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Effective Time Management

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Achieving your goals, managing your workload, and meeting deadlines requires the use of effective time management practices. This requires a combination of up-front planning, honest self-reflection, good habits, and personal discipline. The objective is to intentionally and proactively control your time, maintain a results-oriented focus, and achieve (or exceed) your goals.

Throughout the years, I have read many books and articles on how to manage time most effectively. I’ve tried a bunch of different techniques, but none of them is a panacea. No single approach meets all of my needs or lets me manage my time as effectively as I would expect. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with any of the time management approaches I’ve tried, but none of them by themselves seems to completely meet my needs. It’s likely that in some cases I didn’t fully commit. And maybe some aspects don’t align well with my personality. Regardless, I’ve learned something from each one.

16 Tips for Establishing Effective Time Management Habits

While I’m certainly not a ‘time management guru’ – I still have room for improvement – I have been refining my process over the years based on bits and pieces taken from what I’ve read combined with personal experience. You might say it’s a ‘Frankensteinian’ approach (or a buffet if you prefer that analogy). I encourage you to do the same. Leverage proven strategies and techniques to improve your own performance. Experiment with different ideas and develop a tailored set of approaches and habits that work best for you. Also, consider ‘paying it forward’ by sharing your best practices. Regardless of which system or tools you use, there are a few key components and techniques to effective time management (in no particular order):

  1. Understand that your time is limited. You can’t do everything, so you need to focus on the activities that are the most important. You get to choose – YOU are the only one who can control the use of your time. I know you want to say, “but what about…” I’ll stop you right there. You ALWAYS have a choice. Always.
  2. Define your goals. Your goals dictate where to focus your time and energy. They are the roadmap (or GPS, if you prefer). Understand the ‘big picture’ – both your personal goals and what you need to get done where you work – and align your actions accordingly.
  3. Identify and eliminate activities that waste time and/or don’t serve your goals. Consider using a notebook to track how you spend all your time for several days. Be brutally honest! And refer to #1 above.
  4. Create positive habits. Habits reduce friction by making desired actions automatic. Consider using a habit tracker to help build and sustain your habits. If you don’t have a mobile phone, use a piece of paper or a calendar to check off daily progress.
  5. Just start. Even tiny actions toward your goal will move you forward, giving you momentum to keep moving. It’s easier to keep going than to start going, so make it easy to start. When I’m struggling to go out and ride my bike on days when it’s cold and dreary and I’m tired and unmotivated, I literally start by just laying out the clothes I would wear to ride. That always creates enough momentum and change in mindset to get me out the door.
  6. Do the hardest or most unpleasant things first. Get them behind you. Otherwise you waste time and energy fretting about doing it. Just do it and get it over with. I know, easier said than done. One approach is to attack your most important and/or most difficult task for the first hour of each day. And never start by opening up your email.
  7. Block your time and stay focused on a single task until it’s complete (i.e., define tasks as 20-60 minutes each, but blocks can be hours long); 20-minutes is an optimal timeframe for a task duration. Blocking your time prevents constantly ‘switching gears’ – it takes time to get your mind ‘in the zone’, or into the ‘flow state’. Beware that the ability to improve productivity by multitasking is a myth – it’s ineffective at best. “Researchers have found that it takes a typical office worker 25 minutes to return to the original task after an interruption. Work interruptions also decrease accuracy by 20 percent.” No, you are not the exception.
  8. Eliminate distractions like email and phone notifications. Turn off everything that pops up, dings, or rings when you need to focus. If you have a door, shut it. You can’t do this 100% of the time, but sometimes it’s necessary.
  9. Plan every day in advance. Use prioritized lists to track what needs to be done. Consider maintaining an organized ‘master list’ of everything that you need to do (including someday/maybe), and then using different lists to target your work for increasingly more granular time periods – e.g., 1 year, 90 days, 30 days, 1 week, 1 day (hint: they should align all the way down). Optimally, one database can be used to drive them all (I use Remember the Milk for my personal list), but use whatever tools suit you best.
  10. Follow the 80/20 rule: Focus on the 20% of activities that get 80% of the results.
  11. Plan your day with 20% of your time reserved for emergent issues and opportunities. Unexpected interruptions and ‘fire drills’ are a part of life – expect them, and plan accordingly.
  12. Always identify the next action step. Be specific – for example, if you need to call someone but do not know their phone number, the next action step is to look up their phone number. Having details at this level provides clarity and reduces friction. Ambiguous actions are more likely to be put off until ‘later’.
  13. Understand your personal daily energy levels and plan what you do accordingly. For example, if you tend to have high energy in the morning and low energy in the afternoon, use your mornings to focus on tasks that require more of your creative and thoughtful attention and deeper concentration.
  14. Don’t work on too many goals at once – it dilutes your focus and can be overwhelming. Instead select a handful of goals to address at a time. You might even start on just one, then as you improve your ability to attack your goals and manage your time, add a couple more.
  15. Know when to say “no” – to others as well as to yourself. You can’t do everything. Be selective. See #1.
  16. Don’t confuse busyness or effort with productivity and results. Not only do you need to be doing the right things, you also need to avoid being stuck over-analyzing (prevents starting) or ‘polishing’ (prevents finishing). Results are ultimately what count, so focus on the actions that are more likely to get you the desired results. Be honest with yourself.

Recommended Reading

The following books offer frameworks, strategies, and tactics for living a more productive life through effective time management. The last one on the list (Just Start) isn’t really a time management book per se, but covers concepts that support higher productivity and increased chances of success when starting projects that have uncertainty with respect to the success of their outcomes.

  1. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, by David Allen (Theme: Process all incoming requests for action: do it immediately, delegate it, or add to your comprehensive lists of “to-do’s” and “someday/maybe” items)
  2. Atomic Habits: an Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones, by James Clear (Theme: Create positive, manageable, “low-friction” habits)
  3. The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results, by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan (Theme: Focus on the “ONE thing” that is most critical for moving forward)
  4. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Steven R. Covey (Theme: Focus on goals and actions that align with your personal core values)
  5. The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months, by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington (Theme: Use actionable 90 day plans to work in “sprints”)
  6. Just Start: Take Action, Embrace Uncertainty, Create the Future, by Leonard A. Schlesinger, Charles F. Kiefer, and Paul B. Brown (Theme: Use low-risk experiments and small steps to adapt to new/unknown types of work, learning from low-consequence failures)

Additional Reading

You might consider reading these as well. Each of these books offer useful insights and techniques to support your effective time management approach.

  1. Lifehacker: The Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, and Better, Third Edition, by Adam Pash and Gina Trapani, John Wiley & Sons, 2011
  2. The Lazy Winner: How to Do More With Less Effort and Succeed in Your Work and Personal Life Without Rushing Around Like a Headless Chicken or Putting in 100 Hour Weeks, by Peter Taylor, Infinite Ideas, 2011
  3. Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, by Brian Tracy, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2001
  4. Eliminate the Chaos at Work: 25 Techniques to Increase Productivity, by Laura Leist, John Wiley & Sons , 2011
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Biweekly Paychecks: The Hidden Bonus

Hands holding a smartphone with the word BUDGET
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Imagine getting ‘bonus’ paychecks twice a year? Would that help you pay off your debt or save for your next car, a remodeling project, a vacation, or your kids’ education? If your company pays you biweekly (every two weeks) instead of bimonthly (twice a month), you’ll receive 26 paychecks per year, versus only 24. That means two months per year will have three paychecks instead of only two. How you handle the ‘extra’ paychecks can make a huge difference in your finances.

I’ve had jobs that pay twice per month as well as those that pay every two weeks. I actually prefer the biweekly paycheck to the bimonthly paycheck. Here’s why. Regardless of the number of paychecks, obviously your annual pay is the same; however, other than the deductions taken directly from each of your paychecks (such as for medical insurance), pretty much all of your other bills are monthly. Think about it: mortgage/rent, car payments, credit card bills, utilities, phone bills, etc. I’ve never had anyone bill me on a biweekly basis. It has always been monthly, annually, or some integer multiple of months (3, 6, 36, whatever). So use that to your advantage.

The Magic of Biweekly Paychecks

Personally, I love receiving a biweekly paycheck. The magic occurs if you plan your budget based on receiving only two paychecks per month instead of budgeting based on dividing your annual pay by 12. This has two benefits. First, it forces you to live well below your means since each biweekly paycheck is less than each bimonthly paycheck for the equivalent salary. Second, twice a year, you’ll get a ‘windfall’ equivalent to one full paycheck! If you put that towards paying down debt or towards one of your major saving goals, each ‘bonus’ paycheck makes a sizeable contribution to your financial goal. It’s a huge morale boost!

As an example, assume you make $50,000 per year. With a biweekly paycheck, that’s about $1,923 per paycheck (versus $2,083 if you’re paid bimonthly), excluding deductions for taxes, benefits, 401k, etc. For gross estimating purposes, assume roughly half your paycheck goes towards taxes and other deductions (it’s probably actually less than that). That means you’re left with an ‘extra’ $1,000 (or more) that month. And that happens twice a year! What could you do with a $1,000 bonus every 6 months or so?

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Defining Victory

Team celebrating victory in an office
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What Does Victory Look Like?

Our management recently asked us what we think victory looks like for our teams as well as for our department as a whole. The request was to support a wider briefing to upper management on last year’s performance as well as planning for the coming year, including addressing upcoming challenges. Instead of focusing on specific deliverables and project milestones, I decided to respond in broader generic terms of how I define ‘victory’, since I believe the details like meeting or exceeding milestones are a natural result of accomplishing the vision of what victory looks like.

Each of the supervisors in our department shared their ‘defining victory’ responses with the others and the department manager, since that fosters collaboration and helps spark additional insights that we otherwise might not have considered. Based on the positive feedback I received from my colleagues, I figured it might be useful to share some of my thoughts with a broader audience, since I think these can apply to just about any team in a business environment.

Defining Victory: My Team

  • We consistently meet or exceed our schedule (and budget), demonstrating technical excellence and delivering high quality products while living the company’s core values; we adapt quickly and effectively to address challenges and changing conditions
  • Team members feel pride in accomplishment and fulfillment in their work / career; we work hard, but have fun doing it
  • Our customers have deep trust in our ability
  • Our work pipeline remains full
  • Team members have mutual respect and trust, while also holding each other accountable
  • All team members consistently demonstrate proactive initiative and extreme ownership (employee pull, vs. supervisor push)
  • Our products meet or exceed expectations throughout manufacturing, test, and deployment

Defining Victory: Overall Department

  • Cross-functional collaboration
  • Working towards a common purpose as a single team

Obviously there is more to defining victory than this handful of thoughts, but I believe these points are critical to long-term success.

How do you define victory? What does success look like for your team? Visualizing it, putting it into words, writing it down, and sharing it help develop alignment throughout the organization, as well as improve the odds for achieving victory.

Disclaimer: These opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of my employer.

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I Hate Working Out

I don’t know about you, but I hate working out. I hate going to the gym. I hate using exercise equipment. I hate reps. I’ve never liked working out. Some people seem to love the whole experience, but I just don’t get it. It’s boring, miserable, and hard – there is literally nothing to like about it.

Man doing pushups in the gym
Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels

“If You Hate Working Out So Much, Why Bother?”

There is only one problem. I love trials biking, which takes strength. When I first started trials biking, I hadn’t done anything to build strength for years. Nor had I done any sort of exercise, really. Not a great health combination at nearly 50 years old!

The more my trials riding progressed, the more apparent it became that I needed to do something to build strength, especially in my arms. While I still don’t go to the gym or use any weightlifting equipment, I did start doing pushups several times a week for the past year. I do several sets of slow pushups (count to 5 going down, hold for a 2-count, then count to five back up), followed by several sets of “regular” pushups. That pretty much sums up my strength-building regimen so far. And I can’t stand it – I hate every moment of it! But… it has absolutely made a difference in my riding.

Making matters more frustrating, I have had to stop a few times for weeks or even months at a stretch due to injuries or illness. Each time that has happened, it seems to take longer to re-build lost strength. This year in particular, I had an intercostal muscle strain that set me back two months over the summer, and then about a month of illness this winter. After 5 weeks of pushups, I’ve barely made any progress and I’m significantly behind where I was just a few months ago.

But you know what? I keep doing it. I track my progress with a habit tracker app and force myself to do these damn pushups three times a week (along with stretches and exercises to heal and prevent further injury of various things). It’s a struggle, every time. I get up 30 minutes earlier than I would otherwise, so I can do them in the morning, no excuses. I constantly want to quit. It’s hard work, does not feel good, and just generally unpleasant. But I do it anyway. Why? How? Because I keep that vision in my mind of my goal to become progressively better at trials biking. I know if I don’t, I’m going to struggle even more than usual when I ride, or could get hurt by not having the strength necessary. By making it a habit, tracking when I do it, and focusing on my “why”, I keep myself motivated to keep doing it, even when I just want to give up. This is the key – throughout the physical pain and mental struggle, visualize what it is you want to achieve.

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How to Pay for Christmas

Surprised Santa Claus
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Now that Christmas has come and gone once again, it’s time for the reality to set in. For many people, the typical way to pay for Christmas gifts is to charge it all to credit cards and then spend the next year (or more) trying to pay it all back. That’s the ‘normal’ approach. If you want to master your finances and eliminate the stress associated with having debt, you need to intentionally control your money and plan ahead. There is a much better way to pay for Christmas than using debt.

Be Intentional: Create and Follow a Plan to Pay for Christmas

I used to do the same thing as everyone else when it came to Christmas shopping: go out shopping, but whatever I wanted to get for people, and charge it. I didn’t really have a plan, other than knowing who was on my list of gift recipients. The result was that I always spent more than I expected to, and always ended up in debt. While I didn’t go crazy with my shopping, I ended up in debt nonetheless.

As part of our plan to eliminate debt and control our finances, my wife and I formed a new plan – one that results in significantly less stress and no debt. Each year, my wife and I create our Christmas budget. We list everyone for whom we will buy gifts, along with the budget specific to each recipient. Next we add a line item to the Christmas budget for the unexpected gifts. Then we add a few hundred dollars as a cushion, since we buy some gifts earlier in the year. Finally, we divide the total by 12 – the amount we need to put into our annual Christmas fund each month.

In order to make it easier to manage, we also have a separate checking account dedicated to our Christmas fund. We set up an automatic monthly transfer to move the monthly Christmas savings amount discussed above into the Christmas checking account. Whenever buy buy anything for Christmas, we track it in the budget (per person) and transfer money back into our normal checking account to cover it.

If we want to spend more than budgeted for someone, the money has to come from somewhere – the point is to control your money. So if we want to spend more, we pull the “extra” from somewhere else in the budget. The result is that we never spend more than we have, we stay out of debt, and Christmastime (and the months following) are not spent stressing about how to pay off the credit cards.

Shopping for birthdays and other gifts can be handled the same way. We use the same process as for Christmas, complete with a “Gifts” checking account.

This year, consider using a plan to pay for Christmas (and other gifts) without debt or stress.

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Holy Cow, I’ve Read a Lot of Books This Past Year!

Just for grins, I decided to look back at all the books I’ve read over this past year. Over the past 13 months, I have read at least two dozen books. I knew I had read a lot of books, but I didn’t realize it was quite that many! The books generally fall into the following five broad categories: space, business, self-improvement, biking, and science fiction.

The Amazon Kindle’s Reading Insights feature shows you what you’ve read each year, as well as some statistics on your reading activity

How to Read a Lot of Books: Read Two Per Month

Here’s the list of books I know I read this past year. I may have forgotten a few, but regardless, that’s a lot of reading – nearly two books per month!!

  • Grit, by Angela Duckworth (“grit” is applying passion and persistence to achieve excellence and mastery for an extended period of time)
  • Mindset, by Carol S. Dweck (“fixed” versus “growth” mindset; heard about this book from the 12/16/2020 episode of The HKT Podcast)
  • Endurance, by Scott Kelly (about former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly’s year aboard the International Space Station)
  • The Last Campaign, by Martin L. Shoemaker (fiction; sequel to The Last Dance, below)
  • Stalling for Time, by Gary Noesner (written by a former FBI hostage negotiator about his experiences)
  • Do Hard Things, by Alex & Brett Harris (society expects much less of teenagers than they are capable of, wasting potential; do hard things for the glory of God)
  • Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy, by Timothy Zahn (fiction; covers Thrawn’s early years, before he joined the Empire)
  • It’s All About the Bike, by Robert Penn (an avid biker tells the story of building his dream bike with high end components from all over the world)
  • Rescue Mode, by Ben Bova & Les Johnson (fiction)
  • Space 2.0, by Rod Pyle (humankind’s endeavors in space are gaining momentum)
  • Foundation, by Isaac Asimov (fiction)
  • 2312, by Kim Stanley Robinson (fiction)
  • Space is Open for Business, by Robert C. Jacobson (there are a significant number of space-related businesses and business opportunities, with more on the way)
  • Thuvia, Maid of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs (fiction – part of the John Carter of Mars series… I actually thought I read more than one of the books on the series this past year)
  • Alone at Dawn, by Dan Schilling and Lori Longfritz (true story about recent special forces heroes)
  • Tap Code, by Carlyle S. Harris & Sara W. Berry (about POWs in the Vietnam War who communicated using codes based on tapping)
  • Imperial Earth, by Artur C. Clarke (fiction)
  • Clutter Free, by Kathi Lipp (how to eliminate clutter in your home)
  • Show Your Work, by Austin Kleon (for artists – how to get your work out there)
  • Elon Musk, by Ashlee Vance (Biography of Elon Musk of SpaceX, Tesla, etc. fame)
  • The Airbnb Story, by Leigh Gallagher (just what the title suggests, it’s about Airbnb)
  • Atomic Habits, by James Clear (how to develop habits)
  • The Last Dance, by Martin L. Shoemaker (fiction)
  • Can’t Hurt Me, by David Goggins (former Navy SEAL eliminates any excuse you’ll ever have)
  • Mining the Sky, by John S. Lewis (mining asteroids, etc. – this is my 2nd time reading it; I’m only halfway through at the moment)

I’ve really enjoyed the books I’ve read this past year. I’m not sure I’ll sustain the same pace over the coming 12 months, but regardless, I still plan to read a lot of books by reading every day.

By the way – as I mentioned in an earlier post, borrowing e-books from the library has been a big help in complementing my selection of books.

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In Search of the Perfect Cup of Coffee

Smiling cup of coffee
Smiling cup of coffee

In the Beginning…

Ewww! This is nasty! How can anyone drink this stuff?!? That is what played through my mind the first time I tasted coffee. Little did I know that in just a few years, I’d be hooked on the stuff. Initially the caffeine stimulant was the draw – to stay awake during weekends and late nights doing homework and studying for exams in college. After a while I became accustomed to the taste – mostly just tolerating it early on, flooding it with cream to help mask the bitterness, but eventually switching to unadulterated black coffee. Since then I have been searching for the perfect cup of coffee. Drinking coffee has also become a daily ritual that mixes the stimulant and flavor with positive psychological feelings and social behaviors.

Coffee Beans – the Essential Ingredient

Obviously, the coffee bean is the most critical ingredient to the perfect cup of coffee. Coffee bushes are grown from coffee beans, which are seeds. Once coffee bushes reach maturity, they grow ‘cherries’ – the fruit that contains the coffee bean as the seed. After ripe cherries are harvested, the coffee beans are separated from the fruit pulp and skin and then fermented. Next, the beans are dried and milled to remove moisture and fruit remnants, respectively, and sorted by size and quality. At this point in the process, coffee beans are called ‘green coffee’, a state that can retain flavor qualities for an extended period while the beans are sold and distributed.

Roasting is the final step prior to grinding. The beans are heated until their internal temperature exceeds 400 degrees Fahrenheit. This process, called pyrolysis, releases the oils that give coffee its characteristic flavor and aroma. Beans that are roasted longer result in a darker roast, though it’s somewhat more complicated than that. Upon completion of heating the beans to their desired roasting characteristics, the hot beans are doused with water for rapid cooling.

After coffee beans are roasted, they begin losing their flavor, with ground beans having a shorter shelf life. For this reason, all else being equal, fresh ground beans deliver a better cup of coffee.

Brewing: Function vs. Flavor

When I was just a young boy, my parents used an electric percolator to brew coffee. By the time I began drinking coffee, the percolator was replaced by an automatic drip coffee maker. Until just a couple years ago, this was the brewing method of choice, though I became increasingly frustrated by the resulting quality from the drip-brewed process. First, depending on who brewed the coffee, you could end up with tasteless brown water or disgusting sludge. Second, unless you drink it immediately, brewed coffee sits in the pot on the warming burner, succumbing to a nasty and thoroughly unappetizing ‘burnt’ flavor. Honestly, that just utterly ruins coffee. To avoid burnt coffee, I spent several years putting the auto drip-brewed coffee right into an insulated carafe (Thermos); this approach was only a minor improvement, since the coffee flavor still diminishes with time in the Thermos. The only consolation is that it was better than microwaving cold coffee (just the thought gives me shivers… I’d rather drink tepid coffee than destroy it in the microwave).

A number of factors impact the flavor of coffee, including the quality of the water. I’ve had some pretty terrible cups of coffee, for example, using heavily chlorinated city water. Our house uses well water, which has a significant iron content. Despite using a water softener, we can still taste the iron in the water. Using an activated charcoal water filter has definitely helped improve the flavor. We started filtering our water several years ago, right about the same time that we started a new brewing method: the French press.

The beloved coffee foam!
A nearly perfect cup of coffee, complete with natural coffee foam

In reading this blog post, you might think I’m a complete coffee snob, but honestly, I’m not. Mostly we drink pre-ground, big name brands like Folgers and Maxwell House. Surprisingly, the French press actually made these coffees taste pretty good – infinitely better than brewing the same grounds with an auto-drip maker, and much better than I ever expected. Using the French press also revealed another bonus: the delicious coffee foam that embellishes the surface of the coffee liquid when you get the water temperature and steeping time just right! It takes a little more effort to brew coffee in a French press, but the difference compared to the auto drip approach is obvious. The challenge with the French press is generally making sure that the water temperature is perfect: too hot and the coffee is very bitter; not hot enough and the flavor is lacking. Due primarily to the time and effort involved, I use the French press primarily on weekends. While I haven’t found the perfect cup of coffee yet, the French press has allowed me to come close.

While I was a slow adopter, we eventually got a Keurig coffee maker (as a gift) and began using one at work. I was resistant at first based on a combination of the cost per cup as well as articles I had read about potential health issues related to using the K-cups. Our solution was to purchase reusable K-cup filters (for use at home and at work) so we can just use whatever coffee grounds we want. This method is actually not too bad – not optimal, but certainly not bad, and definitely better (and faster) than the autodrip. I use the Keurig machine to brew coffee for my morning commute to work. Lately, I’ve even brewed a second morning cup that I bring into work in an insulated travel mug – it stays warm for quite a while, and is still halfway decent.

Recently my wife read some articles indicating that coffee brewed without using paper filters can lead to elevated cholesterol levels. We figured it might be time to find an alternative to using the French press, so we bought a pour-over coffee brewing kit and some paper filters. From what I’d read, I was expecting to get the perfect cup of coffee using the pour-over brew. After tasting my first cup of pour-over brewed coffee using the paper filters, I realized that in addition to filtering out the chemicals responsible for raising cholesterol levels, the paper removes the best flavor characteristics and adds flavor of the paper itself – yuck! Sorry, that is just not happening. I’ve since tried pour-over brewing my coffee using the metal filter that came with the kit. It’s definitely better than using a paper filter (anything is better than that!), but it is difficult to get the right water temperature and rate of pour-over. I’ve made some delicious cups of coffee with the mesh filtered pour-over brew, but I’ve also had some that were definitely sub-par. Also, while I’d make the sacrifice for a great cup of coffee, the pour-over brewing method is a pain in the ass: you have to painstakingly dribble the hot water into the grounds using a slow circular motion. It literally takes as much time as just waiting for the French press to steep, but with a less consistent result.

I’ve also begun experimenting with cold brewed coffee this month. The draw with the cold brew method is the bold flavor without the acid. I’d never been a fan of cold or iced coffee, but I have to say that cold brewed coffee is actually pretty good. The downside is that it takes 12-48 hours to brew, so you need to plan well in advance. You also need to be careful that you don’t overdose on it since it’s easy to gulp it down, unlike a piping hot cup of coffee. The cold brew method does not yield the perfect cup of coffee, but it definitely has it’s place. For example, the cold brewed coffee is great on ice cream. I’m sure I will experiment with other coffee-flavored foods as well – maybe brownies, for instance. Okay, now my mouth is watering…

The Search Continues

As it turns out, brewing the perfect cup of coffee is a pretty complicated affair – a mixture of science and art. I’ve adopted a handful of techniques already, but I definitely need to experiment further, as well as eliminate some more bad coffee brewing habits.

Bibliography

  1. 10 Steps from Seed to Cup, National Coffee Association, accessed 12/31/2020, https://www.ncausa.org/About-Coffee/10-Steps-from-Seed-to-Cup
  2. How Coffee is Made?, accessed 12/31/2020, https://www.coffeebeancorral.com/HowCoffeeIsMade.aspx
  3. The process of coffee production: from seed to cup, By Rudy Caretti, 14 October 2016, accessed 12/31/2020, https://www.newfoodmagazine.com/article/28006/process-coffee-production-seed-cup/
  4. What Is The Best Temperature For Brewing Coffee?, by Asser Christensen, March 3, 2020, accessed 12/31/2020, https://coffeechronicler.com/what-is-the-best-temperature-for-brewing-coffee/
  5. What is the healthiest way to brew coffee?, by Yi-Jin Yu, April 29, 2020, accessed 12/31/2020, https://www.today.com/health/what-healthiest-way-brew-coffee-t180152
  6. Coffee Extraction & Other Key Brewing Concepts, June 28, 2017, accessed 12/31/2020, https://perfectdailygrind.com/2017/06/understanding-coffee-extraction-other-key-brewing-concepts/
  7. How to Brew Coffee, National Coffee Association, accessed 12/31/2020, https://www.ncausa.org/About-Coffee/How-to-Brew-Coffee
  8. 12 Mistakes Everyone Makes When Brewing Coffee, by Kristine Hansen, Updated: Dec. 06, 2019, accessed 12/31/2020, https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/12-mistakes-everyone-makes-when-brewing-coffee/
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Do Hard Things

Do Hard Things: Weightlifting
Photo by Leon Ardho from Pexels

Maybe it’s just my perception, but it seems to me that too many people have become afraid of having to work hard. They seek to do only the barest minimum necessary to just eek by. They feel that the world owes them praise, recognition, and rewards (grades, money, promotions, etc.) just because they showed up. They give up too soon when results don’t come easily, they aren’t spoon-fed the answers, or they need to put in any “additional” effort. Honestly, this is just sad. When people refuse to do hard things, they rob society of what could have been and stunt their own self-esteem. A healthy culture demands that we do not just show up, but rather that we push ourselves to excel.

This topic has been on my mind quite a bit lately. I’ve had conversations with my son about this a number of times over the past few years, trying to instill in him a desire to push himself to not just meet the minimum requirements, but to demonstrate excellence; to choose doing difficult things on purpose, not merely to “bear the cross”, but to challenge himself, to build his character, to feel the enhanced sense of reward, and to establish a positive reputation.

Inspiration From A Book Title

While searching for Christmas gifts for my son this year, a book with an interesting title appeared in my gift recommendations on Amazon.com: Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations, written by teenage twin brothers Alex and Brett Harris. After reading the book description on Amazon, I immediately borrowed the book from the library and read it within a few days. The premise of the book is fantastic: that society is harming generations of young adults by setting expectations too low, and that teens specifically (though honestly, it applies to all of us) should do hard things for the benefit of not only themselves, but for others as well – but most importantly to glorify God. Whether or not you are religious in any way, the principles still stand. A culture that encourages people to do hard things, starting from a young age, will be stronger, more productive, happier, and more resilient. From the moment I saw the title of this book, I realized that I needed to write about this concept.

Why Do Hard Things?

If you do a Google search such as “why is it important to do things that are difficult or hard”, you’ll actually find quite a few results. Out of curiosity, I read a few of the top results to discover how other people felt about doing hard things. In particular, posts from Desk to Dirtbag, Marc and Angel Hack Life, and The Art of Manliness resonated with me. They all have solid ideas and viewpoints worth reading.

Based on my own experience, there are a number of benefits to doing hard things. The following list is certainly not exhaustive, but presents some key concepts of my ‘do hard things’ philosophy. These are in no particular order.

1. Savor Sweeter Success

Think about it. When you do something that is easy, how memorable is it? How about when you achieved something that was extremely difficult? Which ‘accomplishment’ would be more rewarding: walking 50 feet to your mailbox, or finishing your first marathon? Why? Because running a marathon is hard! You can probably walk to the mailbox and back without even thinking about it or breaking a sweat. I’ll bet you can’t even remember the first time you walked to the mailbox, but if you’ve run a marathon, you’ll never forget the first one.

The mere fact that something was hard to do makes the value of doing it – or even trying to do it – that much greater to you. In fact, if it was not only hard, but took numerous attempts, lots of training and practice, and significant effort, all the more rewarding it is when you finally succeed. The harder a thing is to do, the stronger the sense of reward.

2. Enjoy a More Fulfilling Life

Related to the first reason above, life is much more fulfilling when you realize that you have stretched yourself and accomplished hard things. How can you not feel better about yourself when you do hard things regularly? Certainly doing hard things is…well…hard. It can be frustrating while you’re in the middle of it, especially if you’re doing something hard that was not necessarily your choice (like a difficult school project or dealing with a tough problem at work). However, being in the habit of doing hard things will lead to a more fulfilling life. You can’t fool yourself – if you always look for the easy way out, avoid doing anything difficult, fear trying hard things because you might fail – or worse, you’re just plain lazy – you’re psyche will know the truth. Likewise, your psyche knows when you do hard things. Doing hard things can improve your self esteem and lead to greater fulfillment.

3. Build Confidence

As you take on more and more difficult challenges, you will gain confidence in yourself. The more hard things you attempt, the more hard things you will achieve. You will not always succeed, and often there will be many failures on the path to success. By definition, it will not be easy. If you keep at it, the number and size of your successes will grow. As this occurs, your confidence will grow because you will know that you are doing hard things. As your confidence builds, you will be less intimidated by difficult challenges and you will do more hard things. It becomes a positive feedback cycle.

4. Learn and Grow

Doing hard things requires that you stretch yourself. You will have to go outside your comfort zone. And you’ll probably have to learn new skills. In fact, sometimes the hard thing is specifically learning a new skill. Regardless, by doing hard things regularly, you will continue to learn and grow.

5. Exceed Your Own Expectations

We may attempt things that most people consider to be extremely difficult – like being a professional athlete. Or, maybe we just struggle with something that is difficult for us – like giving a public presentation if you’re shy. Either way, regardless of what it is that you do, if you persistently push yourself to do very hard things, you will more than likely exceed your own expectations. You will discover that you can actually do more than you thought possible. But you have to do more than ‘try’. You have to knuckle down and push. It might take many attempts. You will probably experience fear, frustration, and doubt. Eventually you will be able to look back and realize that you were able to achieve more than you thought you could.

6. Avoid Average

Anybody can do the easy things. Doing the bare minimum is the epitome of mediocrity at best (dare I say lazy?). Anyone can sit on the couch and stare at the television. Taking the easy route is boring. Why settle for being average? Wouldn’t it feel better to set yourself apart by doing things other people don’t or won’t – usually specifically because they are hard? We’ve all heard the refrain, “I could never do that!” Maybe. But did you even try? What if you could do it?

Find something that is interesting and fun, but that takes a lot of effort to learn. Become an expert at something you enjoy. Do the extra credit work. Learn something new, just for the sake of learning it. Challenge yourself. Volunteer – either for extra assignments at work, or to support charitable organizations. Exceed your boss’ or teacher’s expectations of you. Raise the bar. Just don’t settle for average. Anyone can do that. Average is nothing special. It’s bland, boring, and unattractive. You are a unique and valuable human being with plenty of potential; you were not meant to be average.

I’ll add a special note here. Obviously in the strict sense, ‘someone’ has to be ‘average’ because everyone can’t be the ‘best’. But by ‘average’, I mean specifically the attitude of doing nothing ‘extra’, settling for the bare minimum, and doing only things that are easy for you. Not everyone has the same abilities and characteristics, so you can be ‘above average’ by choosing to do things that are hard for you, regardless of whether they are easy or hard for others.

7. Earn a Positive Reputation

When you do hard things, people will absolutely take notice. From a purely practical (not necessarily selfish) standpoint, you will develop a positive reputation by consistently doing hard things. This can lead to things like better jobs, better assignments, raises, promotions, friendships, and more. It can also lead to opportunities you might never expect when others specifically seek you out.

If you’re a parent, your kids will absolutely notice when you do hard things (and conversely, when you avoid them). By setting a positive example, you are more likely to earn their respect, but more importantly, prepare them for a productive, fulfilling, meaningful life.

8. Change the World

People who do the hard things are the ones who make a difference. These are the people who change the world for the better. They don’t do it by sleazing out of work or avoiding challenges.

By ‘world’, I don’t necessarily mean all of humanity. Some people certainly have that level of impact, but you can change the world by making a positive difference to your local community, school, company, team, organization, or even just one person. Regardless of scale, leave the world a better place by being here. Stretch yourself and do hard things, not just for your own personal benefit, but for others as well.

Doing Hard Things – Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is

Of course there are endless examples of ‘hard things’ that I’ve done. While this post is definitely not about me, I thought it might be good to share some of these examples, not for my personal glory or recognition, but rather to demonstrate the some of the points I’ve discussed above.

Learning Trials Biking

If you’ve read anything on this website, there is no way you didn’t see this coming! If you want to learn how I got started in trials biking and what is trials biking, read this and this. In summary, I started learning trials biking at 47 (I’m over 50 now), while being quite out of shape.

Trials biking is not just ‘like riding a bike.’ It is extremely difficult. It involves falling, crashing, and failing over and over and over and over. In a lot of ways, it’s like solving a physical puzzle (the obstacle, trick, or ‘line’) with just you and your bike. But when you make progress, pulling of a new trick or riding a difficult line, the sense of reward is exhilarating. There’s nothing like it.

Why do I do it? Because it’s so hard most people quit or never try it. Because it’s cool as hell. Because the journey is hard, but fun. And because the reward is just so sweet.

Earning a Master’s Degree

While in my 40’s, I decided to get my master’s degree in systems engineering. This was nearly 20 years after I graduated college, so going back to school was tough (my bachelor’s degree is in electrical engineering – yes, that was also extremely difficult!). In three years I earned my MS in systems engineering while also working full time.

Here’s the kicker. By outward appearances, some folks going for an advanced degree (that their employer pays for) seem to be just seeking a piece of paper that leads to a higher salary or a higher paying job elsewhere. That was absolutely not my approach. I worked my ass off, often times spending 20+ hours a week on homework and projects – even 40 hours one or two times – while working full time. I graduated with a 4.0 (out of 4.0). But I earned it. I didn’t just do the minimum. I was there to learn. Not just for my own sake, but because I wanted to translate what I learned into practice at my job – which was the whole reason for going back to school in the first place! Not for a scrap of paper or just for money. I did more than was required on many, if not all, assignments and projects.

This was one of the hardest things I have ever done. It wiped me out. It was tough. And probably would not have been possible without the support of my amazing wife who took on a lot of added burden at home so I could focus on school. But I did it. And because it was so hard, and because I put so much more into it than others seemed to do, it holds tremendous value to me.

An Introvert In The School Play

I have to confess, I am shy and introverted, though much less shy than when I was younger. I was the kid who hid behind Mom’s leg when she was talking to people I didn’t know. I was the student who sat in the back row, trying to hide behind the other kids so the teacher wouldn’t call on me.

Back in high school, specifically because I’m shy, I decided to audition for the school play one year. I wanted to force myself way outside of my comfort zone, to expand my comfort zone. I was terrified – I’d never done anything like this before. But I actually got a part in the play, albeit a small one – though still a speaking part. It was hard, but I did it. I had a great time. I met new people. It was worth the experience.

Sick and Working Late

Just the other day, I was requested to complete an annoying, time consuming, and somewhat challenging task by the end of the day. That was already bad enough. What made it really difficult is that I was on teleconferences literally all day long, so I could not even start the assignment until late in the afternoon. To make matters worse, I was sick, so I felt absolutely awful (though at least I was able to work from home). Regardless, people were counting on me, so I kept working until I finished at 9 pm. This is a fairly mundane example, but it still counts as doing something hard.

Eliminate Your Excuses

Want an extreme example of doing hard things as a way of life? Read Can’t Hurt Me, by David Goggins. Trust me, this book will take away any excuses you think you have.

What hard things have you done? What hard things do you want to do? What hard things will you do? Do hard things. Spread the word!

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Free eBooks: Borrowing Books From Your Local Library

I use the OverDrive app for borrowing eBooks from the library

Did you know that you can get free eBooks on loan from your local library? Here in the state of Connecticut, we use a tool called OverDrive, which is available both as a website and a mobile app. While I have been using this service for a couple years already, it’s especially convenient during this seemingly endless COVID-19 pandemic.

I Love to Read

I’m an avid reader – often reading more than one book at a time. I love books and love to read. For as long as I can remember, I have both bought books as well as borrowed them – from the library, or from friends. I do love the feel of a book in my hands, but I’ve also grown to love my Kindle and the (free) Kindle app on my phone. My Kindle eBook library has been growing over the past few years. At first I was hesitant, but now I read more eBooks than physical books. I can store a giant ‘stack’ of Kindle books on my phone, instantly available wherever I am, whenever I want to read. Some books I buy; others I borrow.

Free eBooks on OverDrive

To complement my purchased collection, I often borrow books from our state’s library system’s collection of eBooks. With the OverDrive app, I can borrow a book (usually in the Kindle format), request a hold on a book (i.e., waitlist), add a book to my wishlist, or recommend a book to be added to the library’s collection. The loans are generally 2 weeks.

One of the benefits of borrowing free eBooks in the Kindle format is that I can add highlights and notes in the Kindle app. As far as I know, these remain – in other words, if I borrow or buy the Kindle book later, I think my highlights and notes are retained.

Another useful tool is the ability to export your highlights and notes from Kindle. Obviously you can’t highlight the entire book, but if you can a ‘reasonable’ amount of highlighted text, the export feature is available.

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Do It Right The First Time

Whenever you need to accomplish a task, always do it right the first time. Take the time necessary to ensure proper quality commensurate with the importance and complexity of the task. Otherwise, several things can occur, in order of ascending severity:

  • You end up having to do it again anyway (which makes the job take even longer since now you have to do it twice). Besides being a hassle, this wastes time and/or money.
  • If poor quality or cutting corners, becomes a habit you’ll end up with a bad reputation – from your teachers, peers, friends, bosses, or customers.
  • In the extreme cases, there could be legal consequences – or worse, people could be hurt or killed, depending on the task or project (e.g., aircraft maintenance work, auto repair, bridge design, etc.).

[Note: I originally wrote this as a life lesson for my son on November 24, 2015.]

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