𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 – 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟏: 𝐏𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 Here are my commitments for Personal Optimization combined with insights from others. 𝑆𝑙𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑀𝑜𝑟𝑒 – Getting less than 7.5 hours sleep each night can limit performance and ultimately cost more time than working tiredly. This is tough, but I’ve adjusted my schedule. 𝐸𝑥𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝐵𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 – Emphasizing more trips outside and focusing on realistic efforts versus others’ expectations. I’m looking at a mornings working up a sweat and afternoon walks while enjoying a podcast. 𝐸𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐻𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑠 – My goal is eating less meat and fasting for 16 hours four times a week. I know someone who switched to vegetarian recently and swears it’s helped him to lose weight and feel great. 𝐷𝑜𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑉𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑡 – This year has been such a reaction to COVID-19 that I need to check on everything else now. 𝐵𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 – I want to learn if controlling my breathing better has a positive impact. (I’ll discuss meditation in another post.)

𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 – 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟐: 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 Here are my commitments for the new year combined with some insights from others. These posts will cover Physical Health (yesterday), Productivity, and Mental Health. 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐹𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑠 – Planning my day the night before and the week ahead on Sundays. Setting one goal and three priorities each day, then blocking the time to achieve them. 𝐷𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘 – To really focus on a project, I will power OFF my smartphone for a set period. Take weekend breaks quarterly to reflect on many personal and business goals. I must regularly remind myself to work smarter, not longer. 𝑈𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑒 – While I love learning, the distractions from newsletters and blogs are a huge burden, so I've cut many. With Slack and social media, I'll only check once a day. 𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑙 – Several people advocated Superhuman for email. I’m testing now but it may not be right for me. 𝑉𝑖𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝐴𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 – You want to outsource parts of your life which are time consuming but not personally defining or enriching. I’m still deciding how to best engage a VA.

𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 – 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟑: 𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡

Here are my commitments for the new year combined with some insights from others. Recent posts on Physical Health and Productivity are linked in the comments.

𝑀𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐷𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑦 – Meditating 5-10 minutes daily has been a long experiment. I'm horrible at it. Yet when I skip, I feel a lack of agency and frustration that day, so I'll keep at it.

𝑁𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝐹𝑎𝑠𝑡 – The news requires negative, polarizing stories to drive advertising. To stop that cycle from impacting me, I cut out news. If something is critical, I'll hear and can learn more.

𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙 – I remain hawkish on my calendar, first blocking time for my family’s needs and then work. Time reserved for long-term projects can shift but not delete.

“𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠” – Through tough times, we can remind ourselves that we persevered through all our past struggles, and often become stronger and smarter.

𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 - Jerry Seinfeld says of 2020, “survival is the new success”. The number of unexpected changes has been exhausting. I need to keep celebrating resilience.

Hopefully, at least one tip helps you too.

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Photo is from Bryce Canyon National Park.