My productivity hack has a long arc. On the first of each month, I use FutureMe.org to write an email to be delivered in one year — this March 1 (2023), I'll write an email that I will receive on March 1, 2024. And since I've been doing this for a while, on this March 1, I'll receive the email that I wrote a year ago, on March 1, 2022.
This slow exchange has had measurable effects. I have gradually developed a template. I begin these emails with a snapshot of where I am now — weight, health, walk (avg number of steps per day for the past week), averages of fasting blood glucose (7-day, 14-day, 30-day, and 90-day — I'm diabetic), financial snapshot and outlook, 3 items in the news, 3 new things for me, what I'm eating and cooking, new dishes I've recently made, and any movies or TV series that I've seen recently and liked.
The result over time is that good changes gradually accumulate. Things that were big goals a couple of years ago have now been accomplished, in part because the monthly letter from the past serves as a reminder and the monthly letter to the future serves as a promise.
It's far from a quick fix, but it has proven to be effective over time. Give it a try for a couple of years and see what happens.
My productivity hack has a long arc. On the first of each month, I use FutureMe.org to write an email to be delivered in one year — this March 1 (2023), I'll write an email that I will receive on March 1, 2024. And since I've been doing this for a while, on this March 1, I'll receive the email that I wrote a year ago, on March 1, 2022.
This slow exchange has had measurable effects. I have gradually developed a template. I begin these emails with a snapshot of where I am now — weight, health, walk (avg number of steps per day for the past week), averages of fasting blood glucose (7-day, 14-day, 30-day, and 90-day — I'm diabetic), financial snapshot and outlook, 3 items in the news, 3 new things for me, what I'm eating and cooking, new dishes I've recently made, and any movies or TV series that I've seen recently and liked.
The result over time is that good changes gradually accumulate. Things that were big goals a couple of years ago have now been accomplished, in part because the monthly letter from the past serves as a reminder and the monthly letter to the future serves as a promise.
It's far from a quick fix, but it has proven to be effective over time. Give it a try for a couple of years and see what happens.