Take the Nine Hour Challenge and Reboot Your Productivity

I challenge you to devote nine hours in the next nine days to breathing new life into your productivity. Just one hour per day for nine days.

Image by Ed Schipul

Sometimes we get into a rut with the way we are using our time and energy. This nine-day challenge is designed to help you break out of your productivity rut.

The goal behind the nine-hour challenge is not just to accomplish whatever you might accomplish during these nine hours. Ideally, you'll renew and inspire yourself in ways that will unblock your productivity in the future, opening the way to change how you approach your work and your life.

Here are the nine hours of challenges.

One hour for you

The more vibrant and whole you are, the better you can do your work and care for others. Plus, you are simply worth taking care of. Knowing this is not the same as practicing it, a distinction I myself know all too well. So here is an hour for you to practice.

Invest one hour doing passionately fierce or sweetly gentle self-nurture. In what way have you been most neglecting to take care of yourself? What has your body, mind, heart or soul been craving? What have you been avoiding because you miss it so much that you fear the pain of starting only to stop? What did you used to do and love that has somehow slipped to the eternal bottom of your list?

Do you need to dance like a maniac in your living room? Go for a hike in nature? Take a long bath and read a trashy novel? Make a healthy meal or go to the gym? Call the best friend whose jokes make you laugh out loud? Enjoy your hobby or make some art? Take your journal to the park or coffeeshop and dream with your pen? Go to a yoga class? Pray or meditate? Some combination of all of the above? Go do it, for an hour.

Is your self-care so out-of-whack (or maybe just so totally awesome!) that nothing comes to mind? Try taking a moment for yourself and see what your intuition prompts you to do next.

One hour of exciting work

What project gets you talking a mile a minute every time you think of it? What idea gets you misty-eyed and daydreamy when you ponder making it real? Choose a project that might or might not be on your actual list of active projects right now, but it's the most passionate and exciting piece of work you could do.

It doesn't have to be something big and meaningful. It could be something small and frivolous, too silly to normally spend time on. Whatever it is, spend an hour working on it and try to have fun. If your project is just in the idea stages, you can start by brainstorming and outlining, but try to spend at least part of your hour making something tangible and visible that you can show to another person in some way.

One hour of making space

What can you cross off your to-do list that is obsolete, no longer important, or so low-priority that you know in your heart you'll never get to it? Cross off everything on your to do-list that you know you won't or shouldn't do.

What requests in your inbox can you say no to or choose to actively ignore and delete? What stuff do you have in piles that you can file or at least box up until you do file them so that you can reclaim your desk or floor? What else can you find to say no to? What other clutter can you let you go?

Letting go of the things that don't belong in your life makes room for you to do more of what matters.

One hour spring-cleaning your to-do list

What are the persnickety little things that are important, non-urgent and piling up? Get yourself set to sprint through the small stuff and trim your to-do list down to size again with a novel strategy: focusing purely on number of items and how you can zing through a bunch of small tasks quickly.

This time isn't about getting things done because they are important, but simply making the number of tasks you are tracking smaller to free up still more space for more important matters.

One hour facing your fear

I'm challenging you now to spend one hour working on the project or task that most fills you with dread... to the point that you have been desperately avoiding it. You know it's important, perhaps vitally so, and you want the results that will come from taking care of it. Yet you are ignoring it out of fear, hoping against hope that the dreadful task will somehow just go away by itself.

Spend on hour working on this project, whatever it is. You don't have to finish it, merely work steadily at it for one hour. Tell your fear that you are doing this only for one hour. If you feel anxiety rise up, take deep breaths. It's okay to feel fear, but for this hour, you are choosing to make progress on this work despite these difficult emotions.

Commit yourself to one hour of forward momentum. Ask yourself, what is the very next single thing that I need to do to move this forward? And if you finish that task, ask again, until you've spent an hour or you are finished, whichever comes first. Sometimes you will be surprised that an hour can make so much progress on a task that loomed so large in your psyche. Forward motion can release an astonishing amount of power.

I know this is the hardest hour I am challenging you to complete. You can do this, for just an hour. And it will be worth it. You will feel so much lighter afterwards.

One hour investing in the bottom line.

What is the one thing you could do that would directly improve your cash flow in the near-term? (If you're not self-employed, what's the one thing you could do that would improve your company's cash flow or otherwise really delight your boss? Or what's the one thing you could do to bring more income into your household or easily cut expenses in the near-term?)

Again, if the task that would accomplish this goal will take more than an hour, that is okay. You don't need to finish it right now. Simply sit down and make an hour of solid forward progress.

Keep asking yourself, how can I move this forward? You might find that the one thing you can do will actually take you less than an hour. That's fine too. Sometimes small tasks that have large returns still get pushed to the bottom of the list. Take the time now to invest a bit in yourself financially.

One hour focusing on the future.

If you could choose one project that would have the biggest positive impact on your life or business in five years, what would you choose? Spend an hour dedicating your time and energy to moving that project forward. Again, you may choose to spend some of this time noodling about with ideas, but try to balance any brainstorming with taking action in the world.

One hour giving to others

Give the gift of time to your spouse/partner, a friend, your child, a neighbor, or someone you don't know. Find at least one way that you could devote a little more time than you normally do to making someone's day brighter. It might be making a phone call and being a good listener, doing a chore for someone, or going to an activity with someone.

Step back from the busy day-to-day world for a moment and enjoy the pleasure of an extra little dollop of generosity.

One hour making your systems more efficient.

Have you been meaning to create a filing system that will be faster to use? Set up filters in your email system to help you prioritize your inbox? Add some formulas to your expense tracking spreadsheet or revamp your email list manager? Get your address removed from commercial mailing lists to pare down your snail mail?

Whatever passing ideas you've had that would make life more efficient, jot them down and start working on them, one at a time. The only rule is that you must complete any given item from start to finish before moving down your list to another. No skipping around!

Once again, if you don't have time to finish your idea within the hour, that is okay. Just make an hour of progress.

The tenth hour

I encourage you to spend a tenth hour in reflection after you've completed your nine hours of work. Here are some starting places for learning from the challenge:

• What did you learn from each of the challenges?


• Does anything feel unblocked and freed up?


• Where did you feel unexpected ease, or surprising resistance?


• Are there parts of your life or work that you feel need more or less attention than you've been giving them?


• Do you have any projects or tasks that you want to let go, or take on, as a result of what you have learned?

Starting the challenge

If you're taking the challenge, commit to yourself. Set aside nine hours of time on your calendar right now. And come find me on Twitter, Google Plus or Facebook to let me know how it goes. I'll be doing the challenge too and will share some of my own experiences as well.

If you've found the nine-hour challenge helpful or intriguing, please click on the "share article" link at the bottom of this post and pass it on to your friends. Thoughts and impressions? Please share in the comments.

Content over Form: Get More Done by Focusing on Core Work

I hate it when I fall into a productivity trap I already knew about. Alas, learning about productivity doesn't make me perfect... darn!

Image by D. Sharon Pruitt

Within the past few months I've become frustrated with the glacial progress on a few of my big writing projects. I finally realized what was holding me up...a well-known foe I've seen many times in many forms, something I call pretending to work .

A blend of toddler-induced sleep deprivation and writer's block were taking the blame for a good long time, but eventually I noticed that I was focusing a lot of time and energy worrying about steps that were not core tasks to the endeavor of actual writing.

In this case, I was trying to figure out what's involved in formatting e-books and making them downloadable and purchasable on my website. That's going to be very important to figure out... but really, only after the thing is written.

I'm a holistic thinker so a certain amount of upfront time familiarizing myself with the end result I want only makes sense, but I had gone beyond that. I was worrying at the subject like a child with a loose tooth, using time that could have been devoted to actually writing. Anxiety about doing something new had tricked me into wasting a lot of time without even realizing that's what I was doing.

So my motto right now is content. Writing words on a page. No more outlines, no more learning about layout or file formats right now. The frustrations of trying to figure that out will look very different when I have a tangible product that needs the structure, rather than an outline. First content, then form.

The core work of writing is to write. So I am writing. Writing content. And as I weave the words together, slowly my project is finally beginning to take shape and grow solid. I'm not much of a fan of resolutions, but in 2012 the workbook I'm finally nurturing the right way is going to leap forth from the ground and blossom.

Have you ever found yourself accidentally (or not so accidentally!) spending time on form instead of content? Share your story in the comments.

Productivity Tips for Creatives from Anne Hubben (Interview)

Creative people have their own unique time management and productivity challenges. As a creative, how can you best support your productivity and manage your time to do meaningful creative work?

Image by Jelene Morris

I’ve asked Anne Hubben, a career and life coach for creatives, to share her thoughts about productivity and creativity.

Anne, thanks for joining me here on Tame Your Time. I'm looking forward to hearing your ideas.

What are some ways that you integrate creativity and fun into seemingly boring organizational tasks like to-do lists and filing?

For me personally, it's all about the paper and pens. It seems that my most tried and true method is a combination of a To Do list in a notebook that's with me throughout my work day, post-its and whatever pen I'm loving at the moment. Right now it's brightly colored Sharpies. I've tried various apps on my iPhone and iPad, but I always go back to paper.

For people with creative jobs, what are some good ways to still find enough creative energy for non-work-related creative pursuits?

I think that’s a struggle for many creative people. Especially in advertising. The work is demanding, and often the last thing a creative person wants to do is create more when they get home. 

As a result, they tend to need to recharge more than anything. Refill the well rather than putting out more creativity. That could be exercising or whatever they do to clear their heads. Or it could be going to a movie, theatre, an art opening, listening to music, or just being out in the world taking things in.

In your blog, you write a lot about satisfaction in one area of life impacting other aspects. Do you believe that productivity systems play that kind of role in the life of a creative person?

Discipline creates satisfaction, which supports productivity. The discipline to do one's craft each day, or to do something that cultivates energy to create. It could be yoga, meditation, running or writing in a journal.

Rituals are what nurture that discipline. Twyla Tharp describes the important of ritual beautifully in her book, The Creative Habit:

"It's vital to establish some rituals - automatic but decisive patterns of behavior - at the beginning of the creative process, when you are most at peril of turning back, chickening out, giving up, or going the wrong way."

That could be lighting a candle to write or making coffee or having a meeting with your assistant. It's something that signals that it's time to work.

Can you share any favorite ways for working on a creative project when you feel stuck or uninspired?

When I feel stuck, I usually go for a walk. I'm also inspired by nature. I walk my dogs a lot and that's when I often get good ideas. I also get them in yoga.

But, the main thing is to get away from whatever I'm trying to do and stop thinking about it. I go out into the world and pay attention to what's around me.

Any tips for creative people who want to be more productive and organized?

Just that there's no "right" way to organize things. You have to do what works for you. But, stay focused and keep it simple. Creative people have to keep distractions at a minimum when they're working.

Distractions are different for everyone. Music could motivate one person while it causes another one to drift and daydream. Just pay attention to what works, including when you have the most energy. There are definitely times of day when we're all more productive and others when it's useless to even try to get something done.

I believe that practicing good self-care is critical for both productivity and creativity. Are there any types of self-care that you feel are especially important for people who spend a lot of time and energy on creative activities?

I believe wholeheartedly in some form of exercise or meditation. When I'm not being regular with these things, I simply don't function as well. When I'm regularly doing yoga, I have so much more energy and even need less sleep.

Any other thoughts you'd like to share about productivity, time management or organization for creative folks?

The only other thing I would suggest is to read Twyla Tharp's book The Creative Habit [affiliate link]. Also, I love Steven Pressfield's book, The War of Art [affiliate link]. These are more for getting regular with your daily practice than organizing things. However, I think if you have a daily practice as a foundation, the organization tends to fall into place.

Thanks so much Anne!

Got your own productivity tips for creative types? Share them with us in the comments!

Anne Hubben is a career and life coach. She helps creatives find their own satisfaction—so they can go on to create lives of meaning and adventure. Learn more about Anne and her work over at The Satisfaction Quotient.