While I am not a minimalist at all, I reflect deeply on the products I buy, trying to find the best products for what I need, and I am also very intentional about my buying habits. I will only buy something if I really need it, and if at some point I stop using that item I will sell it.

I really love quality products of any type, and will splurge without hesitation on getting top-quality items. For consumer-grade items, I usually spend a lot of time researching with the aim of finding the best product out there. Usually, there are clear market leaders. For more expensive purchases (e.g. buying a car) things become a lot more subjective and it’s not easy to find a clear leader, except for specific niches, like Tesla in the electric car space.

I also tend to buy products that will push me to do something new. I absolutely hate owning products that I don’t use, so I will feel a lot of pressure to make use of something once I acquire it. So if I know my body needs daily massage, but I’ve been procrastinating on it, I’ll go out and buy an expensive Theragun. If I want to explore Barcelona and surroundings by bike, I’ll buy one or more expensive bikes and a nice car. That’s my self-hack that always works.

• Theragun Elite – I’ve long struggled with feeling stiff and tired in the mornings, especially since I am usually training pretty hard during most of the year. And as any sportsman knows, there’s nothing better after an arduous workout than a massage session. Unfortunately, a massage therapist is not always on hand for that. This solves both issues in a convenient package that is easy to travel with and perfect for daily use. I have used it daily and it’s probably my best investment of the year. I also own a few foam rollers that help with self-massage and I use them frequently. One of them is also by Theragun and vibrates to enhance the effect.
• Herman Miller Aeron – There’s not much to say about this chair that hasn’t been said already. It’s the world’s most famous office chair, and most probably the best one. While I still get uncomfortable sitting for long periods, this chair makes it better and I love the mesh material that keeps me cool in summer.
• Brompton Electric – After much dilly-dallying, I finally pulled the trigger on this purchase and it’s been absolutely awesome. I already felt that Barcelona was a big playground that I could run around with my non-electric Bromptons at will, but this took Electric Brompton took things to a different level. I can now go up the mountains around Barcelona with ease as well as go much further to explore other towns in the vicinity. Given the lockdown and restrictions on movement in place, this has been a godsend as it gives me the impetus to go out and spend time in nature.
• Icebreaker clothing – This year I’ve taken a closer look at my wardrobe and decided that I would focus on wearing comfortable, sporty and stylish clothes. The material that fit the best for my active lifestyle is merino wool, which is very breathable and supremely comfortable. Icebreaker is one of the best brands in this space and I’ve stocked up on underwear, t-shirts etc. from this brand. The change from other materials is pretty massive.
• Airpods Pro – These earphones are absolutely top-notch and I carry them everywhere with me. Noise-canceling is excellent as is sound quality. I use them for working in public spaces, at home and while training.
• Balance Surfer – I’ve been slowly assembling a home gym made up of portable exercise material, and this one was one of my latest additions. I love exercising with my son at home and teaching him new tricks, and this has served well. Turns out my biggest use for this, however, is to stand on while I’m working at my standing desk. I usually put on some electronic music mix while working and I naturally start moving about while I type. Being on the balance surfer feels really good and does some help with strengthening my ankles.

I’m not a big fan of the extreme frugality and obsession with saving money that is ubiquitous within the FIRE movement.

My idea, on the other hand, is that you should think about your purchases thoroughly, especially for big expense items, and never buy items you won’t really use. I’m talking about purchases that are the result of wishful thinking or some kind of emotional response.

Some examples:

• Buying an indoor bike for Christmas because you feel like on January 1st you’re going to start a “losing weight” campaign. I’d bet 99% of these bikes and similar devices end up gathering dust in a garage eventually. Better to join a gym or start with doing bodyweight exercises and jump rope and see how that goes before investing further money.
• Another category would be clothing and fashion accessories, especially those items that are very particular and you’ll only end up using them once or twice. Better to rent them or have a plan to sell them immediately after use.

I also see a lot of people making what I call false economies, which brings me to the core of my article today.

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For the past twenty years, I’ve been on a journey towards improving my productivity. I’m an ideas guy and it’s very hard for me to stay focused on one thing for long. Adding to that I have a very strong drive to achieve and build things.

Mix those two together and you get an explosive cocktail that leads to depression if you don’t put systems in place. Simply put, with such a personality it is easy for me to overwhelm myself and those around me with projects but then struggle to make progress on all of them. I could also overwork myself to try to keep up with my ideas and wishes.

The right way to do things essentially turns out to be focusing on becoming an essentialist, then setting clear goals and breaking things down into manageable chunks.

In this post, I’d like to share with you some productivity hacks that have helped me throughout the years. Some I continue to use while others have helped me in the past but are no longer useful at this stage of my life, but I’ve included all so you can pick and choose which ones resonate with you.

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I thought I’d share my thoughts on how the Coronavirus situation will be affecting the world in the coming weeks and months from different perspectives.

The key takeaway from all that is happening, in my opinion, would be this:

Don’t panic, but don’t stick your head in the ground like an Ostrich either.

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Over the course of the past couple of years, I’ve learned to identify myself as a multipotentialite. I’ve known since my childhood that I was different from most people in that I had an insanely varied and ever-changing range of interests, but I never knew how to explain why.

Reading recent books like Refuse to Choose and regular psychotherapy has helped me understand my characteristics better.

There were many times why I wondered what was wrong with me for always having too many things I wanted to do and seemingly never going to the very end in any project I undertook. There seemed to be some hidden finish line where my heart would suddenly decide that I’ve done enough of this thing and it’s time to move on to the next. My heart and my mind used to be at odds as I would interpret this as a failure and struggle to understand why I’m finding it so hard to continue investing time and energy into something I was obsessed about just a few months ago.

In the light of multipotentiality, this all makes sense, so here’s some more information about multipotentialites, scanners, or renaissance souls; all these terms refer to the same kind of person.

Typical multipotentialite traits:

• Have an unusually wide range of interests and a low tolerance for boredom
• Change jobs, careers and/or fields of study more often than most
• Follow their energy and inspiration more easily than a schedule or calendar
• Either have lots of diverse projects on the go at once, or bury themselves in one project until they lose interest and move on to something different
• Are better at starting projects than finishing them
• Prefer variety rather than concentrating on one single thing
• Will lose interest in a topic or task when they’ve learned what they wanted to know or achieved a particular goal
• When they reach a goal or level of success, they decide to change to something different, rather than going deeper into the same subject or project

Do you identify with the above? It can be a revelatory moment to understand that you’re not alone and there’s nothing wrong with you. I highly suggest working with a psychotherapist once you’ve identified as a multipotentialite, so you can get past any negative emotional feelings about yourself and flourish.