When major news happens, what does that do to you? Do you shrug it off and go about your day? Or does it consume your attention for an entire week? I’m not leading you towards a desired answer. Some news, you should shrug off. Other news, you probably should reflect on for a while, assuming you care about being an informed citizen and voter. Which news you should shrug off or reflect on depends on your interests, opportunities, abilities, and life situation. Let’s say that today (or, depending on your time zone, yesterday) brought news that affects you and that you’d ideally like to chew on for a bit. Should you allow yourself some space and time for this? Or should you focus on your life and your work—on things you can control? Sometimes we have a tendency—and people who are into personal productivity are especially prone to this—to regard ourselves as machines. We have our morning routines, our to-do lists for each day, and our weekly and even our daily schedules. And to make the best use of our time, we had better stick to these! But we are not automatons. We are people with feelings. With political opinions. With hopes and fears. So when we find ourselves the recipients of world-changing news, let’s be kind to ourselves. Endlessly refreshing the live blog of our newspaper of choice isn’t the answer. But pretending that we can stoically go about our plan every single day regardless of how seismic world events are isn’t realistic either. Don’t obsess over the news. But don’t suppress your feelings, either. If you need some time to process what the ---- is happening, give yourself that time. Then, after you’ve reflected, get back to whatever it is that you do to make the world a little bit better. |
Join 10,000 people who receive free weekly productivity tips ⬇️
What’s always just beyond your grasp? What would you definitely get to—if only you had an extra two hours in your day? What’s been on your goal list for a looooong time without any progress? How can you finally, finally get around to this thing? The answer isn’t trying harder. That doesn’t work. You’ve tried trying harder, haven’t you? I sure have. And I got two years of burnout as a reward. There’s only one way that works. But first: be nice to yourself, for Pete’s sake. Stop telling...
Have you heard this saying before? Apparently it comes from the Navy SEALs: “Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.” It’s easy to imagine SEALs working this way. They don’t rush their preparation. They don’t cut corners when cleaning their rifle. And they don’t jump out of their helicopter a second before they’re supposed to. It’s harder to remember this for ourselves. We don’t need to imagine we’re special operatives as we go about our days. (Yikes, way too stressful.) But, as much as we might...
In the comments on my latest YouTube video, someone asked: Do you have videos on prioritisation? I have an awesome system I’ve set up in Apple Reminders, but I just can never seem to prioritise the list perfectly and always feel behind. This person is already doing a great job, having all of their to-dos captured to Apple Reminders and organized into lists. But it’s a good question: How do you actually decide what to work on first? Is there a formula? I’ll get back to that in a second. But...