Build your routine, find your focus and sharpen your creative mind. Edited by Jocelyn K. Glei
There are many authors in this book and they all contribute a chapter to the wider subject of how to manage your day. It is structured into 4 chapters:
- Building a Rock Solid Routine
- Finding Focus in a Distracted World
- Taming Your Tools
- Sharpening Your Creative Mind
Chapter one has articles from Mark McGuinness (a coach for creative professionals), Gretchen Rubin (bestselling author of the Happiness Project and Outer Order, Inner Calm), Seth Godin (bestselling author of Linchpin: Are you Indispensable and Purple Cow) , Tony Swartz (president and CEO of the Energy Project) , and Leo Babauta (creator of Zen Habits blog and bestselling author of The Power of Less). I got most of my highlights from this first chapter and took away quotes such as
“If you want to create something worthwhile with your life, you need to draw a line between the world’s demands and your own ambitions” -Mark McGuinness
“We tend to overestimate what we can do in a short period, and underestimate what we can do over a long period, provided we work slowly and consistently”– Gretchen Rubin
Building Habits and Routines has become a bit of a focus of mine over the last month or so just because I haven’t had any for 18 months… well not good ones anyway. So it doesn’t surprise me that I have focused on this chapter during my first read of this book.
Chapter two has articles from Cal Newport (professor at Georgetown University and write of Study Hacks blog), Dr Christian Jarrett (a psychologist and author), Dan Ariely (professor at Duke University and bestselling author of The Honest Truth about Dishonesty), Erin Rooney Doland (editor-in-chief of unclutterer.com and author of Unclutter Your Life In One Week), and Scott Belsky (Adobe’s Vice President of Community and bestselling author of Making Ideas Happen).
“Recognise when you’re tuning in to the stream for the wrong reasons. We often look to our devices for a sense of reassurance. Become more aware of the insecurity that pulls you away from the present. You cannot imagine what will be if you are constantly concerned with what already is.” -Scott Belsky
From my previous posts you will know that I have started to reduce my scrolling time on my phone. It also remains downstairs overnight. It has been amazing to see how little I need to be attached to my phone. I can leave it in another room or even at home without getting anxious about missing something. This in turn has me searching for other ways to utilise my time such as sewing.
Chapter three has articles from Aaron Dignan (CEO of Undercurrent), Lori Deschene (founder of blog Tiny Buddha), Tiffany Shlain (filmmaker, artist and founder of the Webby Awards), Linda Stone (writer, speaker, advisor and consultant), and James Victore (author, designer, filmmaker and educator).
“In imagination we trust. Don’t trust technology over your own instincts and imagination. Doing busywork is easy; doing your best work is hard”– Jocelyn K. Glei
Taming my tools such as email, is always something I have done. I delete anything I dont need and I organise the things I want to keep into categorised folders and subfolders. I do this for work and personal emails. Recently I have signed up to Notion so once I have had time to learn and use it fully, I will let you know how that is helping me with this particular topic.
Chapter four has articles from Todd Henry (founder of Accidental Creative), Scott McDowell (Runs consulting and executive search firm CHM Partners), Stefan Sagmeister (graphic designer and typographer), Elizabeth Grace Saunders (author of The 3 Secrets to Effective Time Investment), and another from Mark McGuinness.
“To truly excel, you must also continue to create for the most important audience of all: yourself” -Todd Henry
“I think we need that self awareness. That we don’t have time because it’s convenient not to have the time, because maybe we don’t want to challenge ourselves” – Stefan Sagmeister
This last chapter is something I will come back to in time but that last quote is something that has really hit home with me recently. Do we really have no time or are we using that as the excuse to not try? This is something that Amy Landino also highlights.. if something is truly important to you then you will find the time.
There is lots to offer in this book and I think it is definitely one that I will come back to remind myself of ways to realign myself to my goals.
What things take up your time? What excuses do you make for not making progress on your goals?
See you on Tuesday.
Faerydae Stitches 
Very interesting post – I found some of Cal Newport’s stuff a very good read. I think most of these ideas are as old as time, but what I like about him is he does discuss what to do when it is not possible to schedule your time or establish a routine because that’s how life is. I like that last quote too, but I think sometimes the ‘productivity’ crowd ignore that a bit of procrastination can be part of the process, and often the things that we want to, or care about doing, do demand a certain amount of energy that isn’t always there. This is why I like Newport’s focus on ‘you have about four hours of ‘meaningful’ work in you a day – go use that wisely (and not on emails)’. Maybe I’m just lazy and suck, but I’ve never found I’ve been able to completely get rid of timewasters though I agree building the ability to concentrate is so, so important.
Thanks for sharing your system the other week and I’ll be interested to see how you get on and what you find really helpful on the way.
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Yes I agree. Currently I struggle a long with people saying “block all the social media app so you don’t scroll”. Whilst I know people who spend all day on social media, at the same time these same people use social media to expand their businesses, so I feel they should spend more time scrolling and interacting with the people that have given their time to engage. It is tricky though because at what point do you draw the line? Though I have learnt that my mornings are super important. If I get distracted in the morning then I will spend all day not doing what I want/should be doing. If I tackle tasks in the morning then I am more motivated to continue into the afternoon.
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It’s very true ‘one size doesn’t fit all’ – I guess it’s all about finding the ‘time value’ of the activity. If spending 1 hour on social media brings in X more customers, then it is more work than pointless timewasting – although these things are hard to quantify. I guess one of the main messages is ‘purpose’ – if you’re doing it for advertising a business or inspiration of your own (I refuse to believe Pinterest is bad for me 😉 ) then it’s worth it, if it’s just scrolling through other people’s outrage and upset, then maybe not so much. I hear you on mornings! I’m definitely a morning person and love that few hours of peace I have before everyone else gets started and it definitely helps frame the day.
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