cubicleless

My neighbor's bamboo is flexible and resilient.

My neighbor has a bamboo forest in his backyard. I haven’t paid much attention to bamboo until moving in and watching this amazing plant.

No other plant grows faster than bamboo. I’ve watched brand new sprouts of it grow as high as 3 feet in 2 days! I have pulled a few sprouts from the ground in an attempt to create a controlled planting of it.

Here’s why I love bamboo and have made bamboo my mentor.

1. Bamboo is resilient. For two years now I have watched bamboo and how it reacts to the different seasons. Regardless of temperature or precipitation, the bamboo has remained standing. Personally, I’ve weathered many storms as a working man. I’ve managed to keep my home and keep my family fed after losing my job and transitioning into self-employment. I remain standing after my battles and have grown stronger as a result.

2. Bamboo is flexible. It’s amazing to watch this stuff when it rains or snows. As you can see in my photo above, bamboo will bend and flex, but never break. When you are self-employed, expect to be forced to bend or flex while trying to keep things moving. Being flexible is essential as you have many hats to wear. Otherwise, you may snap under the pressure.

3. Bamboo grows fast. Within a few weeks I’ve watched the bamboo rise as high as ten feet! I don’t plan on growing any taller as I already stand at 6’2” and I’m comfortable with that. My point is I have to realize that to achieve the goals that I want to achieve in life I have to grow. I have to grow spiritually, I have to grow through education, I have to grow in the habits I am trying to form.

4. Bamboo is versatile. Bamboo is used for many things. Scaffolding, flooring, decoration, fishing poles, Pandas eat it, fencemaking, bridges, walking sticks are only a few of the many things Bamboo can be used for. In my business, I have to how to do a variety of tasks. I have to be versatile. I believe in filling up your toolbox and learning as much as you possibly can.

Sometimes you have to look to nature and emulate nature to keep you going. A boss from an old job told me to examine nature when I needed a creative spark. I chose bamboo.

Are you a Productivity Hero?

A productivity hero gets his job done in the most efficient manner possible and enjoys his free time.

A productivity hero fights time and uses elite time-saving techniques that only a few have mastered.

Today is your lucky day.

The Productivity Hero has released some of his most powerful techniques just for you.

1. Break your tasks into chunks. Let’s face it, some of us can’t clear a building in a single bound. Don’t try to be super-human. Trying to get a HUGE job done in a single sitting is one of the leading causes of procrastination. Instead, break your task or project into smaller, more feasible tasks. You will gain momentum and the rest of the tasks will seem less daunting.

2. Get organized. Heroes, for the most part, are not slobs. You’ll find that they keep their gear neatly packed away and easily accessible so they can get to it when they need it. Look at Batman and his damn Batcave! Or how Superman takes care of his outfit and has it nice and folded up when he needs it. Keep all of your gear in order and make it easily accessible. You will be more productive as a result.

3. Perfect is for perfectionists. Most heroes are not perfect and they know it. Every hero has a weakness or vulnerability. They have come to terms with the fact that they are not perfect. If they had not, there would be a whole lot more crime in this world. You don’t have to be perfect either. Do the best that you can do at your job, but don’t hold off on starting it or finishing it because it’s not perfect.

4. Chase one thing at a time. Think about Spiderman and how he swings around the city while fighting crime. It would be impossible for him to fight two bad guys in two different places at once. When you are doing your own job, focus on one task at a time. Forget thinking you are the multitasking hero. Multitasking dissipates energy and keeps you from giving all of your effort to getting one thing done.

5. Try pen and paper. Think about some of your favorite heroes. What tools or weapons did they have at their disposal? Typically, it wasn’t much. Ok, you’re right… Batman had a belt full of gadgets. What about Superman? All he had was a skin tight suit and red boots. Listen, my point is forget about all the productivity gadgets you think you need. Write down what you need to do with a pen and paper and cross it off when you are done. It’s an amazing feeling.

6. Do what you do. Batman knew he had limitations. He knew that he couldn’t just burst into flight and fly to space if he wanted to. In your own situation, if you want to be wildly successful, focus on doing what you do best. Don’t try to be everything to everyone.

7. Avoid distractions. Imagine what would happen if our heroes were constantly distracted by Facebook, Twitter, cell phones, email, tv, kids… I think you get the picture. If you want to get stuff done you have to shut things off and set expectations with who might be trying to contact you to save the world.

If you follow these seven techniques, you too could be a productivity hero.

Photo credit ultravioletmonkeysons @ flickr

Back when I worked in the cubicle I never said no to a Chipotle burrito. I was always the first to the powdered donuts when one of our clients would bring them in. Week by week I was adding pounds to my ass.

My pants were getting ridiculously tight. I went from wearing a belt to leaving my pants unbuttoned (seriously ).

So, how did I lose my fat ass?

It was hard, but I did it.

By changing my diet and adding lots of exercise to my schedule, I was able to lose 15 pounds of fat and add 5-7 pounds of muscle and my ass went from jiggly and dimply to rock solid and firm.

The Lose My Fat Ass Diet

My diet consisted of 5-6 small meals per day. I ate eggs and oatmeal in the morning for my first meal for the most part. At mid-morning I would consume a protein shake or bar. For lunch for 8 solid weeks I ate a can of tuna and a spinach salad with low fat balsamic dressing. Every damn day I had a can of tuna! At around two I would have another protein bar or shake. For dinner I would generally eat what my wife fixed and add protein if necessary.

The idea is to add protein to your diet and keep it running through your system.

The Lose My Fat Ass Workout

I worked out for 8 solid weeks 6 days a week without missing a workout. I rose early at the time and worked out every morning. Occasionally, I would do a cardio workout on my lunch hour if I slept too long.

I felt like a robot.

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I would do upper body and lower body workouts alternating each day. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday I would do 20 minutes of intense cardio.

I went from a size 36 in pants to a size 31 and need a belt. The plan was 12 weeks, but when I lost my job and became cubicleless, my schedule got all screwed up.

I was most excited about being able to see my abs again. My wife gave me much motivation including telling me I was starting to look like Daniel Craig from Bond.

In future posts, I’ll go into more detail on how I did the workouts.

Stop Procrastination Tip #1: Get quality sleep

Quality sleep leads to focused attention. When you get a good night of uninterrupted sleep, you’ll find daily tasks the following day much easier to get done. Personally, I think you can avoid many bad habits with a good night of quality sleep.

Stop Procrastination Tip #2: Make a list

Make a list of everything you have to get done personally and professionally. Rate each item on the list using a 1 – 10 scale. Each number that you go up represents 10 minutes of work that needs to be done. If you have items on your list that exceeds 30 to 40 minutes, you may need to break that item down into smaller portions. Here’s an example from my own life.

Change the oil: 6 – Wow, better break that one down.

• Buy oil and filter: 1
• Change oil: 4
• Dispose of oil: 1

When you break items down like this you realize that your task isn’t as daunting as you might have originally thought and it makes it easier for you to build up momentum towards the next task on the list.

Stop Procrastination Tip #3 Avoid distractions

Our lives are FULL of distractions. Make sure you have a nice quiet area where you can do your work. I recently move my operations from a hot, upstairs office downstairs into the cool basement. I’ve been much more productive and have had fewer reasons to procrastinate since. The hot inferno of an office was a definite distraction for me.

Many of us have been caught up into the time sucker of social media. Facebook, Twitter, etc. has made it sooo easy to waste time. If you HAVE to get on these websites, limit yourself to 10-15 minutes during a lunch break or after your work is complete.

Other huge distractions are email and the cell phone. How can you possibly get any work done if the cell phone is constantly buzzing from Facebook updates or texts or if your new email message indicator is dinging every minute or two.

Stop Procrastination Tip #4 Challenge yourself

Challenging myself has been the biggest help for me in trying to stop procrastination. When I set a goal like “lose 10 pounds”, I go into a mode that forces me to realize how I am going to achieve that goal. This begins a routine that will eventually turn into a habit if I keep it going. I believe that routines help you build momentum. Routines create positive energy and will help you in other areas of your life. It’s like you psyche yourself up to do better for yourself.

Follow these four tips and you will be on your way to stop procrastination in its tracks!

I was exhausted going to bed last night! I went to sleep at 9:45pm and got up at 6:05am. Getting up was a bit easier this morning. I fell asleep very quickly, even with my wife reading with the light on.

The Power of Sleep

There is definitely much power in sleep. I am alert in the morning after a good night of sleep and much more productive. Personally, I’m a complete zombie during the day if I do not get much quality sleep. Yesterday was pretty rough for me, but I knew I had to stay the course to get the habit to stick.

The Challenge of Habit

There’s always a challenge when breaking old habits and building new ones. When you mix things up and try to better yourself, you will win in the end. I’ve realized through exercising and going to the gym on a regular basis that if I do the same workout routines over and over eventually my body gets used to it and my gains or improvements slowly subside.  With sleep, I have to steadily challenge myself and try knew methods to get better quality of sleep and to ultimately rise early.

My goal is to feel more productive and to have more time to be more productive.

Time is money. Time while well rested is more money.