True Confessions

Artful Procrastination

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A friend of mine, after reading my previous posting on procrastination, commented that I was almost the complete opposite of her in how I managed to get tasks done. She was of the opinion that sometimes it was better to put a task aside until she felt energized to do it. That way the task seemed to flow. She felt good about the process and the end result.

My friend is a wise woman and offered yet another perspective on procrastination. Sometimes I actually prevent myself from getting things done because I let the priorities guide me instead of energy levels. This is especially the case with some dreaded deadlines (e.g. tax filing) or boring, routine administrative tasks (e.g. entering in expenses). When I have something mandatory to do, sometimes I will spend the whole day working up the energy and motivation to get started rather than just doing what I feel like.

A few weeks ago I was slogging through some work so I could go out and walk around the park. It was a beautiful day. Sunshine beamed into my office and the breeze felt just right. *sigh* Instead of going outside when the weather was great and I was energized, I forced myself to finish the task. By then it was too late to go out because it took me so dang long to get into it. In hindsight I should’ve just gone for the walk for motivation, rather than pretending to be focused, which wasted more hours than the walk would have.

I often forget that energy levels matter when it comes to getting things done. The process of how we accomplish our tasks counts too. Naturally I almost always feel energized to do the more creative parts of my business (i.e. writing Deletist blog postings!), but will often push those aside to tackle more urgent, or obligatory, items. I’d like to always match tasks with energy levels. Then reality shows up in the form of bills, deadlines, meetings, etc.

So again, I come back to wondering about the question in my previous posting. If I decide to “wait” on doing certain tasks until I feel the right energy level, am I procrastinating? Or am I expending time and energy more efficiently?

Digital Dilemma

Getting Fit with Technology

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A friend of mine sent me a video clip on Leaf by Bellabeat, advertised as “The World’s Smartest Piece of Jewelry”.  Clip on Leaf to track your heart rate, monitor caloric output, and receive alerts to breathe when the device senses you’re stressed.

Spire, another wearable device, monitors respiration.  Spire senses tension based on breathing patterns and sends a vibrating alert, reminding the wearer to take deep breaths.  A company called Athos makes smart clothes, designed to measure and track movements to prevent injuries while optimizing performance.

Fitbit is one of the more popular wearable fitness devices, allowing users to track/monitor activity levels, sleep quality, and count calories, among other features.  David Sedaris wrote a piece last year about his Fitbit experiences in “Stepping Out: Living the Fitbit Life.”

I can see the benefit of using wearable devices to track/monitor activities.  Every time I go to the doctor’s with some kind of problem the first question is “how long have you been experiencing X?”  I almost always reply, “I don’t know, a while.”  I can admit this is not useful, but I wonder if presenting the doctor with tons of stats and graphs would be.  I’m sure the results would be great for diagnosing some health concerns, but would likely complicate others by providing too much information that wasn’t relevant.

I read that some health insurance companies started offering financial incentives to people who elect to wear fitness devices.  However, the collected information could be used by the insurance companies to refute claims, or maybe even raise premiums in the future.  What if an insurance company requires you to wear a device for 24/7 monitoring to substantiate a claim, or a treatment?  For example, what if you followed a special diet, but only managed to follow it 80% of the time?  What if you turned off your monitoring for 20% of the time to avoid tracking the “off” times?  It would likely raise suspicions and throw doubt into the process.  And will 24/7 monitoring become a requirement to qualify for health insurance?

My body already has a voice, pain, one I can track easily.  I don’t need a wearable device to measure the effects eating too much sugar or missing a good night’s sleep.  I feel them instantly.  Aside from the privacy implications, I’m also concerned that wearable devices will result in relationships with the device instead of the machine (aka the human body) which should be the real objective.

 

 

True Confessions

Am I Procrastinating?

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Recently a friend of mine asked me on two separate occasions if I procrastinated.  At first I stuttered because I like to think of myself as someone that doesn’t procrastinate.  Time is precious and valuable to me so I’m always looking for the most efficient way to do something.  A long time ago I discovered that by procrastinating I spend more time trying not to think about something than the time it would take me to actually do it.  And of course there are dreaded tasks that I procrastinate on, conveniently forget about, or continually rank as a low, low priority.  I was even delaying writing this blog post which is normally something I enjoy doing each week.  It must be the subject matter….

I do have one task I habitually procrastinate on, much to my detriment, but normally I’m quite diligent about getting things done right away.  However, my friend’s question caused me to think about it for a moment.  As a consultant, I’m constantly reprioritizing my tasks based on urgency and deadlines.  On occasion I may procrastinate by lounging around watching TV, but more often I’m getting something done in place of something else.  If I push a task of lesser importance to the bottom of the list in favor of doing something more immediate, is that procrastinating?

I’ve also found the erratic schedule and shifting priorities is a strong motivator for me to stay on top of my tasks allowing me flexibility when something unexpected happens.  Something always pops up at a random time that is both urgent and time consuming.  This means for certain tasks I have developed a habit of doing them immediately to get them off my list and out of my mind.  Recently, my brother sent me an article about this exact habit, which is called “pre-crastination,” rushing to get things done for the sake of completing them.  Consequently some things, like email responses, may be sent off hastily without thinking it through.

I’m not sure there’s a perfect solution, but I allow myself to do whatever I want as long as it’s productive.  I have a mental list of “productive” activities that evolves constantly.  On occasion, I have even been able to justify watching TV, napping, or teaching myself how to make kettle corn as productive activities.  Most of all, I strive for efficiency and balance.

 

 

Ecuador, Galapagos

Vincente Roca: The Turtle Hang Out

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The day started at sunrise. By 6am most of us had assembled on the covered deck to check out the scenery. We identified turtles by their large rock-like domes emerging silently through the waves.

A short time later we boarded the pangas for a wildlife tour. The boats zipped around the coast line giving us panoramic views of the caldera and cracks of black, hardened lava dykes cutting through the stones in jagged ribbons.

View of a caldera on Isabela Island.

View of a caldera on Isabela Island.

Mola mola fish sailed by waving their fins in the air before diving down.  The panga headed into a cove where we would snorkel later.  Along the edge we saw marine iguanas, flightless cormorants, and a pair of blue-footed boobies.

A pair of blue-footed boobies hanging out.

A pair of blue-footed boobies hanging out.

After the panga tour we suited up for snorkeling.  We plunged into the ocean off the side of the panga and were immediately welcomed by marine life.

Below me two giant turtles glided seamlessly through the murky depths highlighted by the sunshine streaking through.  A small Galapagos penguin darted by, contrasting the serene, peaceful movements of the turtles. It zipped around, flying effortlessly in the water.

A Galapagos Pingüino diving for food.

A Galapagos Pingüino diving for food.

I cruised slowly through the cove, taking care to keep my movements slow and gentle. My arms remained by my sides or crossed in front of me so as not to frighten the turtles with any big motions. Many sea turtles drifted about propelled only by the natural movement of the water. Others glided by using their front flippers like wings. Many of them cruised over to give me an eye or two.  At one point I mimicked the turtles and remained still, allowing myself to drift with the water’s movement.  Seven sea turtles surrounded me.

Sea turtle at Vincente Roca.

Sea turtle at Vincente Roca.

A few of them passed so close beneath me I could count the barnacles on their carapaces.  I could have easily reached out to touch them, but I didn’t.

A marine iguana swam by, swishing its long, flat tail from side-to-side in the water.  I have to confess that I experienced a pang of “tail envy” at this moment. Those iguanas are great swimmers. A flightless cormorant paddled by and a pelican sidled over, checking me out before cruising off.

Deletion, Digital Dilemma, Spring Cleaning

Declaring Email Bankruptcy

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Last week’s posting featured the Spring Challenger, winner of the Spring Cleaning Challenge contest.  I followed up with the Spring Challenger to find out how she managed to delete over 30,000 emails and how long it took her.

She said most of it was performed in a single sitting by first identifying an unwanted promotional email.  Then she unsubscribed to the service to reduce future unwanted emails from arriving.  Then she searched for all of the unwanted promotionals related to that email and deleted them en masse.  This type of a strategy is fairly effective because it’s removing all of the unwanted, unread email, but also prevents future emails by unsubscribing to the email services.

Another strategy I heard about is to declare “email bankruptcy”.  Basically you delete all of your unread emails without reviewing them and start fresh with a clean inbox.  As a courtesy it’s recommended to add a small note to your email signature informing people that you recently declared email bankruptcy and any important emails requiring a response may have to be resent.

Email bankruptcy, similar to financial bankruptcy, is not the kind of thing you want to declare often.  While email bankruptcy may provide some immediate relief for getting a handle on email, if it’s not accompanied by methods, strategies, and habits to deal with incoming email, you’re going to end up in the same predicament.  How quickly this happens depends on the daily volume.

If you’re interested in cleaning up your email, you may decide to do it more gradually like the Spring Challenger, or you may decide to declare email bankruptcy and purge everything unread in one go.  Either way, both options need to be accompanied with new habits and tactics.  Here’s a few tips that I find useful:

  1. Unsubscribe to any and all promotionals, newsletters, social notifications, etc. that you review less than once a month
  2. Adjust settings to receive notifications as a digest (i.e. aggregate of emails over a period of time) rather than as single email notifications
  3. Create rules to sort and organize emails automatically (many applications come equipped with this option)
  4. Delete anything unwanted right away
  5. Develop a routine to sort emails by the action required before answering/processing any of them (i.e. respond, book an appointment, delegate)

Be mindful of how and why you use email.  Think of alternative options.

 

 

Deletion, Spring Cleaning

Spring Challenger

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In mid-May I posted a Spring Cleaning Challenge inviting readers to process a pile of unwanted clutter.  I was inspired by my own cleaning project and I wanted to commemorate 2 years of blog postings.

The winner of the Spring Cleaning Challenge deleted 31,116 emails from her collection of email accounts.  Wow!  I was equally impressed with her responses to the contest entry questions.

  1. What was your Spring Cleaning Challenge? Deleting old emails. I’ve never deleted any as long as I’ve had these email addresses!!
  2. How long had you been procrastinating on cleaning up this area? At least 6 years, maybe as long as 10!!!
  3. Why were you procrastinating? It didn’t seem necessary and I’m a notorious procrastinator.
  4. On a scale of 1 – 10, how annoyed/stressed/guilty, etc. did you feel before? I wasn’t stressed or guilty until I got an iPhone and saw that there were 40Thousand emails sitting there!!! When I did see it, about a 6.
  5. On a scale of 1 – 10, how relieved did you feel after? 6 or 7. Much lighter!!!

***Bonus question: were you able accomplish another action based on the results of the Spring Cleaning?  If yes, please elaborate. I can now find emails I WANT to keep more easily. No more scrolling through a thousand updates and promotions to find what I need! Yay!!

Question 4 reminds me of how easy it is to accumulate electronic clutter because we never realize how much space it takes up.  As the winner points out, she felt neither stressed nor guilty about it until she saw the actual number of unread emails on her iPhone app.

Screencap of the winner's phone before the big purge.

Screencap of the winner’s phone before the big purge.

Another highlight for me is the added bonus of being able to find things more easily because there is less to search through.  Similar to the winner, I also find it much easier to find what I need when I have less to scroll through.  By practicing “strategic saving” and only retaining that which brings me value, I usually have instant success when searching for emails.  Another important part of the strategy is to delete promotionals and junk right away, or unsubscribe, before it accumulates.

I even feel a bit relieved looking at the after picture thinking that this person has 30,000 less emails to deal with.  Whew!

Screencap of the winner's phone after the big purge.

Screencap of the winner’s phone after the big purge.

Excellent work!