Do Different...
This weekly series of newsletter articles is created to help you become more productive by doing less.
I asked you to DO a few things over the past few weeks.
1) Get a BLANK piece of paper and
2) SKETCH something.
If you did that, cool. Thanks for playing. If not, click on the links above and DO it. Play along. I'll wait... but come back (smile).
Do.
And, you know I am not a proponent of staying busy to stay busy (hamster wheel anyone?).
Let's dig into this DO idea, with the addition of the word "DIFFERENT".
The Problem:?I Just Do, Do, and Do [ repeat forever ]
This week, imagine you and I at a pet store.
Staring at the hamsters running around their wheels. Endlessly.
ME: "Hey, how are you?"
YOU: "I did that paper and sketch thing you recommended. Now what?"
OK. So you did the thing I asked you to do. Cool. Thank you.
You might be thinking...
How can DOing those two things get me off the "Busy Train"?
The Actionable Tip: Do Different
This tip is not about being different.
I recommend you DO DIFFERENT today.
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What's that mean?
Like doing that different thing the past two weeks -- posting the blank page and submitting your sketch -- it broke you out of what your "I always do this" pattern.
Like running on a hamster wheel.
The purpose of the past few articles were to have you step off the hamster wheel for a moment. It's OK. It's still there and you can hop back on it when you finish reading this article and commenting on it (and you will).
Before you do that though...
Your Next Step...
DO Different.
Change something that you have on auto-pilot.
What's "auto-pilot"?
if you drove to an office or someplace you regularly go today, do you even recall the experience of driving to get there? Or, was that on auto-pilot?
Ah. So. The next time you do this. DO different.
Change the route.
Other ideas?
Put your watch on your different wrist.
Change one thing you do as you get out of bed (either where you are reading this or do that tomorrow morning). Something as simple as changing the hand you use to hold your toothbrush.
Please share?ONE?actionable tip in the comments below about what ONE thing you did to DO different. Bonus points for making a connection to how this can help you do less and become even more productive.
Report back on that one change you made to DO different (in the comments).
Thank you.
Career Contrarian | Coaching, Advising & Writing About How Professional Value Trumps Skills | Ex-pat living in Ajijic, MX | Aspiring novelist
1 年Great post, Michael! Sometimes we're so deeply stuck in a rut that we can't see over the sides and find other possibilities. So we just keep keeping on. Often, though, activity is confused with progress. In order to move forward in meaningful ways, we need to "Do Different." But, damn, it's hard to get out of that comfort zone.