Happy Monday.
Photo of the Week
It was a busy week filled with friends and family. I’m making some more modifications to my home studio, including this new monitor stand. I tried two new to me restaurants this week - Slapfish (meal pictured) and Root and Bone. Both were great although Slapfish actually gets the overall flavor win for me.
I finally started scanning the piles and piles of photos I have around the house - including this cute old one of my dad and my Aunt Martha (they are the two who’s faces you can see). The other woman is a friend of my Aunts according to the back of the photo. R. J. Nestor’s next cohort of AP Productivity also kicked off and I made a functional diagram of my Facts of Lifebook system.
The hands down highlight of the week was a visit from Lauren. I love having her here!
Multitasking is making you dumber
I was talking with my friend Beth about focus early this week and then as I was listening to an episode of the Bookworm podcast while doing some work around the house, they cited a study from the University of Psychiatry in London which found that - at least momentarily - multitasking can cause a loss of IQ greater than smoking a joint or losing a full night’s sleep.
While I used to have to keep multiple balls going in the air at all times just to get at least one or two things done in the day, that isn’t my life now. So, I’m trying to rediscover the joy of single-tasking. The progress is slow and I fail loads of times every day. However, I’m starting to figure out how to create a single tasking environment for myself so I thought I’d share. And I share this with full belief that if you try this in any work environment - not just that of a solopreneur.
Only open one tab
I’m in the process of changing all of my browser settings to open only one tab at startup. This is a MASSIVE change for me because I historically had about six tabs open in every browser window at startup. They were the things that I went to often. Instead, I have buttons on my toolbar for these now so I can easily switch between them. If I have a tab open that I want to read later, I can save it to Readwise or I can save it in my browser bookmarks to return to later.
Use Pomodoros
There is a time management technique called the Pomodoro (which is Italian for tomato). A Pomodoro is a short focused work session followed by a short break. I started with a 10 minute pomodoro followed by a 2 minute break. Alexa times those for me or the timer on my phone - although Alexa is better because I am not tempted to use my phone if it’s not in my hand. I’ve now built up to a 30 minute pomodoro followed by a five minute break.
Plan for distractions
I don’t care where or how you work - you will get distracted. So, plan for that. Where will you write down/type what you were working on and need to return to after the distraction ends. If it’s your own brain that is causing the distractions, write down/type what it is that is causing your brain to run amuck and then go back to what you’re working on. This is the same principle of meditation - only applied to the productivity world. When you meditate you don’t empty your mind - you simply notice the thought and let it move on and continue with what you’re doing in the meditation.
Take a walk
This one is newer to me because I never had time for it in my old life. Now, before I’m getting ready to start a task that demands a high level of focus, I will take Kona for a walk - 10 minutes is about perfect for this. This gets my energy level rebalanced and has the added benefit of making Kona happy and content so he’ll rest or play quietly while I work on whatever is at hand.
Try coworking
My most focused hour of the day quite often is 10 - 11 a.m. while I’m in Creative Work Hour. This focused session of people from all walks of life and all corners of the globe is my time to get something big and important done during the day. Some days I do chase squirrels but most days, I get my most important task of the day done. To register for the sessions (they are free but you have to sign up to get the zoom link) and to learn more, visit https://lu.ma/CreativeWork.
Where’s Kara?
A quick summary of where I’m going to be hanging out online and IRL over the next few weeks. Join me, and if I’m visiting near you, hit reply and let’s meet up!
In Real Life (IRL)
Probably headed to New York in April and might pop up to Chicago for a conference in a couple of weeks.
Around the Virtual World
Quarterly Retreat - It’s still a great time to prepare for an awesome 2023 by signing up for the Quarterly Retreat All Access Pass or the Quarterly Retreat Workshop. Visit https://karamonroe.podia.com and download the workbook for free and check out all of the offerings.
Join My Course and Community - You will often find me hanging out in the course and community for my course “Facts of Life Book” that launched on January 1! Do you need to organize your most important stuff for life’s most important moments? If so, then the Facts of Life Book course is just for you. With loads of templates, tools, and guides I’ll help you get your most important information organized. Newsletter readers - get in now for the low cost of only $25 for life! This price will be going up on February 1 so act fast to get in on the lowest price ever and be a founding member giving you access to every update, every live cohort, and every new feature I ever launch of this course.
Creative Work Hour - Every single day of the week, at 10 a.m. eastern, a group gathers online in Zoom to do a quick check in, a brief meditation, work for about 50 minutes on whatever they want to do, and then check out with one another for 5 minutes. Creative Work Hour is one of my favorite places to hang out online and I’ve been there every single day that I could be there since about March of 2022. Come as often or as little as you need to get projects done. To register for the sessions (they are free but you have to sign up to get the zoom link) and to learn more, visit https://lu.ma/CreativeWork.
AP Productivity - I’m once again joining my friend R.J. Nestor as a mentor in his exceptional course AP Productivity. The next cohort starts January 13.
Tools, Tips, & Tricks
Check out Muscle Wiki for strength and stretching
I have some chronic pain in my lower back that is likely caused by arthritis. That said, I have found that stretching and strengthening is helping a great deal. My favorite tool for figuring out how to stretch and strengthen is called MuscleWiki. You choose your gender and then click the area of the body you want to strengthen and/or stretch. Then you can select from body weight exercises, stretching, exercises with weights and more. It’s super easy to use and works great on your phone as well.
The Red Cross First Aid App
This week, I updated my Red Cross CPR and First Aid Certification. I had it years ago and let it lapse but it’s one of those things I just think you should have if you’re a person who is good in emergencies. I am good in emergencies.
One of the things I was pleasantly surprised to learn is that the Red Cross has put their massive old first aid and CPR manual into an app that couldn’t be easier to use. If you search for Red Cross First Aid in your app store on your phone and just look for the app with the band-aid on it you’ll see some great information in case of an emergency.
What I Published This Week
Signature Hound Video
Thanks to Gayle for introducing me to Signature Hound. It’s an easy way to create a very attractive email signature.
My Digital “Garden”
As a part of the Obsidian Vault Rebuild Series that I wrote on Medium and YouTube, I began using Obsidian Publish. This add on tool for Obsidian allows you to easily publish your “in progress” notes to the web. If you want to see what I’m thinking about, this is a great place to see inside my head. It’s always available at https://publish.obsidian.md/iwannabeme
This Week’s Featured Book Note
Each week, I’m featuring one book note from a book I’m currently reading. Click the image to view this week’s note as a PDF file.
Still enjoying a lot of fiction reading. I’m not sorry about that.
In that vain, I wanted to share this tweet with you that I love.
Diversion
Lauren was here for the weekend. She introduced me to NinjaKidz on YouTube. This was my favorite video we watched together:
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Readwise is an incredible service that takes all of the highlights you take on Kindle, on various web sites, and in so many other places and stores and organizes them for you. It generates a daily (or more often/less often as you prefer) set of highlights for you to review so that you can better remember what you read. Readwise also syncs with all kinds of apps including Evernote, Notion, Obsidian, Roam Research, Log Seq and more. If you’d like an extended 60 day trial, use my link https://readwise.io/kara
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