Helping amateur photographers make the transition to paid professionals.

Productivity For Photographers: Time Blocking

February 7, 2016This is Life

"The simple act of putting some basic systems in place made me less 'busy' (as in just flailing) and made me way more effective at getting what I wanted out of life." - Chase Jarvis

Tell me if you've ever had a day like this:

"Alright, finally some downtime. I'm going to lay into this project I've been putting off for weeks..."

Five minutes later, the boss comes in. Ten minutes later, he leaves, and you've got another urgent (if, from your perspective, far less important) problem to deal with.

"Okay. I can do that this afternoon; it'll be fine. Back to work on the important stuff..."

Five minutes later, your coworker comes in.

"Hey, have you seen the new Star Wars yet? Yeah me neither. What did you do this weekend? Did you watch Doctor Who last night?! Oh my gosh, hurry up and watch it tonight so we can talk about it tomorrow. Do you want me to tell you what happened?"

Then a text message about the kids misbehaving. Then a two-bit client calls and wants to wiggle out of their bill. Then a text message with some lunchtime or after-work errands. Then a Facebook notification or two or ten. Then you're hungry...

How many days have you started with a passion and a plan, and by day's end, you're exhausted and frustrated with not a damn thing to show for it?

Besides a healthy "No," I've found time blocking to be best practice for protecting my productive time.

Why Time Blocking

“Those who make the worst of their time most complain about its shortness.” - La Bruyere

There's plentiful science out there supporting the value of time blocking.

But practically, you have experienced the effects of losing control of your day: distraction turns to frustration turns to impotence. You know exactly what it feels like to get nothing done.

Depending on your home or office environment, sometimes there's nothing sweeter than a few uninterrupted hours of quality, focused work. I used to take Wednesdays off and work Sundays because I'd get twice as much done when the office was empty.

It’s all about focus, and the delicious flow state that comes from it.

Time Blocking is how you make that state a regular practice instead of an occasional gift.

Like most of my mentors, I organize my productive life into 90-minute blocks of time. This scientifically and experientially for me is the perfect length of time to get important work done. I kick off these blocks targeting “just 15 minutes,” to overcome intertia. By the time that first timer goes off, I’m usually elbows deep and loving the focus.

Depending on the scope of the work I’m doing, I can stack 90-minute blocks with work on a single, big project, or I can batch a bunch of smaller, like tasks into a 90-minute block. I collect all my phone calls into one batch, all my e-mails into another batch, all my social media into another. The goal is to minimize the number of focus-shifts I have to make during day. Every distraction, every time I go from one medium or device to another, I lose some focus, lose some flow, and have to recover speed. That takes time, and mental energy - I’m leagues more efficient when I don't have to shift those mental gears.

With purposeful time blocking, I stay in the powerful Important But Not Urgent quadrant. This is where my best work gets done. By setting the intention to work on a certain sets of Next Steps from a specific project, I’m able to skip the decision fatigue and get right to work.

This isn’t easy. You have to say no. You have to turn off the notifications. You have to stay off social media. You have to protect this time, or others will lay claim to it to satisfy their own urgent needs.

Nature abhors a vacuum - so too your spouse, friends, coworkers, boss, Netflix account, and the thousands of marketers vying for your attention.

It’s not their fault - they’re looking out for their own priorities.

Are you looking out for yours?

What gets scheduled gets done, and time blocks are the perfect unit, almost physical in nature, to package the actions you need to take to make your dreams and goals happen. It’s hard to schedule your to-do list; but much easier to schedule a time block, then drag those Next Steps into that time block. Time blocks take the intangible concept of ‘productivity’ and makes it tangible - something you can work with.

How I Practice Time Blocking

“Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week.” - Charles Richards

• I say no. I practice Essentialism. I give my schedule the respect and protection it deserves; this is the work that changes my life. I turn off notifications (for me, I just turn off wifi on my phone or laptop). I stay off social media. I get to work on actionable Next Steps that will put wins on the board.
• I manage expectations, both my own and of those around me. I try to be ambitious but realistic with what I expect to get done in 90 minutes. I stay focused and let that positive deadline pressure keep me on task, away from goose chases and rabbit holes. I don’t respond to texts (my friends know if I don’t respond quickly, it’s nothing personal; I’m in the midst). If I’m working from home, I let the wife and kids know I’m going “on air.”
• I can’t emphasize enough the power of unplugging during your productive time. I used to think I was above this advice. I thought it silly that I had to turn off notifications or turn off wifi to get work done. “I’m not a child, I can do better than that.” Nieveté. It’s just too easy. We are curious and social creatures by nature, and that buzz on the phone or ding on the laptop are immediate distractions, no matter how subtle the sound. Seeing the difference in my productivity (and stress), I now spend far more time ‘unplugged’ than plugged-in.
• I used to fight ‘scheduling’ with a fervent passion. I righteously protected my free spirit, my creativity, my spontaneity, my muse. “I’m a creative so that I don’t have to adhere to a schedule!” I look back now, amazed and disappointed at how little creating I did with all that precious freedom. I didn’t understand how the human brain thrives; not on unlimited freedom, but on focus. Decision fatigue exhausts our brains, and our willpower. Happening upon a free moment then waiting for the muse to inspire is a beautiful idea, an addiction I indulged for years. Slowly, baby step by baby step, I learned and tested and experienced a better way. Purposeful preparation (scheduling, kaizen, focus, and next steps / baby steps) has empowered me to get work done instead of stacking up excuses.
• Google Calendar is the killer app in my productivity toolbox. Beyond simple scheduling, it enables me to systematize my productivity. Weekly reviews Sunday nights; morning routines; evening routines; work days and play days. I schedule time blocks, and what Next Actions I’ll take in them. My calendar is my roadmap: it shows the path I’m taking to climb the mountain of success. How powerful it is to start each week, and each day, seeing exactly how awesome and productive I'm going to be.

Do This, Not That

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” – Stephen King

When I started practicing Time Blocking:

• I stopped leaving my progress to chance and whim, and I started claiming agency over my time and life (the major theme of this entire productivity series).
• I stopped dipping in and out of my most important, creative work at the mercy of my mood, and I started getting more done in less time.
• I stopped giving myself excuse after excuse for all the things I didn’t get done, and I started scheduling my work and holding myself acccountable to my goals and dreams.
• I stopped pretending that chaos enables creative freedom, and started recognizing and taking advantage of the patterns, rhythms, and candences of my mind and creativity.
• I stopped being overwhelmed by the enormity of the ‘ugly frogs’ on my to-do list, and started actually executing the projects I knew would move the needle with my art, business and life.
• I stopped beating myself up and feeling bad about everything I never got done, and started feeling good about doing hard work that showed tangible progress worth celebrating - over and over again.

Chase Jarvis has us all dead to rights:

“Busy” isn’t success. Busy is a lack of priority.

Time blocking makes productivity structural. Do you brush your teeth every morning and night? Do you make it to work five days a week with regularity? Structure, built from habit, makes these important choices easy. Time blocking provides the structure upon which you can build the habits of success, of getting important work done on your art, business, and dreams.

Think it’ll kill your creative muse?

Test it for 30 days.

Every Sunday night, go through your calendar for the coming week and schedule 90 minute blocks of productivity where you can. Pull over from your to-do list what you want to get done within those blocks.

Test time blocking for a month, and then reevaluate:

• Are you getting more important work done?
• Do you feel more or less creative?
• What wins have you put on the board because of this practice?

The muse will come. Give him or her the space they need to thrive.

“He who every morning plans the transactions of that day and follows that plan carries a thread that will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life.” ― Victor Hugo

This is Part 7 of my series: 9 practices to increase your productivity as a professional photographer

Read more here:

1. Essentialism
2. Evening Routine
3. Morning Routine
4. Mindfulness
5. Five Minutes
6. Kaizen
7. Time Blocking
8. What Gets Scheduled Gets Done
9. Imperfect Action

Like this series? Subscribe at the top-right of any page of this site to get all of my best stories and ideas in your Inbox.

Next Steps

• STEP ONE:Take the first step. Block 90 minutes on your calendar, and commit to it. If you don’t know what to do with that time, don’t worry about it - just block the time for now. Baby steps. Just blocking 90 minutes on your calendar of solid, unterrupted, uninterruptable (turn off those notifications, and manage expectations) time to focus on your art and business is going to be a revelation for you.
• BRAINSTORM SESSION: We all dream of having time. Time to do work we love, time to focus on our passions, time to breathe and enjoy margin in our lives. If a genie popped out of a bottle and gifted you with five blocks of 90 minutes a week for the rest of your life… What would you do with those 90 minutes? The only rules: 1) You have to take tangible actions toward your goals and dreams in those blocks of time, 2) You have to plan those actions in baby steps of no more than 15-20 minutes, and 3) You have to unplug and stay on-task. Make a list of what you’d get done with those first five 90-minute blocks this week, down to the baby steps you’d take during each. File this away in your Brainstorms folder (after scheduling those first five time blocks on your calendar!).
• SUBSCRIBE TODAY: It's my calling to help you earn your first $5,000 to $50,000 as a part time professional photographer. Don't miss out on my best stories and ideas: subscribe to my e-mail newsletter today at the top-right of any page of this site.
• DO THIS NOW: What's the biggest challenge holding you back today? E-mail me your answer (yes, right now!), and let's make a breakthrough.

by Outlaw Photographer James Michael Taylor

Productivity for Photographers: Kaizen

January 26, 2016This is Life

"Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential." – John Maxwell

My dad died suddenly.

It wasn’t really unexpected. He had been on palliative care at the nursing home for months. The lung cancer got the best of him; he was just too weak to continue treatments.

To say I took his death poorly is an understatement.

My dad was my best friend. It would take me years to realize the depth of my grief, even though I thought I was handling everything well. Instead of feeling his loss, I went numb, logical, cold.

I got the call on my drive into work. My cell phone signal was spotty, but I could just make out the nurse on the other end, crying, and telling me my father had died in the night.

Wishes…

I wish I had spent more time with him in his final days. I couldn’t wrap my head or heart around the fact that he was here now, but soon wouldn’t be. I couldn’t grasp his not being there to talk to, joke with, get horrible if hilarious advice from. I’d smart off and he’d call me an asshole and we’d give each other a knowing, loving look.

I wish I’d gone to the nursing home and watched the boxing match with him that weekend he died.

I wish I’d made a lot of better decisions in my life, but none stand out so clearly when I think about the word ‘regret. ’

And oddly, when I sat down to write this post for you, regret is the word that came to mind when I thought about kaizen. Kaizen is the Japanese philosphy of small daily actions that lead to amazing improvement over time.

I want to tell you about kaizen, and how it’s helped me in my journey as a working artist, because kaizen is a powerful weapon against regret.

I wish I could get back all the time I spent crippled by my perfectionism.

I wish I would have done all the things perfectionism kept me from doing. I wish I had told him how I felt. I wish I’d have launched my business sooner and hustled harder. I wish I’d have made more art and fewer excuses.

It’s my hope that these words will help you earn fewer regrets than I have in my photography business (and life).

Why Kaizen

"Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out." – Robert Collier

If I start walking, I’m going to get there.

There’s something to be said for being ready, for having a plan, and for checking your compass to make sure you know where you’re going and why.

But everything you’ve done to get yourself to where you are right now is worthless if you don’t take the next step.

Kaizen is all about taking the next step.

Kaizen is about making that step small enough that you can take it.

Kaizen is a perfectionism killer. It slays enormous beasts (goals, dreams, projects), and chops them up into tiny, bite-sized pieces (baby steps).

Kaizen turns your to-do list into a can-do list.

I can’t “launch photography business. ” But I can “Call comptroller office at 555-555-5555 and ask what I need to know and do to get my sales tax permit. ”

That’s a five-minute call.

And if I try, if I practice kaizen, then I will break down my “launch photography business” project into dozens, maybe hundreds of these baby steps.

Five minutes. Fifteen minutes. Twenty minutes.

If a step takes more than twenty minutes, then I break it into even smaller steps.

When my timer goes off at 20 minutes, I’m so deep into flow that now I don’t want to stop. I’m moving forward. I have momentum. I’m getting things done. I’m taking steps, one after another, and I’m seeing tangible progress.

I go from “you can’t make me” to “you can’t make me stop. ”

That is the power of kaizen.

How I Practice Kaizen

"Success isn’t a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire." – Arnold H. Glasow

• Break It Down: I have dreams. Those dreams are made up of goals, goals of projects, projects of steps, steps of baby steps: tiny, bite-sized Next Actions. When I take this practice all the way, the baby steps I write down feel absurdly small. I sometimes wonder if I shouldn’t just take the step instead of spending time writing it down. That’s when I know I’m practicing kaizen the right way; those are the baby steps that I’ll take, one after another, to the top of the mountain of success.
• Pomodoro It: I use timers in Chrome or on my phone, but you may prefer the real deal: the twisty tomato, egg, or ladybug. I set mine to 15-20 minutes and dig into my list of Next Actions. If I don’t start each work session with the simple, manageable expectation of just 15-20 minutes of work, I become overwhelmed; by the enormity of the project, how invested I am in its success, how much this work is a reflection of myself, or how much I don’t know yet. This is The Resistance in action, wearing the clothes of perfectionism. And if you’ve felt the same, it’s a good sign: if the work wasn’t important to you, you wouldn’t care, and this would be so easy that you wouldn’t need people like me to encourage you along your journey. Set the timer and Do The Work - everything else is vanity or distraction.
• Momentum Precedes Clarity: Perfectionism convinces me that I need clarity before I move; that I need to know where I’m going before I can get started. I fear looking amateur, embarrassing myself, or landing on my face in front of everyone. But success works counter to popular and instinctual belief: clarity comes from momentum, not the other way around. Success comes after failure, not instead of it. As von Moltke said, no plan survives contact with the enemy. The small steps of kaizen help me to do my work with a heart of service and compassion for my clients. Absolutely everything else works itself out as soon as I take action, experiment, earn feedback, and correct course. I always find the clarity I seek, but only on the battlefield of action.
• Bird By Bird: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Anne Lamott tells the story of her father’s advice to her younger brother when a school paper on avians was due the next day and the boy hadn’t done the work. “How am I going to get this done, Dad?” … “Bird by bird.” It’s little touchstones like this that calm me when my fear and imagination and impatience try to get ahead of the work in front of me. It can be so discouraging to look at the beautiful art and successful business of other photographers, without having seen the years of small, daily actions that made that art and business possible. Photo by photo. Handshake by handshake. Shoot by shoot. Bird by bird.

Do This, Not That

"Action is the foundational key to all success." – Pablo Picasso

When I started practicing kaizen:

• I stopped doing nothing when doing anything felt like trying to do too much, and I started doing something because anything was better than nothing.
• I stopped being paralyzed with overwhelm, and started gaining speed by moving forward.
• I stopped looking back at my day, week, month, and year, wondering what happened to the time, and started packing hundreds of little wins on the board that all add up to success.
• I stopped ignoring all the mentors who tried to teach me better, and I started humbly practicing kaizen and seeing the results those small daily actions can yield.
• I stopped waiting for change like I was waiting for a bus, and I started claiming agency over my life, one purpose-driven step at a time.
• I stopped filling my to-do list with hope (and resultant disappointment), and started checking off my to-do list through consistent work.
• I stopped fighting with my art and my business, and started enjoying the peace of every step.
• I stopped regretting all the things I hadn’t done, and started getting done the things I’d otherwise regret.

I spent years frustrated with my inability to get important things done.

I regret all of the time I lost due to perfectionism, overwhelm, and hoping instead of doing.

Choose to act, no matter how small the action.

Save yourself a lifetime of regrets by choosing kaizen; by choosing to take the small daily actions that lead to amazing change over time.

“Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.” ― Marcus Aurelius

This is Part 6 of my series: 9 practices to increase your productivity as a professional photographer

Read more here:

1. Essentialism
2. Evening Routine
3. Morning Routine
4. Mindfulness
5. Five Minutes
6. Kaizen
7. Time Blocking
8. What Gets Scheduled Gets Done
9. Imperfect Action

Like this series? Subscribe at the top-right of any page of this site to get all of my best stories and ideas in your Inbox.

Next Actions

• NO REGRETS: How many times have you chickened out? How much haven't you done because it wasn't going to be perfect, or you didn't have clarity, or because you didn't know exactly what to do? What risks haven't you taken because you're worried you might fail? What progress have you not made because you worried about what people would say, or that it wouldn't be good enough, or because people would judge you or laugh at you? Who benefits from you playing small? How many blessings of your art have you not brought to the world because you're choosing to stay miserable inside your comfort zone? You need to feel this. And it needs to hurt. Because you're never going to change if you don't recognize how much you're hurting your life by not demanding action from yourself. Choose your life. Choose your self.
• CHOOSE PROGRESS: Making progress toward my dreams so often feels like I'm riding a barrel down a river, totally out of control. There's no steering wheel, and I'm just taking action, failing forward, and working on faith that whatever happens won't be as bad as my fears tell me it could be. That's when you know you're riding the edge of your comfort zone, and making the real progress that changes your story for the better as a professional photographer. Those feelings never go away (so long as you're doing work that's important to you), but from experience, you learn that taking purposeful action is the best (and only) way to climb the mountain of success.
• BRAINSTORM: Get out your pen and paper. Take any single, defined project related to your art or business. Write it at the top of the page. Now break down that project into reasonable milestones. Break those milestones into steps. Break those steps into baby steps of no more than 20 minutes time. If you can't, break the steps down further. If you don't know what to do, insert baby steps to find out: by way of research or, more expediently, by asking. Don't know who to ask? Add a baby step to research who or where to ask. You're building a step-by-step roadmap to success. Every baby step, no matter how small, puts a win on your board, and makes tangible progress toward your dreams. Now repeat this for every project on your to-do list, prioritize, schedule the time blocks so it gets done, then Do The Work. File a copy of these project details in your Brainstorms folder.
• SUBSCRIBE TODAY: It's my calling to help you earn your first $5,000 to $50,000 as a part time professional photographer. Don't miss out on my best stories and ideas: subscribe to my e-mail newsletter today at the top-right of any page of this site.
• DO THIS NOW: What's the biggest challenge holding you back today? E-mail me your answer (yes, right now!), and let's make a breakthrough.

by Outlaw Photographer James Michael Taylor

Productivity For Photographers: Five Minutes

January 22, 2016This is Life

“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” - Bill Gates

I answered the phone when my mother-in-law called me, and all I could hear was my pregnant wife screaming in pain, and Lenora telling me, "James Michael, there's something wrong."

I was working a late night at in the newsroom when the police scanner toned out for an ambulance, and the dispatcher read my elderly father's home address.
 
I overdid it at the gym, and lay half-conscious on the bathroom floor, trying to muster the strength to reach up and unlock the door so help could find me... I hoped.
 
Five minutes is a lot of time.
 
Our perception of time can shift from warp speed (time flies...) to each second ticking by, suffocated in an eternity of fear, anxiety, and unknowing.
 
The above few stories are the first that come to mind when I think of how long five minutes can be.
 
(Read to the end and I'll tie up those three stories for you.)
 
How we think about time is why we aim to get so much done in a year (then don't), but think we can't get anything done in five minutes (though we can).
 
Having a Five Minute Practice planned and prepared can help you make big gains over the course of time. Just five minutes a day is 30 hours a year, almost four full workdays; take advantage of three sets of five minutes a day, and you're up to 90 hours of found productive time each year.
 
Wouldn't an extra two weeks vacation to work on your self and dreams be nifty?
 
Stack this with early rising and a purposeful morning routine, and you're modeling some of the highest performance men and women in the world.

Why Five Minutes?

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” ― Mother Teresa

It's Doable
Having an early morning routine lets you trade your lowest-yield evening time for high-yield morning time, and dedicating that time to making progress on the person you want to be and the art and business you want to make.
 
With a Five Minute Practice, you'll expand on that progress, stacking small wins throughout the day.
 
The three keys are:

• Believing you can get important work done in five minutes
• Preparing to take advantage of those five-minute opportunities
• Recognizing and seizing those opportunities when they come

Steep Your Mind
This was the game-changing effect of having a five-minute morning practice I wrote about last year.
 
One of the most insidious ways The Resistance keeps you from your dreams is distraction. Whether with a healthy diet or exercise regimen or attentive relationship or working on your self and your dreams, "missing a day" quickly snowballs into weeks, months, or years.
 
Everything you do is building habits.
 
Including the choice to do nothing. Or to "do it tomorrow." Or to rationalize. Or to make excuses.
 
Starting your day with five minutes of productivity, getting at least one win early in the day, steeps your mind in your art and business all day long. It puts your subconscious to work on your dreams for the rest of the day.
 
(And if the solution to a plaguing problem has ever popped into your head on a walk, in the shower, or when drifting off to sleep, you know how powerful this practice can be.)
 
Taking five in the morning gets your mind working on positive problems (instead of negative, our lizard brain's default), and grabbing another five later reinforces and reinvigorates that subconscious effort. You’re awake and going about life’s business anyway; why not let your brain be solving problems in the background?

Little Victories
The Five Minute Practice is all about momentum.
 
It’s about putting more wins on your board (as Chris Brogan says), both tangibly and mentally.
 
You know how good it feels to knock just one thing off your to-do list. Building a simple system to feed five-minute bites throughout each day makes it easy to stack those victories.
 
I don’t know about you, but I have had plenty of days where my head hit the pillow and I couldn’t name a single real accomplishment all day. Not that just getting through some days isn’t a feat in itself, but especially when it comes to taking care of myself or my business, it’s too easy to make zero progress. It's too easy to just react to life, and go through a day (or much more) having made no proactive or purposeful choice toward your own dreams.
 
Locking down those five minutes in the morning, and then grabbing the chance when it comes up later in the day, you can at least make a one-percent improvement in some area of your dreams. It may feel imperceptibly small (and subjective), but stringing these together, think about what a 30 percent gain over 30 days - or a 100 percent gain over a few months - would mean for your art, business, and life.
 
Five minutes is longer than you think.
 
And it adds up quickly.

How I Practice Taking Five

"Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They're just braver five minutes longer." - Ronald Reagan

There are countless good ways to change your story for the better, five minutes at a time.
 
Here are a few I practice:

• Exercise: Take a five-minute walk. Take a break. Move around and get some oxygen to your brain. Grab the Sworkit app and take on any of the five-minute exercises (cardio, strength, and my favorite, yoga) within. Next to a nap, this is the best way to hit the Reset Button on your emotions and energy during the day.
• 10 Ideas: Grab a copy of Claudia Altucher’s Become An Idea Machine on Kindle, download it to your smartphone, and change your life for the better five minutes at a time. Reading Idea Machine and implementing its wisdom and daily exercises has pumped up my creative problem solving muscle. I was a huge skeptic about the benefits, but all my mentors were raving about it, so I finally gave it a test run. I’ve been blown away. Like meditation, journaling, and the like, it’s amazing how much gain can be had in life and business from such a small practice.
• Read One Chapter: Keep a motivational book handy, preferably with short chapters, and work your way through it one small chunk at a time. I always have a few books on my desk at work I can grab for inspiration (Peace Is Every Step and Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff are great for day job stresses). But my next-level upgrade has been downloading a few such books to the Kindle app on my phone, and taking a bite out of them when I have a few minutes. This beats the heck out of jumping on Facebook or Instagram for that same time, which scientifically hurts more than it helps.
• Say Thank You: Write a thank-you card. This is one of the lowest-cost, highest-yield, most long-forgotten practices to invite good fortune into your life. Thank-you cards are big opportunities because they are so little used anymore. They’re unexpected and authentic, personal and attentive, which makes them a powerful tool to reinforce the relationships in your life. Thank your boss. Thank your boss’ boss. Thank your checker at the grocery store (protip: thank the manager for the service the checker provided, and ask the manager to share your thanks with them). Thank your clients. Thank your tax preparer. Thank your spouse. Thank your kids. One of the biggest side benefits is an attitude of gratitude, recognizing how many good people you have to be thankful for in your life.
• One E-mail: Shoot off one e-mail. Especially that one you’ve been avoidiing. Make sure it’s high-yield and worth the focused effort.
• One Phone Call: This is a stronger choice than e-mail if you want to make a deep and personal impact. Reading your words reaches people on one level, but hearing your voice is a big step up. Make this an important but not urgent call: a friend you’ve neglected, a parent or relative you haven’t talked to in a while, or someone you know could use a quick call to know they’re important. (Including your clients. When was the last time you checked in?)
• Write: Easy for an author like me to say! You can write your thoughts and feelings down on the page to help fend off ‘monkey mind,’ but a practice I’ve gained a lot from this year has been copying good copywriting. Search for “best copywriting letters” online, print off a few classics, and copy them by hand. This is an old-hat strategy in the copywriting world, and while you’re a visual artist, you’ll benefit personally and professionally from sharpening your ability to influence people with the written word. Copying good copywriting by hand helps maximize how much you’ll absorb about effective language, sound, word texture, rhythm, and voice.
• Health Check: Run down the quick list of things that are a boon to your body: drink a tall glass of water, make a cup of hot tea, stand up and stretch, walk around, exercise your eyes by looking at something in the far distance for a ten-count then middle distance for a ten-count, step outside and get fresh air in your lungs.
• Wash Your Face: This is a wonderful exercise to bring your mind and emotions back to the present. Go to the restroom, turn on the cold water, lean down and rest your elbows on the sink, and just let the water run over your hands. Remember when you were little and you'd do this in the bathtub? Just focus on the smooth, cool, flowing sensation. Be present to the moment and appreciate it. After a short time, lean further down and wash your face in the cool water. Not a quick splash and slap, but slowly, indulgently, with a deep breath. Slowly apply the water to the skin of your face and revel in the sensation, in the presence, in the rejuvenation. Do it a few times. Enjoy it - there's nowhere else you need to be, and nothing else you need to be doing. This is a lovely moment. Maybe I enjoy this way too much, but it's one of my absolute favorite ways to take five at the office.
• Declutter: I never used to care about clutter. But the more I meditate, the more I recognize how unsettled my cluttered desk makes me feel. Until you reach that state of calm and awareness, you don't really recognize how clutter raises stress and tension. It gives your brain too much to process, and every little thing that's out of place creates a "to-do task" in your mind, overfilling your already full cup. It's not like all this crap takes a long time to put away - you can make a huge dent in five minutes, or completely clear your desk if you're ruthless. These are all the things that collect in those moments when we were too busy or too tired or too distracted to make a decision about where they go and to get them there. Use your five minute practice to blast through clutter: do it, delegate it, defer it (put it where it belongs until you need it), or delete (trash) it.
• Meditate: Five minutes is a quick meditation, but like a good 15-minute nap, a lot of goodness can be packed into such a short time. It helps a great deal if you have some experience with meditation (I use the Headspace app for guided meditation), so you at least have a structure to work from. The short version: sit (I use my office chair); take deep breaths (in through your nose, out through your mouth); close your eyes; begin focusing inward by feeling your body's pressure on your chair and feet on the floor; acknowledge the sounds around you without focusing tightly on them; scan down through your body, head to toe, and acknowledge feelings or pain, stiffness, or relaxation (without judgment); focus on your breath, begin counting on your next in-breath, 1 in, 2 out, 3 in, 4 out... through 10, then start over; as thoughts come and you get distracted, gently catch yourself, and bring your focus back to your breath (there is no perfection to achieve, no failure; in fact, every time you catch yourself and bring yourself back, consider that like one rep in a good workout - you're making your brain stronger every time); do this for a few minutes, then reverse out of your inward focus: stop counting breaths, listen for sounds around you and acknowledge them, feel your body's contact with the chair and ground, then slowly open your eyes. If this process intimidates you, grab the Headspace app (free for 10 days) and make it an easy win.
• Affirmations & Visualizations: Especially if you didn't have time during your morning routine, give your affirmations and visualizations a five-minute reading. I am convinced that what really keeps us from our dreams is more the distraction of life than our lack of motivation to Do The Work. Repeating your affirmations and visualizations throughout the day keeps you empowered and purposeful. Not sure how to write these up? Give Hal Elrod's story-changing book The Miracle Morning a read.
• Tea Time: Make a cup of tea, either caffeinated for a little energy boost or decaffeinated (such as my favorite, Texas Gold Rooibos) for the flavor, calm, self-care, and of course, healthy perks. Take your time, enjoy the warmth, savor the scent and flavor, and know that you're building your body's ability to thrive and fend off illness.
• Be Grateful: Long a powerful part of good journaling, take five and make a list of things (especially people) that you're grateful for. Writing down just three things you're grateful for daily helps you become a happier person who recognizes more of the good things in your life worth being grateful for. Ever buy a new car and then it's like you see that car everywhere? Your brain thrives on patterns, and if you train it to recognize things and people worth being grateful for, you'll start to see them everywhere.
• Check In: Text a friend or relative to let them know you're thinking about them. Facebook and social media trick us into thinking everyone we know has friends, has fun, and feels 'seen' - but in fact, most people are just as lonely and down on themselves as you and I can be. Around 40 percent of Americans identify themselves as lonely. As you scroll through your Facebook timeline, your Instagram feed, or your contact list, count: 1, 2, and stop. Odds are that person feels lonely (regardless of how big a smile they feature in their selfie, or how perfect their life looks from the outside). Now do it again. And again. Surprising, isn't it? Recognize how the free gift of your attention and a quick text message can make all the difference in their day.
• Get Pumped: Just type "motivational video" into YouTube and you'll get as much pumped up inspiration as you could ask for. Start with the most popular videos and work your way down. From great speeches, to athletic feats, to military grit, to stories of people overcoming huge adversity, you'll walk away with your fire well-stoked. (here's one of my favorites)
• Laugh: Laughter is fine medicine, and we don't make enough time for it. There are countless less-than-five-minute comedy clips on YouTube. A few of my personal favorites: Dane Cook, Louis CK, and Ron White (zero percent of which are office appropriate; have your headphones nearby).
• One Shot: In the digital age, it's common practice to motor drive your way to a good photograph (I've sure done it, too). But there's real value in slowing down, deeply considering, thinking harder, and getting the shot you want by design instead of by luck. Spend one minute choosing your subject (extra credit for thinking abstract, such as an idea, story, emotion, or moment, instead of an object), four minutes studying it and considering the shot, then 1/200th of a second making the image. Then put the camera down and walk away... You'll be excited to come back later and see what you got, and you won't go immediately into self-editing and self-judgment mode. Let the image rest and build up some positive tension. Occasionally, flip the script: make an immediate, gut-level, snap decision as to your subject, and then spend five minutes making as many images from as many angles and perspectives (both literal and conceptual) as possible. Shoot like hell, really work the subject, and then put your camera down and walk away. Your images will be there when you come back.
• Make a List: Make a list of things you can do in five minutes. Keep this list handy, and add to it often (especially with the fruits of your 10 Ideas idea machine practice) so you always have a great selection of actions you can take to change your story for the better, five minutes at a time.

Do This, Not That

"We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right." - Nelson Mandela

When I began my Five Minute practice:

• I stopped letting my life slip by five wasted minutes at a time, and I started taking every five-minute break as an opportunity to move the needle on my life, art, and business.
• I stopped playing games on my phone, and started reading (and finishing) books, one chapter at a time.
• I stopped not making time for the little things, and started sending those thank-you cards, texting people I cared about, and reaching out to my circle to let them know they're important.
• I stopped spending my day sedentary in front of computers, and started getting five minutes of movement, exercise, fresh air, and breathing every chance I found.
• I stopped letting The Resistance distract me from my dreams, and started proactively fighting back by keeping my affirmations, visualizations, and Why in the forefront of my heart and mind.
• I stopped allowing clutter to build up on my desk, and started putting every thing in its place, freeing my mind from the daily clog of mental to-do's clutter causes.
• I stopped letting my camera collect dust, and started clicking that shutter at least once each and every day.

If you've read this far but still doubt the power five minutes can hold, at least test this for the next 30 days:

Get a box of thank-you cards and a roll of stamps. Hand-write and mail out one each day, to everyone from friends and family to clients and the people you do business with (your banker, your barber, your tax preparer, your photography mentor or hero). Any of the above practices can change your story for the better, but this one is the perfect mix of personal and professional, internal and external, to get the most mileage out of your five minutes.

So what happened with my wife, father, and myself?

My yet-born son jammed his foot into my wife's liver, causing her incredible pain and forcing her into labor. He was born the next day Jan. 2, 2007, healthy and happy, and my wife came through like a champ as always.

My father had fallen, and had to use his medic alert bracelet to call for help. EMS got there before I did, helped him into bed and checked him out, finding him weak but in good shape. He lost his battle with lung cancer a few months later.

I blacked out at the gym, but after waking, slowly recovered and got myself up and home. A good day of rest and an "a-okay" from the doctor, with the advice to take it easier at the gym, and I was back in action.

Life lessons like these have taught me to appreciate the power in five minutes of time, and to make the most of it every time.

"How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?" - Dr. Seuss

This is Part 5 of my series: 9 practices to increase your productivity as a professional photographer

Read more here:

1. Essentialism
2. Evening Routine
3. Morning Routine
4. Mindfulness
5. Five Minutes
6. Kaizen
7. Time Blocking
8. What Gets Scheduled Gets Done
9. Imperfect Action

Like this series? Subscribe at the top-right of any page of this site to get all of my best stories and ideas in your Inbox.

Next Steps

• ACT: Because of how we perceive five minutes of time, this is a very easy post to nod your head to, say "Amen!," then do nothing with. Take any action with what you've learned here, but take it daily. Print this list and keep it handy for a quick reference. If you do keep a long list of potential five-minute actions, don't give yourself decision fatigue: choose violently. Don't dally and ponder and suffer perfectionism as you try to figure out which is the perfect five-minute action to take. Decide how you want to attack your five minute practice. Do you want to choose one action to repeat every opportunity? Maybe a list of three, prioritized, so you always take your highest-value action first? Or keep a long list and choose randomly for the adventure of it? Whatever you do, do it fast, and do it every time. With only five minutes to move the needle, you have seconds to make a decision, so make those decisions easy and painless.
• TEST: Go to the grocery store, set the timer on your phone for five minutes, grab two gallons of milk, hold them straight out away from your body, stand on one foot, and close your eyes... In the grocery store. You will never forget how long five minutes can be.
• BRAINSTORM: Get out your pen and paper. Write down every excuse running through your head right now as to why you shouldn't immediately write up or print out a list of five-minute practices you can employ, and begin this practice today. Fill a page up with excuses, look at how weak they are. Write WEAK in massive letters across the entire page, then rip it up and throw it in the trash. This one you won't file in your Brainstorms folder.
• SUBSCRIBE TODAY: It's my calling to help you earn your first $5,000 to $50,000 as a part time professional photographer. Don't miss out on my best stories and ideas: subscribe to my e-mail newsletter today at the top-right of any page of this site.
• DO THIS NOW: What's the biggest challenge holding you back today? E-mail me your answer (yes, right now!), and let's make a breakthrough.

---

by Outlaw Photographer James Michael Taylor

Productivity For Photographers: Mindfulness

January 10, 2016This is Life

“Life is a dance. Mindfulness is witnessing that dance.” - Amit Ray

I know, I hear you.

"Dangit James Michael, now I can understand how going to bed earlier and getting up earlier and focusing on important work can raise my productivity, but mindfulness? Meditation? Presence? What's this woo-woo voodoo got to do with staying productive toward my dream of professional photography?"

Time is precious.

But presence is powerful.

One of the most insidious forms of The Resistance is that of distraction.

Not the obvious stuff: constant e-mail dings, Facebook notifications, and that coworker who's never around until you're working on deadline.

Distraction is the slippery, slithering snake in the thicket: you see it when you come across your to-do list from three months ago (last year?) and recognize how long it's been since you even thought about your dreams. You skipped your morning routine, had a spat with your spouse, and then went off the rails for months.

E-mail and Facebook will distract you for hours. That annoying coworker? Minutes.

But The Resistance will distract you forever, if you let it, or the over-and-over-again equivalent if left unchecked.

Mindfulness is the hydrogen bomb in the scorched earth campaign against distraction.

Mindfulness is hard, though.

It takes proactivity, purpose, prioritization; slowness, stillness; awareness.

Especially when we already feel like there's no time to waste, it's a big ask to stop and look around and think.

But consider it this way:

Life - job, family, friends, passion work, community - demands you put the pedal to the metal seven days a week.

Before long, you're going 90-to-nothing. You know you're getting somewhere, but you have no idea where that somewhere is, or if it's where you wanted to go in the first place.

Mindfulness is the act of hitting the brakes, pulling over, and checking the GPS.

"You're certainly busy... But is what you're busy with taking you where you want to be in life?

"Going further down a road you don't want to be on just because you're already pretty far down it doesn't take you closer to where you want to be, does it?"

"Where are you, where do you want to be, and what change in course do you need to make to get there?"

Over and over, I'd get serious, get committed, and set goals for myself. Health goals, photography goals, business goals, fatherhood goals, husband goals, employee goals. Something would shake me up (a mini-Harajuku moment), I'd get mad and get my to-do list out, and get back on track.

For a day. Maybe a week, at the most.

Three months later...

"Now I'm mad and motivated and I'm gonna get this stuff done! Where'd I put that to-do list..."

Years.

For years I repeated this cycle of get serious, make a plan, then get distracted from everything I was so desperate to achieve.

The Resistance had an easy time of it with me.

Maybe you're sitting there, shaking your head, recognizing how easy a target you've become as well.

If so, this is for you.

Why Mindfulness?

"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live." - Marcus Aurelius

• Mindfulness raises your level of consciousness. Most of our fellow human beings get up, go to work, come home, go through the motions, and go to sleep; all with a general sense of ennui. They're zombies. They don't think. They aren't conscious. They lack purpose, awareness. Everything they do today is to survive with no risk or pain so they can get up tomorrow and do it again. Mindfulness gives you agency over your life, so that you can live with passion and purpose.
• Insidious distraction pulls you silently away from your purpose. Living with mindfulness is as close to "seeing the Matrix" as you can get: when you're conscious, aware, and present, it's like The Resistance is an absurd pickpocket trying to lift your wallet from your hands right in front of your face. "I see you" stops distraction cold in its tracks.
• When you're mindful, you're able to evaluate every action, every choice, for the value it brings (or doesn't) to your life. You retake agency over your choices. As your butt hits the couch, instead of settling in for four hours of The Walking Dead, you bounce right back up. "Nope! I know what's going to happen here! I'm going to grab my camera, hit up the park, snap some portraits, practice the lighting techniques I've been reading about, come back and process and post those shots for critique in my photography group, THEN I'll settle in for an hour of Netflix."
• Mindfulness lets you recognize what quadrant of productivity you're in, and shift your time and choices and actions back into the Important and Not Urgent zone. This is where almost every story-changing action will take place. time spent here will greatly accelerate your progress toward the life, art, and business you dream of.
• Mental and emotional padding - breathing room and flexibility mostly earned through meditation practice - is a powerful result of living mindfully. Without that margin, you live in a constant state of reaction: as soon as something unexpected happens, you become angry, upset, distraught, discouraged, confused, and frustrated. You become raw. You react too fast, and poorly. You're stressed. You're on edge. The slightest things set you off. Raising my hand here, because even in the good place I'm in now, I still get reactionary when I lose perspective. This is the angry text message you wish you hadn't sent, or those times you snapped at a coworker or friend or family member because you were having a bad day. Mindfulness gives you the margin you need to stop, breathe, and choose your reaction - both internally and outwardly.
• They say time is your greatest gift, but without presence, it's just empty wrapping paper. Mindfulness is about being present. Attention. Focus. Caring. The most charismatic people in the world are masters of presence, making the person to whom they're speaking feel like there's no one else in the room, and no place they'd rather be. Being present at work is a blessing to your boss, your coworkers, your clients, and your work. Being present at home is a blessing to your family and enables a future with fewer regrets. And being present with your passion work, your art, your business, and your self, is a blessing to you and everyone you touch through your professional photography. The time is going to be spent either way; get in alignment, and get present, so you can enjoy each moment to the fullest.

Want to know why this is so hard?

Because so long as you're living in a state of unconscious, purposeless distraction, you have excuses.

You put on 50 pounds. "I didn't realize I gained so much weight. It's like I looked in the mirror one day, and there it was!"

You go three months without touching your camera. "I've been so, so busy. I just haven't had time to shoot."

You go three years without launching your business. "I hate this job, I hate my boss, but I've got to pay the bills. I'm just waiting for the right time."

When you know what you're doing (which you do), and know the consequences of your choices (which you do), you have no excuse for doing what's easy instead of what's right.

But no matter how much doing the right thing would bring health, prosperity, and real, lasting happiness, we still choose poorly.

How many pizzas and cheeseburgers did it take for me to realize I was going to die 10, 20, 40 years too young?

How many months did I have to ignore my camera to recognize the distance I was putting between today and the art I wanted to make?

How much time did I have to spend on low-yield activities before realizing I would never get to launch by doing the easy busywork?

How long did it take me to stop being scared, to overcome my limiting beliefs (which were all in my head), and realize what a blessing my work is for my clients and community?

It's fear. It's The Resistance. It's distraction. It's waste.

And it's okay.

Because the time I lost was a check I had to write to pay for the mindfulness I now enjoy. It's a small price to pay to live the rest of my life consciously, and purposefully.

The same goes for you.

No matter how deeply you're feeling the regret of those lost years, the greatest failure is to not choose differently now that you're aware. Even with this feeling of loss, be grateful - grateful that now you know, now you're aware, and now you won't allow another day to go by without taking control over your future.

How I Practice Mindfulness

"Mindfulness helps us freeze the frame so that we can become aware of our sensations and experiences as they are, without the distorting coloration of socially conditioned responses or habitual reactions." - Henepola Gunaratana

Morning Routine
My morning routine is the first line of defense against distraction each day.

Being up early gives me time to breathe, think, and reconnect with my Why.

Mix in some affirmations, visualization, exercise and motivational reading, and my attitude for the day shifts from "There's no way," to "I can totally do this!"

Meditation
Meditation, even just 10 minutes a day, gives me an almost supernatural amount of mental and emotional padding.

It gives me so much emotional and mental padding that I can truly practice an observing mind and take control of my reactions to whatever life throws at me.

This is especially valuable in a day job work environment fraught with distraction, and with young kids at home. Instead of feeling like I'm a victim of life, I recognize and exercise my agency, controlling what I can while letting go emotionally of what I can't.

Focus
If getting off track was a competitive sport, you and I might just make the Olympics.

Ever sat down at the computer to practice your Photoshop skills, then looked up to see four hours have disappeared? Ever "checked Facebook real quick" for an hour? Maybe two?

The Pomodoro Technique is useful for more than just getting started on a big task. I set timers (in Chrome and on my phone) regularly throughout the day - at work, at the coffee shop, at home - to check in with myself and ask the mindfulness question of, "Is this the best use of your time?"

If you get distracted easily, set a timer for every 15 minutes. The more I've practiced this (and eliminated digital distractions), the less I need to rely on timers to bring me back to course.

Kill Notifications
Cleaning the slate is a scary, but powerful exercise.

Set aside an hour to go through and turn off every push notification on your phone and computer, and don't turn on your e-mail until your daily scheduled e-mail time. As soon as that time is up, turn off your e-mail program and don't look at it again until the next scheduled time (start with twice a day and work down to one, or start with one and see if you need two).

This was one of the most powerful choices I made as a notification-distraction-junkie.

I used to love it (and look immediately) when my phone would ding with a new notification. Someone liked my post! Someone followed me on Instagram! Breaking news out of Kazakhstan!

There are exceptions to this, such as if your job IS to quickly respond to e-mails - but for most folks, being immediately accessible is a choice, not a necessity. (If it's truly important, don't worry: they'll call.)

First Things First
You have to get your time, mind, and priorities in alignment before you can have peace in the present.

This is one of the superpowers bestowed through early rising and a consistent morning routine. Take care of your self and your dream work first every day, so that when you're at work or with friends and family, you're free to be present and attentive and grateful. So long as you're putting your needs and your dreams off to serve everyone else's needs, you will constantly suffer a state of misalignment, leading to distraction, disgruntle, and resentment.

I spent so much time angry at work and distracted at home before I learned this. It kills me to consider all the time I spent in the presence of my kids, but checked out and ungrateful, because my mind was on all the other things I "should" have been doing. My time was being invested either way; why waste it with distraction?

Slow Down
It is a constant battle for me to slow...down...

Again with my young kids, I used to always be dragging them on to the next thing. They wanted to stop, and look, and explore, and play... But we had a schedule to keep! Things to do! Errands to run! We have to hurry up and get to the playground so we can hurry up and play so we can hurry up to go home and hurry up and watch a movie and hurry through baths and into bed so we can hurry up and call it a good day!

Then I read one blogger's post about slowing down to your children's pace, and learning to appreciate their wonder with the world.

A child will spot a ladybug on a flower, stop in their tracks, squat down to get a closer look, and just watch and wonder in awe. As Thich Nhat Hanh teaches, peace is every step.

Derek Sivers tells the story to Tim Ferriss that he used to cycle like a bat out of hell, huffing and puffing, head down and dead set on maximum speed throughout. He taught himself to hate cycling.

So one day he took the same bike path he always did, but sat up, rode casually, looked around and enjoyed every moment of the experience. When he got home and checked his watch, he'd lost only two minutes on a 45-minute ride.

The difference between making his life miserable and making it beautiful was about 4%.

Sivers said he has never looked at life or business the same way since.

The Observing Mind
If you've ever gotten snippy with a coworker or gone to work after a spat with your spouse, you know that emotional turmoil can wreck 100% of your productivity.

How can you learn to bounce back, or better yet, not get worked up in the first place?

Talking about the Observing Mind is as far afield into Woo Woo Land as I'll take you guys. I know I'm already asking a lot with recommendations of meditation and turning off your Facebook notifications (!!!).

With meditation comes emotional margin - you get some space, some time to react, between what life throws at you and how you respond.

The observing mind is your higher intellect recognizing that space, recognizing the emotions in play, and choosing what to do with them. Thomas Sterner explains this more clearly and practically than I ever could in his book, The Practicing Mind.

When I talk about fear and embarrassment and other 'negative' emotions as being energy, energy you can use to fuel positive progress, I'm encouraging you to recognize those emotions for what they are and make better use of them than self-destruction.

This is the observing mind in action.

Life and love and work and the boss and clients are going to throw you curveballs, that's guaranteed.

But with practicing an observing mind, they don't so easily bump you off track.

Do This, Not That

"Mindfulness helps you go home to the present. And every time you go there and recognize a condition of happiness that you have, happiness comes." - Thich Nhat Hanh

When I began practicing mindfulness:

• I stopped being a victim of life's distractions, and started recognizing and exercising the control I have over my life.
• I stopped living in misalignment, feeling the pull and pressure to constantly be somewhere else doing something else, and started enjoying the incredible peace and gratitude that comes with being present - at work, at practice, at home.
• I stopped making excuses for not making progress on my dreams, and started taking baby steps which over time have brought me farther than I could have ever dreamed in my passion work.
• I stopped feeling pressured to rush and be busy, and started slowing down to check my 'map' and make sure I'm on the right path to the success I dream of.
• I stopped wishing for the miracle of 'change' to show up in my life and make things better, and started claiming agency over my life.
• I stopped being distracted and disgruntled, and started being grateful for every opportunity to live, breathe, love, and choose.

I know a lot of what I'm writing about in this productivity series isn't unique to photographers, but it is fairly universal to human beings.

Could you not use an extra two hours a day to work on your self, your needs, and your dreams?

Would having some emotional and mental margin help you to spend more time choosing your life instead of reacting to it?

Do the distractions of life and technology ever take you off your chosen course toward your dreams?

Do you ever feel like there's somewhere else you should be, or something else you should be doing, to the detriment of your happiness and your relationships?

Do you stay busy rushing through life, but get no closer to your dreams each day / month / year?

Are you tired? Tired of feeling like everything isn't what it's supposed to be, and that universe conspires to stop you from making the art and launching the business and living the life you want?

Mindfulness, and all the practices in this productivity series, are what you need to heal yourself and thrive.

No matter how much you feel ineffective or like a failure, today you are wiser, and it's within your control to apply that wisdom to better your life.

We all have the same time, the same 24 hours in a day.

How you spend it is your choice.

So choose better.

“Andrew Carnegie famously put it. There’s nothing shameful about sweeping. It’s just another opportunity to excel—and to learn. But you, you’re so busy thinking about the future, you don’t take any pride in the tasks you’re given right now. You just phone it all in, cash your paycheck, and dream of some higher station in life. Or you think, This is just a job, it isn’t who I am, it doesn’t matter. Foolishness. Everything we do matters—whether it’s making smoothies while you save up money or studying for the bar—even after you already achieved the success you sought.” - Ryan Holiday

This is Part 4 of my series: 9 practices to increase your productivity as a professional photographer

Read more here:

1. Essentialism
2. Evening Routine
3. Morning Routine
4. Mindfulness
5. Five Minutes
6. Kaizen
7. Time Blocking
8. What Gets Scheduled Gets Done
9. Imperfect Action

Like this series? Subscribe at the top-right of any page of this site to get all of my best stories and ideas in your Inbox.

Next Steps

• SCHEDULE IT: Set your alarm 10 minutes early tomorrow if you're not already practicing a morning routine, and put on your calendar for that time, "Meditation."
• HEADSPACE: As the man in the app says, Get Some Headspace. I've tried reading books about meditation and then practicing it, but I had zero consistency in my practice until I got the Headspace app. The guided meditations were exactly what I needed to commit to a specific length of time and stay focused without allowing distraction (and a raging lack of presence) to carry my monkey mind away.
• CHEAT: Don't rely on your overtaxed brain to "just remember" to stop and smell the roses. Use your phone, use a browser extension, use an egg timer; whatever you choose, use it to remind you to check in with yourself on a regular basis. If you're easily distracted, set the timer for 15 minutes; if less so, try an hour or 90 minutes. Just keep asking yourself: "Am I living in the past (depression), future (anxiety), or present (gratitude)? And is this the most valuable use of my time?"
• BRAINSTORM SESSION: Get out your pen and paper. Think back on earlier today, or all of yesterday. What negative emotions did you feel? What triggered them? Were any the result of being stuck in the past, or anxious about something in the future (that may or may not ever happen)? Did you perceive someone slighted you? Are you feeling any negative emotions right now? What are they? Why are you feeling them? Are any of them rooted in a negative experience right here, right now, in the present? If not, why are you wasting your time and happiness on them? File this away in your Brainstorms folder.
• SUBSCRIBE TODAY: It's my calling to help you earn your first $5,000 to $50,000 as a part time professional photographer. Don't miss out on my best stories and ideas: subscribe to my e-mail newsletter today at the top-right of any page of this site.
• DO THIS NOW: What's the biggest challenge holding you back today? E-mail me your answer (yes, right now!), and let's make a breakthrough.

---

by Outlaw Photographer James Michael Taylor

9 practices to increase your productivity as a professional photographer

December 14, 2015This is Life

There are a smidge over 85 million productivity tips on the Internet.

(I Googled, just to be sure.)

There's a trap here:

When confronted with overwhelming options, what do our brains do?

Nothing.

We lose focus, we lose inspiration, and we fall back on routine.

"What got you here won't get you there." - Marshall Goldsmith

Success boiled down to its most base practice becomes habit. What we do daily lays stone in the foundation of our dreams.

When I asked you awesome PTP readers to describe what's holding you back, Time was well behind Confidence and a step ahead of Money.

I sat down and identified the 9 most powerful practices I employ daily to enjoy peace and productivity while balancing family, friends, day job, photography, business, writing, coaching, and re-creation.

Kicking off this nine-week series with practice numero uno:

1. Essentialism

No amount of recovered time or increased productivity matters if you don't get important things done.

The Covey Quadrants give you a visual method to judge actions and reactions: Urgent to Not Urgent, Important to Unimportant. The story-changing stuff happens in the Important but Not Urgent quadrant; getting practice behind the camera, handshake marketing, volunteering, self-care, healthy meal planning and prep, physical activity, meditation - all the things we know we'd benefit from if we did them, but we rarely prioritize.

Because of other people's urgency, their crises become our crises if we let them. This is where the Urgent and Unimportant meet, and where we spend the vast majority of our time. This is where we live a reactionary, stagnant, disappointing life.

The practice of Essentialism - and this is all just practice, there is no perfection to achieve here - is the pattern-interrupt I needed to get off the hamster wheel of life.

You practice saying No. You practice defaulting to No for everything except those rare opportunities that come along where your heart screams, "Hell yes!" You create margin in your life so you can breathe, so you can think, so you can grow and act with purpose.

Have you ever felt overworked but underperforming? Are you busy all the time but make little to no tangible progress on your life goals?

Essentialism is the medicine you need.

Greg McKeown wrote the book on Essentialism. His is the most succinct explanation of the purpose and practice of Essentialism.

At its core, Essentialism has you ask of every investment of your time no matter how large or small, "Is what I'm doing the most productive, valuable use of my time?"

Here are some examples of how Essentialism looks like in my life:

Say No To Everything

I now say no to everything by default. Do I want to judge the county fair barbecue contest? No. Do I want to go to the movies Saturday? No. Do I have time to talk about XYZ report? No. Can I make the 10 a.m. meeting on cyber security? No.

Let me be clear: I'm not a horse's arse about it. There are many ways to say No in a way that redirects the question or gives you breathing room to properly consider the request:

"Oh man, you're killing me. I love barbecue; but the Fair is Saturday, right? I'd love to, but I have another commitment that I can't get out of... I know, I'll see if I can get out of it, but as of right now I have to say no. If that changes, I'll get in touch with you."

"Movies Saturday? I know I've got another commitment. Let me get on my calendar at the office tomorrow and see if I can move it around. I'll let you know by lunchtime, is that alright?"

"I can't right now, I'm elbows deep in Project ABC and if I let go it's going to take me an hour to get back up to speed. E-mail me the report and your questions and I'll get back to you faster, or we can schedule some time tomorrow; either way, e-mail me and I'll take care of it."

"Can you e-mail me the agenda for the meeting? I'm deep into Project ABC right now, and if I break away from it, it's going to delay the project by that much time. Let me look at the agenda and get back to you this afternoon."

Default to No. The more you do it, the more practice you get at deftly redirecting or declining the request. You can always defer to your schedule and blame previous commitments.

Your photography study and practice is a commitment.

Your gym time is a commitment.

Your "you time" is a commitment.

And it's nobody's business what your commitments are. You are committed to your self, a lifestyle of your design, and the dreams you're working toward.

If you don't choose what you do with your time, someone else will.

Learn so say No to the good so you can say Hell Yes to the great.

Do This, Not That

Once I took back my time by learning to say No to the unessential, I had to figure out what is essential to living my best life.

There's low-hanging fruit in everyone's lives: mine were television (so many great series on Netflix, so little time...), non-quality time with the family (usually in front of the TV again), and mindless scrolling through Facebook and Instagram.

• I stopped watching television, and I started watching classes and tutorials on CreativeLive and YouTube. Everyone learns differently, and different media engage different parts of our brains; don't limit yourself to just books, just videos, or just podcasts.
• I stopped watching a dozen YouTube videos in a row without even thinking, and I started watching one video at a time and taking violent action based on what I learned (immediately practicing, testing, experimenting, changing, bettering, writing, sharing, growing).
• I stopped checking social media and living vicariously through my "friends," and I started living a life worth talking about: meeting people, making art, collaborating with other artists and makers and dreamers, and using social media with pinpoint purpose to reinforce those real-world relationships (protip: "unfollow" everyone, then add back only the people who inspire, motivate, and change you) (protip #2: how about you only 'check' social media every time you have something awesome to share, first?).
• I stopped reading any book, and I started reading THE book; the book that holds the most promise for story-changing growth in my life as an artist, business owner, and human being. I love to read three books at one time, but they're three exceptional books recommended by my heroes and mentors on topics I most need to make breakthroughs in my work and life. The Half Price Books clearance rack and local library book sales will fill your shelves with books that never change your life for the better - speaking from experience, here.
• I stopped reading blogs every day, and I started reading books to inform my art and business strategies, then referenced blogs for the most efficient and effective tactics to execute on those strategies. Instead of reading one book for every 50 to 100 blog posts I'd consume, I'm now enjoying one to three blog posts building upon every book I read.
• I stopped listening to every episode of a few podcasts, and I started listening to a few episodes of a lot of great podcasts. Kind of like with my books, I've become very picky about which episodes of which podcasts I listen to. It's a consumer's market: there are way more amazing podcasts out there than one person can listen to, so only listen to the very best episodes of the very best podcasts that change you for the better.
• I stopped listening mostly to podcasts, and I started listening evenly between podcasts and audiobooks. Like my shift from reading too many blogs and too few books, I've balanced my listening between the best of the best of the podcasts I love and audiobooks that extend my knowledge far deeper in the areas I'm trying to improve in my work and life.
• I stopped prioritizing everything but my health and wellness, and I started scheduling meal prep and exercise on my calendar and honoring those commitments like I would in service to anyone important in my life.
• I stopped spending mindless time with friends and family, and I started scheduling quality time with them. By now we all know that the quality of our relationships makes the biggest impact on our happiness and human beings. Going to dinner and the movies or playing video games with your besties is always a good time, but it's too easy to default to these low-engagement, low-yield activities that eat up an entire Saturday night. Double-down on your activities: go hiking or take in a workout class together, cook a great meal together, road trip or travel together, go camping together, go hunting or fishing together, go volunteer together, and take your camera every single time. Make memories, not excuses.
• I stopped wasting my life on anything that I would regret on my death bed, and I started living a life I would be proud to look back on in my final days. As Dr. Stephen Covey teaches, start with the end in mind. What do you want written on your tombstone? What do you want people to say at your funeral? What will be the legacy that you leave behind? What should you do today - small, purposeful baby steps - to get closer to those life goals?

For my list of all the best books, podcasts, magazines, audiobooks, people and places I turn to to inform my life for the better, subscribe to my e-mail newsletter at the top-right of any page of this site and you'll get your free copy of my eBook, The 101 Resources I Wish I Had When I Started As A Professional Photographer. If you're already a subscriber, just drop me an e-mail and I'll send you back a copy of my ebook.

This is Part 1 of my series: 9 practices to increase your productivity as a professional photographer

Read more here:

1. Essentialism
2. Evening Routine
3. Morning Routine
4. Mindfulness
5. Five Minutes
6. Kaizen
7. Time Blocking
8. What Gets Scheduled Gets Done
9. Imperfect Action

Like this series? Subscribe at the top-right of any page of this site to get all of my best stories and ideas in your Inbox.

Next Steps

• Read Up: Grab a copy of Greg McKeown's Essentialism. The topics of productivity and making the best use of your time are age-old, but nothing has helped my adopt these vital changes in my life more than Greg's book. He lays out the Why and How with wonderful, motivational clarity. It takes the concept from the clouds into our modern, to-do-list-driven lives.
• Clean The Slate: Go over your schedule and list every time commitment you've made outside of your day job responsibilities. List every project you've agreed to help with, every church play, every non-profit function, every weekly poker night, every social function, every party, every musician friend's show... Everything. Now, what if you eliminated all of it and invested that time into making your dreams come true? Just look at the list, look at the time you're spending on everything but your dreams, and consider the progress you could make if you had all that time back. I'm not saying volunteer work and poker nights aren't important - I absolutely believe in the holistic cycle of creation and recreation - but rebuild your schedule from a clean slate, and work your way out of every commitment that isn't truly serving your purposefully-designed life.
• Brainstorm Session: Get out your pen and paper. Taking inspiration from my Do This, Not That list above, in what arenas of your life can you upgrade how you invest your time? File this away in your Brainstorms folder.
• Subscribe Today: It's my calling to help you earn your first $5,000 to $50,000 as a part time professional photographer. Don't miss out on my best stories and ideas: subscribe to my e-mail newsletter today at the top-right of any page of this site.
• Do This Now: What's the biggest challenge holding you back today? E-mail me your answer (yes, right now!), and let's make a breakthrough.

by Outlaw Photographer James Michael Taylor