Archive for the ‘Life Experiments’ Category

 

Recently I’ve been thinking about a new Life Experiment to engage in. I had a fantastic time with my productivity project, and I liked the fact that it involved constant management and recording – it forced me to put myself under a microscope.

About a week ago I wondered… “What would it be like if I took the time to envision an ideal outcome before engaging in anything?”

I realized that this would likely have a genuinely positive effect on my emotional state, my alignment to my desired ends, and my tangible results. Right then and there I knew it would be an experiment I’d have to go for.

 

The question remained, how do I make such a project manageable and measurable? 

I determined to do this in 2 ways:

 

• By recording the amount of time and experienced intensity of the visualization:

 

The amount of time will be recorded in minutes (IE: 1 minute, 2 minutes, 10 minutes), and the intensity of the visualization will be rated on a 1 – 10 scale in terms of the involvement and enjoyment invested in it (1 will imply very weak and fleeting engagement in actually visualizing without compelling feelings, 10 will imply an extremely joyous and enthusiastic experience of the imagined future). In this segment I will write a blurb about the visualization process itself.

• By recording the degree of enjoyment, fulfillment, or “flow” experienced in the activity itself:

The fulfillment, joy and “flow” involved in an activity will be measured on a 1 to 10 scale (1 being a very dismal experience, 10 being an optimal state of positive flow). Here I will write in detail about my experience of my tasks and activities. This information will only later be processed and used to understand the relation between visualization, enjoyment, and productivity.

 

I will aim to write these little reports on all the major activities that I take part in during the course of a day, which usually implies at least 3 things.

After 2 weeks of Focus on Positive Outcomes, I will write a massive final report on my experience with this life experiment, and how I have drawn from it.

 

I will be saving all of my reports over the next two weeks, after which I will process them all and post them up as new articles in the “Life Experiment” section.

Pumped, tomorrow is day 1! I’d better pack a notebook…

 

 

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So the official Speed Reading Life Experiment is over.

Maybe not TOTALLY over, but I set a deadline by the end of June, and with that deadline was a goal to read 1000 word per minute with around 50% comprehension. 

 

Time to face the music. Over the last few months I’ve been speed reading regularly, but only up until very recently did I attempt reading 1000 words per minute for longer periods of time.

Just today I read 10,000 words (around 36 pages) in 10 minutes. My comprehension was probably about 20 – 25%. Some main points I missed, some I got, some details I read, some were skimmed completely to keep the speed up. 

 

It seems as though I’ll have to do these 10 min / 10,000 words experiments more to see decent comprehension for longer reads – but I think overall this experiment was fantastic. I had a great time moving faster and faster and developing the pacing and the honed focus to read and retain material at such a faster rate.

I’m glad I’ve cultivated the speed I have, just a little bit of effort over 2 months has definitely created massive changes in my ability to read quickly and effectively.

When I do some more speed reading or have an update, I’ll post it up here – but the official experiment is over now as a main focus of my development. On to something new…

 

 

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Here’s my last update on the Speed Reading Life Experiment before the finale at the end of this month. Wow, that went by quickly…

The goal is 1000 words per minute with around 30% comprehension (enough to get the basic gist of the work as well as some important details and names). 

Am I there yet? I better be, I’ve only got about a week left to go!

Currently I AM in fact able to read at about 1000 words per minute, but my comprehension is not always at 30% (not stable) and I am not able to sustain 1000 WPM for long stretches of time – my comprehension wanes.

Today, however, I am going to read 3000 words in 3 minutes, then 5000 words in 5 minutes and do a write-up afterwords to determine my reading speed.

I have had a heck of a lot going on, especially with my internship, the Summer FunBoys, and running my Jiu Jitsu Academy. I’m also still working on an ebook about applied Sport Psychology that should be tremendous. 

Despite this, I’ve still found time to do weekly comprehension tests and relatively regular speed reading exercises. 

My next post will be the finale of this Life Experiment, so this week I’m going to actively dig into bumping up my comprehension and really testing myself. 

 

The brutal truth, next time…

 

 

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I’m digging into “Getting Things Done” big time right now.

Since I have a bunch of other large projects in the works right now, I’ve mainly been listening to the material on audio while I drive. When I hear something poignant I type it into my phone and keep listening.

I’ve done some tweaking lately, and I figure I’d run through some of the changes that I have gotten a lot out of:

• I added a “Waiting For” list to my ongoing Project List. Until GTD I had never though of having such around, but now I see its validity. Making lists and getting ideas out of your head and somewhere where you can actually refer to them on your own time is brilliant. However, having a “waiting for” list provides me the ability to keep track on all of the phone calls or deliveries I’m expecting to receive (and by when). I had a million lists but for some reason never had this one, and now I can sense the relief of knowing those items are kept track of.
• Started processing notes immediately. As soon as I get home from my internship or from anywhere where I’ve recorded information about things I need to do, or delegate, or remember, etc… – I run through the notes swiftly and put them where they belong. This means writing that future event on my calendar, updating my project list, making phone calls (or making note to call later), recording important finance information, putting paperwork and receipts in appropriate files, and whatever else I need to do in order to process all of the random information floating around me and put it in its appropriate place.
• Consolidated my notes to a specific pads. This was certainly an important detail for me. I used to take notes in my day planner, on a scrap of paper, on the back of an envelope, and in my school notebooks. Keeping track of this information (be it a phone number, ideas for future writing projects, a reminder of a future action, etc…) was tough, and frankly I don’t think I can ever remember going through all of this stuff at the end of a week – nevermind at the end of a day – to figure out what I needed to keep and what I could throw away.
• Organized my car. This is different than making it “neat.” Sure I took out all the cloths, flyers, shoes, papers that didn’t need to be where they were (which wasn’t all that bad, I don’t allow it to overflow). I also designated where certain things would belong. Essentially, I treated my car like a desk. “Neat” just looks pretty. “Organized” means things are where you want them to be in a way that makes sense for functioning. No more chap stick in the glove box, alcohol towlettes in the side door, marketing material and beach stuff on the back seat. Now marketing material is under the driver seat, hygiene items are in the passenger door, notebook and pens are in the driver door, etc… Makes me think about applying this idea to other areas. What if my whole house could be like this??

These are a few new distinctions for productivity, but collectively these increases are going to pay off. Its about getting the “flow” of what I’m doing and what I will be doing, and streamlining it.

The biggest step here is in immediate processing. Of items. Notes, business cards, reminders – everything getting run through right when you get home. Its a pretty big change from the wishy washy processing I was more accustomed to, I already like it a lot more.

David Allen talks about having NO tolerance for the accumulation of unprocessed things. Even if you process a few, the rest might still take up space in your mind, and information to move projects forward will be left in the dust. Not to mention the nagging feeling that you’re missing something, or that you could be doing something more important than your current task.

I think cultivating an appreciation for this kind of processing is well worth it.

Let the experiments continue —–

 

Sweet, I’m finally getting this to be an actual Life Experiment. 

Anyone who likes getting things done (accomplishing tasks, organizing processes, keep track of things, working towards objective) and hasn’t read “Getting Things Done” might be missing out. I highly recommend it as a work on the productive process and managing our projects and work. I have a lot of other nice things to say about David Allen’s work, but we can just stop it here.

GTD (as it is often referred to as) has a lot of input on how to file things properly for reference, how to keep track of ideas throughout the day, how to disengage yourself from future tasks until the appropriate time to act on them comes, how to properly use calendars and day planners, and generally how to disengage your mind from the menial work of reminding a remembering and allowing it to focus on strategic ideas for action.

Awesome.

So obviously I’m not just going to spill David’s material on the blog here, but I am going to be throwing up some posts on more of my experiments, practices, and perspective on “being productive” and having an absolute blast while accomplishing meaningful ends.

I’m pumped to get this on the site because it definitely makes it concrete, it turns it into something I’ll definitely chase and being writing and studying.

Just so that this Experiment has some original meat to it, I’ll identify a few key changes I’ve already made in terms of productivity:

• Bought a bin and a sliding folder for each letter in the alphabet. I’m beginning to use it as a general reference file.
• Created a project list with all my major projects. Each is accompanied by actions to take ASAP on the project itself.
• Structured designated times and days for email checking and online research.
• Re-organized my room with a few dests and more drawers. More space.
• Hung up a massive white board in my room to blast out ideas and web it all out.
• (a bunch of other cool things that evade me at the moment)

My point is, I’ve been getting into this stuff.

However, there are a few things that I want to make note of rand work on! :

• Getting a new wallet with more space in it, including room for note cards (and maybe a pen)
• Using a small backpack when going places. I tend to carry a million things at once in my arms and its lame.
• Getting a legitimate calendar on my wall instead of using the cheesy one on my phone.
• Setting up a place in my car to put all the books I carry around, and a garbage bag for when people eat in my car.

So, I’ve got tangible things to work on here, none of which are tremendously difficult to deal with. 

In this category I’ll be posting about my findings in the productivity field, as well as cool stuff that I use (or don’t use) and why. 

They don’t call it a Life Experiment for nothing.

(This post was written May 17th, 2009)

I’ve now been speed reading for a few months, but recently its been more intense since my 1000 word per minute goal by the end of June.

How I’ve been training:

- I aim to get in some reading on a daily basis, usually involving my comfort-busting exercise, which I wrote about recently.

- I do at least one “3-2-1″ exercise per week. This is where you read as much as you can in 3 minutes and then write down all that you remember. Then you read the same amount in 2 minutes and record what your remember. Then the same is done at only one minute. This forces you to adjust your comprehension to the increased reading speed.

- I practice on everything. If I’m studying a book, I’ll randomly test my speed with it (its interested to try this with different material). If I see a newspaper, sometimes I’ll speed read it. I even do this with websites.

Right now I’m cruising along at somewhere near 750 word per minute, though at times I find myself doing alright reading 850 words per minute. This is encouraging. I’m definitely optimistic about my 1000 WPM goal.

Check out my speed reading tips post. This is where I’ve listed my favorite techniques for increasing reading speed.

 

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I’m pumped on this post because its the first of its kind. My Heat Mapping Life Experiment was the first one that I recorded about on a daily basis, and with two full weeks on constant immersion in analyzing my own state and degree of productivity, I found out some interesting things about my experience that I’m sure anyone can draw from.

Some of it might be relatively specific to my experience, but I think a that plenty of the lessons of this experiment can be applied to anyone’s life and motivation.

“Efficacious State” (Ideas on Social State and Productive State) - 

Something I noticed very early is that my “productive” flow state happened to also transmit into a flow experience in any other activity I was involved in. In other words, when I was feeling super-involved and excited writing an article, I’d also feel super-involved and excited if I started cleaning my room, driving to the store, or 

Telltales of “Efficacious State” / Flow - 

When I am in flow: 

• My action and awareness merge, I am completely “outside my head”
• In being “outside my head” I am not questioning wether or not my current action is the best present action
• I am also not questioning the objectives I am striving towards
• If I think of the future at all, it is only in the form of optimistic glory

When I am in stress:

• I am not able to remain present and focused on activity, I am drawn “inside my head”
• Being “inside my head” entails questioning my present action 
• It also entails potentially questioning my higher goals or motives
• If I think of the future at all, it is uncertain

Elements in Attaining the “Efficacious State” - 

Completion: 

Some of my experiences that “felt” most productive involved completion of a specific objective, or at least attaining a notable benchmark in a project. 

This, of course, was in my head. Any “tangible” steps taken or projects accomplished were just marks I set in my own mind, and part of my brain gave me access to happiness after reaching these designated ends.

Regardless, having “ends” of this kind certainly serves us in terms of having identifiable next actions on our higher objectives. In addition, these little benchmarks serve as micro-accomplishments that can compel us to future action and allow us to recognize that progress towards our higher objectives is being made (because… it is being made!).

It might also be a limiting factor, however, to require these benchmarks to be hit in order to feel efficacious and resourceful. Here we restrict ourselves to a degree. 

My best advice in this regard would be to frame these benchmarks as concrete rungs on a ladder, rungs that we reach for enthusiastically (instead of needing them for our positive emotional state).

Balancing:

In my project, I found that many of my most “stressed” times were times when I was hammering away on tasks with no contact to other people for hours and hours. Its not as though I ever went a day without seeing friends or family, but extended periods of lone typing tended to bring about a yearning for human contact, and a yearning to exercise and move.

This may have to do with the fact that I’m very much used to being active physically and socially, and that when the balance tipped away from those aspects of my life a tension was created.

I think it likely also has to do with a relatively innate need for human contact and physical activity – and the fact that such activities tend to relieve us of stresses and fulfill important desires that we have as humans (to be loved, to enjoy time with others, to be physically active).

My Experience of Level 4 (Red Zone) “Productivity” -

Throughout my experiment, I only hit this red zone for a few hours. I’ve been there before and since, however, and I now have a better idea of the telltale signs of this super-charged experience of efficacy, joy, and power:

- It involves a welling up of excitement, an expressive tension that builds up and must be released. Its almost jittery. I found myself having to move around or yell something out (“WOOO!”).

- My body is totally engrossed in the present activity, and very little thought is noticed through the experience.

- If thoughts do occur, they are immensely positive and encouraging, and usually have to do with the awesome future possibilities and how I can reach those possibilities through the present. For instance, I might be thinking about a book I plan on writing and how fantastic it will be to get some of my best research and ideas on paper. I might even imagine what it would make possible in my life if my book was a huge success.

- It is interesting to note that this level of excitement and fun is something I occasionally experience but I do not refer to it as “level 4 productive.” Why is this the case? Because sometimes this excitement isn’t productive, or I don’t frame it to be productive in my mind. The times I refer to as “level 4 productive” have not only been a massive expression of positive emotion, but they have been related to attaining goals and actually doing activity that I deem to be best in attaining those objectives. Hence, many of my highest expreinces of excitement have not been “level 4 productive.”

This might explain why level 4 is not the same as normal “flow” state (“flow” is an immersed, intense, heightened state where out mind is drawn into the present moment and we loose ourselves). I mean this in the way that level 4 must generally have relation to some higher project or objective, and so it sometimes will involve more thought that traditional “flow” state, because my mind usually has to tie the action to my values and my future objectives.

“Happiness” and “Productivity” - 

The relation of happiness and productivity has to do with one’s definition of “productivity.”

Making statements like “you need to be productive to be happy” or “if you’re too productive you’ll never find happiness” would be silliness. They are too vague to be understood and apply.

For me personally, productivity involves progress towards my highest ends – which not only involves diving into and finishing writing projects, reading psychology, and promoting my Jiu Jitsu academy, but also involves sharing fun experiences with friends and experiencing joy, excitement and enthusiasm. 

Hence, happiness and productivity are relatively well-linked in my own mind. I recognize happiness not only as a fantastic end in and of itself (something I value, something that fits my purpose) but also as a propelling force for my own vitality and energy to accomplish meaningful tasks that relate to my greatest pursuit of contribution int he field of personal development  (something I value, something that fits my purpose).

However, this isn’t to say I’ve ever bitten off more than I can chew in terms of projects, or that I haven’t ever felt “stress.” Certainly its not common, but it has happened. This “stress” wasn’t because I was “too productive.” In fact, stress works against productivity for the most part (in my book). It was simply due to framing things incorrectly in my mind and creating a mental frame of “have to” rather than “strive for.”

We can make “productivity” the antithesis of “happiness” if we want. We can make it imply a frantic or cold pursuit of objectives without meaning. However, we would have no one to blame for this but ourselves. Happiness – as I see it – aught to usually be included into the algorithm for “productivity.” It is the end for which productivity strives in most cases. 

Might it be useful to not focus at all on present happiness and just “get things done”? It would seem as though the action we deem best in terms of our overall life objectives and purpose will sometimes be focused less on momentary positive emotional states than other times. Regardless, completely devorcing enjoyment from any activity might be reckless for our psyche. I believe that having an awareness of how we mentally frame our work and other actions )and knowing how to change our focus or mind set) is an ability that serves us immensely.

Even in crunch time on a massive assignment or in a panicked situation, we aught to keep the reins to our enjoyment at hand and if nothing else control the detrimental emotions that tend to floor our minds when we focus on “detrimental” events (IE: when we frame events or situations as “difficult” or “bad” or “painful” or “stressful” in our minds).

Tips for Sleeping Less:

Though you can certainly read about some of this stuff in my “Sleep Less” Life Experiment, I did pick up on (and refine) some tricks for sleeping less:

- Have at least one COMPELLING activity to do early in the morning. This will get you out of bed when the alarm rings. I like to make it something that will take a little while (not a 3 minute project), because you’ll be less likely to put it off of a few more minutes. I like to set a goal like “get as far into writing my ebook on Sport Psychology as possible!” This is compelling because its a challenge to see how much I can get done, and its a project I’m excited to work on.

- Be wary of too much sugars or processed carbs. This will take you to a bit of a blood-sugar spike, but then you’ll drop right off and crash. Try not to load up on sugars at any point in your day, if anything taper them in with other foods so you can be more productive… AND have less cavities.

- When working through lack of sleep, sit upright, have proper lighting (preferably sunlight), and sit somewhere that you don’t associate to sleep. As I mentioned in my previous articles, I often sit in my kitchen or dining room, where the light is more intense, the chairs aren’t for lounging, and my mind doesn’t associate with “zzzzzzz.”

-Often we believe ourselves to be more tired than we are. I always thought I needed 7 or 8 hours of sleep a night to function well. I then read somewhere of a man who slept about 5 hours per night. I thought this was brilliant and I took up the idea – and it turned out FINE. Not to mention all the times I thought “oh man, I’m so tired, I must go to sleep,” then I went out to a club, or went into a room with sunlight and a wooden chair, or took a jog – and felt FINE. Believe in yourself on this one, trust me, you’re so much more capable of sleeping less.

You might not want to sleep 5 hours a night like I am right now, but regardless, you will be able to apply these ideas when you DO need to stay up, or you want to keep yourself up longer.

 

I want to thank Charlie of www.productiveflourishing.com for the brilliant idea of heat mapping productivity. 

This one of many deeply involved projects that I’ll be diving into, learning from, and recording on here.

 

 

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May 25th, felt a little bit overwhelmed in the morning in terms of reading and writing. I impose a degree of tension on myself to act, but it overtook the productivity threshold and was more like stress. This is likely due to my mixed thoughts about the ends of my projects in light of relatively massive changes in goals as of late.

Later in the day I went to the beach to visit a friend on his birthday. I talked with my other friend about our entrepreneurial project. Again this is planning and building process seems magnified when friends are involved.

At night I wanted to do some karaoke so I hit up the local karaoke bar and belted out a couple tunes. The girl I met there had me sing some random Black Eyed Peas song I’ve never heard of before – and when she forgot the lyrics I had fun making up new random words.

May 26th, I woke up swiftly after 4 hours of sleep.

First day of my internship in a physical therapy office. The atmosphere was cool and there’s a lot for me to learn about the diagnoses process and modalities of treating injuries. There was a lot of down time though, so I’m planning little ways to make it more productive for me (such as carrying a small notebook to record all the most important info I pick up).

At 4:00PM I went to my internship seminar at URI and was in the twilight zone between slumber and consciousness the entire time. Tiredness tends to hit me like a brick if I’m too comfortable and don’t engage myself fully into something. The speaker’s monotone voice put me right out.

Despite this, I was WIDE awake for teaching Jiu Jitsu, and we had a fantastic class where everyone had a blast. Teaching new technique might have been what set the tone and engaged my mind.

Realizations:

-I came to understand how very Tasmanian-Devil-ish I tend to be in terms of projects, especially in the realm of studying personal development. I writing inquiries on a thousand topics, I read 2 books at a time. I take notes, I try to keep track, but some of it slips. This is the origin of my recent focus on studying / immersion in friendships and relationships. Limiting my research and writing a little bit is something I feel will prove to be useful.

-I came to realize that the yellow zone of productivity (level 2) is vague and should be broken up. It can entail tremendously stressed times where I’m grinding into some random project – and it can entail relatively “productive” activity while I have a good time with friends. Since I seemed to hover in that zone so much, it might prove useful next time to split a category like that into another two distinct levels.

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The next and final post is going to be my FINALE on the perspectives and lessons I learned through this project!

 

 

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I was going to use a “Sleepless in Seattle” picture for the image on this post, but it looks way too romantic and most of you would get distracted by the longing eyes of Tom Hanks so I decided against it.

This is why you’ll see sheep jumping over fences above.

Anyway, on to the topic of less sleep:

Recently I’ve been getting occasional nights of 6 hours of sleep. I find that I can probably run on 5.5-6 hours perpetually, while 4 hour nights are only doable for about a week at a time (otherwise I feel a subtle sense of tiredness and as soon as I lie down by body wants to shut off).

The last few nights I slept for 4 and 3.5 hours, and I felt fine. I know what I’ll get 6 tonight though, because I realize that otherwise I’m running myself into the ground.

I have become increasingly interested in wether or not this project will have tangible, detrimental effects on me later in life. As I said before, I feel like the negative effects in the present are far outweighed by the positive benefits of getting more done (so long as I sleep enough to remain awake and creative).

Hence, I’m planning on doing some homework and figuring out what doctors think. I get all kinds of statements from all kinds of people about this sleep project of mine, but I’d definitely want to ask someone qualified.

Until then, I’ll be sleeping between 4 and 6.5 hours per night, and getting a heck of a lot done in terms of awesome research and writing (I’m working on an ebook right now).

I’ll keep this thread alive, however, if anything crazy happens with my project, or if I pick up some good facts or advice from qualified medical professionals about my sleep patterns.

Who needs sleep.

 

 

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May 21st, read an entire book in my first 2 hours of consciousness. The book was called “Go Giver,” and it was pretty interesting. I then got to working more on my sport psychology eBook. As the sun came up and the caffeine took hold, I became more and more alert (I have limited myself to coffee once every two days).

I in the green zone, I was tremendously in my own head about doing genuinely productive or fulfilling activity. A few hours later I began writing specifically what I felt was creative at the time – instead of honing in on things I wasn’t as concerned with (ultimately, having the best creative work on my part gives me the best insight, and you the best content).

In the night I went out but I wasn’t in the best state for socializing and I may have been too tired to push it. I find ways to constantly drive for activity in all other contexts, why should this one be any different?

May 22nd. Let it be known that about 8:30PM on May 21st I felt like I needed to go to bed. Going out and socializing really made a difference in bringing my energy up.

After 4 hours of sleep I POP out of bed, excited for the day – the sun is up and that seemed to signify to some part of my mind that I had actually gotten sleep. I went for a job immediately.

The orange zone above involved having a tremendous time with friends. Later in the night I didn’t feel in peak social state again. In addition, we waited around for a party that never happened, wishy-washy plans galore. Makes me want to plan my own social events even more.

May 24th, woke up and went right to reading. I feel like this usually keeps me in a tired mode, and that its sometimes best to walk around and do my morning routine / listen to music to wake up.

Around eleven I caught up with my good friend to talk about our summer entrepreneurial project. Making plans and laying out action steps is always so much fun, especially with friends. ITs something to get excited about, to build, to have fun with. Having a friend to share that with tends to magnify the creativity and fun of the experience.

Before the night came I ended up doing some woodwork with my father. Carpentry and furniture design is something he’s been involved in for the better part of his life – so I decided to start a small project of my own with him.

Realization:

-As this point, my body wakes up with the sun and assumed a good nights rest. This is because I’ve been going to bed so early and waking up at 4-something or 5-something when the sun is still down. Its interesting now how I FEEL rested when I awake just because some part of me associates the sun with adequate rest.

-It is not only what I accomplish during my day, but who I am as a person. Do I exemplify my virtues? Do I make the most of my scenarios? Do I find ways to bring fun and challenge into my life?