(reading time: 4 minutes)    [en ESpañol]

Almost a month ago my twins were born, so it is no coincidence a new post has taken almost that long to arrive since the last one. You may know how this is, lots of visitors wanting to meet the new babies, a young daughter demanding the care and attention she had before “dis babies” that “don’t leave” -in her words- arrived, and of course the never ending work responsibilities. With the family extension the little time gained by waking up at 5:30 am to exercise is just not there anymore, and if there is such a thing as free time, I want to replaced it by –the now luxury of- sleeping. Clearly blogging is far under in the list of priorities -around the 2985 place-, the hard truth is that there is not enough time to do most of the first items of that list that is driven primarily by real survival needs. Anyhow I really enjoyed writing the previous blog posts, so I secretly push upward the blogging on my list -to about the 98th place- in order to use some available time slots when my wife and daughter sleep at my turn for “the night with the kids” -basically the every-other-night I get to feed, burp and change the dippers of the twins the whole night-.

So here I am, at 2am, with about 2 hours –if I´m lucky- before one of the twins ask for milk or a dipper change- and I want to use the time to answer a question I got by mail from one of my friends:  “How are you going to blog with 2 babies, 1 small kid, a wife and a full time job?”.  The issue is not trivial, as blogging is basically my motivational hobby -low priority if compare with daily needs at home and work- so writing at late hours, when for some misterious reason I get the energy for it if the right idea triggers my mind, is the only hope for this blog in this sleepless times. To really make this possible I found I had to use the following productivity tactics:

• Once I have an issue or idea dancing in my head and wanting to get out to the public, I make a list of 2 to 6  aspects that need to be reflected in the article -don´t wait until later, do that bullet point list right there, in a napking if necessary- and I mark the most important ones –the ones that really should be there to give the reader (you) value with the piece-.
• I set a time limit for writing the article and its sub-parts. I have borrowed this simple technique from my project management work where I need to write long report that could take –literally- forever if a limit is not set. For this post I have defined a 2 hour limit:  40 minutes for the first draft, 40 for editing and final piece (may sound like a lot, but if not if you -like me- are not a good writer-, 20 minutes to get an image from my own photo folders and tweak it to make it work for the post, and finally 20 to stick the article and photo into the blog and publish it. I may not be able to keep this timing perfectly but setting the limit does place some constructive pressure on me, and help me avoid the typical procrastinating activities like surfing the net or whatever other activity I could easily find to ‘get busy’ without doing anything really productive.
• Then I start the process and put an effort to focus on it. But with babies you can’t have strict plans, so I am prepare for the distractions I´ll get and I am ready to retake the task wherever I left it when they get back to sleep.

That’s it, clear and simple, but it shows that planning does have a big impact if you act after it (if it didn’t, this post would not be here). I have to stop now as my 40 minutes of editing the draft are over and one ofmy twins is starting to cry out for the milk bottle and a dipper change, anyone wants to give a hand?. Its mazing how fast time goes and how much text I had to edit out from the first 40 minutes draft to make this post clear and straight to the point. Thank you for reading, see you on the next post.

(reading time: 3 minutes)

The essential to-do list is a different one than the long list you use to add whatever task arrives at your work domains  (usually created on Outlook, RTM or some other tool). I have been using it since I started testing the 80-20 Paretto principle on different dimensions of my life. It has helped me to get things done,  specially for the ones I had an aversion to engage with (eg. long project reports). To understand what is it about and how to exploit its benefits, read this illustrative steps:

• List the 5 most important tasks you could do on the next day of work.
• Priorize them from 1 to 5. The first ones are the most difficult to do and usually take a long time.
• Be as specific as you can: “Work on the report” is not specific if you expect a 200 hundred page document. “Finish section 1.2, and 5.7 of the Z Report” is specific enough and gives you a clear objective to reach on that day.
• Do the essential list just before your working day ends (until it becomes a habit, use some sort of reminder). Doing it later on the day gets your priorities for the day fresher on your mind, then when you go to sleep your subconscious will keep making associations to help you create new ideas and guide you towards solutions.
• Chose 1 or the 2 most important items of your list of 5 and assign them the necessary time slots to do them on the next day (having 1 or 2 really critical or difficult tasks should be enough and usually there is no time for more). If the tasks you have selected as the most critical can be done quickly or easily, then think again as you may have missed that one you just don´t want to get on with.
• The next day, when you arrive at your work place, do not read your email -unless is absolutely necessary for the 1st and most important task on your essencial list-. Get on working with the 1st essential asap. Be patient, don’t allow drifting to surf something on the net or check if that old mate you found on facebook accepted your friend invitation. After a 2 hours of work, take a break for 15 to 30 minutes -walk and take some fresh air, or check your FB if can’t wait anymore. You can use eggtimer to countdown your time if you are at your desk.
• Get on with the non-essencials task just after your critical tasks. In a few days you´ll find that many non-critical task are just despensable.

You may need to change some habits at work (like telling your boss that focusing on the critical tasks allow you to be more productive and get the most valuable things done, or asking -nicely- to colleagues to not interrupt you if you look busy). If you manage to do the necessary changes to focus on the 1 or 2 essentials consistently, you will be saving most of the time that was previously wasted on things that did not give you the returns the critical tasks give you.

Thank you for reading. Remember to subscribe if you haven´t done it yet, and leave me comment (maybe you know some good references about how the subconscious help you -if at all- when we sleeping)

(reading time: 6 minutes)
Since the idea of creating a blog crossed my mind (just after my daughter was born and life got a little more complicated) whenever I managed to do the first paragraph of that initial post, I found myself drifting away invariably as I just felt uneasy for some reason. Then, an event triggered my thoughts about it -you´ll read under- and was then that I realized what was my problem: I was afraid.

And I’m not talking about the feeling you get when you are faced with a 100 pound Amazonian spider. What I am talking about that foggy emotion that makes you doubt when faced with an opportunity, slapping you in the face with all possible negative results if you dare to take action toward something you desire. This feeling has the power of leaving you in a dumb limbo doing nothing while rethinking over and over about possibilities, sometimes just drives your attention away and gets you busy enough time for the opportunity -and the initial motivation- to disappear. In my case, the worries were diverse: will the blog be read, will I manage to write as good and as often to keep my audience happy, will I be able to keep the motivation high so I can win the negotiations with a hectic life. Those worries disappeared when my mind cleared in the bus the other day.

Opportunities also travel by bus.

As every morning, I left my daughter in her kindergarten and jumped into the bus I take to go to the office. Not long after I sat down I felt somebody was looking at me. I turn my head and found a guy admiring with perplexity the gorgeous twenty something girl sitting just besides me. In his face you could read that his feet were yelling at him “c’mon man!, move us just 3 steps and we´ll get you beside that venusian goddess so you can tell her something funny and make her fall for you!”. But his mind was replying “’What!, I´m not going there!. She won´t even notice me, and I don´t wanna be the fool of the bus”. This was for sure the typical scene for the 99% of all boys that sat eyes on her. But it was not long until that 1% different would appeared. It came from the other extreme of the bus and asked her -while looking into her eyes in a very relaxed way- “Excuse me, aren’t you on political economics class?”. For which she replied with a gentle smile “Don´t think so… I study engineering”. He laughed and threw some other nonsense at here which  led them to a conversation that didn’t stop even when they both drop off at her stop. Wow, this kid was the master! I wanted to be like him. I would have never done that so naturally at his age –or now-, even if I was drunk.

When I got out of the bus I thought I should write about this as an example of how having the courage to take action towards your desires can at least give you the chance to play for it. So understanding your fears is crucial if you want to empower yourself to take action.

Fear is much more powerful than logic

The neurologic mechanism of fear is rooted in the amygdale, a primitive but efficient structure  of our brain, so its a matter of evolution and survival why we tend to first run and then ask questions. Today that mechanism plays a major role in decision making processes, we use it to take simple decisions like running when crossing a street to not being hit by a car, or to more complex ones like assessing the viability of a business or when we decide to buy or sell stocks.

7 steps to conquer fear and have the advantage

This steps will help you use fear as a guide and not as an obstacle:

• Recognize your fears: Define clearly what are your worries and fears –this may be difficult, but if you master this, the other steps will be a piece of cake, and you will be in the kernel of your emotional intelligence.
• Visualize the best possible outcome: Daydream with success and enjoy the endorphins triggered by positive thinking. This will boost your motivation, reinforce your will to take action and provide you with the positive scenario you need for later.
• Define the negative outcome realistically: Don’t be a drama queen, we tend to exaggerate on the bad and negative expectations. Take this into account and define the negative scenario as objectively as you can. This way you can compare with the positive one and set the ‘good enough’ boundaries where results would be a success.
• Learn and get informed: Uncertainty is cured with information. Sometimes that means you have to make the boring spreadsheet numbers of a potential business, or face your partner with uncomfortable question about things that bother you. Information is power and you want it all.
• Plan: you have recognized your fears, you are informed and have the positive and negative scenarios. Is the moment to write down all you have and transform them into steps to achieve your goals. If the matter is to talk to somebody in the bus, stop talking to your feet and go for it.
• Take the first step: Take a decision and stick with it, don´t leave it for later, if is a complex or long term goal, set short deadlines to achieve baby steps of it everyday. Taking action will differentiate you further from the rest. See what happens, learn and get into the field to play again.
• Practice: Like in everything, practice is the key to mastership. You don´t need to have this list on your pocket, but have it in mind and come back to this post for inspiration when you need it.

Thank you for reading. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment under. And remember to subscribe to get the posts by email.

“More is less, less is more” – Ad Reinhardt

To enjoy the benefits of minimalism you don´t have to turn into Buddhism, get a house designed by Tadao Ando, grow Rasta dreads,  throw away your Armani suits or Prada dresses –well, if you do, let me know where and when-. You can actually choose to be one, the metamorphosis is not tha painful, and you get the benefit –beside the ones listed under- to show off to your friends that bought the Prius because you would have beaten them on the ecological race. The biggest requirement is joinin the millenary bible-less movement of frugality. Don’t worry I won´t ask you to donate anything to a sect, instead I´ll be happy because you will enjoy of:

• Less stress: with less stuff to deal with, less clutter –visually and vitally-.
• More time: as you will have less to organize and clean.
• More pleasure: it has to do with the Pareto 80-20 principle but applied to the stuff you own, the space you have and the joy you get, in short: the 20% of stuff gives you the 80% of utility or  joy, and the remaining 80% of your stuff gives you 20% of value or pleasure. Read-on to find out how to grab the max from the good 20%.

How to have less and enjoy more

• Each type of object has its own place: Is that simple, but if you apply this to everything, not just having the encyclopedia lined up on the shelf (actually, if you have one, recycle the paper, now days there is Wikipedia), apply it to the non obvius stuff like gadgets, kitchen stuff, clothes and specially kids toys. Put each type of them (stuffed animals, building toys, etc.) in a specific bin, box or area. Also each adult in the house should have its own space for tmp stuff (I have my own small shelf, as my wife does). This really ease up finding the items and selecting the ones you want to liberate from –see under-.
• Liberate from the non-escencial. Free your family and yourself from the stuff you rerely use. Every now and then do a “selection day” at home, apply it to your clothes, books (better to have them in your goggle library books.google.com), shoes, and kids toys. Exploit gift days like x-mass of birthdays when kids will get new ones and do a selection day previous to that so they can ‘make space for the new ones to come’ -that ususally works better than “you have too many toys” , help them ‘select’ the ones theycan love and pile up the ones they can definetely go without. Do the same with all your stuff. Sell the non-escencials or donate them to charity or any type of church (usually they are in contact with people in need), and recycle as most as you can -wich also means giving them to your friends, family or people that may need them-.
• Buy less. You will be more happy. Don’t acumulate 20 pairs of shoes if you mainly use 3. Before buying define the need you want to satisfy, see if it is satisfied by the stuff you already own. Many of the stuff we buy are out of impulse. For example, I was tempted to buy an iPhone a while ago because a few of my friends are actually thrilled by them, but realized that the 3 years old pda I have still works pretty good for the things I need from it. So I´ll keep it until the points I earn with my mobile operator gets me a new one for free -or really cheap-.
• Clean and organize as you go. Simple as it sounds, sometimes we just accumulate mess -with kids this is the norm-. So clean the pans and dishes as you are cooking, do the beds as soon everybody is awake, teach your kids to get the toys to their “home” or places you designeted (pictures help them to know where to put them) and make this a routine before -for example- dinner time.
• Declare your preferences. Tell your friends, partners and family what you want as gifts, and also -very important- tell them what you really don´t want -specially if your aunt keeps giving you those travel souvenirs you hate. If you are saving for something special (like a car, or a house), tell them to deposit money and let you know -then rally thank them so they feel how important is for you-.
• Practice. Habits are great because they tend to be effortless, more automatic processes, decide about the objects in your life taking into account this premises and the habit is your. Then call yoursel a practical minimalist -and enjoy the benefits of more space and increase joy-.

Thank you for reading. Let me know what I am missing by leaving a comment under. And remember to subscribe to get the posts by email.