Hello Everyone,
Instead of my usual preamble, I thought this quarter I would try to solicit some assistance. Between juggling my day job, doctoral studies, my entrepreneurial project, being a good father, and the pursuit of Boston in 2016 I’m feeling a bit stretched. I’m not complaining, quite the contrary, operating under load has forced me to really focus my efforts. One of the potential downsides of the hobby of habitual learning is sometimes you can amass so many ideas that it doesn’t leave enough bandwidth for action and execution. I’ve been locking down my focus on these five pursuits, and doing my best to put on blinders regarding other distractions until I’m satisfied I am succeeding in these five areas. To maximize output I’ve been mastering “life hacks”. My current favorite hack is pairing Parkinson’s law with the Pomodoro Technique by which I batch significant tasks in a finite amount of time, satisfied that I can get something “good enough” and that further effort would likely only satisfy pride but result in no further benefit as well as no further consequence to me or others. This is a delicate dance but effective as long as it is approached critically. So my solicitation is this: do you have any favorite “life hacks” that might help me and others? Please share it in the comment section below and I will randomly select one of the comments and send the comment’s author a copy of Dr. Jacobson’s new book Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition.
This quarter’s entrepreneurial interview is with Ned Dwyer, the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Tweaky.com a start-up that facilitates an open market of website modification developers at reasonable costs. It was just announced after our interview that Ned made #1 on Smart Company’s Hot 30 Under 30. My interview with Ned Dwyer about building an online marketplace can be found here.
Dr. Howard Jacobson is this quarter’s wellness interview. Dr. Jacobson is a health educator and contributing author to the new book Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition. He also founded FitFam.com, a resource for parents trying to raise healthy children. My interview with Dr. Howard Jacobson about nutrition and scientific inquiry can be found here.
I am grateful that I was able to fit in a lot of life experience this quarter. Anna and I traveled to Oklahoma for a family wedding the week after that region had suffered incredible damage at the hands of multiple tornadoes. I wanted to do something to help there, so along with sponsoring a friend on his Tour de Cure bicycle ride I also made a modest donation to Habitat for Humanity to support their effort in building new homes for Oklahoma tornado victims. This quarter I also had the chance to visit Washington, D.C.
In the spirit of Lincoln’s wisdom I leave you with one of my favorite Lincoln quotes, “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” Wishing you a fruitful, prosperous and fun filled summer of hustle.
Warm regards,
Michael
Similar to the “life hack” mentioned I’m just starting to understand the concept of “good enough parent”. For instance some mornings I decide which is more important brushing teeth, combing hair, putting on sunscreen or just avoiding added stress. I must confess I recently sent my kids to school without brushing. Some days hair others its teeth. They were on time!
My friend Gary indicated there is a good chance the quote in this post is not from Lincoln, I never want to hide from the truth or disseminate misinformation so I’m posting some information about Gary’s opinion: http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln56.html
Not a lifehack per se, but something to keep in mind when prioritizing one’s time is an article floating around the web right now by a palliative care nurse from Australia about the top 5 regrets of the dying, which were: (1.) I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. (2.) I wish I hadn’t worked so hard. (3.) I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings. (4.) I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. (5) I wish that I had let myself… Read more »