simple life as an entrepreneur
DESCRIPTION
If you were to visualize a productive life, it would look something like this. BEING UBER-PRODUCTIVE The new entrepreneurs are expected to be fast. Fast to learn, fast to do, fast to decide. After all, entrepreneurs succeed when they do things faster and better than a large corporation. That means being uber-productive. This year I experimented with uber-productivity. I made a new year resolutions a year ago. Not so naive about my self-discipline any more, I did not kid myself that I would just do it. I had to “pre-do” to make sure that I actually do it. Let me explain. "PRE-DOING" YOUR GOALS When I set a big goal, like change my life, or be more productive, I normally failed. Predictably so. Until I started using a tool, well familiar in the startup world. You can call it beta testing. Or just “pre-doing.” When a startup company launches, they are usually so far from achieving their goal that they have to launch before they are ready. Otherwise they would never launch. Their money would run out, the team’s enthusiasm would drain and the investors would lose interest. That’s why a startup launches a beta, something that looks like their product and almost works, but not quite. Same idea goes for some Kickstarter projects - they pre-sell something that is not quite done yet. So “pre-doing” works for companies with small resources and a lot of enthusiasm. Why couldn’t it work for people with little patience and a lot of optimism about life around New Year? That was me last year. So I wanted to “pre-do” my goal of being uber-productive. PRODUCTIVITY TEST IN VILLAGE, THEN IN CITY I started by doing what I do best - visualize what I will do. I visualized a productive live for me in a series of infographics (see above). That was the pre-doing part. Then I followed the graphics like a mind map. I went to an Indian village (Indian, not Native American) with limited internet access, put the graphics on my walls and followed them like a map. I worked. And did nothing else. It worked. So I “pre-did” my goal for 3 months. But village life made it easy to be productive - other than snakes and lizards there weren’t many distractions. So the experiment had to continue in a more mind-grabbing place. A metropolis. There I went for another 7 months. As life distractions piled on, I had to make additional graphics to stay focused. But after life again was minimized to its bare and beautiful necessities, the last 3 months I spent like this. And as I write this, I can say that I have “pre-done” my last New Year resolution, so next year looks promisingly productive. We Really Have About 9 Years Is it worth it to go through this just to be productive? After I deducted everything that one has to do in life, like sleeping, commuting, working and eating - I put a number on the time we all have left of our lives to do what we want. 9 years. Even still in my twenties, I am in a hurry to make those 9 years count.TRANSCRIPT
SIMPLE LIFEhow to have a
as an entrepreneur
say no,when youmean it
consume less
purge yourbelongings
sever unhealthyrelationships
turn offthe phone
walk more
run slowly,and you will get there faster
by Anna Vital
wear minimalistclothes move closer
to where you want to be
have an alter-ego(to deal with complicated things)
let go ofperfectionism
let go of thepast
turn off thephone
sleep in totaldarknessmelatonine, the sleephormone, is producedin the dark
drink water beforegoing to bed
choose a blanketthat keeps you warmbest sleep is between 62-70 F (16-21C)
put the alarmacross the room
by Anna Vital
plan an excitingbreakfastto look forward to it
read a book (not online)
you can’t browseaway from it
it is relaxing and rejuvenating
schedule yourmost importantplans for the morning so you are excited to get up and do it
(you know why)
can’t hit the snooze button
GET UP EARLYhow to
Tony Robbins,
“Visualize
how you
will make
your day.”
David Karp,
“Don't check
your email
and do
real work.”
Steve Jobs:
“Every morning
I asked myself:
'If today were
the last day of
my life, would I
wwant to do what
I am about
to do today?”
ask
myself
Funders and Founders
Barack
Obama,
“ I do it
just to
clear my
head and
rrelieve me
of stress.”
first thing successful people do in the morning
Mark Twain,
“Tackle
the hardest
problem on
your plate.”
“eat
the frog”
visualize talk tocustomers
Craig
Newmark:
“Customer
service.”
real work,
no emailwork
out
by Anna Vital
douse atimerif you can’thack it in15 minutes,you can’t doit at all
listen to music
background music helps finish tasks fasterdon’t
questionanything you doin the first 15 minutes
don’t stopif you get stuckfor more than 30 seconds,
move on
(let it be bad)
make 1st draft
in 15minutes
have a one track mindan average person has
70,000 thoughs per daywhich is 49 per min
write short140-character emails
otherwise you don’t know what you are saying
. increasing light levels
from 300 lux to 2000 lux improves productivity by 8%
(most offices work at 300-500 lux)
10000 lux is full daylight(not di(not direct sun)
keep yourdesk clear
it will clear your mind
keeplightsbright
by Anna VitalWORK FASTSHOW TO
THINK FASTERhow to
relax your jaw, your mouth may talk on its own - body intelligence
if the otherside is silent,
let the silence be, don’t feel like
you have to fill in follow the least effort principle
by Anna Vital
repeat something
several times while you are
thinking
visualize your knee jerk, now produce a “mind jerk”
listen to your gut, it thinks faster than your brain
say, “Yes, and...” - first principle of improv comedy
work with the 1st thought
that comes to mind - it isthere for a reason
Funders and Founders by Anna Vital
tea for hydration
lightfor productivity
drawersto hidinggadgets
headphonesfor noise cancellation
bedfor resting
bookfor reading before bed
alarmfor keepingtrack of reality
dressto feel official
chairto think in
mirrorto remind self who one is
blackout curtainsto sleep well