How to Be More Organized: Act As If!

The most efficient way to find a solution to a problem is to act as if. Act as if your first idea is going to be the absolute solution. This becomes a rigorous stress test and you’ll find out your idea’s short-comings quickly. An example is the color-coded notebook system I came up with recently. I had a problem: too many damned ideas! I didn’t have a place for everything. And I was wasting way too much time sifting through a large notebook to review and store all the material. Now I have a simple solution. I color the bottom of my multiple one-subject notebooks: green = audio journal snippets, red = my word salad fiction project (to improve my writing skills), colorless = daily reminders, black = new vocal and language, 5-subject = brainstorming and misc, legal pad = snippets for my blog.

I went through 30-40 business names before I settled on Master Your Roles. With each I acted as if that was my name. I had business cards printed and everything. When I come up with an idea that I think is good, I post a picture of it on the dashboard of my car and look at it throughout my day. I’m testing it. The craft velociraptors in Jurassic Park did the same thing. They were always testing the security fence for weaknesses. Be like a velociraptor! I’m in the process of changing from Think Like a Musician to Master Your Roles. At a networking event, I handed my Think Like a Musician card to someone and he said, “Ohh… Think Like a Mexican - what’s that?” I just laughed and immediately decided to revise that scribbly font that wasn’t doing the job of clearly communicating my brand.

 I always liked the expression “burn the ships.” Explorer Cortes instructed his soldiers to burn their ships once the arrived because he was fully committed to his mission and conquest. My point here is expose your idea with rigor to the real world. Of course, the second part is you need to be willing to give up on parts of your idea in pursuit of a better solution. If you take this approach, you will arrive at a place where you can’t make any improvements. Congratulations - you have arrived. Now apply it to another area of your life. Act as if helped me make break-throughs in three areas of my life in the last few weeks: organized my trunk, colored notebooks, and scrapbooking the news (for blogging material). Try it!

Act as if is a time management and personal productivity strategy for solving creative problems. 

How to Be Sneaky with Your Personal Productivity

Personal Productivity Hacks Your Can Use Today

When you embrace the cracks of the day, you’ll become enormously more productive. Here are 3 strategies for utilizing the wonderful nooks and crannies of your day.

Hop in, the Water’s Fine

Nothing gets done on the hour or even the half hour. Start actions at random times. For example, I started my meditation at 7:06am today. I enjoy meditating but I also want to get into it and be done with it. I use a meditation app and once I sit in my cozy chair, I want to hit that start button as soon as possible. The sooner I hit the start button, the sooner I’m finished. Imagine hopping on to a ski lift. Getting onto the chair is the toughest part and then you’re coasting - you don’t need motivation anymore. And the sooner you hop on, the sooner you hop off. The same goes for exercise or gulping down that first tall glass of water in the morning.

Refer to Your Week-at-a-Glance (WAG) Sheet

You should be forever scribbling actions and reminders on your active WAG - for next week. When you have the prompts and reminders near you, it’s a cinch to complete those actions when time opens up. Your WAG sheet will be made up of 3 parts: daily, weekly, and projects. The daily page lists the habits you’re working to implement and has space to list your priority for each day. Your weekly sheet is an index of to-do items and has space for your top priorities for the week. The project page will list your current projects and which of the 7 stages each is currently in. Another huge benefit to having a WAG sheet is that you will constantly revisit and hover over the most important metrics of your life. Download your Week-at-a-Glance document.

Tap In To the Power of Tiny Steps Done Every Day

I adore backgammon. In fact, my kids are sick of playing against me. Once I bet my son in 1:1 basketball. If he won he got $5 but if I won he had to play me in backgammon. He played like he was in the NBA finals! I need some backgammon friends. Now I get immense joy going through a backgammon course by world champion Tim Holland. He gives you games to play in a step-wise progression. I do a few moves each day. It takes 3 minutes and I’m learning a whole new level of the game. Start timing actions you take. I’ve been trying to get into a habit of doing push-ups and sit-ups in the morning and then at night. I timed myself and realized it only took me 16 seconds to do 10 push-ups. That I can do! If I can watch a 3-hour football game on tv, I can certainly get down and do 16 seconds of exercise.

Use these 3 time management strategies to increase your personal productivity and you’ll enjoy more fulfillment and put your priorities first!

Ever Try Meditating for 20 Minutes?

I’ve been meditating most mornings for a few months now. Today was different. For some reason, I made a connection between Brazilian jiu-jitsu and meditation. One thing I learned while training in BJJ is to be able to have a good frame. The goal of framing is to create space between you and your opponent. You often use the mechanics and anatomy of your body to prevent the other person from getting close so they can get you into submissions.

While meditating today, I felt the need to maintain a mental frame as the session went along. I realized by preserving the needed mental space for my meditation focus, I reaped the rewards. When I allowed that sacred “space” to collapse, I found myself thinking and not resting my mind.

Another benefit from meditation is that it helps to decrease negative emotions that are coupled with time. Let’s say another car pulls out in front of you and takes forever to get moving. Our usual response is stress and possibly anger. However, when you practice meditation you realize you can experience the passing of time without negative emotion - even contentment. Just when you need to apply patience you recognize the feeling of accepting the passing of time. You say to yourself, ah a bit of waiting - I know how that feels.

Share your experience with meditation!

What Was Your First Experience with Peak Performance?

Imagine how you would feel if this happened to you. I had my first performance with the Boston Crusaders Drum & Bugle Corps at age seventeen. The crowd was thunderous and the stadium’s lights made it seem like I was playing in the final seconds of the Superbowl. I stood petrified in the opening formation of our show. My mind went blank! The drum major started the show and on the first move I forgot to stop marching and crashed into the player next to me. I choked! I wasn’t focusing on anything I was taught – I was mindlessly reacting to things after they had happened to me. I still have dreams about it.

         Now let’s fast-forward five years to my final performance. The 14-minute show became a mental script that I followed as it unfolded. I was completely in-the-moment and in control yet I performed with energy and emotion. I savored every moment because it was my last performance. It was as if I had a gentle dose of the right information streaming through me during the show. I’d think: watch the drum major for the starting tempo (speed of the music) – CHECK, watch the front of the drum line on this move, so it’s straight – CHECK, listen back to the bass drums for the tempo of the next section – CHECK, enjoy the crowd’s response – CHECK, move my feet fast so this section lines up with the brass section - CHECK, and so on.  Quite a difference, hah? What was your first peak performance moment?

Peak performance is an effortless expression supported by technical mastery.

This is an excerpt from the book “Think Like a Musician: The Time Management Skills You Need to Lead a More Joyful & Productive Life.”

Time Management is Malarkey!

Wait a minute! An expert in personal productivity is saying time management is nothing but malarkey? That’s right. When I tell people I offer coaching and workshops on time management, I often hear about challenges with backlogged emails and a lack of time to do what’s important. Although we need strategies for dealing with incoming demands, we can’t let it be the main target.

I’ve found that when you know your purpose and mission in life, the minor annoyances cease to be at the top of mind. When you know your vision and it’s inspirational, you’ll find yourself utilizing all the cracks of time available to you during the day and evening. You become immensely resourceful because you now have a lighthouse to steer towards.

We don’t lack time, we lack time spent thinking deeply. With even 2 minutes of focused thinking , we can make much more progress than we can from beating ourselves up about not getting enough done. Strategize, ask questions, evaluate, assess, plan, compare, contrast, and brainstorm. We’ve got to break out of surface level thinking.

The Benefits of Starting a Daily Journal

Inspires you to become more mindful 


Gives you a record of events that you can search 


When you vent about your day you can be 
in-the-moment with loved ones 


Increases self-awareness 


Captures your life’s highs and lows 


Increases your emotional intelligence 


Clarifies your thinking 


Serves as a powerful incubator for creativity 


You will become much more expressive and nuanced 


Encourages you to develop an attitude of positive expectation 


Causes you to try new experiences and take risks 


Improves your writing skills 


Helps you slow down and reflect on life 


Documents your life experiences for future reflection 


Enhances decision-making and leadership skills 


Connects you with your inner world and its resources 


Boosts problem-solving skills

The Benefits of Identifying Your Present and Future Roles

• Gives you permission to spend time in areas that are deeply important to you 


• You’ll see the big picture of your life 


• When you have a crisis, you’ll see it as one part of your life and not all of you 


• Gives you a vision for your future and helps you begin steering towards it 
today 


• Helps you realize the value of tiny steps of progress 


• Adds beauty and joy to your life as you begin to curate the roles you want and 
be more selective of what need in your life 


• Assists you in making purposeful transitions between the different areas of 
your life 


• Guides you through the changes of life year to year 


• Clarifies what you value most so you can share it with others 


• The self-awareness that results from knowing your present and future roles 
will help you shine in all areas of life

Read my All the Hats We Wear book to learn how to create your list of 16 roles - you’ll have a new way of looking at your busy life.

A Surprising Trait of Effective Leaders

While watching Monday night football, there was an interview with Bill Belichick’s boss at the Cleveland Browns. He said how impressed he was with the young Belichick. He described it as an understanding that Belichick had been preparing to be an NFL head coach since he was 10 years old. He compared the phenomenon to JFK - both had that special quality of appearing to be authentically prepared for the task. I wonder what needs to happen in all those years of development for someone to come out the other side so thoroughly prepared.

Also, I came across an interview of a past Patriots player who said Coach Belichick sat in coach on the team plane and gave the first-class seats to his veteran players - now that’s leadership! They put their team first.

Deep Wells of Inspiration

Judith Krantz sold 80 million books. She passed away this summer at the age of 91. While reading her obituary, I was struck by her personal story. She wanted to write a novel but was afraid because she received a mediocre B in creative writing at college. Then she piloted a small plane her husband bought and overcame her fear of flying. It had a profound effect on her. She said she became “overcome by a rage of ambition.” I love that! A rage of ambition! Now, that’ll last.

This also makes me think of movies where a spark of massive inspiration strikes and the antagonist of the story stays up all night working on an inspired project. We desperately need inspiration that is long-lasting. One of my lasting inspirations is my fascination in identifying life role. It causes me to be fascinated in people. It affects how I read the newspaper, watch movies, write in my journal, etc…

What are your deep wells for inspiration and ambition? What makes you rage - in a productive way?

Start Your Own Incubator for Creative Ideas

Scrapbooking the News

My life‘s purpose is helping others become more productive and joyful. I love reading the paper each morning. I currently read the Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times. I prefer reading an actual paper. I enjoy underlining and scribbling on an actual paper. What can I say - I was born in 1971. I call the system I use now news scrapbooking. Here is the equipment needed to start:

Scissors (or electric paper cutter), scotch tape, blank paper, three ring binder, and plastic sheets. I cut out any articles that pique my interest and tape them into my scrapbook. I enjoy the tactile feel of leafing through my binder to kind kernels of ideas for my blog.