The Art of Letting Bad Things Happen

(and Weapons of Mass Distraction)

Long time no see! I just landed back in CA from a long overdue mini-retirement
through London, Scotland, Sardinia, Slovak Republic, Austria, Amsterdam, and Japan.

Some unpleasant surprises awaited me when I checked in on the evil e-mail inbox.
Why? I let them happen.

I always do.

Here are just a few of the goodies that awaited me this time:

-One of our fulfillment companies has been shut-down due to the president’s death,
causing a 20%+ loss in monthly orders and requiring an emergency shift of all web
design and order processing.

-Missed radio and magazine appearances and upset would-be interviewers.

-More than a dozen lost joint-venture partnership opportunities.

It’s not that I go out of my way to irritate people — not at all — but I recognize one
critical fact: oftentimes, in order to do the big things, you have to let the small bad
things happen. This is a skill we want to cultivate.

What did I get in exchange for temporarily putting on blinders and taking a few
glancing blows?

-I followed the Rugby World Cup in Europe and was able to watch the New Zealand
All Blacks live, a dream I’ve had for the last 5 years.

-I was able to shoot every gun I’ve ever dreamed of firing since brainwashing myself
with Commando. Bless the Slovak Republic and their paramilitaries (video at the end of
this post).

-I was able to film a television series pilot in Japan, a lifelong dream and the most fun
I’ve had in months, if not years.
-I met with my Japanese publisher, Seishisha (Tel: 03-5574-8511) and had media
interviews in Tokyo, where the 4HWW is now #1 in several of the largest chains.

-I took a complete 10-day media fast and felt like I’d had a two-year vacation from
computers.

-I attended the Tokyo International Film Festival and hung out with one of my heroes,
the producer of the Planet Earth television series.

Once you realize that you can turn off the noise without the world ending, you’re
liberated in a way that few people ever know.

Just remember: if you don’t have attention, you don’t have time. Did I have time to
check e-mail and voicemail? Sure. It might take 10 minutes. Did I have the attention to
risk fishing for crises in those 10 minutes? Not at all.

As tempting as it is to “just check e-mail for one minute,” I didn’t do it. I know from
experience that any problem found in the inbox will linger on the brain for hours or
days after you shut-down the computer, rendering “free time” useless with
preoccupation. It’s the worst of states, where you experience neither relaxation nor
productivity. Be focused on work or focused on something else, never in-between.

Time without attention is worthless, so value attention over time.

Here are a few questions that can help you put on the productivity blinders and put
things in perspective. Even when you’re not traveling the world, develop the habit of
letting small bad things happen. If you don’t, you’ll never find time for the life-
changing big things, whether important tasks or true peak experiences. If you do force
the time but puncture it with distractions, you won’t have the attention to appreciate it.

-What is the one goal, if completed, that could change everything?

-What is the most urgent thing right now that you feel you “must” or “should” do?
-Can you let the urgent “fail” — even for a day — to get to the next milestone with your
potential lifechanging tasks?

-What’s been on your “to-do” list the longest? Start it first thing in the morning and
don’t allow interruptions or lunch until you finish.

Will “bad” things happen? Small problems will crop up, yes. A few people will
complain and quickly get over it. BUT, the bigger picture items you complete will let
you see these for what they are–minutiae and repairable hiccups.

Make this trade a habit. Let the small bad things happen and make the big good things
happen.
The Choice-Minimal Lifestyle: 6
Formulas for More Output and
Less Overwhelm

I was stressed out… over dog cartoons.

It was 9:47pm at Barnes and Noble on a recent Saturday night, and I had 13 minutes to
find a suitable exchange for “The New Yorker Dog Cartoons,” $22 of expensive paper.
Bestsellers? Staff recommends? New arrivals or classics? I’d already been there 30
minutes.

Beginning to feel overwhelmed with a ridiculous errand I’d expected to take five
minutes, I stumbled across the psychology section. One tome jumped out at me as all
too appropriate—The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less. It wasn’t the first time I’d
seen or read Barry Schwarz’s 2004 classic, but it seemed like a good time to revisit the
principles, among them that:

-The more options you consider, the more buyer’s regret you’ll have.
-The more options you encounter, the less fulfilling your ultimate outcome will be.

This raises an difficult question: Is it better to have the best outcome but be less
satisfied, or have an acceptable outcome and be satisfied?

For example, would you rather deliberate for months and get the 1 of 20 houses that’s
the best investment but second-guess yourself until you sell it 5 years later; or would
you rather get a house that is 80% of the investment potential of the former (still to be
sold at a profit) but never second-guess it?

Tough call.

One call wasn’t tough: he recommends making non-returnable purchases. I decided to

keep the stupid pooch cartoons. Why? Because it’s not just about being satisfied, it’s
about being practical.

Income is renewable, but some other resources—like attention—are not. I’ve talked
before about attention as a currency and how it determines the value of time.
The Art of Letting Bad Things Happen explores this using case studies, but here’s one
example to illustrate: is your weekend really “free” if you find a crisis in the inbox
Saturday morning that you can’t address until Monday morning?

Even if the inbox scan lasts 30 seconds, the preoccupation and forward projection for
the subsequent 48 hours effectively deletes that experience from your life. You had time
but you didn’t have attention, so the time had no practical value.

The choice-minimal lifestyle becomes an attractive tool when we consider two truths:

1) Considering options costs attention that then can’t be spent on action or present-state
awareness.

2) Attention is necessary for not only productivity but appreciation.

Therefore:

Too many choices = less or no productivity

Too many choices = less or no appreciation
Too many choices = sense of overwhelm

Some people find that religion enables a practical choice-minimal lifestyle, as tenets
often limit the number of possible actions. During his year of attempting to follow the
rules of the Bible literally, the then-agnostic AJ Jacobs of Esquire cited the rules and
restrictions of the Bible as amazing in this respect. Not having to consider a wide
spectrum of options or actions—as he was following immutable if-then rules—allowed
him to focus undiluted attention on the areas that weren’t constrained. The result?
Increased output.

Even though I attended an Episcopal high school, I’m not religious in the common
sense (and I don’t use the term “spiritual”), so this approach isn’t mine.

What to do? There are 6 basic rules or formulas that can be used, regardless of
denomination.

1. Set rules for yourself so you can automate as much decision-making as possible
(see the rules I use to outsource my e-mail to Canada as an example of this)

2. Don’t provoke deliberation before you can take action.

One simple example: don’t scan the inbox on Friday evening or over the weekend if you
might encounter work problems that can’t be addressed until Monday.

3. Don’t postpone decisions or open “loops,” to use GTD parlance, just to avoid
uncomfortable conversations.

If an acquaintance asks you if you want to come to their house for dinner next week,
and you know you won’t, don’t say “I’m not sure. I’ll let you know next week.” Instead,
use something soft but conclusive like “Next week? I’m pretty sure I have another
commitment on Thursday, but thank you for the invite. Just so I don’t leave you
hanging, let’s assume I can’t make it, but can I let you know if that changes?” Decision
made. Move on.

4. Learn to make non-fatal or reversible decisions as quickly as possible.

Set time limits (I won’t consider options for more than 20 minutes), option limits (I’ll
consider no more than 3 options), or finance thresholds (Example: If it costs less than
$100 [or the potential damage is less than $100], I’ll let a virtual assistant make the
judgment call or consider no more than 3 options).

I wrote most of this post after landing at the monster that is ATL airport in Atlanta. I
could have considered half a dozen types of ground transportation in 15 minutes and
saved 30-40%, but I grabbed a taxi instead. To use illustrative numbers: I didn’t want to
sacrifice 10 attention units of my remaining 50 of 100 total potential units, since those
10 units couldn’t then be spent on this article. I had about 8 hours before bedtime due to
time zone differences—plenty of time—but scarce usable attention after an all-nighter
of fun and the cross-country flight. Fast decisions preserve usable attention for what
matters.

5. Don’t strive for variation—and thus increase option consideration—when it’s

not needed. Routine enables innovation where it’s most valuable.

In working with athletes, for example, it’s clear that those who maintain the lowest
bodyfat percentage eat the same foods over and over with little variation. I’ve eaten the
same “slow carb” breakfast and lunch for nearly two years, putting variation only into
meals that I focus on for enjoyment: dinner and all meals on Saturdays. This same
routine-variation distinction can be found in exercise vs. recreation. For fat-loss and
muscle gain (even as much as 34 lbs. in four weeks), I’ve followed the same time-
minimal exercise protocol with occasional experiments since 1996. For recreation,
however, where the focus is enjoyment and not efficacy, I tend to try something new
each weekend, whether climbing at Mission Cliffs in SF or mountain biking from
tasting to tasting in Napa.

Don’t confuse what should be results-driven with routine (e.g. exercise) with something
enjoyment-driven that benefits from variation (e.g. recreation).

6. Regret is past-tense decision making. Eliminate complaining to minimize regret.

Condition yourself to notice complaints and stop making them with a simple program
like the 21-day no-complaint experiment. Just a bracelet and awareness can prevent
wasted past-tense deliberation that improves nothing and depletes your attention and
emotional reserves.

###

Decision-making isn’t to be avoided—that’s not the problem. Look at a good CEO or

top corporate performer and you’ll see a high volume of decisions.
It’s deliberation—the time we vacillate over and consider each decision—that’s the
attention consumer. Total deliberation time, not the number of decisions, it was
determines your attention bank account balance (or debt).

Let’s assume you pay 10% over time by following the above rules but cut your average
“decision cycle” time by an average of 40% (10 minutes reduced to 6 minutes, for
example). No only will you have much more time and attention to spend on revenue-
generating activities, but you’ll get greater enjoyment from what you have and
experience. Consider that 10% of additional cost as an investment and part of your
“ideal lifestyle tax,” but not as a loss.

Embrace the choice-minimal lifestyle. It’s a subtle and underexploited philosophical

tool that produces dramatic increases in both output and satisfaction, all with less
overwhelm.

Make testing a few of the principles the first of many fast and reversible decisions.
The Not-To-Do List: 9 Habits to
Stop Now

“Not-to-do” lists are often more effective than to-do lists for upgrading
performance.

The reason is simple: what you don’t do determines what you can do.

Here are nine stressful and common habits that entrepreneurs and office workers should
strive to eliminate. The bullets are followed by more detailed descriptions. Focus on one
or two at a time, just as you would with high-priority to-do items. I’ve worded them in
no-to-do action form:

1. Do not answer calls from unrecognized phone numbers

Feel free to surprise others, but don’t be surprised. It just results in unwanted
interruption and poor negotiating position. Let it go to voicemail, and consider using a
service like GrandCentral (you can listen to people leaving voicemail) or Simulscribe
(receive voicemails as e-mail).

2. Do not e-mail first thing in the morning or last thing at night

The former scrambles your priorities and plans for the day, and the latter just gives you
insomnia. E-mail can wait until 10am, after you’ve completed at least one of your
critical to-do items…

3. Do not agree to meetings or calls with no clear agenda or end time

If the desired outcome is defined clearly with a stated objective and agenda listing
topics/questions to cover, no meeting or call should last more than 30 minutes. Request
them in advance so you “can best prepare and make good use of the time together.”

4. Do not let people ramble

Forget “how’s it going?” when someone calls you. Stick with “what’s up?” or “I’m in
the middle of getting something out, but what’s going on?” A big part of GTD is GTP
— Getting To the Point.

5. Do not check e-mail constantly — “batch” and check at set times only
I belabor this point enough. Get off the cocaine pellet dispenser and focus on execution
of your top to-do’s instead of responding to manufactured emergencies. Set up a
strategic autoresponder and check twice or thrice daily.

6. Do not over-communicate with low-profit, high-maintenance customers

There is no sure path to success, but the surest path to failure is trying to please
everyone. Do an 80/20 analysis of your customer base in two ways–which 20% are
producing 80%+ of my profit, and which 20% are consuming 80%+ of my time? Then
put the loudest and least productive on autopilot by citing a change in company policies.
Send them an e-mail with new rules as bullet points: number of permissible phone calls,
e-mail response time, minimum orders, etc. Offer to point them to another provider if
they can’t conform to the new policies.

7. Do not work more to fix overwhelm — prioritize

If you don’t prioritize, everything seems urgent and important. If you define the single
most important task for each day, almost nothing seems urgent or important.
Oftentimes, it’s just a matter of letting little bad things happen (return a phone call late
and apologize, pay a small late fee, lose an unreasonable customer, etc.) to get the big
important things done. The answer to overwhelm is not spinning more plates — or
doing more — it’s defining the few things that can really fundamentally change your
business and life.

8. Do not carry a cellphone or Crackberry 24/7

Take at least one day off of digital leashes per week. Turn them off or, better still, leave
them in the garage or in the car. I do this on at least Saturday, and I recommend you
leave the phone at home if you go out for dinner. So what if you return a phone call an
hour later or the next morning? As one reader put it to a miffed co-worker who worked
24/7 and expected the same: “I’m not the president of the US. No one should need me at
8pm at night. OK, you didn’t get a hold of me. But what bad happened?” The answer?
Nothing.

9. Do not expect work to fill a void that non-work relationships and activities
should
Work is not all of life. Your co-workers shouldn’t be your only friends. Schedule life
and defend it just as you would an important business meeting. Never tell yourself “I’ll
just get it done this weekend.” Review Parkinson’s Law in 4HWW and force yourself to
cram within tight hours so your per-hour productivity doesn’t fall through the floor.
Focus, get the critical few done, and get out. E-mailing all weekend is no way to spend
the little time you have on this planet.
—

It’s hip to focus on getting things done, but it’s only possible once we remove the
constant static and distraction. If you have trouble deciding what to do, just focus on not
doing. Different means, same end.