Theme of the week – Get back to work
After a full week off I started the week recharged and ready. Ah yes, by off I mean really off – like little to no screen time.
This is how a "week off" should really look like. Daily usage down from 11+ hours and pickups down from 250+ per day.
Relaxing is not the archenemy of productivity. It is its best ally.https://t.co/Z1JXHYBDoN pic.twitter.com/fHIkNcanTO
— Stan Dimitrov (@stanislav_dim) May 10, 2021
It is really to channel your energy in the right direction. Especially after a good rest, you are full of energy and just want to get everything done ASAP. Jumping right into action is not the best approach.
After fully recharging your batteries, in my experience, it is far better to sit down for an hour and plan ahead.
- Look at your priorities for the week and for the month
- Break down everything into small tasks
- Estimate (don’t worry if it is not accurate) the time you think each task will require
It is NOT a good idea to:
- Jump straight into your emails – if you were away for a full week, the emails can be postponed for an additional hour, nothing major will happen.
- Jump straight into the social media – the same logic, you can catch up later, focus on your priorities
- Start with the small and easy tasks. You are full of energy, spend it wisely on the toughest and most critical tasks. Ticking off 10-15 quick and insignificant tasks will give you a false sense of accomplishment. It is like going to the gym and instead of doing 3 sets of heavy squat, you walk on the treadmill for an hour.
Random thoughts
The Milgram’s Experiment applied to the ever more popular understanding that everyone should be an entrepreneur
The Milgram’s Experiment is a famous experiment conducted in the 60s by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram. It aimed to study how often will people perform acts conflicting with their personal conscience simply because they were instructed to do so. Surprisingly, the results were pretty obvious that 65% of the participants were willing to comply with the authoritative figure’s instructions.
I’m wondering how many people start their entrepreneurial journey simply because they are influenced by more “authoritative figures”, although it is in complete conflict with their beliefs, desires, and more importantly their current situation.
Getting out of your comfort zone the right way
Step out of your comfort zone if you want to grow. For me, applying this was always a binary approach – either complete comfort or complete discomfort. For example, if you are afraid of heights – either go skydiving or never climbed anything higher than a chair. A better and more productive way would be to do it regularly with baby steps.
Paid community pricing strategy
This is something I haven’t researched nor discussed with anyone running a paid community.
The idea is to structure your pricing in order to incentivise the more active people by reducing their monthly fees in accordance with their contribution to the community.
Cool things I found
- The box (square) breathing. It is a breathing technique used by people in all walks of life from Navy Seals, Athletes, Police Officers, and many others to improve concentration and focus. It is a very simple technique that you can try right away – Breath in for 4 seconds, Hold for 4 seconds, Breath out for 4 seconds, Hold for 4 seconds and repeat that cycle 5 times. Try it every time you feel overwhelmed, stressed or anxious. It really works like a magic.