All Fired Up: Focus, Mind Mapping and Obsession

M.I.A. for the last few days
I've been a baaad, baaad blogger. I've missed a couple of scheduled posts. This is what happens when you enjoy life too much. We had the kids this weekend and made the most of it. It was a blast. I grilled some steaks and we had a family dinner. Played a little bit of Wizardology: The Game (totally addicting by the way and has beautiful game pieces). Definitely good times. Exhausting due to the travel back and forth but it was fun.

So by the time I've had a couple of hours of free time to work on my side projects my mind was buzzing and pulling me in all sorts of directions. I've been almost obsessed with these projects of mine, and I'm definitely stoked about the entire process. Especially when I know I can make it work and when it does (not "if" but "when"), this means I'll have more time to spend with my family. Time to do a little more traveling. Time to start painting again. Time to take up photography. Time to write. Time to help out others.


Focus and Mind Mapping
It was around 10pm 2 nights ago that I was trying to play catch up and it got a little bit overwhelming - the ideas just would not stop. I definitely lacked focus. I finally had to get up and walk away and reevaluate what it is I'm trying to accomplish. I decided to try out a mind mapping tool. I found several that looked like something that I'd be able to utilize but I found one in particular that I like.

Bubbl.us
It's free and easy to use. You can embed it on your site/blog and you can even print it out. The one thing that made me chose this app in particular is that it's quite visual. The others I've found seemed little dull. After awhile it just looked like a bunch of random text on a page. This mind mapper is color coded. And best of all it's SIMPLE.

I'm currently using this to organize my thoughts on how to better run my projects. This way I can cut down on time spent with each (I have about 3-4 right now). This should definitely improve my productivity level.


Obsession
I'm a workaholic. There I said it. I've become quite a good employee at the day job. Recently I've qualified to receive bonuses based on my performance. I'd like to keep this up since it means extra money for savings which definitely helps. I'm also a workaholic with my own business endeavours AKA my projects. Actually, obsessive is a better adjective. I think it's an important component to being a self-starter. Especially when all you have is your own motivation to get you through the early stages. When you just worked a long shift and you get home and all you want to do is catch up on sleep because you have to do it all over again the next day - obsession and passion enables you to dedicate just an hour or two on that special project of yours. Because you know that those 2 hours brings you a little closer to attaining your goals. At the end of the day you are physically and mentally exhausted, yet excited about what you can get done and the new things you can learn tomorrow.

It's your turn:
How do you get yourself to focus on one thing?
Favorite productivity tools (mind mapping and other)?
What is your obsession?

Create the time for your passions and interests

I survived working the weekend while fighting off a nasty virus. It's times like these that I miss working from home as a freelancer. It definitely had it's good points. Now I spend part of my days off working on side projects that bring in additional income to the household. The trick is to create the time for it. I can easily get swamped with day-to-day tasks but I make sure to set aside 2-4 hours dedicated solely to my "other job". Depending on my SO (significant other's) work schedule this can be very early in the morning or late at night. It's important to spend time with each other whenever we can since some weeks we have conflicting schedules. I've become an early riser since being back to a regular day job so I usually get any chores done first thing in he morning.

The most important tools I use to get things done:

1. Dry erase boards - we have a total of 3. One on the fridge, and a couple in each of our home office areas. The one on the fridge is where I list out what I intend on getting done within that day. Don't try to tackle the world in a day, stay realistic with your daily goals.
2. Clocks/Timer - We pretty much have a clock in every room in the house so I stay aware of how much time I've spent on a particular task.
   

Once the day's to-do list is done, I usually make a fresh pot of coffee, turn the Skype to do not disturb status, pull up live365 radio on my desktop set to swing and big band music and get to work. I have a business journal that I keep since I'm a big note-taker, I'm constantly jotting things down.

This pretty much breaks down the 4 hours I spend:

1. Check e-mail - usually takes less than 10 minutes.
   
2. Read RSS feeds (news and blogs)- I jot down anything of interest to me - usually lasts around 15 minutes
3. Research - anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour
4. Tweaking tech stuff (this is when I futz around with design or a bit of code) - I try to limit this to 30-45 minutes
   
5. Writing - I spend the remainder of my allotted time writing, sometimes I do this offline, there's nothing like writing in a journal or just a cheap old composition notebook.

There have been times where I've had to readjust this schedule and break it down into segments. Like working for 2 hours and getting back to it with the last 2 ours later on. I do prefer an uninterrupted 4 hour span though it proves to be more productive when you're focused on only one task.

On days that I have to work, the time spent with the tasks above is reduced to 1-2 hours. I leave out #3 and #4 and limit the time on #1 and #2.

I've gotten in a good groove with this schedule so this is what works for me at the moment. So what do you do to manage your time when it comes to hobbies/freelancing/other pursuits?

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I wrote this after reading this article about making the recession work for you. Maybe it's the tone of the author but I have to disagree with the article. He just made it sound like you can just quit your job and do whatever it is that you've always wanted. Not everyone has the luxury of being padded enough to just shoot for the stars. Most of us have family obligations, people that count on us.

I understand sometimes it takes something bad to happen for people to really think about their lives and to take action, which is great - they can then use the experience to propel themselves into transitioning into the life they really want. This is in essence what I'm doing right now. I was doing what I loved and it made me miserable. Yes, I know, it doesn't make sense - it'll take another blog post to elaborate and I just might write about it. Now I'm/we're in the process of crawling out of that hole and I'm using this blog to keep my thoughts sorted out. So far we're doing alright but we can be doing a lot better (and I'm not just talking financially here).

I'm satisfied with my life but I'm restructuring it in a way that will allow me to get even more out of life. That partly explains my blog title and tag line. This is my life restructured, lifestyle design for the regular Joe/Jane.

Switching gears and Shifting priorities

Not surprisingly, one of the first news feeds from my iGoogle this morning is about the continuing downwards spiral of the U.S. economy. The topic is unavoidable. Even at work we get a lot of clients tell us that they too, have joined the ever-growing number of recently unemployed.

I've certainly been in the same tight spot about two years ago. I was a full-time freelancer working at home. It was great to begin with - flex work hours, no commute. I had many projects lined up which was what I wanted, I was hungry for it. Somewhere along the line I've lost the balance between life and work and was taking in more projects than I really should have. I would often spend 14-16 hour days slaving away at a project only to finish it and move on to the next one. On top of that, my main clients started being really painfully slow about payment. So there I was - burnt out, getting paid late, with a mortgage and bills piling up. You get the picture.

While that experience definitely left a bad taste in my mouth about being a freelancer in general - I've learned a lot from it. My priorities shifted quite a bit, my goals a little more focused.

1) Spending quality time with loved ones is on top of my list.
2) Saving money will give me the freedom to do more of the above.
3) Being frugal is obviously a key component to saving money.
4) Simplifying my life and my lifestyle in general will help me focus on more important things.


Keeping a simple life will reduce unnecessary distractions and expenses. I won't have to work as hard to pay for the things I don't need.

Where am I going with this? My new priorities will enable me to start working on my goals:

1) To slowly wean myself from my 9-5 (actually it's more like 8-8) and be able to generate enough income doing the things I'm passionate about.
2) Travel more
3) get back to doing photography


It's your turn to share - when was it that your priorities shifted? The moment/event that led you to switch gears.