How Alia Works [Productivity]
This post is part of a small series that has big meaning.
2016 was filled with internal reflection for me, especially in the areas of productivity and creativity. During this time, I sought inspiration from so many famously successful people, but at the end of the day, it was always the people in my phone book that I turned to for real advice and motivation, who ultimately helped me inch along towards my goals.
To pay this forward, I've asked them about their work process and now share them here. The hope is that you, reader, get inspired, get pro-tips, and get entertained by these people and their dedication to their work, just as I have been.
I’m nomadic. I live between Jeddah, Jakarta, Jatibarang and Ubud. I live out of a suitcase. My office fits into a backpack. In every place, I have a different job role. In Jeddah and Jakarta, I freelance (online), meet people and read Tarot cards. In Jatibarang, I serve my teacher and clergy, The Timekeeper, as his personal assistant. In Ubud, I do all of the above, but in sprints.
The best part is the mobility. Travel shakes me down to the bare essentials. It forces me to trim down all the time, not just in belongings, but also in mindset. "I have 2 hours of quiet, how am I going to spend it?" Ultimately, that mindset extends to the rest of the month, the rest of the year.
✯ A good keyboard and iPad or MacBook
2016 was filled with internal reflection for me, especially in the areas of productivity and creativity. During this time, I sought inspiration from so many famously successful people, but at the end of the day, it was always the people in my phone book that I turned to for real advice and motivation, who ultimately helped me inch along towards my goals.
To pay this forward, I've asked them about their work process and now share them here. The hope is that you, reader, get inspired, get pro-tips, and get entertained by these people and their dedication to their work, just as I have been.
Meet Alia Makki.
Where do you live and what do you do?
Which specific part of your job do you enjoy the most, and which one do you like the least?
"I have 10 months of the year not traveling, how am I going to spend it?"
"(If I'm lucky,) I have 25 years until I kick the bucket, how am I going to spend it?"
The least part I like is the mobility. Instability provides little space for real, in-depth work. I realize that I might never get anything really big done as long as I'm still nomadic. And I have to be okay with that.
✯ I like Simplenote - It syncs between my gadgets. Saves automatically. Has a night-mode. Simple as heck.
The least part I like is the mobility. Instability provides little space for real, in-depth work. I realize that I might never get anything really big done as long as I'm still nomadic. And I have to be okay with that.
What are your favorite productivity apps and how do you use them?
✯ Being nomadic meant that I use timers a lot. It also means that I have to be able to open shop anywhere I go, blocking out the outside noise. Tide has both of those features.
✯ I use Wunderlist for my to-do lists and reminders.
Do you have a “work” playlist? What do you listen to when you work?
In Jatibarang, I live in an auditorial-hell of a village. Muezzins howling at their loudest and most bass-amplified recitations 18 hours of the day out of 24. To block them out, I use the white noise feature in the Tide app, and double it with movie soundtrack music. Hans Zimmer, Ludovico Einaudi and Ramin Djawadi work for me.
Who is your career role model, and which part of their work process are you emulating? How’s that been?
I think I’m trying to emulate The Timekeeper’s work processes. He's a clergy, so he makes his decisions based on religious script and sheer instincts. On the other hand, my master also spends every minute of his free time reading. Between his instincts, education and practical advice, I haven’t found ground to doubt his processes. He has thrived on them. And they’re not easy to follow or emulate. Added to that, a lot of my meditation teachers function similarly.
The basic of my teachers' practices is deep faith. Faith in self, faith in God, faith in education. This takes long experience; for it can be very, very unnerving trying to maintain faith when you’re broke, hungry and don’t know where to go. But it works. I don’t get it either. But here we are.
When it gets too rushed or complicated, press pause. Need to be more productive and move faster under pressure? Press pause regularly. The plane just burst its engine at 10’000 ft altitude and you’re about to die? Press pause, take a deep breath then depress pause to finish what you were doing.
Your brain works better when you give it all the regular pauses it needs.
The basic of my teachers' practices is deep faith. Faith in self, faith in God, faith in education. This takes long experience; for it can be very, very unnerving trying to maintain faith when you’re broke, hungry and don’t know where to go. But it works. I don’t get it either. But here we are.
What’s your favorite productivity hack? Do you have a “secret super-hack” that makes you good or better at what you do?
Your brain works better when you give it all the regular pauses it needs.
How/where do you get work or career inspiration or motivation?
The negative motivation is harsh self-criticism and typical Virgo worrying. The positive motivation is craving to be in the state of flow.
What’s the best work advice you’ve ever received?
"The tallest tree in the forest grows the slowest.”
What are your workspace essentials? What does your workspace look like?
How about 5 photos of my nomadic work stations? The essentials would probably include:
✯ A good keyboard and iPad or MacBook
✯ Drinks (coffee works, but water lasts)
✯ Quality earphones
✯ iGadgets to play music, timer and white noise on
✯ Paper pad and pens/pencils (can’t live without)
✯ Smoking gear: tobacco, lighter, ashtray.
What specific work task can you safely say you’ve done for 10,000 hours (and claim expertise on)?
I can type 55 wpm, read a hundred books a year, and set up and dismantle a nomadic office like a mofo.
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