Make Progress with MITs (Most Important Tasks):

Big ambitions often fail to get the attention they deserve in the day-to-day grind- it’s commonplace to become swamped with routine responsibilities. I realize that for people who feel stretched thin enough as it is, the notions of lifestyle design and long-term goal-setting may seem impossible.

There are some techniques though that nearly anyone can employ to make time for these pursuits. One that I recently read about and implemented for myself is Leo Babauta’s Most Important Tasks (Oops, I guess it was mentioned here earlier)..

It’s really simple. Before you go to bed, identify one or several MITs for the next day. As the name implies, these are your personally identified most important actions that you need to take.

I’ve been designating goal-related actions to be MITs. They are steps that should directly enable me to move closer to achieving my goals.

Things like work, errands, and appointments are all important as well; you definitely don’t want to blow these things off to write your future best-selling novel. However, they will get done whether or not you label them as MITs. Things like writing 1,000 words, getting in an intense workout, or working on your project motorcycle are more MIT material.

We often know what steps we have to take to move closer to our goals, but it’s far too easy to let day-to-day obligations zap us of the energy and motivation to work on them. By precisely labeling what steps we need to take and when, and making ourselves accountable to take those steps, we can ensure that we give our goals a fighting chance.

The morning is often a perfect time to get MITs accomplished, especially if you wake up a bit earlier than the rest of the world. If you’ve spent 5 minutes in the online personal development world, you’ve probably read about the benefits of becoming an early riser. While I don’t think it would universally benefit everyone to the same extent, waking up likely will provide plenty of benefits.

By the time I’ve spent the greater portion of the day on other matters (work, homework, errands, etc), it’s tough to buckle down and work on my goals. This is especially true when they are long-term in nature and no immediate benefits are likely to be realized. For this reason, I like to wake up earlier than my first scheduled obligation and get something accomplished. I’m not the type that can roll out of bed and immediately began doing creative or otherwise mind intensive work, but I do enjoy working out first thing in the morning. I consider a strong morning workout to be an MIT, so it feels good to get this accomplished before anything else.

I used to be a fan of morning classes, that way I could get them out of the way early and have the rest of the day to do whatever. But it was often hard to get much quality work done in the afternoon- I’d often be sluggish and less motivated to sit down and do work than I was in the morning. Because of this, I now prefer later classes. I can spend the mornings working on the things I deem to be most important, school-related or otherwise. I’ve found that how I spend my time before noon is an extremely good indicator of how the rest of the day will unfold.

Some people may not be like this, either because of personal preferences or other circumstances. That’s perfectly fine. It doesn’t really matter when MITs get done- what matters is that they do get done. Just make sure that you’re doing all you can to carve out the necessary time to work on what’s most important to you, whether that be at 5:00 A.M, over the lunch hour, or while you’re burning the midnight oil. Your future self will thank you.

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How the Internet has Rewritten the Rulebook

Lifestyle design as we know it is greatly enabled by modern technology, particularly the Internet.  The web has created boundless opportunities for those savvy enough to recognize and utilize its potential.  Here are several key ways in which Internet has changed the game:

 1.) Diminished importance of Location:

 Not all that long ago, physical location was vitally important for most of the commercial world.  Brick-and-mortar business requires the attendance of owners and/or employees to run the show, and the market for the company’s services is determined by the demographics of the region.  From members of the corporate sector to owners of in-home businesses, the Internet has eliminated many of these geographical limitations. 

Let’s consider employees first.  Workers of all types are benefitting from remote-work assignments, which continue to grow in popularity, and for good reason.

If an employee can submit quality work by digital transmission, why should their physical presence at a specific site be required?  Correspondence, documents, and other data can be transferred via email, and meetings can be conducted cheaply online.  Thanks to modern technology, intangible work can be done anytime, anywhere, and I think the corporate world is slowly realizing this.

I expect remote-work to expand further as companies realize the benefits of giving their employees previously unimaginable levels of flexibility.  This will grant hordes of traditional white-collar workers a tremendous amount of time and location freedom, and in effect create many more lifestyle options. 

The web has also been an incredible boon for the entrepreneurial -minded.  Once unreachable niche markets are now able to be tapped from anywhere.  For example, an in-home graphics design business might struggle in a town of 500 in rural Montana- the market simply too small.  However, the net eliminates many of these concerns; as long as you have a connection, you can reach your desired market from Timbuktu.

2.)  Self-Publishing:

I mentioned this in passing in my last post, but it’s worth noting again.  There are almost no barriers to entry into the online business world; the only true prerequisite is a web connection.  It is possible to establish your online presence with little to no monetary investment. 

With a $10 domain name and $5-8 a month web-hosting, you can have your private piece of online real estate.  Then with a lot of good old-fashioned hard work, anything is possible.  Steve Pavlina is prime illustration- he invested in a domain, busted his butt to build a business and his credibility, and is now hugely successful. 

It’s an economics 101 principle that the markets will become flooded and oversaturated when there are low barriers to entry.  There is certainly a gargantuan amount of stuff on the net, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t ample opportunities.  There may be low barriers to entry, but the requirements of success are no different than in any other undertaking; hard work, discipline, persistence, etc.  If you employ these traits, it’s possible to rise above the crowd.

3.)  Online Banking:

This development has been a convenience for sure, but more than just that.  This has enabled people to take much greater control of their financial situation. 

If you followed me at all on YD, you probably know that I’m an ING fanatic.  It is easily one of the most innovative banking institutions in the world, and their setup is immensely beneficial to lifestyle designers (the key reason why I included online banking in this list).  Much more will be said about ING in the future. 

4.) Investment Innovation:

The explosive growth of online investing capabilities over the past 10-15 years has created vast opportunities for wealth-creation (as well as wealth-destruction).

User-friendly, inexpensive online brokers and readily available, free research and investment data make it possible for complete beginners to learn to invest on their own.  Granted, this innovation has also made it easier to make big, costly mistakes.  This is bound to happen when grandmas are day-trading tech stocks at the height of the tech bubble or when commercials air with a baby touting how easily he makes a fortune trading the markets.

Sure the actions of some are just plain stupid (’a fool and his money are soon parted’), but that is their own fault.  For those who act with more common sense, recent innovations in the investment field have provided regular people with powerful tools:

A. Discount brokers.  Gone are the days when one was required to fork over outrageous commissions and be at the mercy of their full-service broker.

B.  Abundant information.  20-25 years ago, it’d be a pain in the butt to pull together the necessary information required to make informed investment decisions.  Not anymore.

C.  ETFs.  Not necessarily an Internet-facilitated change, but worthy of note nonetheless.  I’m a huge proponent of ETFs, especially compared to regular mutual funds. 

For more than ever before, the investing world is extremely open to even the smallest of players, thanks by and large to the wonders of modern technology. 

The Future?

Any attempts to explicitly predict where the technological future leads will probably turn out to be comical, so I won’t do that.  I think the world is still catching up with the developments we’ve witnessed so far, and as time passes more and more people will recognize ways to utilize the available resources in creating their ideal lifestyle.

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Some Aspects of My Lifestyle Design:

I figure if somebody is writing about lifestyle design, they should share some of their personal ambitions. I don’t have a complete, explicit outline yet, but I do know many of my desired facets for certain. Here are a handful…

1.) Exercise consistently:

Fortunately, this is already an ingrained habit. For this part of my design, the key is to ensure that I retain this ability as my life changes in the future.

Since the beginning of my freshman year in fall 2007, I’ve routinely gotten in 60-90 minute weightlifting and cardio sessions four mornings a week. Since my daily schedule is often filled with sporadic and spontaneous activities, morning sessions allow for much greater consistency. Once you get accustomed to starting your day with physical activity, it becomes a powerful stimulant. I’m almost always more alert and energized on days when I get up early to work out compared to mornings when I sleep in.

One of the many things I’ll miss about college is the free and easy access to the school’s fitness and recreational facilities. Throughout my time at school, I’ll never live more than a 5 minute walk away from the gym. I might not be so lucky in my life post-Simpson, but I’ll do everything I can to avoid neglecting my exercise habits. It’ll mostly be a matter of carving out the necessary time blocks and sustaining my motivation and self-discipline.

2.) Traveling/mobility:

I definitely want my future to include a fair amount of globetrotting. I want to have ample opportunities to see the world, and not simply on traditional tourist vacations. I’d rather become immersed in the local culture and learn firsthand the elements of different societies.

The travel-abroad courses here at school offer such learning experiences, and many, many students here take advantage (among U.S. colleges, I believe we have among the highest percentage of all students who study abroad). I’m seriously considering a trip for next year’s May Term. The price is by far my biggest concern, but I highly doubt that I would return from wherever I went and regret the investment.

After school, my ability to travel will depend upon my financial situation and my flexibility of location. Both are self-evident: I won’t be going to say, Ireland, if nearly 100% of my income is spent on basic needs. I will also be grounded if my obligations require my nearly-constant physical presence in a given location.

3.) Recreational hobbies- Golf, Biking, Basketball, Tennis, etc:

Like my exercise habits, I currently get to enjoy a schedule that allows for plenty of recreational activity. From ultimate Frisbee to flag football to mud volleyball, there’s never a shortage of intramurals to partake in here on campus, and some friends and I play pickup basketball games on a regular basis.

For now, I’m essentially limited to activities which are easy on the wallet. Golfing, paintballing, snowboarding and the like are a blast, but not justifiable right now on my college budget. Hopefully sooner rather than later, I’ll have the financial mans to fund such hobbies. The other requirement is that I have the time to invest in my recreation. If my commitments are such that I can’t make the time to enjoy the pursuit of personal hobbies, something is definitely wrong.

4.) Learning:

Over the past couple years, I’ve really grown to enjoy learning simply for learning’s sake, and now I have an insatiable thirst for knowledge that keeps growing exponentially.

I firmly believe that learning, even out of random curiosity, can have enormous benefits that are frequently unforeseen in advance. The more information you expose yourself to, the more opportunities your mind has to make connections and formulate quality ideas.

Although I’m not able to invest large amounts of time in reading, I’m probably way more of a bookworm than the typical 20-year-old college guy. I keep a reading list of books that I intend to read, and it keeps growing faster than I can get to them.

Some wonder if books are a dying breed as the Internet continues to wage war against our attention spans. On the net, we can find exactly what we want within seconds, and in a blink of an eye we decide whether something is worth reading or not. It’s no surprise then that books are essentially an irrelevant relic to many in younger generations. I know plenty of people my age who have admittedly never completed a single book other than those required for schoolwork. I think that’s terribly unfortunate.

In many instances, there’s simply no substitute for investing the time in an actual book, where we can devote our full, undivided attention for more than 5 minutes at a time and often dive much deeper into the material. No matter how much technology continues to evolve and make accessing relevant information quicker and easier, I can’t see myself ever ditching books completely.

I’m not old-school though; I do use the internet for the vast majority of my information-gathering. Wikipedia is easily one of my favorite sites on the net. I could easily browse through Wiki articles for hours on end. It’s common for me to be reading a given article, then 10 minutes later I’m reading something completely unrelated due to the endless hyperlink paths. Obviously it isn’t for deep research, but you can’t beat it for a quick and dirty introduction to any subject under the sun.

I also love what blogs and other self-publishing technologies have done in the information age. No longer are we limited to a relatively limited source of news, opinions, and insights. Anybody with a web connection can publish their work for all the world to see, and this has created an enormous amount of value that was completely nonexistent even 20 years ago.

Thankfully, the actual monetary cost of learning is normally miniscule, but there are other potential constraints. Many people cease to further their knowledge when their time and mental energy are completely sapped by keeping up with day-to-day needs and obligations. When your mind is constantly consumed with the concerns of a stressful, unsatisfying job or the fear of losing your home to foreclosure, it’s unlikely that you devote much time to reading about historical figures or learning the basics of neural networks. I will do absolutely everything in my power to prevent this from happening to me.

5.) Help make the world a better place:

The last category was much longer than I anticipated, so I’ll finish with a brief one. I don’t have any specific ideas as of now, but I know it’s something I want; I don’t think I could deem my life completely fulfilling if I didn’t. I want to leave more than I take from this world, and utilize the resources at my disposal to make a positive impact.

The requirements here are similar to most of the above. A prevailing theme through the various pieces of my design is a large degree of financial independence (and thus the time independence that usually coincides). Unless you aspire to live the life of voluntary poverty and extreme minimalism, this is the aspect of lifestyle design that pervades and helps enable many others. Financial independence is the means by which we can successfully fulfill most of the needs at the bottom levels of Maslow’s hierarchy and turn our attention to deeper, more rewarding endeavors.

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Lifestyle Design: An Introduction

In essence, lifestyle design is fairly self-explanatory- we devise a blueprint for the life we ultimately desire, then actively get to work building it. We’ve all heard mention of this, and it sounds simple enough in theory, but how do we actually put it into practice?

It’s almost a certainty that we currently live with some circumstances we consider less-than-ideal. The first step therefore is to identify such areas where we seek improvements. At this stage, we don’t even consider potential limitations or obstacles (such as financial matters); they will be dealt with later.

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of aspects to consider:

1.) Career- There’s no requirement that one’s career has to be unfulfilling, and there is certainly no reason why we must settle for one that is.

2.) Financial situation- Financial freedom is likely desired, but exactly what this means is relative to everyone.

3.) Daily habits- From morning to night, how do you want to spend your ‘routine’ days? What habits would you like to establish, and which would you like to dump?

4.) Health habits- Are you completely happy with your current dietary and fitness habits?

5.) Social network- What does your ideal social circle look like?

6.) Hobbies and personal pursuits- Any burning passions that either got neglected somewhere along the way or have always been on a ’someday’ list?

7.) Time constraints and obligations- If certain commitments are neither satisfying nor meaningful, yet they consume precious time and energy, might as well work to eliminate it.

I’m a staunch believer in goal-setting, and I consider this to be an important component within lifestyle design. Our lifestyle should be drafted to include the habits, routines, and resources required to successfully pursue our important goals, and when our goals are completed, then our design can incorporate its realized benefits.

Goals effectively create timetables and a sense of urgency in our design. For example, assume that one of your objective goals is to release an e-book within 1 year, but you currently lack the time required to work on it. Clearly your design needs to include a change in your daily habits, and it’s imperative that you work quickly in freeing up the time necessary to turn the goal into reality. If the goal is important enough, the bulk of the motivation required to make the necessary changes should come naturally.

With the exception of goal deadlines, most of our design needn’t be fit into timeframes. The objective of the outline is to provide a roadmap with which we can make steady, incremental improvements, not to make drastic measures in a attempt to change everything overnight. It can take many years to make sizable changes to some circumstances, and some aspects may never be realized in their entirety. That’s OK though- perfection usually isn’t possible, but continuous growth and improvement are.

A proactive, growth-oriented mindset is the one vital prerequisite for this type of planning. We must fully accept the responsibility of our environment, then consciously decide to shoulder the task of molding it into what we want. Many people do no do this; it’s far easier to play the role of victim and live reactively to the hands that fate deals out. Taking such a route is a surefire way to ensure that we fall short of our potential. Instead, life tends to reward those who take the reins, identify what we want, then go get it.

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