Be Batman: A Resolution Part II
A few years ago I wrote an article that gained some modicum of success:
It was called “Be Batman: A Resolution”. Right now it is exactly two years later and I am going to reaffirm the message. I’m here to let you know that it has worked, I’ve learned more, and accomplished more in the last two years personally and professionally then I ever have before (Two major certifications, a Master’s degree, two major promotions, two startups, new baby girl!).
How you say!?
Is it because I’m striving to fight crime in the middle of the night? Am I lurking in the shadows at 3:00 AM? Maybe on the occasional Friday evening I am (which is still a mistake these days) but no! I refer back to my first article where I simply state that being Batman is the idea of being a person that is simply devoted to becoming the best version of themselves.
In that article I laid out my productivity hack of having lists to accomplish everything. I’ll go a bit farther this time and state that in order to be the best version of yourself you have to make sure that you have both mind and body in order. I’ll lump spirituality into the mind portion (as being mindful, and thankful, and meditating daily are recommendations I highly make).
It is a few years later as I’ve said and I admit my eyes were bigger than my stomach when I wrote the first article. I committed to the schedule and quickly found that either regular life would get in the way (work/kids/etc.) or that I would really find that one area of learning would suffer as a result of not spending enough time. While I do believe that anyone can learn anything given the time and energy, time needs to be more strategically divided up in order to make more of an impact. The old you can do many things mediocre or a few things really well needs to be set in balance. I’m not saying you shouldn’t still strive to learn as much as possible about everything, I am stating that you should pick a few things to really hone.
THE OLD CHECKLIST:
THE BATMAN CHECKLIST
Matt’s Weekly Achievement Schedule (For Dates): ______________ *Every Activity must be done at least once per week at the minimum number of minutes (You can go longer and activities mentioned more than once must be done on separate days)
I. Exercise: *Intermittent plyometric exercise and stretching also required.
☐ Cardio/Stretch 30
☐ Cardio/Stretch 30
☐ Strength/Stretch 30
☐ Strength/Stretch 30
☐ Strength/Circuit/Stretch 30
II. Theory
☐ Biology Fact/Principle 15-30
☐ Chemistry Fact/Principle 15-30
☐ Physics Fact/Principle 15-30
☐ Business/Law/Economic Theory 15-30
☐ Math Exercise/Principle 15-30
☐ Computer Science (Programming Principle) 15-30
☐ Music Theory 15-30
III. Practice
☐ Electronic Tinkering 15-30
☐ Mechanical Tinkering 15-30
☐ Computer Programming 30-45
☐ Stock Market Research/Practical Econ 15-30
☐ Drawing/Illustration/Animation 30-45
☐ Music Technique (Scales Piano/Guitar/Violin) 15-20
☐ Music Technique (Scales Piano/Guitar/Violin) 15-20
☐ Music Composition/Recording 30-60 ☐ Music Composition/Recording 30-60
IV. Languages
☐Foreign Language Study 15-30
☐Foreign Language Study 15-30
☐Foreign Language Study 15-30
V. Reading
☐ Fiction Modern 30-45
☐ Classics/Literature 30-45
☐ Non-Fiction Subject Mastery 30-45
☐ Non-Fiction Subject Mastery 30-45
☐ Article Reading Wall Street Journal 15
☐ Article Reading Wall Street Journal 15
☐ Article Google News Science/Tech/Business 15
☐ Article Google News Science/Tech/Business 15
VI. Writing
☐ Personal Journal 10-15
☐ Personal Journal 10-15
☐ Business Article on Linked In 30-40 * Every Other Week
VII. Misc Skill Based Physical
☐ Brazilian Jiu Jitsu 30-60
☐ Brazilian Jiu Jitsu 30-60
☐ Karate 30-60
☐ Gymnastics 30-60
VIII. Sanity and Appreciation
☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ Daily Meditation 10-15 *Daily Activity
☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ Verbalize What I am Thankful For 1-5 *Daily Activity
☐ Nature Observance/Walk 10-15
☐ Nature Observance/Walk 10-15
☐ Charity/Volunteer/Donate 30-60
IT WAS TOO MUCH!!!
The old list is great in that it allows for me to cover almost all interests I have, however something always ends up suffering and not getting accomplished. While I did partially account for that in the initial rules, it still needed to be farther honed. So I decided to simplify. (The new list is toward the end of the article).
Most of the tenants are the same, but they really are less open ended as they were before. Some things like making time to read I recommend no matter what. If you are reading daily then you are ahead of the curve no matter what set of goals you’ve made for yourself. My nightstand is a never ending stream of books. Much in the same vein if you don’t already keep at the very least a notebook to write down your thoughts, ideas, and goals…you should.
I also didn’t change the Sanity and Appreciation section. I highly recommend meditating daily. I also recommend saying (out loud) what you are thankful for every day in order to put things in perspective. Active thanks and mindfulness can perpetuate positive things in your life and no I’m not a hippie. I believe doing this can keep you on an even keel when things do get hectic and staying cool in a bad situation is one of the number one ways to arrive on top.
I changed my “Theory” Section from one that accommodates open ended learning to no end (which is still fine as I have no end cap on my learning) to one more goal oriented. I changed it to coursework because these days I’m addicted to Khan Academy, Code Academy, Udacity, Udemy, and Treehouse Learning (and there are many others).
I go to Udemy.com for instance, type in a topic I am interested in and find a course that has had a fair number of positive reviews. I’ll scan the curriculum and see if it matches my goals. Often times the price tag is much lower than advertised (they almost always are extremely discounted once placed in your cart) and I have so far taken many courses to help me personally and professionally to keep up with changing trends as well as my own personal interests (Apple Logic Pro music Production, Unity Development, Foreign Language, Product Management, Data Science to name some of the topics). None of the highly reviewed courses I took cost me over fifteen dollars and I am very happy with the results thus far. Anyone has the resources to learn how to do pretty much anything thanks to technology these days and I for one am taking advantage.
BUT LIFE IS STILL TOUGH!!
I’m still under no false delusions that sometimes this list will slip by the wayside or that life will get in the way. This is why in parallel with your checklist you need to attain clarity of vision. By this I mean you need to actually establish good end goals. I found that the topics which I was taking on with no end goal in site faded away. My interest might still be there but they tended to take a back burner to those things which I had an attainable goal or milestone to achieve. So take the time and write out your goals. These can be large overarching life things, or small skill based ones. You actually have to physically write them though in a place where you will reopen and re-read them.
Once you have the goals then make a plan to accomplish them, with no excuses. If things are really tough you need to break down the goal into the lowest common denominator. What is the smallest increment of progress that is measureable? If I want to run a marathon, perhaps this means can I actually run at all? Can I run 5 steps? Can I run 5 minutes? If I can’t then the first goal is to run for a single minute and then build. Then make time for the activity in your checklist. Ideally this means the checklist may actually end up being a schedule in which you spend time in order to fill out progress bars for goals. For my comic book and video game nerd brethren you do this all the time when leveling up your characters in a game, why not level yourself up.
This principle works for anything from exercise to developing a new business idea. What is the smallest increment of validated learning? By validated learning I mean measurable evidence that you are or aren’t progressing toward something.
Additionally don’t beat yourself up if progress isn’t what you think it should be. As long as you are marching forward you are moving in the right direction. Building momentum is the key; move forward and never back. If something isn’t working re-assess, maybe change the increment by which you judge yourself, pivot to a new plan or continue to trudge along the same path. Everyone needs a recalibration every once in a while.
Lastly, make sure to prioritize! If you have one hundred things to accomplish, make sure you have your top three things. If you accomplish those things then everything else is a bonus. Then the next day prioritize again. Eventually the pieces will fall into place.
This is basically the product lifecycle implemented on you as a person:
Many of these conclusions I came to on my own and many I picked up through some great resources.
Here are some of the books (and links to buy them) that inspired and helped me to take my productivity to the next level:
There were many others as well. I’ll also mention that I’ve now re-read the book that started my productivity and lifestyle design quest in the first place:
I recommend reading all of these to turbocharge your pursuit of Batman-ness and inspiration. All of them have tools that I allude to that can make huge impacts on your life.
So below is the new Checklist. I’m still crazy, I agree with you. I think you’ll agree that simplification and clarification of goals leads to better time management and more accomplishment, which is the end goal.
THE BATMAN CHECKLIST II
Matt’s Weekly Achievement Schedule (For Dates): ______________ *Every Activity must be done at least once per week at the minimum number of minutes (You can go longer and activities mentioned more than once must be done on separate days)
I. Exercise: *Intermittent plyometric exercise and stretching also required.
☐ Cardio/Stretch 30
☐ Cardio/Stretch 30
☐ Strength/Stretch 30
☐ Strength/Stretch 30
☐ Strength/Circuit/Stretch 30
II. Coursework
☐ Course I 15-30
☐ Course I 15-30
☐ Course II 15-30
☐ Course II 15-30
☐ Course III 15-30
☐ Course III 15-30
III. Practice
☐ Mechanical/Electronic/Programming Project 15-30
☐ Business Idea Development 30-60
☐ Business Idea Development 30-60
☐ Music Composition/Recording 30-60
☐ Music Composition/Recording 30-60
IV. Languages
☐Foreign Language Study 15-30
☐Foreign Language Study 15-30
☐Foreign Language Study 15-30
V. Reading
☐ Fiction 30-45
☐ Fiction 30-45
☐ Non-Fiction 30-45
☐ Non-Fiction 30-45
VI. Writing
☐ Personal Journal 10-15
☐ Personal Journal 10-15
☐ Professional Writing 10-15
VII. Misc Skill Based Physical
☐ BJJ/Gymnastics/Freerunning 15-30
☐ BJJ/Gymnastics/Freerunning 15-30
☐ BJJ/Gymnastics/Freerunning 15-30
VIII. Sanity and Appreciation
☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ Daily Meditation 10-15 *Daily Activity
☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ Verbalize What I am Thankful For 1-5 *Daily Activity
☐ Nature Observance/Walk 10-15
☐ Nature Observance/Walk 10-15
☐ Charity/Volunteer/Donate 30-60
So bring on 2017 and go be Batman! And look for me on my new site: SuperGeekLife.com (coming soon) which is being developed as a social hub and information center for those other Super Geeks Out there who want to become their best selves and perhaps beef up on the geekiest of super hero skills (lets make a rocket, muscle up, do some flips, program a drone, throw some ninja stars, etc.).
