Keeping Your Sanity

CCarter

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My brain's been wandering the last several months more and more. I can't even hold a single thought in my mind for more then a minute, so I knew something was off. Information overload - useless information to be precise. As we are more and more hyper connected to the internet we find ourselves less and less connected to the physical world. Problem is when serious money making work starts taking a backseat to things that waste time. Here is my list...

Things which waste my time:

Facebook - Once or twice a day is usually enough to be honest, once or twice an hour, means you aren't in the moment - eventually you will be focusing less and less when you do have serious work to do.

Twitter - This was a little more active, but getting updates once or twice a day again is fine. The more you are on twitter the more you'll click on links that continue to waste even more time. Being a marketer, for some reason I have nothing but marketing people I'm following and 99% of their status updates are links... Not sure how well that's going for them, but even with my tweets I try to have only 1 out of 20 a link, and the rest something else - an image or quote. But to be honest - why do people need to know my thoughts at every single moment of the day? If I see someone over and over blabbing non-stop, they overall importances becomes less and less. (Law 16 of 48 Laws of Power)

Imgur - Great for breaks, but a time suck overall. There are some funny images, and I used to be addicted to gif collection, still am. I would collect gifs and then remember them so I know I have the perfect reaction for that retarded forum post of OP's. Overall if I spend less time trolling forums, I'd equally spend less time finding gifs. It's crazy how these distractions intermingle without you realizing it until you step back.

Email - I un-installed my email from my phone, over the years I gave less and less people my email, and anyone that wants to contact me can call or text.

News Sites - Most people don't generally need to be updated on the latest Middle East Crisis on a daily basis. Overall bad things happen all over the world all the time. Unless you are following something that will directly effect your revenue or your niche, it's mostly information overload.

Notifications - these Apps have notifications that pop up when something or rather anything happens. Disable them all. I find myself being distracted more and more by apps like twitter and Facebook which I'm trying to stay away from, so disable them for your own sanity.

If you notice everything mentioned above has to do with information overload - things you really don't need to be constantly on top of. If you notice how society works, the most important things get to you no matter what anyways, so you don't need to be updated within 5 seconds of something happening.

It got pretty bad for me - it got to the point where my brain couldn't hold a single thought for more then a single minute - I never was like that.

Skype is the worse - it's like a phone but more intense, since you can be in skype groups with 100+ people, and multiple ones, so they all have something to say. Unfortunately for what I do, some of those chats help me stay at the ground level of what's going on in our industry, and movements. Skype is great for networking and immediate conversations about an idea, but when it becomes a place to simply hangout - it's time to slow down and unplug.

Forums - I used to be addicted to forums, probably still am. I would go from one to another, to another, and back to the first one. You know you are addicted when you close your browser then re-open it immediately and go back to the same website.

Here is the trick or rather something to keep in mind, all the information above won't disappear if you don't check it for a couple of hours, or a day or so. The important things always tend to rise to the top and the garbage usually settles at the bottom where no one will remember it after today.

Breaking the cycles:

I started putting my cellphone in the other room when I went to sleep, so I couldn't check up on the latest during the night. Had a great night sleep during the 2nd night. First night was weird and difficult.

I started exiting Skype when I was coding and doing serious work. People don't need to be in constant contact with me for every little thing. My business partner doesn't operate that way, nor do I. So if at the most important level, revenue wise, we message each other and the other gets back in 24 hours it's fine. So if the most important messages can wait 24 hours, some random Skype chat can wait a couple of days and you can scroll through them to get a glimpse of what's going on.

Forums were a big problem - So I stopped checking them and stopped joining new ones. The ones I moderated I resigned, and the other ones that were dying I simply left altogether. I'll check in every 2-3 days, but as you check these distractions less and less, you'll find yourself less and less distracted by them.

Also Law #16 of the 48th Laws of Power: "Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor" (link: http://cgt411.tech.purdue.edu/covey/48_laws_of_power.htm) - Being constantly around makes people take you for granted. Take breaks from different platforms and then comeback later on - you'll have your sanity when you don't have to check on the latest of what's going on every 5 mins, and you are finally able to hold a thought for more then 2 mins without having your mind wander.

Meditation = Do this. Meditation teaches mindfulness. There are several types but focus and then emptiness are the foundation - someone can correct me, it's been a while, but I've started just taking Meditation breaks every 2 hours for 10 mins.

Focus meditation has you fixing your eyes and thought on a single point - usually a candle's flame or an object for a concentrated period of time. It's difficult, extremely difficult, start off with 1 min, then 2 min, then go to 5 min, then 10 min. By then you should have your brain back. If you can get to an hour you'll be levitating off the ground in no time. :D

Emptyness - this is the exact opposite of focus, but it's clearing your mind of any thought. Not impossible to do, but quite difficult. I use music, tantra mediation music and follow the melody in my head without focusing on anything else - if that makes sense. The music shouldn't have any vocal obviously, but should be mostly repetitive and soothing.

There is this one Zen master "Rama" who released some music for morning meditation and evening meditation - "Zazen - Enlightenment (Morning) "Zazen - Canyons of Light" (Evening) - you can probably download it from the internet.

There are books on the subject, so I won't dive into more details, find some beginner's guide and you should be good. The point isn't to achieve enlightenment, but to get your focus back at the very least.

Lastly I use Pomodoro (pomodorotechnique.com) - have a free digital Pomodoro app I downloaded from the Apple/Mac store for my desktop mine is "Pomodoro One". I just click it and go. Every 25 mins it pops up and tells me to take a 5 min break. Sometimes I cheat and don't take the 5 min break, but I think cause the 25 mins is not long enough. You can adjust the 25 mins to whatever makes you comfortable. It tracks your last week score, so you can see your progress. Are you doing more Pomodoro sessions or less. Don't beat yourself up if you slip, just get in the habit of taking your time seriously.

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Take breaks, long or short. The thing about a corporate job is you know what times are set for work, lunch, breaks, sleep, etc. But if you do this as an entrepreneur, there is really no set time. If something breaks in the middle of the night, guess what you have to fix it if you want to keep earning those dollars. So it's hard to keep your sanity - but at least as a business owner you are working on something you love. But you still need timeouts.

We mostly work on the computer, but being in front of the computer 18 hours a day doesn't mean we are working 18 hours a day - let's be serious. There are days I might get 10 mins worth of work done. I noticed I started helping other people more and more with their problems when I want to procrastinate. I have to stop that. I have to become aloof, and absent from the scene for a while.

"When you respect your time others will also."

Just thinking about those notifications, I just saw a popup on my phone that was a reply to a tweet, so that's been in the back of my mind for the last 10 mins - these distractions are hard to break. Do whatever you can to break them. I know when I'm working - if it's programming or designing I'm usually listening to classical music, cause it gets the mind into the perfect wavelength for studying, working, and concentrating. So try it!

Not everything I do will work for you, but if you find your mind wandering more and more, try focus exercises and simply closing some of the apps and websites I mentioned. You can be on a break one day and scroll through Imgur for 30 mins or an hour, but make sure you set that time aside for when you have downtime, not when you are in the middle of a major project and have serious deadlines. It's the internet, those images are going to get reposted mang...

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Great post!

If you're REALLY a glutton for punishment, you can install RescueTime (Free or $9/mo or $72/yr) which will keep track of everything you do while you're at any of your computers, and you can input offline stuff manually, and at the end of the week it'll tell you how much time you have wasted on Redtube or Reddit or whatever.

Having charts and visuals really helps to quantify just how long stuff really does take, a couple hours a day can be the difference between having time for a big project or not. I haven't been using RescueTime for very long but I'll report back with how it goes.

The part about other people not respecting your time is huge. People ask questions like we're their personal AskJeeves. That's just fine on a forum, but to take up time in PM's or Skypes asking stuff they could easily find on their own... it really grinds my gears... as if I'm their personal life concierge or something.
 
What about being the guy who just loses his mind? Says "fuck sanity" and just goes off the deep end... but in a controlled way with a method to the madness. I think that can be a great way to throw yourself at a project and a lot of entrepreneurs can relate to some degree...

There's something to be said about being Mr. Organized and productive, but there's also somethign to be said about having 3 empty pizza boxes on your desk and a stack of kneenix and a full ashtray (When you aren't even a smoker), 25 windows open, not sleeping until you ABSOLUTELY have to.. schedule be damned, outside world be damned...

I wonder if anyone's ever found the balance. One state for creative stuff, another for grindy stuff. I come up with ideas better when I throw myself into chaos, but that can get out of hand and it certainly doesn't lend itself to the grindy "productive" type of work.
 
I think we all have lost our mind to do what we do. Through all caution to the wind, and grind all day and night till a money project is done churning dollars. I've been there, still doing it to keep that hunger in me. I can go for days on end with not stop in sight, but then once it's flowing, eventually I have to shutdown and get back on some sort of routine or schedule.

One thing I am is far from organized. But Pomodoro has started helping a lot.

Right now it's time to grind, cause it's about to be open season in shopping, and everything is for sale.

I don't know if there is a balance, 80% of the time I feel like my mind is slipping and I'm losing my mind, sometimes I can't get my mind back for days - hard to get back on track. I dunno man, this thing of ours will consume us if we don't consume it...
 
I don't do facebook at all. I just don't see the appeal. IRL people are boring and share their boring activities non-stop. The non-boring stuff is just Reddit reposts. I don't do any social media. I've started to enjoy Reddit but I subbed only to certain subs, so my homepage only refreshes like once a day. Takes me about 10 mins to look at.

My telephone drives me nuts. I usually will silence it and then turn it face down. I don't hear calls or texts during working hours this way. It also inspired me to not respond to 90% of the messages I get once they are all backed up. Most don't deserve a response and are other people trying to drag you into their own time wasting session.

Email and Skype are pretty bad. Iv'e had to turn off all notifications and number pop ups on my menu, and then close or minimize the windows so I check them when I'm ready, not when it demands. Again, 90% of skype doesn't deserve a response either.
 
Not keeping my cellphone (Or any electronics, for that matter) in my bedroom is something I started doing a couple of years ago. It makes a big difference.
 
I've learned that I can knock out most of the previous class's homework in the next class, so by the time I get home I don't have much to do in that regard. Then I'm free to work on my sites! That's been a sanity saver, instead of goofing off like everyone else during class.
 
It's funny...

I just introduced one of my freelance buddies to pomodoro system 2 weeks ago. He does video editing for commercials/video ads/movies etc...

He was aimlessly working and grinding without really any direction. I introduced him to this which - CCarter talked to me about months ago. He had a deadline that if he didn't hit would mean he basically worked 500 hours for nothing. He met the deadline and had enough spare time to polish EVERYTHING and ended up getting a major bonus. Suffice to say it is a very powerful thing if you can just focus when you need to and rest when your mind and body need it.

I've implemented it in my own workflow, but instead of getting a "facebook break" I simply just get up and do some squats to get the blood flowing. courtesy of Grindstone.
 
Telling friends "no". I don't know if it's people in general or just this generation, but they have no boundaries when it comes to accepting no as an answer. Whining, poking, prodding, repeating themselves... all from 18-24 year olds. Their parent's must have been push overs. I'm learning to take more time for myself and not go out just because of the peer pressure. I realize I'm not missing out on anything but the same "hanging out" that goes no where. It's fun, but I want to BUILD for my future, not cash it in right now in the present.
 
If writing, reading thinking, listen to music without lyrics or music with lyrics in another language that you can't understand. It's hard to engage the thinking mind and the part that's receptive to language at the same time.

Keep your computer desktop clean and organized. Keep your actual physical desktop clean too. Try to have plants around or be near a window. Having circulating air is good. Be comfortable in your clothing. Kick off your shoes, get to the right temperature. Have snacks and drinks around to keep your fuel up or to satiate those little urges so you don't have to get up. Things like sunflower seeds can keep your mouth occupied and you can get that out of the way entirely.

Use scents like candles to help stimulate your mind. Incense works as well.

Don't let your pets be a distraction. Lock them out if you have to.

Use headphones to block out noises. Use them to block out people too. You don't even have to play music through them but people will hesitate to talk to you if they see them.
 
Email - I un-installed my email from my phone, over the years I gave less and less people my email, and anyone that wants to contact me can call or text.

Dude, me too. I uninstalled EVERYTHING from my phone awhile back. At the time, I had 3 or 4 accounts connected, FB, and some other stuff. Always seemed like every 5 minutes I was checking my email updates, responding to a FB comment, etc. What a huge waste of time. Honestly, I want to find a way to go back to old, analog, non-smart cell phones. Like I just want to make calls, maybe a text ever so often, and that's it. I don't even want to be tempted to do anything else on the damn thing.
 
@turbin3 sounds like you FOUND a way to go back to dumb phones. Uninstall EVERYTHING you can, disconnect all accounts on things you can't uninstall. (ie. iphone mail program) - move disconnected programs you can't get rid of into a sub folder hidden away somewhere. I feel like I recently read an article about a fella who did that with his iphone. His front screen had messages / phone - and I think a map program.... He's been living that life for like a year, and loving it.
 
There was a time I was into the whole texting/app thing but it got way too old after a while. I guess what did it was going to shows to support other bands and just about everyone in the audience had their phones in the air recording it, rather than just enjoying the show. It's as if instead of experiencing life, people are just turning their phones/tablets/etc into their own personal "reality DVR".

I don't have a problem these days telling people I don't really do the whole text/talk/etc thing, because I want to be one of the few people left that still looks up. I have a very small list of people I talk/text with (some are clients) and pretty much anyone else can wait till I get back to check email/skype/IRC/etc. Guess you can tell I'm not really into digital leashes these days, lol.
 
@SmokeTree That's a pet peeve of mine especailly when people film fireworks. They miss the moment becasue they're too busy recording a low quality video that they're never going to back and watch anyways. WHY DO YOU WANT A VIDEO OF IT.. YOU'RE HERE RIGHT NOW! Videos are for people that ARENT there.
 
Great thread! Needed something along these lines!
 
To be honest, I think I'm on the verge of complete and utter burnout. I'm pretty sure I lost my sanity ages ago. I thought I found it the other day, under the bed of all places, but it simply turned out to be a pair of socks I had misplaced.

I work two jobs; my daytime job (which I love but is extremely demanding) and my night time job (online), and I average about five hours of sleep a night. Add to that, I have four children, and a lovely wife who has her final check-up for her cancer treatment in a months time (very rare type) which has been playing on my mind because... well... it's the last one. She needs to be clear or there's no coming back.

I spend so much time online at night now, that it is starting to physically starting to wear me down. I spend hours going over stats, I spend far too much time on serpwoo (lol) and like Carter, I'm probably addicted to fourms. I never go more then two days without updating my main site and I am continuosly reading and trying new things. Hell, I am at the point where I could probably tell you where my site is ranking simply based on the traffic it recieves on any given day. It's fucking ridiculous! I even check my stats (traffic and earnings) during the day whilst at my other job... lol

I only go on Facebook maybe once or twice month personally... more frequently for site reason. I avoid Reddit like the plague, but with what I'm doing, it's hard to avoid all social sites. Hell, I still can't stay away from Wickedfire and now I've added another bloody forum to the list.

I guess breaking point can't be too far away, so I figure I'll just keep on pushing until I hit the wall. I'll either go through it, or crumple.

/rant
 
Pomodoro is one thing.

Another is nature.

This one is really weird, as I am a silicone-blooded "my computer runs without trees or sunshine" kind of nerd.
I also happened to raise two outdoorsy kids who crawl up the walls if they don't get to go outside for at least an hour every day. Follows that weekends with my family are nature time.
Last time we were on a field trip, it hit me how soothing this is for me. (I kinda noticed it before)

Meh .. know thyself, I guess.

Don't worry, I do this only a few hours per week, so I don't die of boredom and pixel withdrawals.

::emp::
 
I'm thinking the best way to curb forum addiction is to simply quit all forums EXCEPT Bosu.. that way you only have one to deal with! :D
 
I know I'm kind of bumping an older post but damn you CCarter...of all the posts over the years across all the boards with all the knowledge bombs that led to revs, this is the post that most addresses my drama.

I hate you, I love you. Rereading and sub'd...write a book already.
 
I'm not sure how digital marketers are still able to waste their time on social media as a "pedestrian", you KNOW the game - why play on the losing team?

Akin to business level drug dealers who get hooked. An extreme metaphor but same touch point. Your concise reminder is true, however.
 
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