Hey, what is going on, guys?
So, we are right at the tail end of December right now.
And what I wanted to do for the last video of 2017
on my channel is give you guys 10 ideas
for starting out 2018 more productively.
And, you know what, I don't think
we really need a whole lot more preamble than that,
so let's get started.
Tip number one, if you have not done this already,
try using a habit tracking app in 2018.
And, there are a ton of these out there.
My personal favorite is called Habitica
because it basically turns habit tracking
into an RPG-like video game where you get stat boosts
and weapons and gear and go on quests.
And, you can even partner up with people
who will keep you accountable.
But, there are also a bunch of decidedly less nerdy options
out there including Momentum and Today
which are both on iOS
and Loop, which is an Adroid exclusive.
I find that using a habit tracker is really useful for me
because the act of marking down when I actually do a habit
creates a streak.
And, when I look back on that streak,
I don't want to break it.
As Peter Drucker once may have said,
"What gets measured gets managed."
Tip number two, and this one is really, really simple,
try experimenting with pre-planned blocks
of uninterrupted single focus time on your calendar.
Now, we've talked a lot on this channel
about the power of focusing on one task
for a long, uninterrupted period of time,
but a lot of times it's really easy to convince yourself
that more urgent, but easier tasks or less important tasks
should be done right now.
So, if you start your week, or at least your day,
with a plan that I'm gonna, say, do my homework
from two to six pm, and do nothing else,
then you're more likely to do it,
and you're more likely to focus only on that task,
which is difficult.
All right, tip number three is to start
an accomplishment journal.
This is exactly what it sounds like.
You're keeping a simple record of everything
that you've done, either on a daily basis
or maybe on a weekly or longer basis
depending on how much effort you wanna put into it.
But, I find this practice to be really useful
because as you get older and as you get
into more of a schedule whether it be with school or work,
the days can start to blend together,
everything becomes a routine.
And, when this starts to happen, you can start to feel
like you haven't really accomplished anything in a while
because your brain has sort of filed it away.
And, that could demotivate you.
But, if you have an accomplishment journal to look back on,
you can see that, yes, you actually have accomplished
a good deal.
Now, My Impossible List that's over on my website,
College Info Geek, is a form of an accomplishment journal.
I basically mark off any time I achieve something
really big that I set out to do.
But, my suggestion here is actually
that you try doing an accomplishment journal
on a daily basis.
Essentially, as you finish tasks during the day,
write them down in a note on Evernote
or your note-taking app of choice
or on just a scrap of paper and then at the end of the day,
or possibly at the end of the week, review them
and see what you did.
And this can actually have benefits beyond just looking
at the checked-off items on your do-to list.
Because as you probably know pretty well,
a lot of times, tasks come up in the middle of the day
and interrupt you and things
that you didn't anticipate just happen.
So, by keeping a record of all these things,
you're gonna have more accurate picture
of what you were actually able to accomplish.
And, when you're going through your review sessions,
that more accurate picture is gonna enable you
to make better and more intelligent changes
to the way that you work.
Okay, so you probably saw this fourth tip coming,
but in 2018, you should make a lot more time
for sitting on the couch, eating Doritos,
drinking Mountain Dew and playing Halo.
(chuckles) Just kidding.
You should make a lot more time for exercise.
And, yes, this is a pretty cliche tip,
but a lot of people don't prioritize exercise
especially when they're ambitious.
Their work takes up all their hours
and they just don't make it a priority.
Now, it's also true that when a new year rolls around,
a lot of people get it into their heads
that they are finally going to exercise
consistently this year.
And, maybe you're thinking that.
My one recommendation here echoes
what I talked about last week.
Start small, restrict your time scale,
and don't bite off more than you can chew.
Because when you start the new year,
you have a lot of motivation and you might not have
a whole lot on your plate, so it's really easy
to stick with a goal.
But, later on down the line, when stuff starts to get
into your way, your schedule starts to get a bit more busy,
that's when your self-discipline is truly tested.
So, if you set a goal that stretches your capabilities
and challenges you a bit, but it's still doable
within your schedule, even at its most challenging points,
you're going to stick with it.
One additional thing that I'll mention here
is that if you wanna exercise more regularly,
it can be very helpful to sign up for a class
at your school or your rec center.
And, this could be a class that teaches you
a new sport you haven't tried before,
which can be really fun and which I did with ice skating,
or it can just be a workout class.
In either case, signing up for a class gives you,
one, a community of people who are doing the same thing
as you, which is a lot of fun, but, two, an obligation
that doesn't exist just in your head.
You're not relying only on your self-discipline.
You now have other people who are expecting you to be there.
Tip number five is something that you can take advantage of
while you're on winter break or you're not otherwise
overloaded with tons of classes and homework.
Take some time to redesign your living space,
or your room, to take advantage of the 20-second rule.
If you haven't seen it already, I did an entire video
a while back on the 20-second rule.
And, I'll have that linked in the description down below.
But, essentially, the 20-second rule
is all about increasing the difficulty
and the time that it takes to get into the things
that you don't wanna do so often, the bad habits,
and reducing the time and the friction that it takes
to do the things that you want to do more often.
So, if right now you play way too many video games,
maybe put your game controllers in a drawer somewhere
or maybe even take the cord out of your PlayStation
and put it in a closet.
That way, it's kind of a pain in the butt to set it up.
And, on the other hand, if you wanna read more often
or maybe practice an instrument, buy an instrument stand.
Put your guitar right where you can pick it up
and play it within five seconds.
Or put your book right on the table so you can walk in
from class, grab it, and start reading for a bit.
Anything you can do to reduce the friction between you
and a good habit is gonna reduce the willpower required
to remain consistent in doing it.
And, the same is true of avoiding bad habits.
Tip number six is to start looking for regular parts
of your work process that you could either automate
or make more efficient.
For example, I recently both of my credit cards
to autopay so every month I no longer have to log in
and pay them manually.
And, another thing that I've been doing on a regular basis
is that when I start noticing that I have to go to a folder
on my computer really, really often,
I will pin it to my quick access toolbar
so that way I can easily click it
instead of having to navigate through the entire tree.
Now, one word of warning here.
Not everything that you do is a candidate for automation
or even more efficiency.
And, actually there's a really good comment
over on xkcd called Is It Worth The Time
that essentially breaks down the threshold
at which you should actually start thinking
about spending time automating something
rather than just doing it.
Though, I'm gonna be honest,
sometimes I just like to automate things for fun.
And, if you find that fun, then do that.
Tip number eight is to go and disable all the notifications
and badges on your phone, or at least most of them.
In the past, I'd always unconsciously let apps
have notifications turned on
and they'd have badges turned on
and eventually my home screen would turn into this mess
of badges and little red numbers
up in the corners and distractions.
And, I really don't wanna be giving that much attention
to my phone.
It should be working for me, not sucking up
all of my time.
So, at one point during this year,
I went into my phone settings and I disabled
basically every notification, every little sound
and every little badge on the home screen that I could
other than the ones that were completely essential.
And, speaking of things that are essential,
or rather, non-essential, tip number nine
is to take the apps off of your phone that you don't need
or otherwise block access to them.
For example, my friend Martin actually
went into his ad blocker settings on his iPhone
and disabled basically every single site in the world
except for language translation sites.
And, doing this eventually changed
his brain's automatic response whenever he got the urge
to look something up.
Rather than getting distracted on Safari
and probably clicking a bunch of links
he never meant to click in the first place,
he just made a voice reminder of it.
And, then later on when he was at his computer,
if it was still important enough, and it often wasn't,
he could look it up.
For a less drastic example, I've often had email apps
taken off my phone, I've often had social media apps
taken off my phone.
In fact, there are certain apps that I only have on my phone
when I'm traveling.
Essentially, I don't wanna have access to those apps
on my phone, because access to them while I'm trying to work
represents a mental burden.
Tip number nine, again, because I realize
I accidentally skipped eight is to identify
the time at which you regularly consume media online
and replace it with reading.
I think it's pretty safe to say that most of you
are like me and you have certain times of the day
where you just automatically to Reddit
or you go to Facebook or you go to Twitter.
And, these times are probably not all that valudable.
Valudable (chuckles).
And, you also probably don't read as much as you'd like to.
So, by consciously identifying these times
and then maybe scheduling some reading time
during the exact same times, you'll start to avoid
this unconscious social media consumption.
And, finally, tip number 10, when you're setting your goals
for 2018, or whenever you set goals,
make sure that you prioritize them and understand
which of those goals is the most important one.
Doing this is absolutely crucial if you wanna remain
consistent on those most important goals.
Because, inevitably, you're gonna run into absolutely
chaotic days where you just don't have time
to do all of them.
And, when that happens, or when you're feeling
demotivated and you just don't wanna do anything,
you can think back to what you've prioritized.
And, you can tell yourself, I'm going to do that
no matter what and these things that are less important,
I can let fall to the wayside.
That way, well, you may derail on certain things,
and you can always get back on those things later,
you're always gonna remain consistent
on what's most important.
Now, one additional thing you should do this year
while your motivation is high
is establish an online presence for yourself.
And, whether you're looking for an internship
or maybe a full-time job or applying for a scholarship
or just looking for a place to build a portfolio
for your art, the first step to establishing
that online presence is eating cheese.
And, the second step is getting yourself
a professional domain name.
You can see mine over at thomasjfrank.com
which I got in college and which actually helped me
to land an internship.
And, as I progressed in my career,
I've redesigned the website a few times
to match my progression.
Now, if you're ready to lock down your own domain name,
the best place on the internet to get it is Hover.
Hover has over 400 domain extensions for you to choose from
ranging from the classics like .com and .org
to more interesting ones like .limo and .ninja.
And, unlike a lot of other registrars out there,
they don't have annoying upsells or popups
during the sales process.
It's super easy and you can get the entire thing done
in under a minute.
Once you have your domain, you can also use Hover
to easily connect it with the web service of your choice
including Medium and Squarespace
using their connect feature.
And, they also have tool for setting up
a professional email address.
So, if you wanted to say thomas@thomasjfrank.com,
well you can't have that one, but you could have
one linked to your domain.
So, if you're ready to start establishing
an online presence, give Hover a try
and get 10% off your first purchase
by going to hover.com/thomasfrank which you'll find
in the description down below.
I wanna give a huge thanks to Hover
for sponsoring this episode and supporting this channel,
and, as always, guys, thank you for supporting
this channel by watching.
If you enjoyed this video, you can hit that like button
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You can also get a free copy of my book
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and check out our latest podcast episode
where we recap the year right over there.
Lastly, you can watch one more video on this channel
by smashing your face into your phone
right around this area of the screen
and other than that, I will see you in the next video.