How to turn dedication into a superpower

Applied focus is the core part of our story, and the single most valuable skill you can refine when it comes to your productivity. An action item to take away from this is to focus on the knowledge you’ve gained from your personal or professional experiences.

Now switch the context. “This worked well in the office, could I apply this to my personal life?”

I’d love to hear if you practice something similar and what your thoughts are! Now, onto the story. :)

We all have 24 hours in a day - a thought that often comes to mind when you think of productivity. In a world full of ever-increasing distractions you’ve got the same amount of time as everyone else does, and so where you focus it needs to be the most efficient and maximize every second of the day.

Sure, that sounds great but the reality is that everyone views productivity a little differently. You can’t always be on, as so many people shared during their experiences with the pandemic. It doesn't matter if it's at work or in your personal life, when you focus on solving something, especially when it relates to a source of joy, making it worthwhile is critical. And having fun productively is a worthy cause!

Being here at monday.com , I regularly attempt to critically review my own personal productivity and where my team focuses their attention. So when I saw a tweet from Jonathan Venables about how he honed his focus and found a solution when it came to tracking his gardening experience, I was both intrigued and wondered what lessons he could share.

Let’s dive a little bit more into who Jon is. Coming from a 25-year career as a Microsoft Certified Trainer, he’s no stranger to the concept of productivity. His suite of experiences leaned heavily into Microsoft’s portfolio and he knows it well. Whether it was macro-driven applications through Excel or creating databases through Access, he became highly skilled in the craft of helping small businesses.?

“On top of that I spent the last 11 years of my training career teaching the various iterations of SharePoint and Office 365,” Jon said. “This included writing definitive courseware on SharePoint Designer and Power Automate workflows.” So when he realized he needed to build a solution for himself to track and measure his gardening efforts, he started doing what he does best - planning and executing.

The logic behind why he wanted this database was simple. He wanted to log information so he could make the right decision about where to plant and what to plant with. The finer details were intricate and interwoven. Which plants thrived together, and which soil types worked best? What about if it prefers sun or shade, and what environmental conditions could it handle? “Armed with this knowledge of the space, you’d imagine I could create a database for his plants quite easily,” Jon chuckled.?

He started with Excel first, which he was kind enough to share. You can see all his detailed categories and Excel is well suited for intaking a variety of information. And clearly took a lot of time and focus to get into the sheet in the first place!

The filters were also powerful, but in the end, the lack of relevant images made the database a lacking solution for what he truly needed. “In the end, even with extensive behind-the-scenes coding work, it wasn’t going to happen,” Jon said.

While researching CRM software for his business, Jon shared many examples from the software programs he ran into. “I either found them annoyingly unintuitive or too constrained in the way they work or present data. I want these tools to work for me, not the other way round,” Jon shared.

When he tried monday.com though, Jon saw something different. “I was able to quickly create boards, connect these to other board data using mirror columns, and add views and dashboards. Playing around with the software I realised I could do literally anything I wanted with it and really, really quickly too,” Jon said excitedly. So he went all in with the ultimate test - could he turn monday.com Work OS into Plant OS and create his online database?

“I’ve got all the views to see the plants through my particular criteria,” Jon shared. “The main issue with my prior attempts in Excel and other programs was being able to read all the data and also to navigate between a plant and one of its companions.” The visual aspect of this was key for Jon, and when you think about any form of work you’re focusing on it’s important to prioritize the best way for you to absorb information.

“Reporting on the data in Excel was problematic too,” Jon mentioned. So he took the Formula column inside of our system to create a simple grid of the flowering months. Seeing what he took from his Excel knowledge and translating it into a completely different platform is truly impressive.

What then can we learn from Jon’s experience? I’m biased of course, but skipping over the fact that Jon used our software he did solve a real pain point by applying his prior experience to a new structure.

He sat down, focused on what needed to be done, and gave it his best effort. When it didn’t work as planned, he didn’t give up and instead kept his ear to the ground when working on other projects and discovered monday.com . Seeing what dedicated time and focus can do to help Jon get a 360-degree view of his passion taught me that putting in the hard work upfront to focus and scale your system doesn’t just have to be for your workplace. We can use the knowledge we gain throughout all our experiences to benefit ourselves in every aspect of our lives with a small change of mindset.

When I asked him how it was going overall, Jon smiled. “I’m pleased with the results so far!” His passion and enthusiasm are hard to keep contained, and I hope you got a window into a real scenario where focus time and the right infrastructure gave serious enhancement to everyday life.??

Do yourself a favor and find Jon on Twitter @JonNormanDesign. His feed is full of beautiful pictures of his garden, and good reminders that even when we doubt ourselves it’s important to take a step back to reflect, and then dedicate intentional time to focus on what’s ahead. The best time to plant a tree, after all, is probably whenever Jon says it is! ??

Jon Norman's incredible garden designs are also available via consult online. #gardendesign #productivitytips #joyfulmoments