by Oto | Jan 16, 2023 | Inspiration, Musings, Personal Development, Productivity
So it has been about two weeks into the new year. Things are getting into full swing. With school and work opening again, we are all easing back into our normal lives and routines. If you are reading this, you have probably already done some form of vision boarding and planning for the rest of the year ahead. You probably have things to improve, achievements to gain, habits to form, routines to commit to, etc.
All the best, I am rooting for you. And I’m hoping that my content would be of some help over the next 12 months. I intend to put out content on multiple platforms weekly this year and grow this into a more cohesive platform aimed at building a Life by Design, so if you like what you see here, please like, share and stay tuned.
This specific piece will be the usual fare but with a twist. Instead of drilling down on a specific topic like we usually do. in my minds eye right now, you and I are seated on beach chairs with our toes in the sand and drinks in hand while we shoot the breeze.
I am entering the next 12 months with a mix of being very open to whatever happens and being quite specific of what I’d like to do and create in the next year. I think both seemingly contradictory ideas are important to keep in mind. The past 2-3 years should have served as a humbling lesson to us all that we might make plans but life has the final say. It is important to plan, to have a sense of clarity of who you are and what you are trying to do. It is doubly important to be flexible and responsive on the path to take there.
Here are some ideas I’ve been mulling over as we begin the year.
It is okay to take things slow
The tempting thing to do when the new year rolls around like this is to hit the ground running hard and fast. With the adrenaline of a new start, we tend to go all out, trying new routines, diets, lifestyles, etc all at the same time. Unless you have an unusually high amount of willpower and discipline, this is a recipe for quick burnout.
The better thing to do is to take it a bit slow. Sure, use the excitement of a new year to make changes. Try everything and sample all the changes you want to make, then slowly scale it back to be more manageable. Focus on one main habit or thing to change. Better still if it’s a cornerstone habit. The kind of thing you can stack other habits on.
Popular cornerstone habits are daily meditation or daily exercise. Starting your day with meditation puts you in an intentional space everyday and once you approach your day with that clarity, it is easier to keep doing more positive things. Same thing with exercise. Beginning the day with your endorphins pumping and some sweat energises both the body and mind and sets you up for success the rest of your day.
If you did nothing else, implement one of those two.
You can break the ‘rules’ if you respect core truths
The personal growth space is chuck full of many rules and routines to follow to ensure success. Apparently you need to wake up before 5am, and then exercise, meditate, read, journal, eat a healthy breakfast and then go to work. That is a great routine. But once you break that into its core truths of wake up at a good time, move and feed your body, clear and strengthen your mind, then you can break the rules of how where and when you get that done.
You can wake up whenever you want, exercise however you want, meditate, read and journal wherever you want. You just have to make it suit you.
Be creative in how you tackle your goals
We are all going to face obstacles in the pursuit of our goals. We might apply over and over to jobs and get no responses. We might start executing a plan to scale our business and come up short. We might want to go back to school, but not be able to find the course we want to do.
The same concept of looking at core truths applies. What are we really trying to do here and how else can we get it done. Maybe we need to change how and where we apply for jobs. Maybe instead of just applying, we come up with solutions and ideas for the company and come prepared with them. Maybe we focus on nurturing relationships instead to open doors. Maybe we bite the bullet and start our own businesses.
Think outside the box and approach your goals in unique ways.
Explore new pleasures
I take fun seriously. I like to have a good time. I do believe it is an important part of the human experience. At the same time, without temperance, it can become a breeding ground for bad habits sending you tumbling down rabbit holes at the expense of many other things. It then becomes imperative to expand your idea of pleasure, and cultivate a diversity of interests. Sure it is fun to hangout and shoot the shit with the guys. It is also a lot of fun to sit down for hours working on your idea/concept. Expand what pleasure means to you, and explore new things, activities and experiences.
Evolve into the next version of you
The new year comes with the chance for evolution or reinvention. You don’t have to be who you have always been and it is never too late to be who you might have been. You can pick up old dreams, you can let go of old weight. You can transform yourself. Take the time to evolve, to become better, to become unrecognisable even. To move with more grace and strength. To gain new skills and experiences, to operate on a whole new level. But it will take commitment, focus and intentionality
But shout out to you, I know you can do it. Let’s kick ass and have a fun time doing it.
by Oto | Dec 13, 2022 | Creativity, Inspiration, Personal Development, Productivity
The other day I was on TikTok (I know, bear with me as I gag for a bit 🤮). But I came across this clip that I found useful and got me thinking more about this concept of leading and lagging indicators.
This idea has its origins in business and economics circles. Leading and lagging indicators are the inputs and results that influence or showcase the position or trajectory of a business or entity.
Let’s break it down.
Lagging indicators are essentially results. They are the output, the culmination of all the your actions up to this point. They show you where you stand now and where you are coming from. These are things like your weight, your bank balance, your general level of happiness, whatever metric you want to look at.
This is usually where most people new to goal setting start when they begin their approach. They set goals based on lagging indicators, looking solely at the end result of their efforts, and then its off to the races.
You go out and you do whatever you have chosen as your path to get there. You keep in mind the goal of gaining 5kg, and you push on going to the gym 3 times a day, eating healthy, all the while comparing your results against your goals. Each week, you weigh yourself and see how well you are doing towards your goal.
This is useful, you have a clear sense of where you are, and where you want to go. By monitoring your results, the lagging indicators, you can keep yourself accountable to your goal.
However, this approach is limited for 3 reasons.
- Your focus is solely on your results which is just a snapshot of what has already happened. This would be the lump sum of your good efforts, a bunch of wasted effort and probably a lot of inertia and missteps. It’s good information, but you can’t change the past, and it has come too late.
- Because results can take time to manifest and arrive, we run the risk of getting discouraged on working towards our goals, and doing less of the things we need to be doing. You are a failure from day one, until you finally hit the goal.
- When you are only focused on results, you can easily fool yourself that you are busy taking action, when you are really just doing busy work and avoiding the real tasks you must undertake. Your inputs may not be targeted enough.
A better path to goal achieving, is to focus on leading indicators, the inputs needed to get you where you need to go. You need to be clear on choosing high quality inputs - what actual actions you need to take to achieve your goal. These are things like how often you work out, how consistent you are, what you eat every day.
So, your ‘focus’ shifts from the goal - ‘I want to gain 5kg’ to the process - ‘I work out 3 times a week and eat 5 nutritious meals every day’. And that becomes the target to hit every week and iterate upon, because instead of being solely obsessed about what results you are getting, you are focusing on the things that are actually in your control to execute and do.
If you are able to focus on these and get them right, then you are a success from day one, just for executing and sticking to the plan. You are not stressed or overwhelmed by your goal, but you are simply focused on getting it right on a day to day basis. You learn to enjoy the process, the journey. And as you get the hang of things and are consistent with your inputs, your results will catch up and get you where you need to be.
So, think about the big thing you are trying to achieve, and figure out what the leading indicators you should be focusing on. If you find inputs that are simple, within your control, trackable, with visible progression, and which are effectively aligned to your goals, then your success is only a matter of time.
by Oto | Nov 30, 2022 | Creativity, Inspiration, Mental Health, Musings, Personal Development, Productivity
If you have been a long time follower of my projects or content, you would know I’m prone to abruptly taking time off for up to months at a time. I used to think this was an issue, but lately, I have come to look at it as more of a feature than a bug.
Over the years, I’ve written a couple times about the need to cultivate empty space, or the need to lay fallow. I’ve found it important in my creative process, to allow for regular downtime.
I almost envy those who can keep producing almost indefinitely. Our present digital models of content creation and attention farming pressures us to constantly be at the wheel, spinning, creating and publishing. This is however a recipe for burnout, and can at its worst, turn this thing you like to do, this passion into an unfulfilling prison.
I am here to advocate that it is okay to approach creative work seasonally. Many entertainment producers operate in this way, think of your favourite musicians, authors, or even TV shows. Creatives like these release projects, with extended downtime in between them. Your favourite artist could release an album today, do a tour for a year or so, and then disappear for another 2 years before the next project.
I think that working in this way is more sustainable for numerous reasons.
- It allows things to end, to have a definite start date and an end date. Indefinite projects can be overwhelming. This way things are more manageable.
- You can use the downtime to rest, recover, live and gather inspiration and ideas for the next project. Goodbye burnout, hello relaxed productivity.
- It is in line with other things in our natural world that operate in seasons like daylight, weather conditions. Take a hint from Mother Nature.
- If you are the type to indulge in multiple projects, like me, you can cycle between your interests instead of being stuck doing the same thing over and over.
To pull this off, you would need a few things in place
- Be organised. I can’t tell you how much great it is to settle back into my work after some time away and slip right back into my notes and drafts and be able to pick up right where I left off, knowing that I’m clear on what I was doing before and where I was going. Be organised in your work space and work flow.
- Approach your projects as discrete pieces. Take a seasonal approach to your work. If you are doing a podcast, instead of committing to an indefinite schedule, decide to do a season of 10 episodes, and make them as good as you can. Then allow yourself to take some time off.
- Practice in the off season. Don’t completely shut down when you are not publishing projects. Use that time to improve, to hone your skills, develop new techniques and prepare to take your work to the next level on your next run.
- Focus on making Perennial Sellers, timeless content or classics. Instead of chasing fads or trends, create things that will last, that will be relevant even 10 years from now. Things that people would always need to come back to.
In this way, we can enjoy longer, deeper and more fulfilling creative careers.
by Oto | Nov 14, 2022 | Musings, Personal, Personal Development, Productivity
I stopped trying. Life has never been better.
And that is so fucking weird. I mean, on one level, it feels strange not doing anything, or not having to do anything. Not feeling like I have to run on the treadmill. And it’s not like it is forever. It is at most (at the moment) a month or two. I am blessed to be able to feel like this on so little. But essentially, I’m in that zone.
I’ve stopped trying. As an experiment. As a way of life? As a response to all I’ve been processing lately. And then the universe just provides. Seems unfair. But at the same time, isnt this a welcome breather. It’s been litty for a decade plus. It’s been a lot of pushing, a lot of trying, a lot of striving. For okay results. And now, without trying, things are great.
Maybe it’s not trying per se. Maybe it is giving in to the flow of the universe. Or maybe it is just a great season. Those do happen.
Whatever it is. At this point, I also face the way I feel about work. About the aversion to clients. When you work in this way, you have many bosses. All with their own idiosyncrasies, and traits. It is a creative prostitution, whoring yourself out to whatever is asking.
I think what is needed is a shift to creativity with vision, with a point, or as art. Then what you are doing is inviting the audience into your world, into your philosophy, your vision.
The whole thesis behind not trying, is to say that when you let go, when you learn to surf the flow of the universe, that you can get superior results with less effort. You can be at the right place at the right time. You can exploit the right opportunity.
The art of not trying is not a call to lie by the banks of the river, it is a call to relax into the flow of the currents. Giving in, relaxing into what is happening now and flowing with it, using the energy as appropriate.
And that is the unique distinction. Because you still gotta work. You still gotta create. To not do so will leave you dark and depressed. Stale and frustrated.
If you want to do new things, then do it. If there are parts of you that want to figure out what it would be like to spend a whole day immersed in art, painting and making, then so be it. Give it the space for that to happen. Give the things you feel, space to happen. Sometimes that will happen easily and spontaneously. At other times you might need to actively create the space. However it goes, give it the space for it to happen.
Do nothing, but leave nothing undone.
The Tao does nothing, but leaves nothing undone.
Lao Tzu
Go with the flow.
by Oto | Mar 22, 2022 | Inspiration, Musings, Personal Development, Productivity
We’ve all heard the phrase, you get out what you put in. Or garbage in and garbage out.
The inputs you feed yourself with are important. The things you listen to, the people you hang around. The books you read. the thoughts you entertain. Also the action you take. The things you do forge the habits of your life. The inputs you make determine your results.
Now we take the outputs as a forgone conclusion, as something that we can't quite determine. And sure, an output is the result. You put in the action and something happens on the other side. You get the output.
But the output is just as much a function of the machine, it is just as much a function of the equation that you feed the inputs into. You can put a lot of energy into a project that is fatally flawed. You can put a lot of energy into the wrong diet. Or invest a ton of money into business that is doomed to fail. You can spend a lot of time at the gym doing ineffective exercises or negating all of that work with a less than ideal diet.
The point of most control we have is at the input level. We can manage the energy and the efforts we put in. Then we can control the machine or the equation, by making our plans as sound as we can, by identifying points of highest leverage, by choosing the best models we can find. Or even by working at getting better at identifying leverage points, the best vehicles for the results we want.
So put your input towards the right things and you will get the right output. Then you can take that output and put it towards something else and continue to multiply.
by Oto | Feb 22, 2022 | Inspiration, Musings, Personal Development, Productivity
Lately, I’ve been thinking about the concept of “Relaxed Productivity”. The past few weeks have been a bit manic. I’ve been juggling multiple projects, chasing new business, creating new products and producing more content than I usually do. It has been a bit crazy.
So last week, I wanted to try a different tact. Or at least, I could afford to try. See, I always have the experienced of being almost at the edge of overwhelm. My fingers are always in a lot of different projects, I’m always doing a lot of work. But that comes with its cost. Eventually things devolve. The work gets a bit sloppy, projects are rushed and I slip into extreme fatigue. Something has to give. I spent most of the other week in a sleep deprived state. I got stuff done and done very well, but it left me exhausted.
In 2018 or so I came across the concept of ‘Working to Live’ and it started to change the way i approached work. The thing as a freelancer, one man band, mercenary, is that it is very easy to get overwhelmed with work. There are always requests coming your way, projects to be finished, projects that were finished coming back with more stuff or edits or changes. There is always more work.
You can also be incentivised to take on more work. Because the more you work, the more you earn. At the same time, it can be difficult to charge as high as is needed, because otherwise then you don’t close the deal, and sometimes you need the cashflow however small so you take the hit. Plus, people almost never pay when they say they will, projects get stuck in limbo or fall off completely. And when they do pay, they want things yesterday. So you get stuck in a loop, taking a lot of work to make the money you desire and then bumping up against time and energy constraints. You end up working ridiculous hours and crashing and burning repeatedly.
Is there another way?
Is what I’ve been wondering.
I have come across local creatives talking about how they are fully booked for months. So I’d imagine they are simply spending the next few months only working on what’s already on their plate. That seems nice, like they already have enough in the bank, or charged high enough to be able to maintain such a schedule. Also it means that they have enough time to really dig into the project and get things done to a high standard.
Must be nice, I want in also.
To Work to Live means to schedule ones life around life as much as possible, instead of work. It means scheduling the things that are important first - like rest, like exercise, and eating, or chores, and then scheduling work around that. Now sure, this is a very privileged place to be in. But if you already have control of your time as an entrepreneur or freelancer then this is a worthy goal to strive for.
What principles would have to be in place?
If your bills and needs are high, then you will always need to be generating income. And if you generate income from your work/labour, then you are going to have to work a lot. Reducing your footprint and reconsidering your lifestyle can give you the space you need to position yourself better and work more sustainably.
Plan at least a week ahead
To have a more relaxed and productive workflow, you need to have clarity over your time, resources and tasks and set things up accordingly. You would need to plan your life at least a week a time and front load it with the right amount of work. Know what needs to be done each week and really be honest about how much time things will take. Any other tasks that come up would have to compete against the already assigned task or move to the next week.
That means probably no rush projects, if you can help it.
Strive to be as effective as possible
If you only have limited time to work, then you have to make sure you are working on the most important things. Prioritise the important things and the things that will give the biggest results. Then you can get around to all the other stuff. Make the time you spend working count.
Be more valuable
To enjoy more relaxed productivity, you are probably going to need to increase your income. And you can do that by increasing your value, improving your skills, and selling your value to the clients who can afford it. You are going to raise those prices to attract and service the right market.
Innovate your business model
To be able to strive to a more relaxed level of productivity, you would need to work differently. Make your business or setup less dependent on you and built upon systems that can run without you. That could mean selling products, hiring people, or leveraging digital platforms. Position yourself for scalable exponential growth and that could earn you your freedom
Enjoy the time off
It can be easy to fall back into old patterns of toxic hustle culture. And there’s a time and place for that. Sometimes you do have to go all out and work like crazy, but when we in relaxed mode, we want to allow ourselves to actually enjoy the time off. For a workaholics like me, it can be hard to turn the brain off and just do something else. But invest the time in yourself, in your experiences, in your relationships and funny enough, it might just make you even better at your work.
