One of the simplest and most effective behaviours that you can try to help you level-up is to keep creating forcing functions for yourself. A forcing function is an external stimulus that makes you get to where you want to be. Signing up for an event so that you are forced to get yourself in shape, offering to give a talk so that you learn your material, inviting people to a dinner party so you get your house in order, paying for a personal trainer to make you turn up every week — all useful forcing functions to get you from where you are to where you want to be. Forcing functions play, very effectively, on our fear of letting ourselves down to make ourselves do what we want us to do.

Another useful sense of forcing function is a way to help people make fewer mistakes, like putting your passport on the door handle so you can't forget it before your flight.

Forcing function

Forcing functions are a super way to help make things foolproof, or better, errorproof — as all of us make mistakes with designed things without being fools. You may have used your own forcing function when, in an attempt to make sure you remember your passport or tickets before a flight, you put them directly in front of the door so you couldn’t open it without noticing them. That little dialogue that asks you if you want to save your changes before closing your work, that’s a forcing function too.

My first memory of understanding a forcing function was when working with a giant machine capable of cutting through 100 pieces of paper at a time. The two buttons to operate it were on opposite sides of the machine. I couldn’t start the machine without spreading my arms out wide. There was then no way to also accidentally have your fingers in with the paper and near the blades when it started. Smart.

I learned this sense of forcing function from Don Norman’s classic The Design of Everyday Things. Also from Don, see Mapping.

The other sense of forcing functions for productivity is also really useful: helping kick ourselves into action.

Forcing function — design

Sometimes we’re smart enough to know that we’ll have trouble doing something we want to get done. That might be going to the gym, finishing that essay instead of goofing around, quitting smoking, doing your taxes, or, if you happen to be Odysseus, listening to the sirens’ song without going crazy and diving in the water or driving your boat to be crashed on to the rocks.

In these cases, you can try a commitment device: a voluntary restriction to help maintain our future self-control. In Odysseus’s case he instructed his men to fill their ears with wax and to bind him the mast and told them if he asked them to let him go then they were to bind him tighter. In this way, he managed to listen to the sirens’ song without ending up at the bottom of the sea.

Other commitment device’s may be more mundane, such as publicly announcing to your friends that you’re going to do something, paying a bunch of money to sign up for something upfront, or handing a $20 bill to a friend with instructions not to give it back until you’ve done what you’re supposed to.

Here are some nice examples of commitment devices.

Commitment device

If you like pomegranate but are put off by the prospect of the effort of pulling out each individual seed and spraying pomegranate juice across the kitchen, then this is a fun and handy tip.

a bowl of water helps stop spraying when pulling them apart and naturally separates the light fluffy pith from the seeds, and 

whacking them on the back with a spoon is a surprisingly effective and fun way of making the seeds shoot out.

Deseed a pomegranate

Probably the biggest killer of houseplants? Overwatering. So I love this simple tip known as the finger-dip test, or the knuckle test, to determine if your plant needs watering. Sadly, it came too late for many of my plants, but perhaps not for yours.

Just dip your index finger into the soil near the stem of your plant up to about your first knuckle. If the soil feels dry, and your finger comes out clean, then it’s probably time for some water. If the soil around your fingertip is still moist then it’s time to sit back next to your plant with a good book and enjoy it.

I learned this from the good people at Patch Plants and their resident plant expert Alice Vincent (@noughticulture).

Also see: How to grow your own fresh air.

The finger-dip test to not overwater houseplants

You’re at the supermarket. There are 8 self-checkouts and 15 people in line, there are 3 servers scanning baskets only with 5 people in line and 4 checkouts for trolleys each with 2 trolleys at each. Or you’re at immigration after getting off a plane, and you can see 3 lines each of different lengths, but it looks like they’ve just opened up another agent who’s only accessible from the right-hand line, but it already looks longer. Or there’s a jam on the highway but it looks like one lane splits into two up ahead. Or they’re checking passports at the gate and it looks like there are two people checking at one line and only one at the other.

OK, chances are we probably won’t get it right, and most of all it’s worth just making peace with that and not stressing about it. But, there are times when a little counting, checking ahead and some mental arithmetic can save you a little time and give you a little glow of satisfaction. Good luck.

Choose the fast line

I love this Norwegian concept of how the hardest part of a journey can be just getting out of the door.

So, sometimes as Seth Godin would say, the most important thing is just to start — start small, start now, step by step, day by day and you can give yourself the chance of making something amazing.

Got something you’ve been meaning to start? Maybe today’s the day?

This sketchplanation is my 104th in consecutive weeks — that’s 2 years of weekly sketches without missing one — and sketchplanation number 583 in total. And I can tell you that it didn’t start glamorously, and they weren’t high quality or even interesting, but I did start. Sketch by sketch. Week by week.

Would you do me one favour? Would you share sketchplanations with just one person? Maybe forward this one, or your favourite, or share this tweet or follow on Instagram. I really appreciate you spreading the word.

I’d like to give a massive thank you to my patrons who’ve been supporting me this year with a particular shout to Nick Hungerford, Iain Shaw, Christian Hunt, and Tony Hey. Find out more.

HT: once again to Chris Hey for introducing me to the doorstep mile

The doorstep mile

Since I learned this remarkable trick I actually find I quite like getting a wobbly table for the chance to retest this simple, and still kind of remarkable, fix. A number of smart people have spent probably more time than justified demonstrating that, for a four-legged table with even length legs on uneven ground, as long as the ground is not excessively bumpy you’ll be able to fix your wobble by rotating the table up to ¼ turn.

Now, it’s definitely true, that if you have a square table, not a round one, or, say, two square tables next to each other, it’s not always possible to start rearranging the café, but…when you can it’s really neat to see it work. Give it a try.

Fix wobbly tables by rotating

So, you finish a packet of crisps, or chips, and scrumple the packet up, but in just keeps uncrumpling and tries to blow away. No longer. This handy little bit of origami creates a neat and tidy little triangle that keeps your crisp packet behaving. Give it a try next time.

HT: Dave Barker taught me this about 20 years ago. I still find it useful.

Tame unruly crisp packets

So maybe this was always obvious to you, but someone showed me this when I was in my 30s and it was hard for me to believe that it took 30 years for me to learn it. So, now you know. A simple tip to stop your bag coming undone — particularly if you’re walking or running and you’ve stuffed it too full like I do.

Zip backpacks to the side

For a super simple way to avoid making a mess when drilling into walls.

Louise, sent me this to try as another method:

So my Dad has half a tennis ball with a hole through it. Drill bit goes through hole. Tennis ball hemisphere presses against wall on flat side. All dust goes into ball. When he pulls it out he holds upwards then tips into bin.

Catch drilling dust with a Post it

A simple way to remember if you locked your car, turned the gas off, watered the plants or whatever, is to do something unusual around the time that you do it. When you find yourself thinking back to whether you did it or not, you will know for sure when you remember the strange thing that you did that is connected to it. The only limit is your imagination.

Ironically, I can’t remember where I learned this — I must not have followed this tip.

How to remember if you did something

The fluff floats to the top and the seeds will sink to the bottom. And no squirting. HT Alex Maiereanu

De-seed pomegranates in a bowl of water

Via The Wall Street Journal: The Perfect Nap and @jessmnhey.

How long to nap

Trim beans in one cut through the packet

Learned this remarkably reliable technique from our guide Rodolfo in the Corcovado in Costa Rica - appropriately, on a Pacific beach lined with palm trees, the sounds of howler monkeys and scarlet macaws flying by. It works just as well in our London apartment.

Update: if you’re not on a beach and have some minimal tools you can rescue more of the water by drilling or poking through one of the three holes in the top and draining it first. Tip from Jose.

Open a coconut

There’s no point in being in a room full of interesting people, but not being able to find each other. Asking a question early on can give you a good conference day.

Ask a question early at conferences

My wife finds it amusing, but I genuinely find it the most effective way to fit a sheet. Plus, it’s more fun.

(similar fun to be had by fitting a duvet into the corners by climbing inside the cover)

Topple-fit a sheet

It still takes me a moment to process, but Ryan, for example, is much closer to S, than it is the beginning of R. Consider starting at the next letter for some searches.

Consider starting at the next letter (when scanning address books)

Do not hesitate to ditch that which doesn’t stack and replace with ones that do. Life is too short.

Non-stacking Tupperware should be destroyed

Wrap cheese in paper towel to reduce mould

Pull flat and straight. Believe it or not, on a rainy day, I even recorded a video about how to pull a post-it so it doesn’t fall down. Everyone should know. One more thing I learned at Jump Associates, who I believe were even told it by 3M. This is helpful if a) you use Post-its a lot, and b) you need them to stay up and don’t want them raining to the ground.

Peel a Post-it so it doesn’t fall down

Among many other sensible suggestions, Michael Pollan recommends avoiding the centre supermarket aisles. It’ll generally keep you on the fresh stuff. Sketchplanation hat tip to Ben Merrick.

Shop healthy

Handy. Also works for walking instructions from books so you don’t have to carry the book.

Take photos of maps, to travel light and have backup before a hike

Smarter, compact and less creased. I learned from Rob Bell.

Fold shirts for better travel

Don’t let the frozen peas escape until you want them to.

Marshal frozen peas and such

By moving the rubbing from sock-to-foot, to sock-to-sock.

Two socks helps prevent blisters

It helps the environment and saves a great deal of hassle. Buy more easy-care, non-iron, quick-drying fabrics.

Iron less

Arrange kitchen storage to minimise excess travel

Great practice for research. Good practice for life too.

Prefer open-ended questions

The same principle as the swimming tumble turn — works nicely on stairs too.

Try stair kickturns to preserve momentum

Use both sides of a towel

My dad often says my mum won’t survive when he’s gone as she won’t be able to open any jars for food. Maybe this’ll help. Warming up jar lids has saved me on multiple occasions.

Fourth Try: Put folded dish cloth on counter and whack the edge of the lid against it. Boom. (courtesy @MrRobBell)

Remove troublesome lids

This simple division has made our lives a teeny bit easier.

Organise veg in the fridge

Apparently this is a well known thing in the military, but no one told me until we learned about it in the film Beneath Hill 60. But I think the primary use case is going for a pee in the night.

Sketchplanations tagged with lifehack