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About Janet Choi

Janet Choi is the Chief Creative Officer at iDoneThis and keeps the wheels of the iDoneThis blog turning. She is not a morning person. Follow her @lethargarian or on Google+.

Don’t Let Your Huge Goal Distract You from Small Wins

April 23, 2021 by Janet Choi 2 Comments

reaching for the sun

Go big or go home. Shoot for the stars. Aim high. Humans love to celebrate starting and finishing big goals but rarely take the time to savor the steps they took to get there. These grand statements could actually be holding you back because they distract you from all your small wins.

In the internet age, accomplishments seem larger than life because people rarely document the processes that got them to the finish line. We think small actions lead to small consequences, and grand motions have the most impact. But that’s not true.

We presume this “consequence-cause matching” because it helps the world seem more predictable and manageable. In return for believing this myth, we’re less happy and successful.

Doing one push-up a day, writing one line a day might seem easy and unambitious. But that’s how you build a practice and, ultimately, achieve a big goal. Celebrating small wins might seem silly, but each one is a step toward reaching big dreams.

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Filed Under: The Progress Principle, The Science of Productivity Tagged With: Goals, Progress, Self-Improvement, small wins

How to Master the Art of To-Do Lists by Understanding Why They Fail

January 25, 2021 by Janet Choi 36 Comments

A watch and a phone on a desk. The phone shows a "To Do" list.

The to-do list is an inescapable, age-old productivity tool. It is our very human attempt to create order in our disorderly lives and an expression of our ability to impose self-control. Most of us, including to-do list haters, keep one, and the fact is, they can work when you find the to-do method that works for you.

I don’t love to-do lists but found it odd that I still continue to use them. I sometimes worry they’re just a form of self-flagellation. Is my list-making just a futile exercise in productivity-flavored self-torture? Is the to-do list just a blunt instrument to wield in the quest for personal productivity and getting stuff done?

Am I actually achieving more in a given day because of my list? We went to the data from our users to find out.

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Filed Under: Company Culture, Done List, The Science of Productivity Tagged With: deadlines, done list, ej masicampo, I Done This, john tierney, laura king, list, Procrastination, Productivity, Productivity Tools, robert emmons, roy baumeister, tasks, to do, to-do, To-Do List, Willpower, willpower rediscovering the greatest human strength, zeigarnik effect

Why Work Loneliness Isn’t Just a Personal Problem, and What to Do About It

November 8, 2019 by Janet Choi 1 Comment

image Work is a social thing. It’s done with people, and at the very least, for people. At the same time, you are one person with a job to do. When those personal and social gears are out of alignment, when you’re not connecting with the people you spend so many hours a day with, you get lonely. Loneliness seems like such an intensely personal, private problem, but it’s much more than that. Loneliness and isolation is a collective issue. And at work, loneliness is yet another effect of the inadequate attention paid to the human side of getting stuff done together. Whether it’s the inertia of interacting with the same people every day in a way that’s unique from all your other relationships, there’s a prevailing sense that work is this realm where you just deal, that it’s not something that you can improve. While we understand the prioritization of personal friends and loved ones, we often miss out on meaningful interaction with the person down the hall, focus on growing our supposed professional network more than we look next to us to grow higher quality connections. That kind of thinking is unhealthy, unhelpful, and unproductive. The quality of your social connections impact your physical and emotional well-being, and so impact the physical and emotional well-being of the people who run a business. Cultivating higher quality relationships with your co-workers, then, requires something of a 360-degree approach, taking responsibility for how you interact with others and how you treat yourself.

The Cheese Who Stands Alone Gets Less Done

When you start feeling isolated at work, you also get demoralized and detached, perhaps even depressed. image In the first study to empirically analyze the effect of loneliness on work performance, Sigal Barsade and Hakan Ozcelik examined the experiences of 672 employees in 143 teams. They found that indeed loneliness led to withdrawal from work, weaker productivity, motivation, and performance. Importantly, the study also showed that this doesn’t happen in a vacuum, that “co-workers can recognize this loneliness and see it hindering team member effectiveness.” Loneliness is a personal emotion, but it’s not a private concern. The effect of loneliness reverberates, becoming a concern for the group, the organization, the community. In The Progress Principle, Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer write about one of the vital ingredients of what makes us fulfilled and flourish in our work — the nourishment factor of human connection. Recognition and gratitude, encouragement, emotional support, and camaraderie are all elements of the nourishment factor — aspects of work that so often are treated as mere window dressing, as spiritless exercises or tired, meaningless buzzwords, and as far as you can get from true priorities. “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity,” French philosopher Simone Weil once wrote, and in what seems to be an ever-head-down, busily streaming life, that seems a harder truth than ever. Your wholehearted attention is how you connect to others, to the world around you, while our pragmatic attitudes about work have little room to even consider generosity. The nourishment factor — these acts of generosity, of giving and receiving our full attention, expressing gratitude and providing support — feeds our cores, makes us more resilient and enduring, helps us to strive.

Start By Getting Better Control Over Your Feelings

How you pay attention, be present in the moment, and not let feelings like loneliness and stress dominate your thought processes — especially when you’re dealing with that disconnection all by yourself — is the practice of mindfulness. You may have heard this term before, but if you haven’t embraced it yet, it’s time to check out “mindfulness.” Patricia Karpas, host of not only the mindfulness podcast “Untangle” but also part founder of the “Meditation Studio” app, explained to Forbes that “Integrating mindfulness is about taking a moment to pause, so you’re not always on autopilot.” image

What is Mindfulness?

The goal of mindfulness is to live in your body, to control your negative thoughts or negative self-image by mastering the idea that none of those thoughts are real. These stressors, which tend to crop up especially when you have no one else to talk to, are really just a story your mind is telling yourself. This is done primarily through taking note of the regular and normal processes of your body. Noticing small aches or pains in your body, taking awareness of your breaths, even slowing them down and practicing “deep belly breathing.” From a physiological standpoint, the idea is take control of your vagus nerve, which among many things, helps calm a stressed, scared, or anxious racing heart and attunes your ear to human voices. The strength of this friendly nerve is measured by vagal tone, the relationship between heart rate and breathing rate. The higher the vagal tone, the better your physical and emotional health — from your cardiovascular system and glucose levels to superior regulation of emotion, cognitive flexibility, and social connection with others. Take a few moments throughout the day to take some deep breaths. Deep diaphragmatic breathing — that’s from the belly, not your chest — can stimulate the vagus nerve and allow you to take a step back in times of feeling solitary or unsupported. Even when a day is not markedly stressful, spending a lot of time in front of the computer, I find my breathing rather shallow and my shoulders beginning to hunch up by my ears. Moments of deep breathing are check-ins, a way I can get some air into cobwebby brainspace, relax my shoulders and back, and unfurl my attention to the people around me.

Embracing Meditation

Meditation is another important way to strengthen yourself to better communicate with others, especially co-workers in an isolated environment. “Meditation enables you to be more skillful in listening to others, to see new, fresh ideas from all levels in an organization,” said Patricia Karpas, in an interview with Thrive. Even just five minutes of motivation can help relieve stress and put you more in sync with your own body. Quick meditation apps like the Mindfulness App, Meditation Studio, and Stop Breathe & Think can be downloaded onto your iPhone or Android with little fuss and opened up whenever you need a moment to center yourself. Guided meditation podcasts are also great for meditation newbies, or those seeking a little more structure for their mental exercises. Check out My Meditation Station, Daily Meditation Podcast, or the Meditation Minis podcast if you’re looking for a guided experience. Taking the time to connect with and tune into yourself and others has resounding effects, improving a whole spectrum of health — physical, emotional, and social. And doing that creates a positive feedback loop, all starting from within.

4 Ways to Nourish Yourself and Your Team at Work

Learn how to tune into yourself and each other to be both particle and wave, to not feel so alone while working together. You are part of a team, and in turn, that team is greater than the sum of its parts, creating and resonating with a cohesive, buzzy energy. Here are some ways you can build more meaningful, nourishing connections as a member of your working world as well as examples of how some companies are attaining that group resonance. And remember, even asynchronous communication at work can still provide many of the same benefits.

1. Start with yourself, and learn how to share.

If you’re feeling continual isolation or dissonance anywhere — whether at work, at home, and anywhere in between — your emotions are telling you to take another look at your circumstances. These poorer quality connections can be corrosive, eroding energy and ramping up stress, anxiety, and fear — feelings that we shouldn’t merely tune out and, it turns out, that the vagus nerve helps to soothe. So be kind and attentive to yourself first. Often we put our heads down to get work done or to get through the day, and don’t allow the chance to listen to ourselves. Also reach out and share with each other. Workplace collaboration is vital for feeling less anxiety and greater connection. Companies are making use of apps like Slack and Lattice to not only share their work accomplishments but also their self-improvement goals, from sticking with fitness regimes to learning to code. These points provide fodder for rich conversations and opportunities to show incredible support, helping to create a close, nourishing work life that permits people to be vulnerable yet supported and always aiming higher. image

2. Show, don’t tell, your attention.

Being present, being available, and paying attention — even in a short interaction — can really only be demonstrated, not conjured up by saying that’s what you’re doing. Managers can’t say that they care about their team members, and then never be around to listen to them. As a distributed company, the team at Zapier is particularly alert to the dangers of loneliness and extremely mindful of how its members are connecting. They make sure to constantly and visibly reach out, going on team trips, creating processes of daily feedback, and using connecting tools like Slack, which allows them to see each other over a continually refreshing image feed and chat with the click of a button.

3. Nourish your peers with recognition and gratitude.

The way many companies handle employee recognition is broken and counterproductive, dismissing and disrespecting the hard work that people do everyday. Not only do most recognition approaches treat feedback like a formal event, administered by managers from on high, they also fail to acknowledge how that hard work often involves helping someone else. One solution that innovative teams have implemented are crowdsourcing and peer recognition, from the good folks at EverTrue, who use the employee recognition platform Kazoo in conjunction with iDoneThis to give each other rewards to the human relations-oriented employees at Shopify, who use an internal system to crowdsource bonuses. Those who deserve acknowledgment for their efforts and support are bubbled up and made visible, all by people who have actual knowledge and appreciation and want to say “thanks” to boot.

4. Take time to do small things.

Even small gestures that are considerate and supportive can make a fortifying difference to cut through feelings of isolation and the emotional paper cuts we accumulate as the day goes by. It’s quality, not quantity, and small moments of true attention, support, encouragement, and fun can charge people up with a much-needed spark. Take, for example, the team at Wistia, who exude an attitude of openness and conviviality that’s reflected in their work. They take time to shake up their routines as a creative exercise, where they’re allowed to try to learn new skills like coding, build props or costumes to make a presentation more fun, or even make a video their fellow team members might enjoy. image They have a ton of fun together, spending “extracurricular” time together outside work to play on a company softball league, change desks every few months to switch up desk neighbors, and share a bite at their own Hogwarts-style table. * * * * * These days, the most interesting companies are hacking their culture, and culture at its heart is about people and togetherness despite being so often talked about as if it is about things. Dig deeper beneath the ping-pong games and the free food and that’s where you start to unearth what goes into building a culture of meaningful nourishment factors that battle loneliness at work. Whether it’s as small and strong as the twelve-person team at Buffer or the thousands-strong at Zappos, whose internal connectedness has resonated from within its offices, out to the happiness of its customers, and even to the streets of downtown Vegas, the heart-to-brain and person-to-person links create a meaningful community, the kind that builds itself from the inside and radiates out. What do you do at work to meaningfully connect? Share with us in the comments. Liked this post? Subscribe to our free newsletter for more great content on productivity, startups, and how to work better! Images: [1] Sippanont Samchai; [2] zerega; [3] Caro Wallis; [4] Jeremy Hockin; [5] Wistia.

Filed Under: The Progress Principle Tagged With: Management, Psychology of Productivity, Work Happiness

How to slow down time: The science behind stopping life from passing you by

August 30, 2019 by Janet Choi 4 Comments

sand moving slowly through hourglass

One unnerving aspect of getting older is that life seems to speed up. Feeling that whoosh as time rushes past can be disheartening and may leave you wondering how to slow down time.

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Filed Under: The Science of Productivity Tagged With: how to slow down time, Progress, Psychology of Productivity, Time Management

Cells, Pods, and Squads: The Future of Organizations is Small

May 16, 2019 by Janet Choi 3 Comments

This post was originally published in 2014. It has been updated with new data and advice in 2019.

Think small and you will achieve big things. That’s the counterintuitive philosophy that nets Finnish game company Supercell revenues of millions of dollars a day.

agile pod success

[Image via Giphy]

So really, how do you build a billion-dollar business by thinking small?

One key is the company’s pod team structure. Autonomous small teams, or “cells,” of four to six people position the company to be nimble and innovative. Similar modules — call them pods, squads, or startups within startups — are the basic components in many other nimble, growing companies, including Spotify and Automattic. The future, as Dave Gray argues in The Connected Company, is podular.

Still, small groups of people do not necessarily make a thriving business, as the fate of many a fledgling startup warns. What is it about the pod team structure that presents not just a viable alternative but the future of designing how we work together?

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Filed Under: People Management Tagged With: Management, Small Teams, Success

Why Jeff Bezos’ Two-Pizza Team Rule Still Holds True in 2018

December 4, 2018 by Janet Choi 21 Comments

[Source: Amazon]

Jeff Bezos is prolific. In 21 letters to his investors over the years, he has delivered dozens of nuggets of wisdom ranging from prioritizing long-term outcomes over short-term results to embedding R&D in every single department.

He also has a unique take on company communication.

Bezos believes that no matter how large your company gets, individual teams shouldn’t be larger than what two pizzas can feed.

Think of it this way: at a large party, it’s hard to connect with people. You’re overwhelmed by the number of guests you could possibly meet and converse with. You end up with more — yet more shallow — interactions. If the host is trying to project a message to the crowd, he or she might have trouble shouting over the din. In contrast, at a small party, you might talk to the people sitting next to you for hours. You can develop more meaningful relationships and maybe come away with new ideas and inspiration.

Although Bezos first declared the “two-pizza” rule in Amazon’s early days, it continues to resonate in 2018. As the pace of venture capital accelerates, and more and more companies enter hypergrowth, figuring out how and when to design teams for effective communication becomes critical.

Not convinced? Here’s the hard evidence behind why the two-pizza team rule holds true.

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Filed Under: People Management Tagged With: Communication at Work, Psychology of Productivity, Small Teams

9 Daily Mental Health Routines that Successful Founders Rely On

October 13, 2014 by Janet Choi 2 Comments

Whether it’s a nice cup of tea or coffee or reviewing your diary, regular routines and rituals help forge the discipline, energy, and mental space to consistently make progress.

We reached out to some productivity superstars to ask:

What is one routine or ritual that contributes to your happiness and success?

You may think that the best entrepreneurs that you know are machines.  They get stuff done, never seem to get tired and just crank it out regardless of how they’re feeling and what else is going on in their lives.

It turns out that that’s a myth, and the most productive entrepreneurs are the ones who actively manage their health, well being, and productivity by relying on personal mental health routines.

Routines and rituals are inherently very personal. What works for you won’t necessarily work for somebody else — but the main takeaway here is to prioritize aspects of your life to create balance.

Here’s what they had to say.

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Filed Under: Lifehacks Tagged With: Habit Change, Productivity, Work Happiness

The Science Behind How Emotions Lead to Smarter Decisions

September 29, 2014 by Janet Choi 7 Comments

Range of Smiley to Angry Faces

There once was a man named Elliot. An intelligent, pleasant thirty-something guy, he had built a pretty good life for himself, with a family and a good job. But his life started to fall apart when he got a brain tumor the size of a small orange that compressed his frontal lobes — causing debilitating headaches and an inability to focus.

Even after a successful surgery to remove the tumor, Elliot’s life continued go downhill. His relationships unravelled, he couldn’t hold a job, and invested in a disreputable business scheme that lost him his savings. Something was still wrong with Elliot’s brain — damage to parts of his frontal lobe somehow resulted in an inability to feel emotion.

You’d think that this might have been beneficial at least for his work ventures, some ability to make calculating, rational, optimal decisions. But the opposite was true. After losing his emotions, he’d become hopelessly ineffective at business.

That can be a jolting lesson for many of us who consider emotion something to regard very lightly in the workplace. Emotions work, not as a barrier to getting things done, but to help us reason at a basic level and thrive.

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Filed Under: The Science of Productivity Tagged With: Psychology of Productivity, Self-Awareness, Work Happiness

Stop Telling Yourself These 3 Productivity Lies

September 26, 2014 by Janet Choi Leave a Comment

Pinocchio statue

One of the trickiest things about trying to be more productive is how much we deceive ourselves along the way. It’s like trying to eat healthier and then convincing yourself after one walk up the stairs that you totally deserve a donut.

Productivity lies can be sly, wolves in sheeps’ clothing, making you feel better in the moment, even as you’re actually falling behind and letting priorities slip.

It’s better to work smarter than work harder — and part of working smarter is to be more truthful about why you’re choosing to do, or not do, something and whether you’re actually spending your time wisely.

Outsmart your lazier, sneakier self. Here’s how to face the truth when you catch yourself claiming these three common productivity lies.

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Filed Under: Lifehacks Tagged With: proc, Productivity, Time Management

Managers, Are You Sabotaging Motivation at Work?

September 25, 2014 by Janet Choi 2 Comments

3 Ingredients of Intrinsic Motivation: Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose

Given a choice between solving puzzles for free or for pay — which would you pick?

If you want to stay motivated and solve more puzzles, the surprising thing is that you should do them for free.

In the early 1970s, psychologist Edward Deci wanted to study how money affects motivation. In one experiment, he paid one group $1 (that’s about $6 today) for each puzzle solved within three sessions, while the control group received no payment. In the middle of each session was an eight-minute free period in which people could continue puzzling, read magazines, or otherwise spend the time how they wished.

It was the paid group who chose to spend less time working on puzzles in the free periods. The extrinsic monetary reward made them lose intrinsic motivation, where the reward is the activity itself.

Over forty years later, managers still rely on the old model of dangling external rewards like money and prestige to motivate their people — but in today’s era of knowledge work, this model is increasingly misguided. If you think your people are going to continue to put in their best efforts with monetary rewards, you’re sabotaging the most powerful sources of motivation.

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Filed Under: People Management Tagged With: Autonomy at Work, Daniel Pink, Intrinsic Motivation

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