Each Day R/Evolution

Productivity & Spacing Out: A 10 Step Primer

From reading his books, and attending his Roadmap seminar, David Allen's whole point of putting things in the GTD system is to give oneself as much time as possible to relax, goof off, and space out. That's what "stress-free productivity" means.

There's a high associated to kicking ass under high-stress situations, a rush to the ego and self-satisfaction of multi-tasking efficiently. One feels superhuman, pushing limits of time and energy to the limit and expanding one's limits.  I used to be prideful about this kind of plate-spinning-split-attention-multitasking proficiency.  But what am I busy with?  That's a Tim Ferriss-kind of question, to evaluate the "busy work," and if what I'm doing is worthwhile (also David Seah-style). 

Sometimes, coming off a binge of hyperproductivity and an extremely fast-paced, high-octane stretch of work focus, it can be difficult to wind down.  The mind's machine whirs and clicks and becomes greedily accustomed to crunching tasks and data. When the work is done, it becomes hard to relax, and in the absence of "problems to crunch" the mind troubleshoots even the most silent, content moments, for some new problem to solve, even inventing or exacerbating problems just for FOOD.

My point, and the point of all the thinkers below, is that the goal of efficiency and productivity is to create more space/time for higher level creative thinking, pleasure/leisure-centric activities and RELAXATION!

Let me summarize what I've grokked from these guys below:

David Allen: capture data in trusted system and set times/contexts to execute and review - goal of stress-free productivity; clear psychic RAM and be focus-efficient with the details, free up mindspace for abstract, genius, creative thinking. Goal: Chill time.

Tim Ferriss: Energy and time-efficient clients. Paring down to sparest and most effective actions, outsourcing, automating or eliminate all else.  Work smart and efficiently to be more productive in less time. Goal: Chill time.

Malcolm Gladwell: Blink. I decided. Trust intuition about decisions and eliminate inefficient struggle or self-doubt. Goal: Chill time.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: 
"It is also important to develop the habit of doing whatever needs to be done with concentrated attention. Even the most routine tasks, like washing dishes, dressing, or mowing the lawn, become more rewarding if we approach them with the care it would take to make a work of art. "
Likens the Flow state to the basic concept of Zen mindfulness. To summarize: GO WASH YOUR BOWL!
Goal: Chill out time.

Jim Loehr: As a corporate athlete, the most energy-efficient way to work is in sprints of hyper/productivity. Focus sprints allow for long periods of downtime to rest, recover, relax. Goal: Chill time.

David Seah: Be aware of how you spend your "billable hour" and if what you're doing is the best use of your time.  Do what's the best use of your time and skillset, don't waste time doing what's beneath your skill level if you can help it. Goal: More chill-time.

Lesson: It's all about chill time.  Being productive, getting tasks done should make you feel relaxed as your reward.  As you are rushing about, crossing off your action items, remember to not only enjoy the moment of closing the open loop, but also consider that the elegant, efficient execution of tasks CREATES space for pleasure-centric activities!

So when your work for the day is done, don't seek out more work.  Enforce a quota for "work time" with yourself, and protect and defend your pleasure-centric hours of the day, however you choose to spend them.  Is there a switch to turn off hyper-productivity and multitasking anxiety? Yes. It's the same switch that turns on your thoughts of pleasure and leisure.

Here is Carmen's "Optimal Mindset" "License to Space Out" recipe, this is what I use to unplug and fall back into full possession of myself:

1. Stop all action.
2. Be alone in a room.
3. Lock the door.
4. Close the laptop.
5. Turn off the phone.
6. Hide the clock.
7. Drink some water.
8. Lie on the floor and be still. Stare at the ceiling or close your eyes.
9. Take 10 deep cleansing breaths.
10. Don't move until something really COMPELS you to move. Observe what motivates you to get up, besides eating and going to the bathroom.

Be still for as long as you can until something COMPELS you to movement.  What's compelling? It's what YOU want to do. It's what you WANT to do.  Not because it's expected, or you're obligated, or you want to prove something. 

This is how I sort my priorities.  By reminding myself how I choose my Next Action, based on what is important to me, and how I want to do things that concern what is important to me.

Top Five Things I am Visualizing and Invoking from the Quanta

START: Meditations upon the word OMNIFIC.

1. Healthy, robust, miraculously effortless and complication-free labor and delivery of the POD.
2. Optimally priced (between $1500-$2000/month), safe neighborhood, cat-friendly 2 bedroom home on the West Side of Los Angeles with parking, lots of light and space, friendly vibe and ready to move in anytime between July 15th and August 1st, 2007.
3. Optimally priced, fuel-efficient, safe family vehicle that will fit all of Pod's gear for lease or purchase by October 1st in blue or white.
4. Expedient healing and post-partum recovery and improved fitness and reestablishment of athletic fighting weight (goal 125 lbs)  by January 2008.
5. Lucrative surprise gigs in a) voice-over/narration, b) productivity workshop, c) writing and d) consulting by September 2007.

These things have already been fulfilled, beautifully, and I claim them as mine.  I remain patient and open and ready to receive each opportunity that leads me directly or indirectly to their physical manifestation, according to the sequence of ordered events that is Time.

Thank you.

Confirmation of My Right Path

I have the honor of helping to guide and facilitate wonderful breakthroughs in the lives/work of brilliant clients, among them, some extremely gifted screenwriters, working moms, novelists and musicians. Receiving testimonials from people I've worked with who have achieved success in their endeavors is humbling, gratifying, and lets me know that I truly have a purpose in helping others.

Thank you.

On Hypnotherapy / Creative Coaching

Over the years I have sought (regular) therapy on an off for various reasons, but I've never met anyone as understanding, positive and intuitive as Carmen.  Her understanding of the artist's path and the struggles along the way have made her invaluable to breaking through my own fears and taking my talent to a level I knew I had in me but had no idea how to reach.  Carmen's guidance, patience and sheer enthusiasm have been crucial to bringing me to this place.  In a word, Carmen, you are awesome!

--Susie K.

On GTD-style Productivity Workshops / Coaching

Carmen's workshop is life-changing for me. No longer will I be anxious about my multi-tasking life.  This is perfect for working moms.  Carmen's enthusiasm encourages and inspires me to stick to the system. 

--Pauline M.

For other testimonials on my services, please see here - let me know if I can also be of service to you.

March Productivity Workshop: Sunday March 11th!

 

The March Productivity Workshop is here! Sunday, March 11th, from 2pm - 6pm.

 

Materials will be provided, and all you have to do is bring any physical or mental clutter, any disorganized papers, receipts, tasks and goals, and we will put them all into a organizational system that you can trust to keep you on track and stress-free.

Space is limited, so please email me if you'd like to sign up!

If you know anyone who needs some help organizing their thoughts, tasks and projects -

If you know anyone who can benefit from increased productivity, relaxation and focus -

Please let them know, or sign them up for this workshop.

Email soon!

16 Productivity Hacks of a Pregnant Productivity Coach

I have multiple interests, responsibilities and careers. I work from home.
I'm pregnant. I'm super efficient and hyper-productive. I'm an Aquarius.
I'm almost never bored, and pretty motivated about 98% of the time.

You wanna know how I get things done? You wanna copy me?

Here are Carmen's Standard Operating Procedures and Processes.

1. Yes, I use GTD. I have been on and off the GTD wagon since 2001. 

2. I do not allow myself to get obsessed (anymore) with testing/finding the "perfect productivity app." This is a time-suck of colossal proportions in itself.  There are more GTD/Task Management apps cropping up every day, each with the promise of ease of integration and maintenance.  Bogosity.  Don't get caught up.  I've burned so much energy trying to implement the latest and greatest app. It's a waste of time to try to migrate your info onto a new system.  I've tried legions of them.  My rule - if I have a little time to spare to test-drive a new app, I'll do it - WHEN I have time. And if it takes more than 5 minutes to get projects+next actions input cleanly, its just not worth it.

3. I use an Analog reporter-style Moleskine, with tabs I attach myself, to take down projects, next actions and notes.

4. I use Google Calendar for all hard landscape/date-time specific actions.  G-cal sends me text reminders to my phone, and I can also send SMS msgs INTO my G-cal to get them onto my calendar.

5. I *was* using Hiveminder for awhile. I didn't really get into it. I also used Omni Outliner Pro with  kGTD.  I've tried a whole list of others, too.Then I was using Google Notebook, in the same way I use my Moleskine, but it's not portable and I still ended up with a bunch of post-its and index cards for notes on the run, which I then was too bothered to input into Google Notebook.

6. When I have to brainstorm, or organize my thoughts on meta levels of 10,000 ft, 20,000ft . . etc. I use Mindjet's Mindmapping Software.  It is the shiz.  You can also use Freemind, because it's free.

7. I use Minuteur - a digital egg-timer, in 30 minute increments - ALL DAY LONG, for "focus sprints." For PC users, I recommend Google Timer.

8. During my "focus sprints" I do NOT check my email, and I put a "do not disturb" message on my IM so people know I am in the Zone.

9. During these "focus sprints" I wear headphones and I listen to any of the following tracks:
Osho Kundalini Meditation, Alice Coltrane's "Journey into Satchidananda," anything from FUX, or music by Matthew Kenefick aka Parataxis.

10. For online collaborative project management, I've implemented the use of Basecamp. This is NOT a replacement hub for my personal next actions tasks.  This is ONLY for group project collaboration and is super efficient when working with people who are geographically spread out.

11. I try to touch each email only once, maybe twice if I can't deal with it immediately.  Stuff that I've completed either gets deleted - only archived if necessary.  Emails from my subscriptions get filtered automatically into their boxes for review later.

12. For work/project related calls or emails, I enforce a 24 hour max response turnaround time.  With personal emails, I am a bit more lax, so that I can schedule quality time to write back or call my friends. Typically, I respond to all emails much quicker than I do phone calls.

13. If I blog, I write out my posts in advance, and schedule blog posts to publish throughout the week.

14. If I feel antsy or distracted, I allow myself 10 minute "web surfing sprints." I use Minuteur to time these, too.

15. Because I'm pregnant, I have to walk around and move out of a sitting position pretty often. I stretch, walk around, march in place, whatever.  This is good, because circulation is crucial to good focus.  I also have to snack all the time.  Peanuts, dried pineapple, mangoes, yogurt with granola, Special K bars.

16. When I'm stuck on something, or not into it, I use my hypno/NLP skills to put myself into a "Learning State" of hyper-awareness.  Students of Huna will know this as Haka L'au.  It's a centering exercise, bringing oneself to full awareness by activating all the senses.

I'm sharing these personal processes in hopes that you will be inspired, too.  If you'd like more information or training, contact me about this month's Productivity Workshop!

Mighty Bargain Hunter » Sixteen ways being disorganized costs you money

Link: Mighty Bargain Hunter » Sixteen ways being disorganized costs you money.

Why We Procrastinate

An article from Livescience talks about Why We Procrastinate.  In short - or rather, in productivity terms, we can only take in so much information before we are overwhelmed, and overloaded with data in our short-term memory.  We walk around in this overloaded state most of the time, which tends to end up paralyzing us from taking action on old items, or even new items, and we end up just having enough focus to attend to the most red-flag items, and slack on the rest.

Basically, if you feel overwhelmed in your mind, then it saps your physical energy to get things done. This is why it's so important to have a organizational system you can trust, that helps you to keep things OUT of your mind, to free up your mind for higher level thinking!

This Sunday, come learn how to get focused, get organized and get things done - simply, easily and effectively!

Optimal Mindset Workshop Series!

Getting organized can transform your life!

The Optimal Mindset for Work/Life Balance Workshop takes the best of leading corporate productivity techniques and teaches you to integrate them into your daily life - to help you achieve optimal use of your time and energy, so you can give the most of yourself to your job, your family and yourself. 

Get rid of the endless to-do lists, learn how to manage your time and energy effectively, and give your every idea and goal a jumpstart to success.

In this one day, 4 hour workshop, we will take all your "stuff" - including incomplete tasks, goals, projects, old to-do lists, files, etc. and learn to effectively, efficiently and elegantly organize and process these items into achievable next actions, integrating everything into a simple and intuitive workflow.

If you'd like to get organized for a productive start to your new year, this is the perfect workshop for you!

Date: Sunday, January 21st, 2pm - 6pm
(with monthly workshops upcoming in February, March and April)
Location: Hollywood, CA ( directions sent out upon receipt of payment )
Cost: $130.00 (Payable via Paypal to cdj@optimalmindset.com)
                  
There is limited seating, and I want to keep the groups fairly small (8 or less) to ensure that each participant receives some 1 on 1 coaching throughout the session. If you know someone else who could use a good dose of organizational coaching, feel free to let them know about this workshop. Additionally, if you have a group of people you'd like to get organized, then I am also available to do these workshops in your home or office.  Private coaching is always available.

For more information, please email cdj@optimalmindset.com.

Life Design for the New Year

Bang the gong, ring the bell, blow the conch, and welcome the new year!
2007 brings the fresh promise of new perspectives and opportunities for abundance, health and life balance.

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
~ Lao Tzu

Starting Fresh is A Choice
The past is past, the year is over, and the turn of time is just an indicator that we have a choice to be something new, to release what we used to be, do or believe and spin a new belief, a new plan and a new reality for ourselves. From 2006, we can inventory our accumulated strengths from challenges met and overcome, trials survived and courage/compassion amplified - and let that which holds no value for us - grudges, disappointments, resentments, etc. - let these things be left in the past.  I hope this New Year brings a reminder that you create your own life - in fact, where you are now in your life is where you have brought yourself - the sum of your actions and thoughts.  If you want to be at a next level with your personal, professional, financial, physical or spiritual life, you can choose to get on a new path to a new destination, today.

Eliminate Drag Coefficient
Why bring old baggage into a fresh new year?  I have my own exercise using Timeline Therapy - going through my year 2006 - from January to December and back again, taking inventory of the highs and the lows, and releasing any negative emotional charges from any recalled event by assuming a meta-perspective and noting what it is I was supposed to learn from that event. I repeat this until I can look back on my year and see nothing but learning, growth and wisdom.

Identity Crisis
For me, December is always a time of deep reflection and planning, and it almost always brings me to a strange feeling of identity crisis.  I meditate on what I have done throughout the year, I think about my goals, and who I've been, and I find myself wondering "what next?"  I've always looked forward to change, even the most drastic changes in my life, because such transitions afford me fresh challenges and unexplored territory.  I feel the same way when I travel - I like to be dropped into a new situation, a new city, and navigate my way through instinct - and make new maps for myself. There's been a lot achieved in this past year, but I'm not one to rest on my laurels.  There's always something new, something more, and a next level to conquer.  Sometimes, attaining these next levels requires letting go of old definitions of myself, and especially any limiting beliefs.

Refresh, Redesign and Redefine your Goals
Goals need to be refreshed on a regular basis - sometimes they need to be adapted to new situations, sometimes they need to be redefined or redesigned. Its easy for goals to be lost or obscured by the mundane tasks and daily grind.  It's important to take time to clearly visualize your goals, endowing them with amply specificity of detail, color and vibrance to inspire you to strive.  When you lose the clarity of your goal, you lose focus, and are prone to distraction and demotivation.

Manifest Your Vision
Who hasn't heard about the Law of Attraction?  In sum, what you think about is what you attract.  What you focus on, grows.  If you're walking down the street, telling yourself "don't fall, don't fall, don't fall" you'll probably fall.  Your thoughts create your reality, so it's important that what you focus on is not only positive, but optimal.  It's amazing how this has worked in my own life - for the good or for the bad, it never fails.  But I've proven to myself, as many of my clients have, that clear goal visualization and a commitment to holding the most optimal thoughts about our desires - ends up attracting amazing opportunities.  Last year I committed to some definite writing goals, which ended up manifesting a screenplay, which was produced into a film, which parlayed into assignments in writing mobile video series in Asia, which led to an amazing article about me in Scr(i)pt Magazine this year.  This year, I've already been commissioned to write new projects. It's amazing how dedication to an intention helped a dilettante turn pro.

Snap out of Negative States - Look Up and Be Grateful
Counting your blessings puts you in the perfect mindset to attract what you want.  Feeling the abundance of all you have achieved and all you have been given is empowering and reminds you of what's good in your life, and how life can be even sweeter, and better. There's something hard-wired in us, that when we look up, we can stop ourselves from crying and calm down.  That could be because we break out of whatever thought-loop was keeping us in a negative state by simply changing visual perspective - but it's also because when we look up - whether to the right or to the left, our eyes are helping us to access creative states of mind - creatively visualizing something new, or visually recalling a memory.  There is power in this ability to visualize - especially when coupled with inspiring thoughts - visualizing your "happy place" or something pleasant, something worth striving for.  I find that that the most powerful use of this visualizing ability to change emotional state is to look up at the sky and think of all I am grateful for - like a flash montage.  There are so many things to be grateful for - love, art, music, opportunities, friendships, family, and the simple and profound pleasures of being alive. This past year, I am most thankful that my husband has finally emigrated to the US from England (in September) and as of the beginning of November, I found out I am pregnant and will be expecting my first child in August of this year!

Make a commitment to productivity - get organized!
So often we are motivated by red-flag items - stuff we've been putting off, things we've forgotten about which end up biting us in the ass later on.  Make a small investment of time, energy and money in yourself, and get organized! This doesn't just mean all the papers on your desk, but get everything in your head OUT of your head and into a trusted system, where you collect, clarify, organize, review and DO something with every idea and task that comes your way.  It's so easy to get demotivated when it feels like you aren't organized.  When you devote time to knowing how/when to do what you have to do, you can gain a level of control that frees up stress and especially mindspace for higher levels of creativity.  If this is something that interests you, my next group workshop on Organization/Productivity is on January 14th! Feel free to contact me for details.

"In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty...Else, to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Moving on, moving forward.

Egg Sessions

Here's a pic of my desk@the Makati apartment.  I've brought my mascot, Domokun with me, as well as all my most influential books to read.  I've read them all many times, but it's nice to have them with me.  Romeo brought me a scorpion and that little red guy from Bangkok.  I'm not into arachnids too much, but I'm going to find a name for him and make him my little fierce friend. Plus the scorpion doesn't have as many eyes as spiders, which is basically the root of my dislike for them.  Analyze that as you will, I already know the answers to that!

Yesterday there was a screening of our film at a private cinema @ Greenbelt 3, in Makati. I was so proud of Romeo, who not only co-wrote, directed and edited the film, but also wrote a soundtrack of his own music, with his own vocals, to accompany a few of the scenes.  Of course, I also held my breath a little during the opening credits until I saw "Screenplay by" - and there was my name!  The cinematography on this was so gorgeous, I couldn't believe it. LIGHT YEARS AHEAD of what I saw when I went to see "Sukob" which is supposedly the #1 horror film in this country. Sukob's "scare factor" was basically a girl in blue/black paint, a cheap rip-off of the little girl who crawls out of the tv in the ring, who is wearing a dirty ragged wedding dress.  Have you ever been to one of those cheap carnival funhouses, where you walk through the dark and then people dressed in costumes surprise you around every corner by popping out and saying "Boo?" That was Sukob's "horror."  The cinematography and direction for that film was so dated, Romeo and I both felt like we could have been watching a film from the 70s. 

I've met quite a few people here as well, who have either invested in or worked on the film, and it's really awesome to see that everyone is equally impassioned about it. I suppose it must be mentioned that Lea Salonga was there at the private screening (which was for the top film distribution company here), to support her brother Gerard, who contributed 20 minutes of music to an over 90 minute film.  I will withhold further comments on this point, anyone who would like dish can contact me directly.

It looks like I will start working on some scripts for an animated series as well.  There is really so much opportunity here, so many ready and willing outlets that NEED writing, content.  The mobile content director is really excited for us to really kickstart and take over the industry - starting from here and selling to the entire world.

Thank God for my egg-timer. Keeps me and the team going - short one hour writing sprints throughout the day.  As I've learned from The Corporate Athlete, "good performers manage energy," - NOT JUST TIME!  Corporate athletics also focus on short sprints of energy rather than an extended marathon of stress.  Well, it's all working!

All the books I've ingested and learned from are totally coming into play RIGHT NOW:  The War of Art, Getting Things Done, Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting, The Corporate Athlete and The Power of Now. The Philippines is always on "island time" which means, business usually crawls at a slow, easy pace, but my time here is short and I am working fast and focused to produce my deliverables before I go back to Los Angeles.

I have easily ingested over 15 WHOLE fish - whether bangus (milkfish) or tilapia, I am loving the fish-eating.  My hair is so shiny from all the fish oils.

Back to work! The egg beckons.