Posts tagged productivity
The 3-point list
The 3-point list

Even though it is still vacation, as a house owner it is important to keep the momentum going with regards to long-term improvements. It is not enough to just deal with the daily upkeep, one also must invest some time in improvement and development of the property. I have a long list of things that I know should be done, because they will bring about many quality-of-life improvements. However, they are not mission critical like moving the lawn, house cleaning or buying groceries. A method I have used to great success is to define three special tasks that deals with development, and make sure that I execute them the next day. It brings about a very good gut feeling when I tick off these three boxes, because they are clear progress towards a larger aim.

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HabitsRikard Öqvistfocus, habits, priorities, productivity, vacationComment
KISS - Do not disturb!
KISS - Do not disturb!

One of the things that come with the package of self-employment is the inability to take prolonged vacations. On one hand, it is obvious that it would be amazing to check out from work 100% during the Christmas and new years holidays. To completely get rid of that nagging feeling that you always have some mandatory “homework” can really bring peace of mind and well needed rest. On the other hand, working when everyone else is in vacay mode, has made me realize how brutally my productivity is destroyed by constant interruptions.

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Habits, PhilosophyRikard Öqvistfocus, habits, productivity, mindfulnessComment
A lesson from physical labor
A lesson from physical labor

Last Saturday I spent digging around 15 meters of network cable in the ground. The only thing that remains now is to make a wall pass-through and install some wall outlets in the houses and then finally, all our houses are hard-wired with cat6 cables. It’s something that I have been waiting to do since we moved here, to get rid of the shaky Wi-Fi connection. But you must always rank-order your work and it took me four years to execute more important priorities before I could start solving this simple but highly annoying problem. And it felt so good to put it all back together. When I was done, it really struck me that there are few things that feels more satisfying than to complete some proper physical labor, to the degree that you can raise the “mission accomplished” sign.

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Diary, Parenting, PhilosophyRikard Öqvistparenting, work, exercise, scheduling, planning, productivityComment
My greatest mentor
My greatest mentor

Is it possible to know a person without ever meeting them in person? Without a doubt, yes. My family now live in my wife´s grandparents old house since 2019. I never got the honor to meet them because they both died before I met my future wife. The person I am referring to here is Kurt, her grandfather. By walking in his footsteps and observing his sometimes very creative and especially fast solutions to technical problems on the premises, I think I now know him very well. And the reason is that his approach to problem solving is as antithetical to my own that is humanly possible. The contrast couldn’t be larger even if I tried. And that is an invaluable lesson to a guy like me.

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Habits, PhilosophyRikard Öqvistpersonality, productivity, focusComment
I prefer the stick
I prefer the stick

To make real progress you need both the carrot and the stick. I have got plenty of carrots, and last week I finally got a proper batch of stick. It’s amazing how much productivity boost that can be achieved by a feeling of impending doom. My to-do list had been growing steadily for quite some time, perhaps for a couple of months. I was adding things faster than I was ticking them off. Problems like these are appropriate to consider the saying “How did you go broke? Little by little then everything at once.” So, when you get that feeling that you are inching slowly in the wrong direction, be careful. Be very careful. Because then suddenly everything might twist and turn at once and you don’t want that.

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Diary, HabitsRikard Öqvisthealth, productivity, sleep, focusComment
Be prepared
Be prepared

This weekend I finally managed to photograph an Otter. Actually, I even got three (1) of them in a single shot/video! I have been trying to snap a picture of one for over a year, but they have always eluded me until now. I have usually seen them from a window, and then I have rushed to grab my camera and when I got back it was nowhere to be seen. We are talking about a time window of about 30-60 seconds here. I can honestly say that I am hooked permanently now on nature photography. It is so rewarding, and when you live in a place like we do, it is all but mandatory to get a tele lens and learn photography. My wife told me that there are only around 2000 Otters in the whole of Sweden. They are super rare. That means that I have just documented a significant part of the entire Swedish Otter population. They are so rare that you are supposed to report sightings in Sweden (which I just did).

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Art, Diary, PhotographyRikard Öqvistphotography, focus, preparation, productivityComment
Things are only free if your time has no value
Things are only free if your time has no value

A couple of days ago, winter arrived in all its glory from one day to the next. It dumped a lot of snow in just one day, and the ice on the sea started to form. However, with snow comes the need to displace snow for walking paths and accessibility. There’s nothing wrong with getting some physical exercise, but a snow blower can be a wonderful companion throughout the winter season. Unless they suffer from gasoline incontinence, like my trusty companion developed last spring.

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ParentingRikard Öqvistpriorities, time, planning, productivity, focus, habits Comments
Order, chaos, productivity, and rest
Order, chaos, productivity, and rest

If you don’t have time to take a five-minute break, you should take a ten-minute break. I don’t remember the source of this quote, or even the exact wording, but there is a lot of wisdom in it. From experience, I have learned that when your workload increases until the point tunnel vision starts to kick in, it is critical do remember this simple rule. When it feels as if the to-do list grows faster than your ability, some of the first things to skip is breaks, exercise and decluttering. Last week was just one of those weeks. Really, the whole last month has been like that. I had so much stuff to do that I had to work the whole weekend. So, I applied the rule and spent two wonderful days with my family, took long dog walks and cleaned both my office and my home.

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Habits, PhilosophyRikard Öqvistchaos, order, productivity, rest, alcohol, declutter, cleanyourroomComment
When the universe smiles at you
When the universe smiles at you

There’s a Swedish saying “En olycka kommer sällan ensam” (When it rains, it pours). If that is true, the opposite must also be true, but I don’t know any similar saying by heart. So, I prefer to think of it as if the universe is smiling at you. Because it sometimes feels as if the whole universe conspires to help you. When I have had those positive experiences, the typical scenario is that I am extremely stressed out about something, and then suddenly the problem just solves itself without attention. Yes, sometimes the best solution to a problem can simply be to just ignore it. Last week I experienced one of the most enjoyable smiles so far.

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PhilosophyRikard Öqvistluck, flow, productivity, stress, pressure, consulting, planningComment
A well defined problem
A well defined problem

Have you ever felt the urge to mow your lawn? That’s precisely what happened to me this weekend. The month of May 2021 has been one of the most intense ever, work-wise. I have been developing a university course in Building physics with eleven lectures in the course of four weeks. On top of that I have my regular work as an acoustician. I do love my work, both of them, but there is a problem. They are both extremely cognitively demanding. I am always on the edge, slightly – or even a lot – outside of my comfort zone. That’s why I felt the urge to spend my time on a well defined problem. Like moving the lawn.

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Engineering, HabitsRikard Öqvistwork, relaxation, meditation, stress, focus, productivityComment
Are there similarities between restoring old computers and old cars?
Are there similarities between restoring old computers and old cars?

Since I resurrected my old enormous RGB shining gaming laptop from the dead to a new life as a blog typewriter, I have been trying to figure out if there are any similarities between restoring old computers and for example old American cars? Old cars aren’t really usable as a daily driver either, I told my wife. Yes, but at least old American cars can be beautiful. An old laptop with RGB cannot. She has a point. It got me thinking: Have I ever seen a beautiful computer? I can’t think of one honestly, but I can think of several beautiful cars. Both are tools meant to be used, so what is it that cars have that old computers doesn’t seem to have?

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ComputerRikard Öqvistlinux, dell, computer, retro computers, blogging, writing, focus, productivity, reuse, recycling, sustainabilityComment
A little every day goes a long way
A little every day goes a long way

A couple of weeks ago I upgraded my computer screens to a triple 4k setup. When I was working with CAD drawings on my old lo-res (1680*1050) screens, it felt like looking at the world through a telescope, and my productivity suffered. The new screens are wonderful. I can now fit my entire old triple monitor screen real estate on just one screen! But anyone who has ever considered a triple monitor setup should also consider cable management. LOTS of cable management. Every screen requires a displayport cable and a power cable, so that’s six cables right there just to turn them on. I did some other upgrades as well. Let’s throw in a couple of active loudspeakers, camera, sound card, USB hub, conference speaker, mouse, keyboard, mic, Stream deck… the list goes on. And all this should be mounted on a sit/stand desk with a flexible length. This weekend I spent several hours doing cable management. And oh boy, did it turn out great! I was also reminded of a crucial life lesson.

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Habits, PhilosophyRikard Öqvistdeclutter, cleaning, cleanyourroom, it, 4k, productivityComment
An amazing mistake
An amazing mistake

My greatest weakness is that I am a perfectionist. My whole life I have been obsessed with quality and it is a big advantage as a scientist/engineer. But it is also a curse. If the world were run by engineers, I don’t think anything would ever be accomplished. We would be too busy tweaking our products to improve it beyond that 99th percentile. Luckily, since a couple of years I have constantly challenged myself to produce content with low quality and instead go for quantity. This week I made an amazing discovery, which proves that I am now on a much better path.

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HabitsRikard Öqvisthabits, productivity, progressnotperfection, growth Comments
The perfect work week
The perfect work week

After Covid, many of us have realized how much time we save by not travelling to various meetings. However, is it possible that we are now having more meetings instead? And perhaps they aren’t as disciplined? Yesterday I had a conversation with an architect and we both felt that some weeks there are so many meetings that it is difficult to clock in any productive work at all. In our conversation we did some brainstorming and came up with an idea that might work. What if there was an industry standard within civil engineering that looked something like this: Mondays – Internal meetings, Tuesdays – Client meetings, Wednesdays – Productive work, Thursdays – Client meetings and Fridays – Productive work again. Imagine how much easier it would be to focus and to optimize scheduling.

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Engineering, HabitsRikard Öqvistcivil engineering, productivity, focus, meetings, scheduling, planningComment
New year's resolution 2021: Double up
New year's resolution 2021: Double up

We all have different personality profiles with corresponding strengths and weaknesses, and I have learned the hard way that one of my biggest weaknesses is my ability to gather and pack my stuff on a short notice. For example, a couple of years ago I was going to do a university lecture and record it for later YouTube publication. As you can imagine, it involves a lot of technology with microphones, cables, sound cards, cameras etc… My lecture was scheduled to start around 10:00 in the morning, and since we lived close to campus back then, I thought it would be fine to gather up my stuff in the morning just before I leave. My wife got home before me that day, and when she entered our little office the whole place was a complete mess. Cables and stuff were lying everywhere, and it is probably what a home burglary looks like. However, my wife knows me well so she could easily figure out what had happened.

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Habits, TravelRikard Öqvisthabits, travelling, productivity, lifehack, packing, simplify, stress, planning, focus, new years resolutionComment
Practice mind control with livestreaming
Practice mind control with livestreaming

The last week, I have been experimenting with livestreaming instead of vlogging. I have played various musical instruments on FB live. When I play music on a livestream, I have noticed that my mind runs the same program as when I am playing a concert in front of an audience. Time stops. I am so hyper-focused that I am not aware of my surroundings anymore. The best example is when I did a livestream and decided to play Bleed in the original tempo (230 bpm). Bleed is arguably one of the most difficult songs there is. I have been practicing the song for over a year on drums and now guitar, so I knew it well, but I have never been able to play it in the proper speed, only slower. I started the livestream and just played. And I got through the whole song with only minor mistakes. I was NOT expecting that! But because I did it as a livestream, I activated the “live concert program” in my mind which gave me access to untapped potential. I can still hardly grasp that I managed to pull that off.

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Philosophy, HabitsRikard Öqvistmind control, mindset, focus, growth, productivity, trance, hypnosis, livestreaming, musicComment
Embrace your weakness
Embrace your weakness

Last week I bought a secondhand computer monitor for the home studio that I am creating. It is a huge Philips 43-inch 4k monster display, one of the very best on the market. I had been looking for a computer monitor for a long time when this behemoth showed up in my feed, close to where I live, for a fraction of the sticker price. However, the ad stated that the previous owner had damaged it by dropping a tool when installing it, which resulted in a big bright dead pixel with white light in the middle of the screen. Here’s the catch: I find dead pixels extremely annoying! My eyes are drawn to that sucker constantly. Even though the price was a bargain, the dead pixel disturbed me so much that it was a no-brainer to walk away. And that is precisely the reason that I bought it.

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Engineering, PhilosophyRikard Öqvistperfection, focus, productivity, it, growth, mindset, engineer, 4kComment
A change of tool changes your perspective
A change of tool changes your perspective

One of the things that I HATE is to solve a task using an incorrect tool. The perfect example is to use a Phillips screwdriver bit on a Pozidriv screw. Or when you don’t have the bit of the right size. It makes my blood boil! But what if there is a smarter way to complete the task using a different tool? Certain tasks are more inclined to have a “right” and a “wrong” way of doing them, but if we get locked in our minds that there is only one way to solve a problem, we risk stagnation. However, it makes a lot more sense to try out different guitars to play the same song, than to use different screwdriver bits for a given type of screw. The latter would be the equivalent to play death metal on a Harp. If your desire is to play the harp, you are probably better off choosing a different musical genre than death metal.

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Art, Engineering, Philosophy, MusicRikard Öqvisttools, productivity, wacom, drawing, speedsketching, screws, drawing tabletComment
What I have learned from 38 weekly blogs
What I have learned from 38 weekly blogs

I wrote my first blog post on the 6th of December 2019 and have posted an article every week since then. I still remember writing that first post. I was on a business road trip with a very busy schedule and I had decided to get it online before the end of the day, no matter what. I wrote it late that night, after bedtime for most people. I knew that every minute I spent writing, was one less minute of sleep and thus I just wanted to get it online as fast as humanly possible. Which I did, by the way. I don’t remember how much time I spent on my first post, but I am pretty sure it is one of the fastest I have written. In hindsight, that might have been the optimal way to start! Just get it done and move on. When you start out with anything, your first attempts will likely be mediocre at best. Maybe that’s how it should be done? Set a timer and go. Actually, I will do that right now. There. Timer set for 30 minutes. This post must be online before the timer runs out. Let’s do it.

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HabitsRikard Öqvistblogging, consistency, speed writing, focus, productivityComment
A beautiful home gives a beautiful mind
A beautiful home gives a beautiful mind

Yesterday I had an epiphany when I realized that I haven’t changed the air filters in our ventilation system since we moved here a year ago. The thought had never crossed my mind, even though I have lived in a house before and I should have known it. It was not until the rooms had been decluttered and made beautiful, that I could see what had been in front of me all the time. It is a testament to the power of cleaning one’s room.

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Philosophy, Style, Habits, ArtRikard Öqvistcleaning, cleanyourroom, jordanpeterson, beauty, focus, productivityComment