your story alone. It has the power to change both your life and that of others.

Writing

Nothing builds confidence more than doing a successful public speech, and the more you seek public speaking opportunities out, the more you can build your confidence.On top of those benefits, you also improve your vocabulary and speak with greater clarity. People will understand you more when you speak.

Public Speaking

You learn to be aware of how your body and mind feel. You learn to relax, even when you feel like you’re too nervous to relax.The important thing to realize is that it takes time to learn it. Don’t try once and leave. Meditate at least once a day for at least 10 minutes.

Meditating

<ul><li>Forming good habits is a powerful tool to increase your motivation for doing anything.</li><li>Forming bad habits, on the flip-side, can be extremely dangerous for your life.</li><li>By knowing how habits take form and how they work, you can better control what habits you form and get rid of habits that are detrimental to you.</li></ul>

Forming Good Habits

The next time you think about a negotiation situation, think win-win. What most don’t realize is that we negotiate almost daily. A lot of our interactions with other people are about negotiating.Where to go for dinner? What to watch tonight? What mode of transportation to use? etc.Once you realize that negotiation is a skill and it needs practice, you’ll start to find many scenarios around you that are good practice.&nbsp;

Negotiating

<ul><li>Learning mathematical thinking is the same as what you do in school, you practice sample problems. The difference now is The main benefit is to increase your analytical and reasoning skills. This will help you make better-informed decisions, including during negotiation scenarios.</li><li>You’ll run businesses more efficiently. You’ll be a better manager. You’ll make more money because you’ll know how to manage it better.</li><li>You’ll be more productive simply by knowing how to better analyze your time. no one is forcing you to do it, plus you are aware of the real-world benefits of doing it.</li></ul>

Mathematical Thinking

This skill will open the doors to more physical activities. The more coordination and flexibility you have, the easier it will be to perform at any sport or physical activity.

Coordination and Flexibility

10,000 hours of deliberate practice is the amount of time it takes to be a top performer in a highly competitive field, according to Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Outliers. In the past 2 years, I’ve…

8 Timeless Skills to Learn Now in Under 8 Hours to Change your Life Forever

"Lose an hour in the morning, and you will spend all day looking for it." — Richard Whately If you don't prioritise your morning hours, you'll never know what you could have been. You'll settle for less in your choices, relationships, eating, environment, income, and life. As many people operate on a 9-5ish schedule, the hours before 9 AM are significant. If you start your day at 7 AM, you've lost the most important hours of your day. If you dislike evening and morning routines, you are missing the greatest growth of your life.

You Make Or Break Your Life Before 7 AM

If most people could dedicate two hours in the morning to learning, thinking, planning, praying, and writing, their life would change. How you start your day is important. Starting right is much easier than correcting course. There are many good activities, but those activities should not come first. Instead, start with activities that are great.&nbsp;&nbsp;

What To Do Between 5 and 7 AM

"If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads." — Ralph Waldo EmersonIf you spend 1–2 hours per morning reading, you will read 50–100 books per year. If you spend 5–10 years reading quality books, you'll become an "overnight success".&nbsp; But only reading is not enough. You also need to spend time thinking, meditating, praying, and writing.

So What Should You Do First Thing In The Morning?

While you're learning, it's also important to think about your goals. Write your goals down and emotionally visualise their completion. It's inspiring to read old journal entries and realise that many of your former goals have since been attained and accomplished. It is often through this form of reflection that you realise how much your path has been guided and how good God has been to you.

Emotional Transformation Through Reflection

While reading or listening to powerful information, your mind will be ready to get lots of good ideas. <ul><li>You'll get great ideas about how you can better reach your goals and how you can better help people in your network accomplish their goals.&nbsp;</li><li>Act on these ideas. The longer you hesitate, the more likely you'll forget your key insight.</li><li>When a brilliant idea sparks, start writing. Follow the idea and see where it takes you.&nbsp;</li></ul>

Intellectual Transformation Through Learning And Journaling

How you spend your morning,<ul><li>determines your success</li><li>determines who you will become</li><li>determines whether you become world-class or remain average</li><li>determines how many dollars you will make</li><li>determines how well you think, strategise, prioritise, spend your time, choose your friends, lover, career, how you perform in your work, how you influence the world.</li></ul>

Important life lessons

While serving a humanitarian and ecclesiastical mission at the age of 20, I learned potentially the most important lesson of my life. How you spend your morning determines whether you become…

Crystal Beasley
@crybeasley

4 ways to work through life’s tough seasons

How to get through a tough personal slump

CAL NEWPORT

A World Without Email - Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload

Learning to Learn

8 Timeless Skills to Learn Now in Under 8 Hours to Change your Life Forever

You Make Or Break Your Life Before 7 AM

You Make Or Break Your Life Between 5–7 AM

Crystal Beasley@crybeasley

4 ways to work through life’s tough seasons

How to get through a tough personal slump

CAL NEWPORT

A World Without Email - Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload

Learning to Learn

8 Timeless Skills to Learn Now in Under 8 Hours to Change your Life Forever

You Make Or Break Your Life Before 7 AM

You Make Or Break Your Life Between 5–7 AM

Crystal Beasley
@crybeasley