Perfect Life Project

The Multi-Tasking Myth

Multi-tasking is good isn't it. Get twice as much done in half the time! Cram more activities into your day!

Wrong. Multi-tasking makes us less effective beings.While we are being encouraged to do more and more with advanced tools, the truth is it is preventing us from performing effectively.

Consider this:
Brain activation for listening is cut in half if the person is trying to process visual input at the same time. A recent study at The British Institute of Psychiatry showed that checking your email while performing another creative task decreases your IQ in the moment 10 points. That is the equivalent of not sleeping for 36 hours—more than twice the impact of smoking marijuana.

Turn off the twitter, eliminate the email, shun the sms, ban the Blackberry. Do one thing at a time and do it well.

This one piece of advice has made an enormous impact on my life. It can help reduce your daily work / desk time from 8 to 2 hours. It can improve the quality of your output and lead to a much happier, less stressed existence.

Try it.

Simple advice on how to live

We have heard it all before, but there is one piece of advice that we really should take to heart:

Live every day as if it is your last.

Whatever you are doing today, ask yourself "is this what I would want to be doing if this was my last day on earth?" Its a very powerful reminder of what is truly important.

Unfortunately, the significance of such thoughts were abruptly brought to my attention once again yesterday when I discovered a friend had died. He was a champion athlete, loving father and great company. He had been battling a sinister disease for a long time and finally lost his battle.

Times like these put everything else into perspective. Don't waste a moment. Don't look back on your life and regret not chasing your dreams.

Live every day as if it is your last.

Flow

Almost everyone alive has experienced those sweet moment in life when you are so "in the zone", so in the moment, so engrossed in an activity, that time just seems to pas unnoticed. It might be sport, an amazing conversation, writing, painting, exercising. I am sure you know what I am referring to. Remember how satisfying the experience was?

Well it turns out that this phenomenon has been studied in detail by a psychology professor at the University of Chicago called Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who has been studying human enjoyment since 1963. He calls it "flow". The question he posed himself was simple: What is fun? What makes some experiences enjoyable, and other experiences not? His conclusions reach deeply to the very question of happiness.

Taking Responsibility for Happiness

Today I want to share one of the most important attributes of successful and happy people: Responsibility. Its a lesson I have taken years to learn but is most likely the greatest key to my current level of happiness and success. I believe the message can be summed up as thus: you must take responsibility for your actions and your life in order to enjoy true happiness.

Most of my life I have been what you would consider a confident person. I have rarely had any reluctance to take on new challenges or back myself to succeed. As a consequence of my self-belief and willingness I have been able to enjoy some remarkable experiences and varied success. This has included world travel at a young age, reasonable success in several sports and reasonable success in business. All satisfactory results but nothing world-beating or extraordinary.

Hit the refresh button on your life

I am constantly amazed at the amount of information, technology and general "noise" we allow into our modern lives. Mobile phones, PDA's, internet, email, Twitter, SMS, IMS, general media and more. All this is competing for our attention with work collegues, clients, meetings and everything else we try to accomplish during the day.

How do we ever get anything actually done?

My response is to log off and tune out. My best work and best thinking is one far from the daily noise of working life. Fewer interruptions = more clarity in my thinking. And for most entrepreneurs, thinking is where it is at.  

Today is The Perfect Time to Start

Following is an excellent old post I recently came across on the the well-written Genius Types blog. Its about just getting on with your dreams rather than making excuses or waiting for the perfect time to start. I believe its very true.

The Perfect Time to Start Never Comes

When is the perfect time to start a business, lose weight, start investing, become an artist, travel the world, or create the life you have always wanted?

Australians working harder, sleeping, relaxing less

A new study of Australian lifestyle habits has revealed that we are working longer, sleeping less and getting less exercise. This is something I have been aware of for some time and used to be guilty of. In the last few years I have made a determined effort to combat this trend with a more balanced and rewarding approach that I have termed my Perfect Life Project. Below is a report from the Sydney Morning Herald detailing the latest lifestyle figures. In italics I have included my PLP figures to demonstrate how life can be successfully lived by the average person without following this alarming trend.

Appreciate what you have

Many of us spend much of our lives dreaming about what we'd like to have, or coveting the lives of others. But how many of us take the time to actually appreciate what we already have?

I spend most weekends moving from one activity to another. Multiple sports, social events and kids activities put paid to most of my R&R. My wife and I often take turns with the children while the other one races off to another activity.

The Perfect Plan for 2008

I recently discussed my ambitions for the coming year in "Making the most of your freedom". Now that I have returned home and back to work I have set about implementing my plans for 2008.

My greatest challenge appears to be juggling a business and some lofty ambitions for the year with my lifestyle goals of working less, travelling and pursuing my sporting interests. Here is what I wish to do in 2008.....

Learning from holidays

My time in USA is winding down and today I leave the spectacular Colorado rockies after a month of playing in the snow.

Yesterday was one of the best days skiing I have ever enjoyed. One of the main reasons it was such a great day was because I did something outside of the usual. A normal day skiing usually entails waking in time to join the crowds for the lifts in the first hour of operation, then making the most of the available conditions with thousands of others. I usually ski runs I am most comfortable on, occasionally trying a few more challenging runs.