Take This Two-Minute Executive Dysfunction Test

Today’s edition of 10almonds is a Pot-Luck of quick tips, tricks, and resources to help level-up your health and productivity one little addition at a time. Take what benefits you, and keep on dipping in!  😎

🍑 FEELING FRUITY?

If you find a barrier to you getting your “5-a-day” is that fresh fruit is expensive where you are and/or goes bad quickly, sun-dried fruit can give you the same nutrients (minus the water!).

For example, a sun-dried banana contains all the same potassium and fibre as a fresh banana

Heads-up: sun-dried bananas aren’t as pretty as chemically dried ones—but they are much tastier

Bananas are just an example, though, same goes for other fruits too. Dried apricots are a great source of a whole bunch of vitamins and minerals, and a lot more fibre than a tablet!

Shop around for your new favorite healthy (and keeps-for-ages!) zero-effort tasty snack 😋

👀 HOW DO THEY DO IT?

10 tips crammed into this super-short (2:45) video—how many did you know?

(If “knowing isn’t the problem” for you, we’re going to cover that after today’s main feature)

🎯 BEATING THAT EXECUTIVE DYSFUNCTION

Roll For Initiative

Some of us struggle with executive dysfunction a lot; others, a little.

What Is Executive Dysfunction?

Take This Two-Minute Executive Dysfunction Test

How did you score? (8/16 here!)

Did you do it? (it honestly is really two minutes and is quite informative)

If not, here’s your cue to go back up and do it 😉 

For almost all of us, we sometimes find ourselves torn between several competing tasks, and end up doing… none of them.  

For such times, compile yourself a “productivity buffet”, print it, and pin it above your desk or similar space.

What’s a productivity buffet?

It’s a numbered list of 6, 8, 10, 12 or 20 common tasks that pretty much always need doing (to at least some extent!). Doesn’t matter how important they are, just that they are frequently recurring tasks. For example:

1. Tidy desk (including that drawer!)

2. Reply to emails/messages

3. Drink water

4. Collect stray one-off to-dos into a list

5. Stretch (or at least correct your posture!)

6. Extend that Duolingo streak

7. Read one chapter of a book

8. Etc

Why 6, 8, 10, 12, or 20?

Because those are common denominations of polyhedral dice that are very cheap to buy!

Keep the relevant die to hand (perhaps in your pocket or on your desk), and when you know you should be doing something but can’t decide what exactly, roll the die and do the item corresponding to the number you roll.

And if you find yourself thinking “damn, I got 12, I wanted 7!” then go ahead and do item 7—the dice aren’t the boss of you, they’re just there to break the ice between you and your to-do list!

🧹 SWEEP THAT DIRT AWAY

The Housekeeper In Your Pocket?

If you found the tidying tips (up top) helpful, but don’t like cleaning schedules because you just can’t stick to them, this one’s for you.

It’s easy to slip into just doing the same few easy tasks while neglecting others for far too long.

The answer? Outsource!

Not “get a cleaner” (though if you want to and can, great, go for it, this one won’t be for you after all), but rather, try this nifty little app that helps you keep on top of daily cleaning—which we all know is better than binge-cleaning every few months.

Sweepy keeps track of:

• What jobs there are that might need doing in each room (or type of room) in the house

• How often those jobs generally need doing

• How much of your energy (a finite resource, which it also takes into account!) those jobs will take

• How much energy you are prepared to spend per day (you can “lighter/heavier” days, or even “off-days”, too)

…and then it populates a small daily task list according to what needs cleaning and how much energy it’ll take.

For example, today Sweepy gives me (your trusty writer, hi! 👋) the tasks:

• Bathroom: clean sink (every 3 days, 1pt of energy)

• Dining room: clean and tidy table (every day, 1pt of energy)

• Bedroom: vacuum floor (every 7 days, 2pts of energy)

• Kitchen: clean coffee machine (every 30 days, 2pts of energy)

And that’s my 6pts of energy I’ve told Sweepy I’m happy to spend per day cleaning. There are “3 pts” tasks too—cleaning the oven, for example—but none came up today.

Importantly: it does not bother me about any other tasks today (even if something’s overdue), and I don’t have to worry my pretty head about it.

I don’t have to feel guilty for not doing other cleaning tasks; if they need doing, Sweepy will tell me tomorrow, and it will make sure I don’t get behind or leave anything neglected for too long.

Check it out (available for both iOS and Android)

PS: to premium or not to premium? We think the premium is worth it (unlocks some extra customization features) but the free version is sufficient to get your house in order, so don’t be afraid to give it a try first.

📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW

Coach’s Plan - by Mike Kavanagh

A sports coach’s job is to prepare a plan, give it to the player(s), and hold them accountable to it. Change the strategy if needs be, call the shots. The job of the player(s) is then to follow those instructions.

If you have trouble keeping yourself accountable, Kavanagh argues that it can be good to separate how you approach things.

Not just “coach yourself”, but put yourself entirely in the coach’s shoes, as though you were a separate person, then switch back, and follow those instructions, trusting in your coach’s guidance.

The book also provides illustrative examples and guides the reader through some potential pitfalls—for example, what happens when morning you doesn’t want to do the things that evening you decided would be best?

The absolute backbone of this method is that it takes away the paralysing self-doubt that can occur when we second-guess ourselves mid-task.

In short, this book will fire up your enthusiasm and give you a reliable fall-back for when your motivation’s flagging.

Grab Your Copy of “Coach’s Plan” on Amazon!

Wishing you a joyous day whether at work or at rest,

The 10almonds Team