About a month ago, I read this post from Leo Baubata. He says in part:
There are a ton of people who read self-improvement blogs and books, but never put them into action.
They engage in what’s sometimes called “self-improvement porn”.
I’ve done this myself in the past — it was a form of fantasizing about how I was going to make my life better, get my shit together.
But I didn’t take action…
And it hit me like a ton of bricks. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to do something about it, thanks to reading a few different things. Here’s my facebook post:
It was captioned: “Mind like water? We’ll see… Inbox Zero!”
A friend asked what I was using, and of course I obliged:
I’m using a combination of:
- The Secret Weapon, a Getting Things Done implementation in Evernote.
- Donald Miller’s Storyline Productivity Schedule, in a binder that I’m carrying with my like it’s a trapper keeper from 5th grade.
- and a real “stop and evaluate what you’re spending time reading” chart that I based on Rolf Dobelli’s (apparently plagiarized/stolen from Nassim Taleb) Avoid the News (PDF), which might be the most significant thing I’ve read this year. Go plagiarism?
So it’s been about two weeks of fully implementing this system. I’ve obviously got a long way to go to prove to myself that it’s going to stick, but so far, it’s really helpful.
Helpful how?
- Objectively,
- I have wasted less time.
- I have produced more in both my jobs and my creative endeavors.
- I have had more time to do the things I want to do outside of work, like spending time with my family and in prayer.
- Subjectively,
- My mind races less.
- I’ve had fewer things flit into my head and cause anxiety.
- I’ve had more focused thoughts and more use of my imagination.
So, I feel good about it. I’ll keep you posted. If you take nothing else away from this, go read the Dobelli article called Avoid the News. So good.