TOPIC: 2017✔ 2018✔ Simple 2019 goals

Up date for February

Accomplished all tasks. Main one was setting the unemployment fund. It was a bit stressful

Also sent CVs, went to meetings, etc. Career stuff.

Some delays on occasions, could have been a bit more productive sometimes

9.5 / 10

March

The month was productive enough.

I covered pretty much everything needed. Solved some job search issues. Banged a new girl. A lot of smaller stuff too.

Was doing things late on occasion, forgot 2 smaller tasks and left 2 smaller tasks for later. Was doing some tasks in last moment and was a bit light-headed on occasion. But still, accomplished most of what was necessary.

I went to gym at least once, a bit symbolic, but still. Could have gone more often though.

If it wasn't for my stellar performance at the end of the month, I'd give myself 7.5, but with an awesomely productive end of month were I both managed to finish more goals than I expected and bang a new girl, I give myself an

8 / 10

Good enough. Will keep up. But could be better.

April 2018

Forgot to update this. Don't remember much now, so many things happening.

I did all the basic stuff I had to do.

Nothing bad, but not too exceptional either.

Busy with moving from place to place.

At least I finished most things I had to finish.

7.5 / 10

May 2018

This month I moved to another country for a job.

In my country I did 85% of things I planned to do. Didn't relax much though. Not enough time.

Still, managed to fix teeth, watch, bacpack, etc. So all the essentials handled. Thank god.

When I came to a new country it was ok at first and I kept well at the job but later fell into a laziness slump. Partially caused by poor logistics and bad diet.

Did work stuff perfectly, but outside it, very poorly, barely afloat. However, did very well with girls, props to me for that.

I would sum up both half months to get average. 85 + 55 / 2 = 70%

7 / 10

Surprised by high grade

Our cognitive biases cause us to think of our recent experiences first. As such, I thought my productivity was crap due to last days.

But when looking from afar things can be quite good actually.

So many things happen in my life these days in a month that a month is like 3.

June 2018

Unfortunately this month I have not been very productive. Constant moving caused me to feel tired and I couldn't get much accomplished.

The first half I spent in one country was ok, I did most of what I had to do, but nothing spectacular. Second half I spent in the other was barely productive, but I still managed to stay afloat barely.

I was focused on the second half of the month and wanted to give myself a 5,5 , but again, you have the same affect I talked in my previous post.

Being a bit more optimistic, I give myself a 6/10 but I personally feel it should be lower, but again when measuring objective metrics I give it a 6.

Succeeded in everything approach related, had lays, but when it comes to moving to a new place / job it was a mess, but I kept afloat barely.

6 / 10

July 2018

Super unproductive. Skipped on things like proper meals, getting a haircut, didn't ask for a refund in time, just a straight mess. Didn't check spots I wanted to, etc.

That's cause I was 100% dedicated to approaching which was a MASSIVE success though.

I notice this pattern, the more I am focused on approach, the less basic life things I can even do.

5,5 / 10

At least came to work, washed myself, etc, Did some bare minimum + massive success with approaching so 0,5 points there.

August 2018

First half was super lazy, 5, later half ultra productive, 9.5.

Proof the vacation worked. Good sleep + eating + not focused on approaching = super productive

This means I need to draw conclusions from this.

Average : 8 / 10

Some observations on motivation, laziness and productivity

I recently realized a funny thing.

I related to a post Sweatervest once wrote where he said that he used to blame himself for being a lazy ass. Then looking back he realized all of the periods in which he was lazy, he was also on a very strict diet. He concluded crash dieting was killing him, but he never realized it all those years and thought he was just lazy.

I noticed the same about myself. Recently I was back from a vacation, very refreshed and productive and then I caught a cold, and now it is hard to get the ball rolling again.
I felt super lazy today, but I was so tired that I couldn't even concentrate at work at all. And the funny thing was that the tiredness was unnoticed, it wasn't like I was noticing how tired I was until I tried to do anything besides very basic stuff. And then, boom, complete brain fog.

Today I ate biscuits, a pancake, a taco and some fries. Nothing too big.

I am undereating and undersleeping to the point that even doing basic stuff feels tiring. I am energetic enough to be in "zombie mode", i.e just drink cofee, do some basic stuff, but not more than that.

And I was blaming my laziness, but now I realize it has nothing to do with laziness. Your body is a machine and it can't work without refueling. And it's scary how you don't even notice it until it is very advanced.

Side note

Nonetheless, time management, planning and will do have a role. I have a habit of wasting 1 hour after work on the internet.

I also noticed that I stop my momentum and it takes a lot to pick it back.

Also, you need to prioritize properly. Recently went on a long walk which was great, but felt so tired afterwards, couldn't do anything.

Conclusion

Right now I need to fix basic stuff in my life. Part of that is stop stop fidgeting online, part of that is will and sticking to a plan, but mostly ... it is adjusting my diet and sleep. When those 2 happen, I am magically productive all of a sudden, everything becomes so much easier.

So right now, I need to fix my lifestyle and get back on track. Will report on it.

Recently had a failure

Want to tell a recent event

I had a failed day in a long time. Basically, I was planning to do something productive last Saturday, but I woke up at 10, stayed in bed until 11. Then I started watching Youtube. I ate at 12. Moved around. It was 1PM, I still had time to visit some spots which is what I wanted to do. but instead I wasted another hour on youtube, then I said I will move to some other place closer. And hour after hour, I spent nothing the whole day, besides watching youtube videos in bed. Literally nothing.

Usually on days like that, I had a rule, do at least ONE THING. And I had a simple thing to do, and I didn't even do that.

On Sunday, I had a date. Woke up at 10 am. Then I ate, clean myself. Then I started cleaning the room, all that. And then I went on the date. The date started at 3PM, and ended in maybe 2 hours. But I drank 5 glasses of wine and half a bottle of beer. I wasn't feeling like doing anything. And I didn't.

So those were 2 days I spent doing nothing much productive. The good side is I learned my lesson and picked some energy, but still, what a failure, it was a wake up call and lighted a fire up my ass. It's time to get serious

On the good side

The good side of the whole thing is that I finally feel energetic again. I came from work and I still felt energized and that I had the power to do stuff.

I haven't felt like that in a long time. I think it has to do with the fact that I adapted to my current lifestyle. When I think about it, it is 1 month since I am in a new place, so it makes sense that I wasn't that productive the last month. Also, taking it easy after being obsessed with approaching is finally paying off.

The thing is, while it's ok now that it took an entire month to get back on my feet, in the future I might not have this luxury so I need to learn to be productive no matter what.

But I'll be honest. I am glad to have my energy back.

Recently I felt like I haven't in a long time. Like when I was a teen and full of energy. I could come after school and train and do a lot of stuff.

One thing I haven't felt in a long time, besides the energy levels is a sort of exuberance, a will to live. Hard to explain. Like when I was a teen and was interested in parkour, or when I first learned about game and was applying it. I felt like I was living in the present and it was interesting to live, while recently I was feeling like I am surviving, not living. But things are getting better now.

I think it has to do with the fact that I am at a turning point in my life. I am 24, I started working a full time job and I will be working it for the coming years. It is now my life. My life isn't being "postponed" like in college. This is my life. No more exams, no more papers. Just a daily schedule. This is new to me so I need to adapt to it and live accordingly.

This isn't actually bad, in some ways, it is really great. I just need to do some mental adjustments which I have started doing, and things should be slick in the future. I have a good feel about. But still, time to work on it. Gradually, but daily. Step by step.

Life was hard, but for a good reason. Now I feel very much content. I killed my demons, and after the relaxation I experienced I am ready to take on new challenges, now with an easy heart

I discovered what kills my productivity

Today after work I was full of energy and ready to be productive . But then I came home. I had to write to girls, call back my uncle. Some girl typed me on facebook and I had to answer from politeness, then my mom called me on skype and we had to talk, then another dude. And boom, my momentum was gone.

After talking to mom, I felt like watching youtube videos, but I caught myself on that and FORCED myself to do productive shit again and it worked.

I realized on Saturday what killed my productivity is youtube. It sapped my momentum. This evening it was my mom and everyone else calling me to talk.

The fix

The thing is, some of it is avoidable, like Saturday and I will do my best to not fall into that trap again. I will wake up right away, not turn on my laptop, but go to shower instead, eat and then go out.

But when it comes to being like today, with my mom and everyone, I will learn to not get distracted afterwards and get back on track even if I don't feel like it.

Also, I need to plan ahead. Saturday, I didn't have a rigid schedule, so my goals floated away. I just came up with a new plan to fix that and I will post about it soon. I just came up with my own planning tool and I will try to implement it soon.

Later on, I need to start applying lifestyle changes as well, but all step by step.

Anyway, I have a great plan to increase my productivity, I am taking it seriously now. I will post about it soon.

So, as promised.

Here are my new productivity tools.

One is used to just write stuff I have to do. The other I use to actually place them in a schedule







The way the first one works is that I put a task in the red zone. Then divide it into smaller sub-tasks

For example : red zone - buy new speakers and in the white zones next to it I write : check reviews, decide on which ones to buy, go buy them

The main point is that one big task can be daunting, like for example, prepare for trip. Instead you divide it into smaller tasks : buy foods, grab all documents, pack clothes, etc. Singular actionable tasks. The point is to have a big task and make it actionable.

As for the second one. It uses 2 hour blocks instead of 1 hour blocks since one tasks usually takes more time + you need time to eat and all that. It also only includes the hours I am awake and during the weekdays the work hours are blue, I can only do something in the lunch break so I have only one space for all those hours

In the blue one I have spots for the 3 most important tasks for the week, which I take from the red zones of the red table. I then spread out the actionable bits into the 2 hour slots. For example, Monday 6-8 PM check review, Tuesday 6-8PM decide which speakers to buy, Wednesday 6-8PM order speakers on Amazon / go to store. Something like that.

It makes more sense to me than other planners. Also, they fit on an A4 paper and can be printed.

September 2018

Had a bit of an extreme crisis which ended up being a wake-up call, but later about that.

I did put SOME effort and got some things done. And I finally had a good idea.

6 / 10

Think it's fair

So I have to confess about an extreme situation that occurred to me not long ago. It was really scary and I was saved by incredible luck and I have drawn conclusions regarding my lifestyle.

It happened around 2 weeks ago. I just had a date where I went for a long walk, we ended at my place, we fucked. Well, it was only 1AM. I was feeling really good and I said, since it's already late and I feel good and have time anyway, let me play some game I just installed.

So I played and then, boom it was 3 or 4 AM. No issue, I set the alarm, go to sleep and then ... I overslept. The alarm did not function somehow or I didn't hear it (unlikely as it is super loud). This has not happened to me in years. I wasn't a little bit late ... it was a bit over 11 AM !

I panicked so hard it's insane to describe. I thought that's it, I'm losing my job. I would have fired myself.

As I come up to work however, a miracle happened. There was a company wide banquet. The company was celebrating some benchmark. No one even noticed I was late. Mind you, this is a 1 in a 1000 type luck scenario and I can't believe how lucky I was to this very day.

After I counted my blessings I made some conclusions. One was that I could have been even more paranoid with the alarm, although my protocol usually works, second which was more important was that playing that game was a very stupid decision and I told myself to not repeat such stupidity !

I concluded that one reason I overslept was because I was low energy, because I am underslept. I realized how important sleep is for me and how I harmed my productivity and health by skipping it. I made a crucial decision.

From now on, I will postpone activities that are not urgent for the next day if it means getting proper sleep. I will prioritize sleep !

Second was that my lifestyle was unsustainable. I under eat and under-sleep. My mom tells me I get skinnier each time we meet.

My diet consisted for the last month typically of, 2 sandwhiches in the morning (at best). 1 meal at a fast food joint and some pasta in the evening, with chocolate bars and soda every now and then.

Luckily I am very not prone to obesity, so all the sugar and processed carbs are not killing me somehow, but still. I do not eat enough veggies and I do not eat enough period.

I needed to fix so many things. I decided to check why was my lifestyle so whack in general.

My conclusion was as follows. The issue is, I need a lot of sleep. Unlike most people, 6 hours of sleep is not enough for me. I need 9 hours of sleep to be fully energized, in the past it used to be 10. I am a heavy sleeper for sure.

That is an issue. I can't do much in the morning in terms of stuff I need to do for myself, like cleaning my room or shopping. In the evening however I come back home at 6. Then I cook and middle around and it's 7. I feel an energy slump and force myself to do my shit, and I do it slowly. Add at least 1 hour of computer screen time and I realized I don't have enough time.

I sacrificed sleep time and eating / cooking properly to do more things, but ironically I end up tired next day and actually do less so I spend even more time not sleeping to do more of my stuff. It is a vicious cycles. Sacrifice sleep to do more stuff -> be tired next day -> productivity down, need more time to do same amount of work -> sacrifice more sleep -> and so on.

It is stupid I need to break it. Moreover, my quality of sleep is also somewhat imperfect. I don't always feel relaxed next day, and take time to fall asleep and I feel my body cramped sometimes.

I also watched porn in evening (- 1 hour to sleep) and I read my news or whatever shit in morning / evening (-1 hour productivity). So much fucked up shit. I am amazed how I was not fired given how many times I was late. (to be fair I compensate that with staying late at work, which again, takes away time I could have spent doing shit I need in my daily life).

So, I identified the issues in my life that have caused me to fall so low in productivity and failed to save any money at the end of the month.

Thank god I don't have substance abuse issues or depression. Then I would have definitely failed.

I mentioned the main ones. But I will list all the issues that have caused me to I can barely function :

1) Not going to sleep early enough
2) Watching porn before sleep
3) Reading my news, etc. in morning and right when I come back gome.
4) Fidgeting in the evening
5) Being late at work in morning, overstaying in the evening to compensate for that
6) Low energy during the day and especially after work.
7) Losing all momentum when coming back home
Not eating enough in morning, eating crap in the midday
9) Spending too much time on cooking food
10) No exercising
11) Not falling asleep easily cause not tired (no exercise)
12) Not falling asleep easily cause of artificial light
13) Poor quality of sleep cause of no good pillow and interrupted sleep
14) Doing things in my sleep time

Good news is I recently had a mini-vaction if you will so I revitalized and found solutions to my issues :

1) Postpone anything I have to do for next day and go to sleep if sleepy (exception for very urgent matters). Aim for 10PM
2) NoFap
3) No snoozing. No reading shit on my phone in bed. Jump out right away and go to shower then eat and go out. I have mobile internet now. So I can read my news and whatever while on my way to work in a train
4) No browsing youtube or whatever before doing my stuff, not even 5 minutes
5) Be quicker in the morning
6) Proper sleep should fix that
7) No breaks after work, no sitting on bed. Not even 5 minute break, I lose momentum very fast and get lazy. Come home and start doing my stuff right away, maybe even before doing dinner
Set up instant cooker for the morning. Prepare food ahead of time in lunch boxes
9) I found some quick recipes I will use from now on and will prepare food in bulk
10) Not sure how to fix this just yet, not a priority for the moment
11) Again, not sure, could try pushups 2 hours before sleep, but not really sure
12) Dim all lights, maybe buy night mask to block all light
13) Buy orthopedic pillow
14) Same as number 1

I realized how much things are interconnected, sleeping affects my work and sleep schedule which affects sleep and so on.

I also realized how small things were killing me. Not having an orthopedic pillow kills my sleep (I had one and it fixed all my issues). I realized how having no cooker made it harder to cook quicker in the morning (I got one now, but need to fix it). I realized I had no teapot so I used the same vessel I use to cook in, so I couldn't use it for 2 things at once cooking and teamaking. Got an electric teapot and fixed this. Having no lunchboxes meant I couldn't store food ahead of time. Not knowing quick recipes killed my cooking speed. Having no sleep mask affected my sleep. Having poor 4G mobile internet made it hard to read news, do banking and whatever on the go so I was tempted to do it in the morning in bed.

Fixing a lot of my issues was related to things like buying proper mobile internet and having a pillow or a lunchbox which seems like such a small thing but changed everything.

As the Chinese saying goes : if you don't nail a horseshoe properly, it will fail. If it fails the horse stops. If the horse stops the general won't get the memo. If the general doesn't get the memo, we lose the war. A war is won or lost due to a nail.

It's interesting how most people don't even notice small shit like this and don't even realize how much it can kill productivity. I am a funny dude. I can finish college against all odds, start a great career and approach a thousand girls, but I might lose everything cause I eat like crap and don't go to sleep on time. Funny that.

I recently bought a proper smartphone and laptop and they eased my life 200%. It's so nice to have a laptop that loads instantly rather than having to wait 5 minutes to start working, especially if I need something quick. And having a phone with a working screen means not having to suffer 5 minutes to do something that can be done in 30 seconds on a normal phone.

I plan to fix all those small details. And also the other big things I mentioned.

So far my plan to fix my life and productivity are :

1) NoFap
2) Being quicker in morning
3) Not resting a single second after work to not get lazy
4) Use my newly-learned recipes to cook food ahead of time for the morning and midday. Cook in bulk for a few days worth
5) Buy orthopedic pillow, a sleep mask, faster mobile internet and so on to fix all the small shit holding me back.

The sheets I invented previously are not perfect, but they are a good start and have aided in my productivity. They are great tools and I am glad I made them, although it will take time to implement all the habits in my life, it's doable, I feel refreshed and ready to do it.

Wish me luck.