Derek Franklin’s software first came across my radar years ago with the release of Search Automator Pro. At the time, I was doing a lot of research – particularly for images – and Search Automator really sped up my online research time.
My copy of Leo Babauta’s new book, The Power of Less, arrived Friday evening, and by late Friday I’d read it cover to cover. Now, on Sunday, I’m starting it again. It may be about “less”, but is contains more than my brain could take in with a single read.
Leo, the owner of the wildly popular ZenHabits blog, has written one of those classics that apply to both our business and personal lives. In brief, The Power of Less is a treatise on the small steps (see my blog post on the Kaizen way) we can take to simplify our lives and in the doing find far more joy and success than all of our manic behavior could produce.
The book begins with Leo’s own story of being an debt, overweight, smoking, workaholic who rarely saw his family. His life was chaotic and he never had time for the things and people he loves. (Sound familiar?) Then, he made the choice to simplify his life in small continuous ways; first he quit smoking by focusing all of his energy on that one goal.
Then, he attacked other goals, one at a time, like becoming a runner, eating healthier, starting a successful blog, and getting out of debt.
One by one the goals were met (and exceeded). Leo has run two marathons, has doubled his income, became a vegetarian, decluttered his home, lost 45 pounds, and spends quality time with his family. Today, Leo’s blog is one of the top 50 blogs in the world, with more than two million readers a month. If that doesn’t make you want to adopt his principles, nothing will!
The Six Principles of Simple Productivity
The Power of Less is divided into two sections; the first walks readers through the six principles of simple productivity:
Part II details practical tips for implementing the six principles in key areas including e-mail, health, time management, filing, Internet, and decluttering your work space.
Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy
While the principles are simple, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re easy to implement. Anyone who has started a new habit (like a diet) knows that for sure. However, with small continuous improvement, the principles are achievable.
For example, Leo has weaned himself off e-mail to checking only twice a day. I probably check e-mail 100 times a day – - and just as a nutritionist wouldn’t ask us to cut out every unhealthy food in one day, they would encourage us to cut-back. For me, that would mean (first) KNOWING how many times a day I check e-mail, and then (second) cutting back a little, then a little more, and then a little more. Until I reach a point that e-mail doesn’t rule my existence.
The Principle of Choosing the Essential
While all of the principles serve as stepping stones to a life of more, the one that hangs me up the most is the principle of choosing the essential. And it’s a bugaboo that’s been with me life-long. As Leo says, once you know the essentials you’ll be in a position to eliminate the chaos of incoming information, commitments, and clutter.
Thankfully, the section on choosing the essential has a series of questions to help define what’s essential – and this is the section I’m currently re-reading – because it’s the most difficult for me. I know absolutely that once I have those essentials defined, the remaining principles will be far easier to integrate.
The reason this principle is so important to me is that in knowing the essentials, I’ll know which projects or tasks have the highest priority – because they’re the ones that will have the biggest impact on the essentials. For me, this is the key to having the life of what truly IS more.
Putting the Principles Into Action
As a life-long “clean desk” advocate, I was ahead of the game on the decluttering principle, but way behind on e-mail, Internet, commitments, and health.
Fortunately, simplifying these areas are a matter of making small continuous changes (the Kaizen way), instead of radical ones. For instance, one of the life issues discussed is making time for what we love. As a self-employed person, I get so caught in the flow of work that I forget what I really love.
However, once prompted by The Power of Less, I really thought about what I love – then I made a list, and one-by-one will begin implementing them in my life.(and being a true Kaizen-ista) will NOT try to take on all of them at once!) By the way, my list includes learning to kayak, to play the harmonica, and hiking.
A Perfect Time for a Perfect Book
As I wander the Internet, I hear over and over the desire for simplification. The entrepreneurs I know have all hit the wall at the same time – - they’re on information overload, have massive (and unattainable) to-do lists, poor health, wretched time management, cluttered desks and minds, and no fun.
If ever there was a time for The Power of Less, it’s now.
Learning to prioritize is one of the most important skills one can learn in today’s somewhat hectic environment. Seeing to it that you accomplish the most important tasks first sounds obvious, yet that is not what many people in fact are doing. In that case a crash course in time management could come in handy.
Spending Your Time Efficiently
Rather than working harder, we can work smarter so that we may realize how much time we can save when we have organized our time a little. But the success of such techniques largely depends on how you appropriately follow your schedule. If you do this the right way you can greatly reduce your overall stress level.
We are involved in very different activities depending on what we do. But there are many time management techniques that would prove useful for several fields of life. A student for example can learn and practice time management by applying time management techniques to homework and assignments. Using time management techniques and practices can and will help to ensure the quality use of your time and the efficiency of the results that they produce.
Here are a few concepts you should be able to try out without too much effort.
The List
How you ever found yourself feeling simply “empty” when you have a lot going on? You simply can’t produce and image of what it is you are going to do next. This is where a “to do list” comes in handy. Simply by writing down the various things you need done, you can quickly get back on track (perhaps after having a short, refreshing break). But don’t make the mistake of cramming too much onto your list or even worse – have multiple lists.
Focusing
A very effective time management skill is the ability to say “no” when other less important tasks and affairs are brought up to you and you have more important pending tasks. By simply saying no, it reflects your commitment to follow your schedule and accomplish the task at hand. Once you have mastered this simple but difficult little thing, you will save a lot of time in the future. Not only did it help you to finish your tasks in time, but you also created more opportunities to accomplish more.
You don’t need the day to have 25 hours
There are many reasons for trying one or more of the above mentioned strategies. The most apparent one is merely completing the job within the time frame you have allotted for it. It keeps task A from eating up the rest of the time needed for tasks B, C and D.
For some, time is considered an enemy. But simply prioritizing and adding a few extra elements of planning will enable you to enjoy your tasks as you do them, and quit worrying about time as a factor. After all, you cannot stop time from running; you have to keep up with it.
There might no be dramatic changes that comes with proper time management. However, it allows you to become more effective and productive as you continue to plan your days ahead
Michael Hawkins is the owner of a new shop named Ebook Maniac, where you will find ebooks as well as many interesting How to videos in the near future. Quite a few of them will focus around marketing related skills.
© 2010 Nancy Hendrickson. All Rights Reserved.
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