Based in the heart of Silicon Valley, Clayton Grames writes about productivity and self improvement through the lens of engineering and product development.

How to Break the Inactivity Habit

How to Break the Inactivity Habit

It’s easy to get into a habit of putting something off. You have a grand vision for a goal you want to accomplish but it never seems to get off the ground. Perhaps you don’t know how to get started. Perhaps it’s precisely that getting started is daunting and seems like too big a task. Your hesitance to start becomes the biggest barrier to ever achieving your designs.

The best remedy for this situation is action. The key is to find the smallest form of action that will grant you even the tiniest amount of forward momentum. Find the two-minute version of the activity you want to start. You are not trying to accomplish your ambitious goal all at once. You are simply pointing your ship in the right direction.

Picture a massive boulder balanced precariously on the edge of a cliff. At first glance, it may appear that moving an object of that size is simply impossible. The shear mass present appears unmovable, unchangeable. However, that boulder may be propped up by the tiniest of pebbles. Once that obstacle is removed and the boulder starts to shift even a minuscule amount, that initiates a chain reaction allowing gravity to get its unrelenting hands on the boulder and suddenly it is crashing down the mountain.

Your only job is to lower the activation energy of whatever project or initiative you are targeting. Get that chain reaction started and you may find that the rest comes in a flash.

If It's Not Important, Don't Say It

If It's Not Important, Don't Say It

How to Prepare for (and Land) a Management Position

How to Prepare for (and Land) a Management Position