Happy Saturday! Here is your weekly dose of the world of Miles, learning, techno-optimism, business thoughts, and ways to be a better human.
No S Diet. When I wrote about overeating, I got some encouragement so here is more in that vein. I wanted to share an approach that so far is working for me. The No S Diet. There are just three rules and one exception: No Snacks, No Sweets and No Seconds Except (sometimes) on days that start with "S". The no seconds is the hard one for me although the clarity and simplicity of it helps me. The goal is to be able to use this for the long term which is attractive. It reminds me of Michael Pollan’s: “eat food, mostly plants, not too much” only more actionable. With zero direct scientific evidence or citations it is the opposite reading experience of How Not to Diet.
Reprogramming My Mind. Part of the Miracle Morning that I’ve reluctantly adopted is Affirmations. I enjoy Silence (meditation), Exercise, Reading , Scribing in the morning when I make time for them. But I had an aversion to affirmations. I thought they were the stuff of the Secret - the woo-woo sounding “law of attraction”. Now I consider affirmations a way to reprogram my thoughts. Why should I continue to believe unexamined thoughts? Now I am on the lookout for limiting beliefs and thoughts I want to change. I make a list of the opposite and review them each morning. Is it a form of cognitive behavioral therapy?
Goal Rhythm. A friend asked me recently about my goal and task system. I use a hybrid system influenced by David Allen’s Getting Things Done and Do It Tomorrow. I set quarterly goals for the major items and keep a project list for all the less important things that I want to do. Then using these I set weekly and daily goals. Each project or goal ideally has a simple next action step. I like to do a weekly review on Friday, and then a retro/review and gratitude journal on Sunday. Setting goals for the coming week is Sunday or Monday early. Other important pieces are an electronic to do app with desktop and mobile interface that allows recurring tasks (to remind me of home maintenance, family, personal care or financial items that happen regularly) and checklists (as I’ve written about before). More recently, I’ve also incorporated weekly tracking of select joyful and fulfilling personal activities. These are the things I like doing but wouldn't do without planning. I would have guessed that the tracking would change the character of the activity to reduce the intrinsic motivation for doing it. Rather tracking has helped spur me to do the things I care about more often.
Until next week,
Miles
P.S. Our latest Startup for Goods podcast is out. I interviewed Misha Chellam, Founder of Effective Government California, about making government more effective, abundance as a policy goal and startup skills transferring to politics/policy.