How To Set Smart Daily Goals You're busy. I'm busy. Everyone is busy.

Yet, despite all this bustle, we often don't feel particularly productive from day to day. Whole weeks can ash by in a blur of relatively meaningless emails, meetings, and admin tasks while the "big stuff" goes untended. As the 19thcentury thinker Henry David Thoreau wrote, "It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?"
If we want to take back control of our workday schedules and priorities, the only way to do it is by relentlessly questioning how we're spending our time. But what questions should we ask? I reached out to a handful of regular 99% contributors and 99% Conference speakers to get their insights on daily energy and task management. Here's what they said: From Leo Babauta of Zen Habits: What are you doing in this moment? The simple act of becoming more aware of where your attention is helps you to focus it where you want it to be - on creating something great. Too often we get distracted or get caught in unimportant tasks coming back to the moment often will help. From Tony Schwartz of the Energy Project:

Are you scheduling time daily to focus without interruption? Set aside at least one time period during the day - no more than 90 minutes at a time (and as close to that as possible) - to focus without interruption. Time, in other words, to do something important but not urgent - to write something, reflect, strategize, imagine, work on a longer term project. The key here is control of attention. Were so distracted, and were feeding that instinct every time we move between tasks. We need to (re)train our attention. Focused attention can serve tasks - thats the left hemisphere at work, doing rational, deductive, logical, step-bystep thinking. The other kind of attention, which serves creativity, is where the right hemisphere is dominant. That requires deeply quieting the mind. It was Betty Edwards (Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain) who discovered that one powerful way to prompt a powerful shift from left to right hemisphere is to copy an upside down line drawing. Or simply to draw, for that matter. But there are lots of ways to prompt the shift: take a walk in nature, go for a run, listen to classical music... Even take a shower. Its repetition that matters. The more we train any muscle - including the right hemisphere - the stronger and more active it becomes. From Mark McGuinness of Lateral Action: What's the ONE BIG THING you want to accomplish today?

The big danger for hyperconnected creative professionals is that incoming demands and digital distractions get in the way of real productivity - i.e. making inroads on your big, scary, difficult, and (ultimately) rewarding creative challenges. If you do ONE BIG THING today - one draft design, one chapter, one photoshoot, one intensive rehearsal - it feels like a productive day. (Two or more is for superheroes.) But if you don't nail that one thing, it doesn't matter how many little jobs you get done, you know in your heart it was a wasted day. Asking yourself this question first thing helps you focus and prioritize. After that, the only things that can get in your way are emergencies and excuses. From Chris Guillebeau of The Art of Non-Conformity: Why do you do this every single day? It's very hard to be productive in the long-term when trying to do things for which you aren't motivated. You might have to "suck it up" once in a while to complete a certain task, but for the "big rocks" it's much easier to construct your work around things you're excited about. From Scott Belsky of Behance: Is what I'm about to do (or say) moving the ball forward? Oftentimes, in creative projects, we act out of impulse rather than reason. Shiny objects and other fleeting fascinations have a tendency

to drain our resources. Before you allocate time to any task, question your intended outcome. The same goes for your contributions in meetings. When you speak, are you "content-making" or simply "commentating"? Be intentional. Everything you do or say should move the ball forward toward your goal. If it doesn't, it is liable to waste precious energy and get you off track. From Cal Newport of Study Hacks: What is your training regime for increasing your ability to focus hard on something without distraction? This "hard focus" is at the core of completing outstanding work in a compact amount of time - be it a book or problem set. Hard focus, however, is also a muscle that requires training to develop. (When helping students with this ability, for example, I have them start with 20-minute blocks of undistracted work, and then add 10 minutes every two weeks.) To ignore this muscle, and continue to work with your email open and Facebook refreshing, thinking up excuse after excuse why this connection is "crucial" for your job, makes you like the wannabe athlete who refuses to hit the weight room. You're not a contender.

The Top 3 Daily Time-Wasters & How To Tame Them If you removed Email, Social Media, and Meetings from your life, how much time would you have for the rest of your work? Are you envisioning an expansive

vista of focused, productive time opening up before you? Or are you already feeling the painful twinges of information withdrawal? If youre anything like the typical creative professional, its probably a bit of both.
All three of the above elements are work essentials on one hand, and potential productivity destroyers on the other. Which means we must walk the fine line between participating with efficiency and impact, and getting sucked into endless discussions. To help you streamline these three core daily tasks, weve collected a handful of our favorite insights and tips: 1. EMAIL Dont check your email first-thing in the morning. Productivity coach and blogger Sid Savara has some great advice on this one: If youre blindly checking email first thing in the morning, the real problem isnt that youre wasting time checking email the real problem is that you dont see checking email as a low priority activity, because you havent decided what the high priority activities are. When you dont have a clear list of priorities, checking email becomes an urgent activity that you do at the expense of your important ones. [Read full article] Do your best to write concise, actionable emails. This may seem obvious, but as much as we struggle with email, many of us dont practice the Golden Rule when it comes to writing them. The more

poorly written and unclear your email is, the more likely it is to spawn a long chain of replies and counter-replies that demand clarity. As Ben Brook sputs it: Tell me what I need to know and what you need from me. Thats it. [Read full article] Try Priority Inbox if youre a Gmail user. According to Fast Company, Compared to Google employees without Priority Inbox, PI users spent 6% less time reading email, and 13% less time reading unimportant stuff in their inboxes. PI users were also more confident to bulk archive emails, or delete nonsense. Ive been using PI for quite a few months now, and have to admit it really does separate the wheat from the chaff. [Read full article] More 99% tips on email strategy.

2. SOCIAL MEDIA Treat social media like your digital embassy. In a great Zen Habits article, Tyler Tervooren advises: Focus on the essential. Cultivate your ties in social networks where it makes sense and is beneficial, but dont let them become second homes. Having many homes adds clutter to your digital world just as it does in your physical world. Remember: Its Facebooks job to serve you, not the other way around. [Read full article]

Spend your energy on communicating with the people that matter. All social media interactions are not necessarily created equal. Just like we prioritize items on our to-do lists, we can (and should!) prioritize who we communicate with, and spend our time accordingly. Consider analyzing who you spend most of your time messaging with: Is it the friends, family, and colleagues who provide the most professional value and emotional reward? Or do you give your time and energy to anyone who demands your attention? Being open to new interactions is essential, but it must be weighed against the fact that we have limited time and energy. [Read full article] Practice letting go of the stream of social chatter. One of the nice things about social media is that you can swim into the stream and swim out. You dont have to be on 24/7. As @tinybuddha recommends, its okay to take a zen approach to social media: It may feel unkind to disregard certain updates or tweets, but we need downtime to be kind to ourselves. Give yourself permission to let yesterdays stream go. This way you wont need to catch up on updates that have passed but instead can be part of todays conversation. [Read full article]

3. MEETINGS Always, always question the meeting. Before you schedule a meeting, recognize the enormous cost of pulling yourself and your team away from their regular workflow. Often, certain issues can be

resolved more quickly with a quick face-to-face conversation, phone call, or IM session. However, if a meeting must be had, be sure to ask yourself exactly who needs to be there. Be ruthless, and imagine that you are guarding your colleagues time as preciously as you guard your own. Dont let your calendar app tell you how long your meeting should be.Once youve decided a meeting is required, be realistic but aggressive when you set the timing. As Scott Belsky has written elsewhere on 99%: Most impromptu meetings that are called to quickly catch up on a project or discuss problem can happen in 10 minutes or less. However, when they are scheduled in formal calendar programs, they tend to be set in 30- or 60-minute increments. Why? Because it is the default calendar setting. Ideally, meetings should just have a start time and end as quickly as they can. [Read full article] Take an active role in leading the meeting. Much of the time wasted at meetings can be chalked up to a failure of leadership. If no one takes control to ensure that something is accomplished, its highly like that nothing will be accomplished. Since youre setting the meeting, go ahead and take charge of it: State the objective of the meeting at the start, take notes if its necessary, keep people from wandering off-topic, and articulate the next steps at the end. Its a lot of work, but it will save you from spending more time in meetings in the long run.

Why We Should Declare War On Friction

At the 99%, we talk a lot about the big obstacles and burdens that impede the realization our creative potential. Most ideas never happen, thanks to the ever-powerful status quo and our built-in psychological artillery, which supplies us endless excuses to cease our efforts. But the day is getting brighter!
Modern technology and shifting mindsets in many industries are giving us a new and exciting upper hand. The notion of a free-range workforce has become a reality. The terms "entrepreneur" and "freelancer" are no longer subpar to a "regular job." The creative pursuit is more celebrated now than ever before. The accessibility of DIY (do-it-yourself) business tools paired with a crappy economy has created fertile ground for risk-taking. We no longer need the rich resources of large companies to do remarkable things. Our team has seen thousands of creative professionals (within the Behance Network and beyond) embark on their own journeys either alone or in small teams to build incredible careers and, in some cases, change industries. Now, as we embrace our newfound autonomy, we face a different enemy. With the traditional obstacles aside, we are now up against a barrage of small, daily hindrances that, collectively, pose a great threat.

I call this stuff "friction" its the tax filings, paperwork, waiting time, protocols, forgotten passwords, spam clearing, bureaucratic nonsense, big egos, and the ever-increasing information overload that we try to digest every day. It kills us with a thousand tiny paper cuts. Sure, this stuff has always existed, but when we worked for large companies, we could rely on other departments to handle it, or simply "pass the buck." Not anymore. With our newfound freedom and independence, we must learn to fight friction on our own. It's time to start thinking about friction as an endemic problem rather than a series of one-off annoyances. Friction can't be tolerated. Left untreated, it will build on itself and ultimately wear us down. The Pursuit of Frictionless Work Imagine a world where you glide forward in your pursuits. Yes, you would still need to generate great ideas, work hard, and take risk, but you could do so with the wind at your back. Less bureaucracy, lower start-up costs, and fewer obstacles in the operations of work and life. So how do we win the war on friction? Here are a few thoughts toward an effective battle plan. 1. Draft, Don't Be The Rabbit. In most marathons, there are always a few runners that jump to the front of the race at the start and quickly tire. These folks are known as the "rabbits," and nobody ever takes them seriously even though they

appear to be winning the race for a short period of time. The rabbit runs fast but quickly tires. A truly great marathon runner or cyclist understands the benefits of pacing over the course of a race. Rather than lead, they carefully manage their energy, and even use the other runners in front of them to block the wind and sustain themselves during the race. This practice is called "drafting," and it involves running a few feet behind a runner to minimize the wind resistance and pace the race. In our creative pursuits, we often reinvent the wheel and assume that we must create everything ourselves. By doing so we fall victim to the rabbit syndrome as we expend our energy quickly and unnecessarily. When we fail to leverage existing resources like open-source technology, we get stuck doing redundant stuff. Instead, we should draft off of competitors and public creations. Before creating anything, look for another version of it that already exists. Also, consider the benefits of launching second rather than first. Learn from others mistakes and leverage public opinion instead of preempting it. 2. Question Anything You Do "Just Because." All too often, you'll find yourself going through the motions. Perhaps something ambiguous was proposed, but nobody in the room wants to point out the flaws. Maybe there is a meandering discussion, and nobody is jumping in and asking "what's the point?" or "why is this relevant?" Sometimes there's a process you're supposed to follow even though it seems redundant or pointless.

Great creative leaders consider the contrarian view whenever something is being done "just because that's the way it's always been done." If you think about it: One interjection could increase your productivity by a substantial percentage. You just need the guts to make the point and advocate for the change. 3. Keep Optimizing. Don't be satisfied with the way you do everyday things like run meetings, manage email, or schedule your time. Oftentimes, we fail to optimize our everyday processes because we assume that we shouldn't fix something unless it's broken. When something is working, it's hard to see the simple, little tweaks that we can make to remove the friction and be even more productive. Consider conducting small A/Me tests to find ways to incrementally improve the way you manage your time on a daily basis. /// It's time to declare war on friction. More great ideas will see the light of day when we find ways to reduce the everyday obstacles that suck our energy dry. After all, it's hard enough to push a bold idea to completion. In these exciting times, we need to eliminate the friction that consistently gets in the way. Stay tuned as we explore more ways to optimize in our day-to-day.

Stop the Insanity: How To Crush Communication Overload Tina Roth Eisenberg of Swiss Miss recently declared that she had reached a personal communication crisis: Too many channels. Too many messages. Too much noise. Too much guilt The world sends me tweets, direct messages, texts, chats with me on skype, sends me Facebook emails (!) and actual mail and also calls me Responding on all these channels is a full time job, extremely distracting and exhausting. I feel constantly behind.
Amen, Swiss Miss. I doubt I know a single person who cant relate. Communication overload is an all-too-familiar sentiment in the 21st century. We feel anxious, we feel overburdened, and, most of all, we feel overwhelmed. If we could spend all day just responding to the incoming messages we receive, when does the REAL WORK get done? How can we find enough time in the day? Complaints about information overload date back as far as the invention of the Gutenberg press (What are we supposed to do with all these books?!), and were experiencing similar anxiety in the face of a wave of new devices and social media tools. While it may be natural to take a poor me! approach to communication overload, its foolish to pretend our own output doesnt play a huge role in what comes back to us. As a recent Boston Globe piece points out, it takes two to tango:

A new technology does not act alone, after all, but in concert with our ambitions for it. Overload has long been fueled by our own enthusiasm the enthusiasm for accumulating and sharing knowledge and information, and also for experimenting with new forms of organizing and presenting it.

Well interrupt dinner to send a quick email on our phones, check into Foursquare as we settle in for a beer at the local bar, or tweet a picture of a memorable experience as its happening. We gorge ourselves on communication in the now. Then, later we complain about our overflowing inboxes as if there were no connection. Its time to take responsibility for our communications. And I dont mean take responsibility in the sense of taking on another distasteful chore, I mean take responsibility as a means of declaring your power over your communications. As Stephen Covey uses it when he says, "Look at the word responsibility response-ability the ability to choose your response." Whenever someone sends us a message, we always have a choice. Do we respond? And if so, how? Below are a few tips on sorting out the IFs and the HOWs of responding: Step 1: Define your rules of engagement. Every message is not created equal. To separate the wheat from the chaffe, you need to create a set of communication rules that relate to your objectives. How many hours are you willing to spend responding to emails and social media messages? Who are the colleagues, clients, and contacts that you need to take care of to move your business forward?

Anything can be a rule: They can be time-based, situation-based, contact-based. For instance, one of my time-based rules is that I dont respond to emails before 12pm when Im focused on writing. A situation-based rule could be that I will not respond (beyond a simple request for clarification) to any email that does not have a clearly articulated, actionable request. A contact-based rule would be that I respond to my in-office colleagues as a top priority above everyone else. The main goal is you have some criteria for swiftly deciding whether or not to respond to a message; and if you plan to respond, how quickly must it be?

Every message is not created equal.

Step 2: Organize a system to execute on your rules. Maybe you already have a good idea of who is important in your communication hierarchy. Most of us do. But where we often fall down on the job is doing the organizational grunt work to facilitate the execution of those rules. What does that mean? It means setting up your Gmail, your Twitter, your Facebook, your LinkedIn, and so on in such a way that you have to do as little work as possible to get to the good or valuable messages. There are many, many ways to do this it just depends on what works for you. For email, I use Gmails priority inbox because its a nobrainer to setup and it smartly bubbles up more urgent messages

those from key contacts to the top of my screen, while shunting less important messages (e.g. subscription-based emails, autonotifications, etc) below the fold. In this great HBR post, Alexandra Samuel describes how to configure your Twitter account for maximum efficiency and value. Or maybe you want to consolidate all of your social media updates into a single digest email with NutshellMail? Lifehacker can tell you how.

Where we often fall down on the job is doing the organizational grunt work.
Step 3: Share your rules and set expectations. With new communication channels coming online every day, theres no great baseline for communication etiquette right now. And worse: Theres not going to be any time soon. Given this situation, our greatest weapon is setting expectations. One of the best ways to do this is by rethinking how (and where) you share your contact information. Lets take Study Hacks author Cal Newport as an example. Heres his About page. First, rather than just give a contact email, Cal clarifies how he communicates (e.g. very judiciously). Second, he parses out the different channels for inquiries (one for advice, one for opportunities, and one for advertising); behind the scenes, he no doubt has different priorities for how he checks these email accounts. Thirdly, he includes a wishlist for the types of opportunities hes interested in.

Our greatest weapon is setting expectations.

So, when I emailed Cal to ask if he wanted to contribute to 99%, my expectations were set. He didnt have anything on his opportunities list about wanting to guest blog, so there wouldnt have been any hard feelings if Id never heard a peep. Then, when he did respond, I was thrilled. Of course, your contact page is not the only opportunity for setting expectations. In your office, you can set expectations with your colleagues by over-sharing on your meeting calendar. Planning to devote tomorrow morning to 3 hours of deep thinking about the future of the business? Put it on your calendar. Now everyone knows what youre doing behind that closed door, and theyll be less likely to interrupt you. Step 4: Actively prune your communication channels. A communication channel can be anything from an email list subscription to your Twitter profile to your new Spotify account. Basically anything that has your contact info and might be sending you updates. Its great to experiment with new social media platforms as they come online to see if theyre right for you. At the same time, you should be constantly pruning your stable of profiles. Never read your Daily Candy emails anymore? Unsubscribe. Checked in a few times on Foursquare but couldn't stick with it? Delete that profile. To ensure that the influx of messages is never too great, we have to be constantly assessing which channels are providing meaningful value in

our lives and in our work. If theres no value, its just a time and attention suck that we need to get rid of. Whats more, it doesnt do your business or your reputation any good to have outdated profiles floating around in cyberspace! *** As Seth Godin wrote recently, We dont need more time, we just need to decide. This is as true for managing our communications as it is for any other situation. To stop the insanity, we have only to make some hard decisions decisions about who, when, what, where, and how we respond.

Brainstorming 2.0: Making Ideas That Really Happen One of the most common questions we hear at 99% is: How do I get more out of my brainstorming sessions? While brainstorming sessions have become perhaps the most iconic act of creativity, we still struggle with how to give them real utility.
The problem of course is that most brainstorming sessions conclude prematurely. We all love to dream big and come up with blue sky ideas. Were less fond of diving into the nitty-gritty details of creative execution. As a result, we spend 90% of our time coming up with a bunch of great ideas, and maybe 10% (if any!) of our time discussing how to actually make those ideas happen.

So how can we retool our approach to brainstorming to make it more effective? Lets take a look at the brainstorming process of one of the most successful creative visionaries of all time: Walt Disney. Disneys rigorous creative process involves 3 distinct phases of idea development, each of which is designed to unfold in a separate room. While the rooms started as a literal part of Disney's process, they also serve as a helpful metaphor for the various steps we should take in our own attempts to develop new ideas. Step 1 asks WHAT are we going to do? Its all about dreaming big. Any idea, no matter how absurd, can and should be suggested. Here, you are defining the big, bold objectives that will shape your project. Room Setup: Airy rooms with high-ceilings are the best locations for thinking big. The team should sit in a circle facing each other to promote collaboration and creative flow. Mentality: Any idea is fair game. This step is not about feasibility, it's about surprise. Set aside your assumptions and push yourself to think in new ways.

Set aside your assumptions and push yourself to think in new ways.
Step 2 asks HOW are we going to do it? Now the focus is on creative execution. How will the idea be implemented? Whos doing

which tasks? Whats the timeline? In Disneys case, this stage would involve sketching out characters, discussing plot, and ultimately building out storyboards. Room Setup: A practical room with a large dry-erase board or wall facilitates strategic planning. The team should sit in a semi-circle facing the board as everyone participates in the execution planning process. Mentality: This is the step where you role up your sleeves and fill in the blanks. You may find a gem of an idea from the first step that needs to be fleshed out. During this phase, seek to resolve every uncertainty around timing, logistics, and feasibility. When something doesn't make sense, question it.

Seek to resolve every uncertainty around timing, logistics, and feasibility.

Step 3 asks WHY are we doing this? And, Is this the right approach? In this final phase, the critic enters the fray, asking hard questions. Is the plan really gelling? Are their unwieldy aspects that need to get cut? Are you meeting the overall project objective? Room Setup: Analytical thinking is best done in smaller, more constrained spaces. (The Disney crew used a small room under the stairs.) The team sits in a single row facing the project plan, which promotes criticism of the project, but not individual people.

Mentality: Pose the difficult questions and share the earth-shattering doubts. In step two, you're likely to get lost in the weeds. The third step provides the perspective from the balcony as opposed to the dance floor. In this phase, consider your plan in the context of your business and your long-term mission.

Pose the difficult questions and share the earthshattering doubts.

Where traditional brainstorming approaches would probably have us patting ourselves on the back and adjourning the meeting after Step 1, Disneys method goes deep: its methodical, its disciplined, and its time-intensive. Brainstorming should be creative and subsequently practical. The various rooms prompt us to take the right mentality at the right time, ultimately giving great ideas the thoughtful consideration they require to see the light of day.

Why You Should Be Optimizing If you work in technology or web development, youve likely heard the term optimization thrown around quite a bit. Its the process of incrementally improving a product or service through small iterations. As

anyone who manages an online business knows, launching a great site is just the beginning constant tweaks and upgrades are required to create something truly extraordinary.
But why should we limit the concept of optimization to the world of technology? I would argue that we should spend just as much time on optimizing ourselves and our teams. Although the natural tendency is to stick with what works, true growth comes from constantly challenging ourselves (and our projects) in little ways every day. Here are some insights to consider when pursuing optimization: 1. Tinker With What Works When you make an error, you are likely to persevere and keep trying until you get it right. But when you get it right when you hit a home run the human tendency is to rejoice and then move on to the next challenge. Despite research that encourages us to build on our strengths, we spend more time fixing whats broken than optimizing what works. Why? Because any measure of success impairs our ability to imagine something better. I call this the horizon of success effect, because its hard to see the potential that lies beyond something that works. While it seems logical to risk failure by trying something completely new, its unsettling to tamper with a known success. The old adage if it aint broke, dont fix it cripples us when it comes to optimizing what works. Yet, the very premise of optimization is that we must constantly fix what isn't broken.

The old adage if it aint broke, dont fix it cripples us when it comes to optimizing what works.
2. Make Incremental Tweaks, Not Drastic Changes Optimization isn't about making drastic changes. Introducing too many risk factors into a successful project or system IS dangerous. The key to optimization is making incremental tweaks in a controlled and measurable way. Google is famous for its relentless "A/B testing," a form of optimization that involves making minor adjustments to their applications and then testing them, side by side, with their previous versions. Using the world as their testers, Google will run a "version A" (the current version) and "version B" (the experiment) - with minor tweaks - and then compare the results. Version B might have a sign-up button moved one tenth-of-an-inch to the right, compared to version A. If version B garners 3% more clicks, then version B becomes the standard and replaces A. And then the process repeats itself. By running isolated tests and measuring the outcome, Google is able to improve their products without the risk of damaging a successful business. When you decide to tweak what works, introduce one factor at a time and identify how you will measure the impact before you start to test. 3. Conduct Some "A/Me" Testing

We should optimize not only our projects but also ourselves. Just as you might run A/B tests on your products, services, and marketing efforts, you can also optimize your own workflow. Doing "A/Me" testing involves you comparing the way you always work "Me" to a slightly tweaked approach (the "A" in this case). As you encounter problems like reactionary workflow and check-in addictions, you'll want to experiment with optimization in your own life. Perhaps you question the usefulness of checking your email on your mobile phone as soon as you wake up every morning? Try shifting the time for one week, instead waiting to check it until you begin your commute or arrive at the office. Then, comparing how the week felt under this new discipline, you can decide whether or not to institute this change going forward.

Introduce one factor at a time and identify how you will measure the impact before you start to test.
Whatever your quest for self-improvement, its important to approach A/Me testing and all optimization efforts with three best practices in mind: 1 Seek forms of measurement. The more quantifiable the outcome, the better. Look no further than the burgeoning "Quantified Self" movement to see the benefits of data for selfimprovement.

Introduce only one change at a time. Remember that, by introducing too many changes at once, you will increase risk and lose the ability to track the impact of a particular change. Sweeping change is not optimization. Don't assume that just because something works it can't be better.On the contrary, efforts to optimize should be spent on your strengths. The difference between 95% and 100% is small tweaks. Find your 95% and bring it home, because this is the area where you are most likely to change the world. ***

Optimization isn't about drastic change or self-help, and it isn't spiritual. It's all technique. You can't rest on your laurels. Despite the quality of your ideas and output, the impact you will make largely depends on your ability to constantly optimize to build on your successes and grow them into something greater.

How To Control Your "Check-In" Addiction Have you ever been caught sleeping with your mobile device? Perhaps checking your email rst-thing in the morning when youre still in bed? Given what we know about the emotional voids that are fullled by our electronic devices - the search for thrill, the alleviation of anxiety and panic - our intense attachment makes

sense. When we wake up we want to be greeted. When we fall asleep we want to do so knowing that all is well.The mobile phone has become the security blanket of the 21st century.
Our ubiquitous connection to everything around us (and everyone we know) presents both a mesmerizing capability and a powerful new set of challenges. We need to be more thoughtful about how we lead a connected life that is both creative and productive. A sound mind and sustained sense of connection come not from looking to our devices for guidance and reassurance, but from using them wisely - from "checking in" with clear intention. Here are some insights to consider: 1. Understand your emotional connection to your device. In the book Thumb Culture, author Jane Vincent talks about the range of emotions she observed between people and their mobile devices. "Although few people think about their mobile phone in emotional terms," she noted, "they do appear to be using it to achieve emotional goals. She goes on to outline the emotional states that are commonly referenced:
Panic: Absence from the device; being separated from it. Irrational behavior: The inability to control heart over mind (e.g. driving and talking). Thrill: Novelty, multi-tasking, intimacy of the text received in public.

Anxiety: Fear and desire (for example, wanting to know about others vs. too much knowledge).

The take-away here is to understand what lies beneath our behavior with our mobile devices. Self-awareness is crucial, because how we allocate our time and attention is closely connected to our deeper anxieties and concerns. 2. Tune in with intention not impulse. Have you ever just scrolled through your various mobile apps with a blank stare and no actual intention? Its like when youre bored at home and you wander over to the refrigerator; youre not really hungry, you just want to feed your boredom. Our devices tap into our impulsive side, our penchant for seeking information. If you're concerned about your business or a loved one, you'll impulsively glance at your messages. Even if its midnight, you might still scroll through your email despite the low probability of a message. Rather than no news is good news, we think any news is good news. One solution is to manage our attention with intention rather than impulse. We must strive to tune into our devices only when we have a specific purpose. It should be about acting on our ideas, rather than reacting to other peoples communication habits.

Our devices tap into our impulsive side.

3. Use your device for communication "sprints," then take a break. There's nothing wrong with checking your device. The problem is getting sucked into the device! You decide to quickly check your email or texts, and before you know it you're checking Twitter, Facebook, or any number of other apps. The extensive options that our devices put at our fingertips are very effective at engaging our attention. To escape their siren song, we must be disciplined in our approach. Taking a page from the Scrum playbook, think of each interaction with your mobile as a mini-sprint. For instance, you need to respond to one urgent client email, and text your web developer about a key decision. Once those tasks are done, its time to disengage. One person we spoke with shared the tip that he counts down from 20 when he does a quick check-in on his phone, especially when he's surrounded by other people. Just the mindset of counting down forces him to quickly check rather than meander.

Think of each interaction with your mobile as a mini-sprint.

4. Observe good "attention etiquette." Our devices should empower - not impede - better communication. When you're alone, it's no problem to check your device whenever you need to (keeping the above insights in mind). But, in social settings meeting with a client or going out on a date - it's time to start contemplating some guidelines for proper "attention etiquette."

Writer Farhad Manjoo crowd-sourced an answer to the attention etiquette question on Slate.com, and came up with a great approach. He proposes, "If you're in a situation where you'd excuse yourself to go to the bathroom, you should also excuse yourself before reaching for your phone." He goes on to suggest that, if you do feel compelled to reach for your phone, "don't play with your phone longer than you'd stay in the bathroom." The exception to this rule would be when engagement with your device actually indicates attention. For instance, gadget lovers might prefer to take notes on a tablet in a meeting, rather than using a pen and paper. In this situation, focusing intermittently on your device can be a positive indication that you are paying attention, documenting notes and action steps in real time.

It's time to start contemplating some guidelines for proper attention etiquette.
Every opportunity comes with new responsibilities, and the mobile era is no different. We must commit to using our devices more efficiently rather than more often.

How To Become A Self-Management Superhero

Increasingly creative careers are location independent. Almost all of us are working remotely in some capacity - whether you're a manager who works from home once a week taking conference calls, an entrepreneur working on the road while traveling, or a graphic designer, lm editor, or copywriter who works full-time from a home ofce with all the amenities.
This shift is nothing new, of course. But as it becomes more entrenched - not just away we work, but the way we work - it's changing the currency of creative collaboration. The skills required to succeed as a remote worker are not the same as those required of an office worker. Without the facetime and watercooler catchups provided by an office environment, a new set of skills - centered around self-management and proactive communication - are becoming essential. A few skills you'll want to cultivate to succeed as a remote worker: 1. Write well. In the book, Rework, 37signals founder Jason Fried notes, Writing is todays currency for good ideas. You write more everyday in emails, text messages, and IMs so make an effort to write clearly. When you cant see the person youre communicating with, its easy to misinterpret tone or verbal cues. It helps to be concise and use simple language.

2. Know the business case. Inquire with team leaders about the context of your work. You may be writing a tagline for a campaign, say, but how does that line fit into the clients overall objective? What is your companys stake in the client, and how does your output best represent your company or brand? What is the financial consequence or benefit? Having this information in your back pocket can help you ask the right questions and create more informed work. 3. Practice consistency. The number one challenge managers have with remote workers is not physically witnessing productivity. Its easy for them to imagine you doing laundry, eating ice cream, or watching reruns on the company dime. To alleviate this concern, establish a pattern for consistent communication. Be at your desk at certain intervals, do regular check-ins, and be responsive when problems arise. If youre known to be accountable there will be far less suspicion. 4. Ask too many questions. Shane Pearlman, an expert on distributed teams who co-runs the user interface design firm Shane and Peter, calls this being artfully intrusive. He advises to keep asking questions, whether you want to or not. The communication gap inherent in remote teams requires constant double-checking. In person, you may see a confirmation of understanding from a coworker. When working remotely you may need to seek confirmation: Do you understand me? or, How can I help you understand this better? It may feel like youre being a nuisance but clarity is king. 5. Perfect informality. The water cooler effect. Its tough to drop by the office of a co-worker when youre not located down the hall. Yet,

unscheduled informal encounters can be the lifeblood of an organization. For this reason its important to purposely build in hang time before or after virtual meetings and learn about the people you work with. Hone your chat skills. The more you know about your coworkers, the easier it will be to find information where and when you need it, and become a source of information yourself. 6. Seek stability. The future of teamwork requires constant change and a resulting adaptability. Seek a stable center. Given the turmoil, what is it you need from your employer or team to avoid burnout or becoming overwhelmed? What patterns of stability can you construct to keep pumping out exceptional work?