Speaker-Author-Coach
I’ve have been doing a lot of speaking in the construction industry with associations and companies.
I have a featured article on How to Win Tomorrow Today in this months Construction Executive Magazine.
— Read on www.constructionexec.com/article/how-to-win-tomorrow-today
Last month bagels emojis. This month landing emojis.
Over the past two decades of working with some of the most productive (and busiest) people. I am well qualified to say this… If an emoji concerns you… YOU must have a lot of free/down time, all of your projects completed, financial security, job security and overall you are lighting the word on fire with all that you accomplish.
Not quite you say…
I think I’ve isolated the problem.
An article today in the Los Angles TImes covers the apparently upsetting “landing” emoji. This is after last months “bagel” emoji fiasco.
They say (they are always a bit over sensitive) the current emoji on the left is a bit too “crash-y” their word definitely not mine.
As a pilot (again, qualified to address this) I can tell you the image on the left is a typical landing position called nose down. This position happens normally in a decent and landing. However, in all fairness the picture on the right is called the flare. This also is normal and a part of a non-crash-y landing.
The point is who has time to fret and worry about nose down or flare. Crash-y or not so crash-y? I’m even somewhat bothered that I am taking my daily article writing time to write about this. I’m even more up set that I’m using the word “crash-y.”
How to focus.
I offer my audiences this idea shift when it comes to this area of focus, getting more done and blocking or resisting unwanted, non-productive endeavors.
Focus is NOT about saying YES to the right things. Focus is about saying NO to the wrong things. This perspective shift allows you to have the meaningful and results producing work in front of you. As apposed to… what do the new emojis look like and are they accurate. It’s an emoji. Come on.
You could just type “Landed.”
Eric Herdman is a Professional Speaker and Keynoter. He is an expert at human optimization, productivity, energy and focus. Helping people be their best most productive selves.
I have to because I am constantly asked at my seminars and keynotes “what app do you recommend” for this or that? I try to always have a recommendation to offer. I even have a PDF document that contains my current and top recommendations. However, I recently discovered something about my app choice and usage. Personally I have migrated back to most of the native (IOS) apps. If I don’t use a native app I noticed that my chalices were always for the simple app.
I pondered why and how I choose the apps for may daily productivity and what I kept coming back to was simple! Simple is fast. Simple is not over complicated. Simple is reliable. Simple doesn’t require a lot of brain power thus not creating decision fatigue. Simple is all I require to get the job done.
Let me share some of my thinking here with you so that you can make an informed decision on if simple will work for you in the app department.
As a productivity expert speaking and writing on the subject of getting more done I have to tell you everything you can do to reduce decision fatigue is essential to your productivity success. We make 25,000-65,000 decisions a day. These decisions start as soon as we wake up. Snooze? No! I mean yes, I’m tired. Brown shoes or black? Oatmeal or avocado toast? Should I take Warm Springs road to work or the I-215? Some of these decisions seem trivial, but be warned: brown shoes or black shoes takes just as much out of the decision making allowance as making a decision on $100,000,000 project. Yep, true story.
This is why simple easy-to-use apps are key in not giving you decision fatigue. If the app is over complicated, just the act of adding an item to a to-do list can be taxing. I counted how many decisions I had to make to add a task to a very popular to-do app. Eight! It took eight decisions just to enter a simple task. I don’t know about you but I need all of the brain power I can recruit for higher cognitive pursuits. So, how many decisions is it to enter it into a “simple” app? None! Hit the plus sign and type, done! Want to save an article to read later? I tested a very elaborate app that boasts tons of features. It’s an app that is made for this sort of curation. It took 9 taps just to send it to the app. Two more click to specify the destination location. I switched to using Instapaper and in two clicks I have it sent, saved and ready to read as soon as I open the app.
Below is a list of simple apps to test. Kick the tires see if you notice the reduced trouble and decisions to execute just using the basic functions of these apps.
To Do:
Reminders (Apple IOS)
Swipes
Notes:
Notes (Apple IOS)
Pen and paper (Yep, going old school)
Calendar:
iCal
Google Calendar
Reader and content curator:
Instapaper
