LifeDev

photo credit: tjroberts79

“Part of being creative is learning how to protect your freedom.” - Hugh Macleod

As we approach tomorrow’s holiday, I thought it would be appropriate to touch on the topic of personal freedoms. While we try not to blow our digits off tomorrow, America as a whole will be basking in her personal freedoms. While we’ve pretty much got the personal freedoms part sewed up, we don’t take a great deal in preserving our work freedoms. Let me explain with an example.

A close friend of mine asked me if I was going to be at my house around lunchtime, and I struggled to weigh the options. Sometimes I like to work at a local coffee shop/bookstore, while other times I camp out around the house. After a solid 20 seconds of me trying to make a decision had passed, my friend suddenly chuckled and replied, “Why am I even asking you? Who knows what you’ll feel like tomorrow.”

He couldn’t be any closer to the truth.

The power of freedom (in your job)

The beauty of being a freelancer is that while you still have to work like everyone else, the location doesn’t have to be important. Where you work can be a great shot of productivity for those wanting to add a little spice to your work day. But more importantly, there is something that every creative person should understand: adding variety and spontaneity to your day can adds a powerful shot of productivity and overall contentment.

Protect your work freedom: avoid unnecessary commitments

By trying to decide where I wanted to work the following day, I wasn’t taking into account that I might not feel like working at home the next day, even though it sounded like a good idea the night before. I was giving myself an unnecessary commitment. Sometimes it’s best to have a few things unplanned to your day. Spur of the moment decisions give a feeling of control that you might not normally have. And control is one of the main reasons that people become freelancers in the first place; nobody really likes being told what to do or how to do it. You have to protect this right, even from yourself at times. It’s quite easy to over-plan the day, suffocating your creativity.

So if you’re feeling a little bored and uninspired at work, try un-planning an aspect of your day and making a spontaneous decision later. A little freedom can go a long way.

Have a happy and safe holiday, everyone!

Glen

So, recently I’ve been getting some very constructive comments from people about LifeDev. The one recommendation I keep hearing from people is to change the tagline of the site. Up until a few minutes ago, the tagline of the site looked like this:

“Productivity for Creative People” is a great tagline, but unfortunately I tend to write about many other topics other than productivity that creative people like myself find useful. (A quick glance at some of my latest posts proves this quickly.)

The problem with the tagline was that it pigeon-holed me into one very, very specific range of topics (which I never really adhered to anyway). So I’ve decided to modify it slightly. The tagline now looks like this:

While the writing will be centered around helping creative people, we’re not just going to be talking about productivity. No sir. We’ll be hitting on the many aspects of life that creative types like you and I wrestle with every day. Yes, there’s still going to be a lot of writing about productivity. But this gives me freedom to branch out a tad more at the same time.

Now here’s where you, the good readers of LifeDev, can give me a little direction. Are there any topics that you’d specifically like to see us hit on? What type of posts interest you the most? Also, I’d love to hear any more feedback on the tagline.

You guys are awesome.

I don’t normally re-post links from around the web on LifeDev anymore, but I’ll make an exception for this. Good friend Chris Guillebeau has written an exceptional guide on how to achieve your goals, A Brief Guide to World Domination. It’s truly awesome. It’s also free, so there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t at least check it out. Here’s a taste:

Who should read this report

I should warn you now that this report
is not for everyone.  In fact, it’s probably
not for most people. Instead of writing
for the general public, I spent about 35
hours writing these pages for a small
minority of people interested in living
life on their own terms while making a
dramatic, positive difference in the lives
of others at the same time.
In short, I wrote it for people who are
serious about ruling—or at least chang-
ing—the world.

A Brief Guide to Changing the World

photo credit: Twistiti

“Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it.” - Soren Kierkegaard

As people try to get through the day, it’s sometimes quite easy to get so focused on the tasks that have to be done that we’re not taking the time to enjoy our life. There is definitely a fine line between working hard and hurrying.

The Art of Pace

As a distance runner, it’s incredibly important to know how to handle pace. Knowing how to pace yourself in a race is crucial, as it’s not only a form of strategy, it also ensures that you’re able to finish the race. It doesn’t take a genius to know that if you start a marathon with your 3 fastest miles ever, the odds of you finishing the other 22 are slim to none. The same is true with working. If you work the first three hours non-stop, blinking at your computer screen without taking any breaks, the last 5 hours are probably going to be crap.

Chunking the Day

Instead, try breaking apart the work day in sections. Block out chunks of time for work, and chunks of time for play. And be sure to treat the play times with just as much importance as the work times. Because they are. They allow you to work strong throughout the day, and keep you from turning into your head into a giant pile of mush after a month’s worth of work.

Remember, life isn’t just work. We have families and friends, and other parts of life that are more important. Work just allows us to exist. Nobody ever got to the end of their life and wished that they’d been able to put more hours in at the office.

Sometimes we just need to hear that ;)

photo credit: mikebaird

It seems like everyone has diet advice. If one was so inclined, he could spend hours on google and health sites learning the latest tricks and tips to losing weight. As for myself, I’m not that patient. However, there’s always been a tried-and-true method for losing weight for me: Staying active.

An Active Lifestyle

It never ceases to amaze me how much weight I can lose while camping. I recently returned from a hiking/canoeing expedition in Arkansas, and the amount of weight I lost was incredible. The majority of our days was either hiking or canoeing somewhere, and hanging around a campfire at night. During meals I would eat more than I normally would at home, and usually the amount of sweets I’d normally intake was much higher. (Smores, anyone?) Yet I still lost more weight in 4 days than I had in a couple of weeks. How could this be?

The Obvious Benefits

As everyone knows, the more energy you expend in a day, the more calories you’ll burn. Also, the more active you are, your metabolism rises and you’re able to burn more calories than you normal while doing un-active things.

It’s safe to assume the amount of energy I expended each day hiking raised my metabolism considerably.

The Not-So-Obvious Benefits

I’ve been running at least 3 times a week these past few months, so it’s kind of surprising that I was able to lose a lot more weight than with my running routine. But this could easily be explained by one simple truth:

The more active you are, the less you’ll snack.

If you’re spending all day moving around, you’re obviously burning more calories, but you’re also snacking less. A sedentary lifestyle encourages snacking. I can see this in my personal life all the time.

As a freelance web worker, I spend most of my day on my keister. As I work only a few feet from my kitchen, it’s quite tempting to constantly snack. Many television zealots enjoy eating snacks while watching TV, as it gives you something to do. Popcorn, chips, candy… it all adds up.

But say you were riding a bike, or hiking a trail, or weeding the garden. It’s just not that easy to snack while being active, is it? Imagine lugging around a bag of chips while riding your bike on a trail… not fun.

So, if you’re wanting to lose weight without eating less (at meals), start becoming more active. Start finding creative ways to get up and moving throughout your day. You’ll feel better, but you’ll also be less inclined to snack less.

So here’s my question to you: What are some creative, fun ways to stay active? Comment below, and I’ll write another post on your responses. Thanks guys!

photo credit: Mollivan Jon

Editor’s Note: Post written by Albert van Zyl of Headspace.

The blogosphere is awash with advice on how to destress and relax. How do we know what to believe and what is just recycled and repackaged from previous posts? Jesus’s advice was that one should judge the tree by its fruit. So we should judge the value of advice by the state of the person giving it. But the web doesn’t allow us this luxury.

So we have to find other ways of judging the value of advice on how to destress. I decided that there must be some truth in numbers and did a poll of which destressing advice comes up the most often. To save some time, I only consulted top ten lists. This informal ’survey’ consulted 13 top ten lists of how to beat stress. Mail me if you want to know where to find the sites. So which bits of advice came out tops? The number of votes each of these got is indicated below.

Breathing to relax: 8 votes

The folks at Mind-Energy advise that you lie down or at least sit comfortably. Close your eyes and concentrate your attention on your nostrils, where air enters the nose. Take a slow and deep breath in through your nose. Notice how the air is cold, entering your nose. Hold your breath for a seconds holding your attention on the same spot. Breath out slowly and quietly through the nose. Notice how the air is warm on your nostrils on the way out. Do this for a few minutes, until you let disturbed thoughts go and feel relaxed.

Sleep: 7 votes

Paula Quick rolls out the familiar opinion that for most people seven to eight hours of sleep is ideal. Of course, some people can function well with fewer hours depending upon their makeup. The key thing is to know when you clearly aren’t getting enough and to make adjustments. Sleep is the time that our bodies use to rejuvenate itself. It is hard to feel relaxed when we’re exhausted from a lack of sleep. For my money an afternoon nap is better value for money. Short, sharp and very relaxing.

Meditate/Pray: 7 votes

According to Jenny Stamos Kovacs at medicinenet.com meditation doesn’t only mean twisting your body into an uncomfortable position and uttering “oohs” and “omms”. Any repetitive action can be a source of meditation: this includes walking, swimming, painting, knitting—any activity that helps keep your attention calmly in the present moment. When you catch yourself thinking about your job, your relationship or your lifelong to-do list, simply let the thought ‘escape’, and bring your mind back the repetition of the activity.

Have fun: 6 votes

Candledance.com’s advice is to have physical fun. When we are told we SHOULD do something we get rebellious, and we resist doing it. So rather tell yourself that you COULD. You COULD go for a stroll after dinner. You COULD join a tap dancing class with a friend. So give yourself permission to choose, and life becomes more fun and stress free.

Visualization: 5  votes

Elizabeth Scott at stress.about.com recommends that you imagine yourself achieving goals like becoming healthier and more relaxed, doing well at tasks, and handling conflict in better ways. Also, visualizing yourself doing well on tasks you’re trying to master actually functions like physical practice, so you can improve your performance through visualizations as well.

A few of my favorite stress busters didn’t get many votes, so I thought I would sneak them in anyway.

Have a cuppa Tea:

Even though it has the same amount of caffeine, black tea has a curiously settling effect. And then there are the secondary advantages of the tea break as well. Lifedev recently reported a study that found that the morning tea break ritual provided time, space and an environment where nurses can ventilate their feelings and gain each other’s support.

Get organised

Ronnie Nijmeh at  argues that clutter makes us feel disorganized and out of control,  which stresses us out. Take a weekend, or even a couple of hours, to get rid of the things you no longer need and organize your home or office.

The Art of the Bath

Paula Quick at  laments that taking a good bath has given way to the quick shower for many people. But nothing can beat a long, hot soak for the ultimate in quiet time, reflection, and relaxation. Light some candles, diffuse some essential oils, put on some relaxing music and simply go “ahhhhh.”

Be grateful each day

The folks at abundance-and-happiness.com advise that we take out a piece of paper and make a hand written list of the things that you can think of that you are grateful for. Think deeply about each area of your life and begin to write in detail the good things that come to your mind as you write. Make sure that you are finding and writing things that you are sincerely grateful for. If the emotion isn’t there, the result won’t be either.

Albert’s blog provides weird, insightful and funny bits that allow you to protect and enhance your Headspace. Check it out or subscribe to his feed.