All week on Monday - life hacking life hacks
How are you looking for time for yourself? Surely you have your own methods of finding the most valuable resource. Before reading the article - remember a couple of your methods. And when you finish reading - share them in the comments. Surely remember something new and interesting for me =)
Our company has grown from 3 to 40 people in just one year. The responsibilities of those three founders have radically changed. There were several months in which I personally had the feeling that my work had turned into horror. And nowhere to retire - this is my company :)
Real activity was replaced by the solution of endless force majeure, minor issues, discussions with colleagues about their decisions ... There was a strong feeling that you are engaged in the most routine, boring and useless tasks - but even without them, the company, it seems, cannot.
')
I see that any, even a small, leader faces the same problem - the arriving tasks no longer allow to do what is really important!
In this article I will talk about the methods of time management - which worked and which were described in many books, but for me it turned out to be a failure.
Any book on time management says - lead a calendar, select the time when you fill it, add different colors, plan all tasks, including rest. In detail and with pictures recently on the CPU, this approach was described by Oleg Anisimov . BullShit! IMHO, of course.
On Monday morning, I painted tasks for the week, carefully distributed them by day, introduced 3 colors - meetings, tasks, personal. Allocated time for lunch and sports. As a result, the calendar turned out to be a fully calculated person, who now also constantly looks at the instructions, what he should do and according to the instructions he draws up instructions for himself. The worst thing is that you stop thinking about, and is it worth it to do the task ? You calm down and stop regularly analyzing the algorithms of their actions. As a result, all tasks become routine, and you - biorobot. At the same time, when something “urgent” arrives, the calendar begins to crumble, people who brought something very necessary annoy, they are sorely lacking time, cool ideas that once created your business are no longer born.
Now, Monday is my special day. I try to solve all the problems that are expected of me. Tasks obtained about three times more than the time. Be sure to enter all the most boring administrative issues, add something interesting, for example - to write this pack. Then I play a very interesting game - I try to solve everything. Time initially should not be enough, and you have to look for short, often not the most obvious solutions. The main prize is a free week. Free in the sense that I can choose what task I work on all days except Monday.
As I said, the calendar as a reminder (which task is the next one) does not work for me. But the calendar as a reminder that time is limited - works fine. For example, this month I every day from 10:30 to 14:00 am engaged in the project “Marketing Marathon 310”. I never know exactly what exactly I will do, but at this time I am working on, so that the number of active users of the free version of the RC Free callback increased by 310.
A slot is a part of a day in several hours, during which a couple of weeks or months solve one problem. Since time is limited, you begin to appreciate it, to organize processes, so that it passes most effectively. My Monday is a slot in which the goal is to free the week.
For me, time management is successful not when you have distributed all the tasks, but when you clearly and precisely saw that time is limited. And in this sense, slots are great help. The calendar does not fit the wording of the task, but the goal to which you are moving at this time.
At some point I had a hypothesis: if I sat down in a separate office, then many minor questions would not get to me, and the departments would become more autonomous in solving their problems. However, the cabinet does not affect the effective use of time: to find what to distract, it is even easier in it than in the open space.
There is no environment that provides maximum concentration over the task. If a task is chosen consciously and interesting - you can work on it in any condition and in any place, and almost no one can disturb you. When the task is set forcibly - it begins to seem that the environment greatly affects the efficiency of your work.
Billions of people around the world are used to going to work. It often happens that, having just reached the office, a person feels a sense of accomplishment - as if the work was done. Social norm - to be at work - implemented. Even the one who runs his own project can get used to going to the office as an end in itself.
If you allow yourself to go to the office only when it is really necessary or just convenient - for example, for meetings - the effectiveness of the time spent will increase significantly. Having remained engaged in a specific task at home or in a cafe, you work on it with double responsibility.
Efficiency generally turns out to be higher, if we exclude from our daily routine formal rules and leave only those that I have chosen for myself. But it works only on condition that the goals and objectives are chosen freely and truly inspire. In fact, the office and standard operating mode lead a person to the state of the same biorobot as the calendar. It becomes more stable, but is no longer capable of a high result, because freedom of choice is blunted. The ideal option is not to become attached to the place of work and the environment, but to focus only on the goal and clearly realize that time is limited.
In our company in the last six months, the rule of the “golden” task has taken root for a week. On Friday, the leaders of the directions are going to the planning meeting, share the results of the past week and discuss plans for the next one. At the end of the meeting, we fill out a table with tasks for the week, each highlighting one main task for himself with the most precisely stated goal.
As a result, I and each of my colleagues from Monday have one priority direction with one main goal, which you are trying to achieve as soon as possible.
Time itself is distributed more efficiently if the focus is not on the task list, but on one - really important. It’s natural to treat the list of cases as a routine, but when you realize that one specific and short goal is important, there is a desire to start it immediately, without delay. If its implementation requires several days, then a plan to achieve the goal appears in the mind by itself, without a calendar.
The importance of each “golden” task is supported by a small wager with a company - hence the name. About this in the next method.
No matter how responsible you are, no matter how you want to create an ingenious product or achieve your goal, it is easy to get off the direction of movement. In this case, there is a risk of losing not a couple of hours, but several months or even years. Any circumstances that will remind you about the direction of movement and increase interest towards the goal will allow you to spend time with much greater efficiency.
Here is an example: in the promotion of the free version of calls in the “Marathon 310” mode, I work with a colleague who does not have a stake in the company, but in a partner mode. This means that responsibility, criticism and support are divided strictly equally. We have one goal. If we reach 310 new active users per month, we will receive a bonus from the company. And if not - throw off 10 thousand and buy something for the office. A bet, in which you can lose something, is very focused and works much better than a regular bonus.
With the gold tasks described above, everything is simple: if an employee has reached a weekly goal, then a piece of paper with his name and a thousand rubles from the company are put in a special bag. If it failed, he lays a thousand rubles himself. At the end of the month, a small prize pool is played out: one “nominal” piece of paper is blindly pulled out of the bag.
At the end of the article I want to attach a poster, which, although not directly related to time management, but greatly affects the meaningfulness of the time spent in our development team. Time management becomes natural - and not violent - when the goal for which people spend time is formulated and maximally strengthened.
(our lowest logo)
Author: Anton Chernyatin, RedHelper CEO
Our company has grown from 3 to 40 people in just one year. The responsibilities of those three founders have radically changed. There were several months in which I personally had the feeling that my work had turned into horror. And nowhere to retire - this is my company :)
Real activity was replaced by the solution of endless force majeure, minor issues, discussions with colleagues about their decisions ... There was a strong feeling that you are engaged in the most routine, boring and useless tasks - but even without them, the company, it seems, cannot.
')
I see that any, even a small, leader faces the same problem - the arriving tasks no longer allow to do what is really important!
In this article I will talk about the methods of time management - which worked and which were described in many books, but for me it turned out to be a failure.
Method 1 - Calendar (failure)
Any book on time management says - lead a calendar, select the time when you fill it, add different colors, plan all tasks, including rest. In detail and with pictures recently on the CPU, this approach was described by Oleg Anisimov . BullShit! IMHO, of course.
On Monday morning, I painted tasks for the week, carefully distributed them by day, introduced 3 colors - meetings, tasks, personal. Allocated time for lunch and sports. As a result, the calendar turned out to be a fully calculated person, who now also constantly looks at the instructions, what he should do and according to the instructions he draws up instructions for himself. The worst thing is that you stop thinking about, and is it worth it to do the task ? You calm down and stop regularly analyzing the algorithms of their actions. As a result, all tasks become routine, and you - biorobot. At the same time, when something “urgent” arrives, the calendar begins to crumble, people who brought something very necessary annoy, they are sorely lacking time, cool ideas that once created your business are no longer born.
Method 2 - All in one day (successful)
Now, Monday is my special day. I try to solve all the problems that are expected of me. Tasks obtained about three times more than the time. Be sure to enter all the most boring administrative issues, add something interesting, for example - to write this pack. Then I play a very interesting game - I try to solve everything. Time initially should not be enough, and you have to look for short, often not the most obvious solutions. The main prize is a free week. Free in the sense that I can choose what task I work on all days except Monday.
Method 3 - Slots in the calendar (successful)
As I said, the calendar as a reminder (which task is the next one) does not work for me. But the calendar as a reminder that time is limited - works fine. For example, this month I every day from 10:30 to 14:00 am engaged in the project “Marketing Marathon 310”. I never know exactly what exactly I will do, but at this time I am working on, so that the number of active users of the free version of the RC Free callback increased by 310.
A slot is a part of a day in several hours, during which a couple of weeks or months solve one problem. Since time is limited, you begin to appreciate it, to organize processes, so that it passes most effectively. My Monday is a slot in which the goal is to free the week.
For me, time management is successful not when you have distributed all the tasks, but when you clearly and precisely saw that time is limited. And in this sense, slots are great help. The calendar does not fit the wording of the task, but the goal to which you are moving at this time.
Method 4 - a separate office (failure)
At some point I had a hypothesis: if I sat down in a separate office, then many minor questions would not get to me, and the departments would become more autonomous in solving their problems. However, the cabinet does not affect the effective use of time: to find what to distract, it is even easier in it than in the open space.
There is no environment that provides maximum concentration over the task. If a task is chosen consciously and interesting - you can work on it in any condition and in any place, and almost no one can disturb you. When the task is set forcibly - it begins to seem that the environment greatly affects the efficiency of your work.
Method 5 - do not go to work, do business (successful)
Billions of people around the world are used to going to work. It often happens that, having just reached the office, a person feels a sense of accomplishment - as if the work was done. Social norm - to be at work - implemented. Even the one who runs his own project can get used to going to the office as an end in itself.
If you allow yourself to go to the office only when it is really necessary or just convenient - for example, for meetings - the effectiveness of the time spent will increase significantly. Having remained engaged in a specific task at home or in a cafe, you work on it with double responsibility.
Efficiency generally turns out to be higher, if we exclude from our daily routine formal rules and leave only those that I have chosen for myself. But it works only on condition that the goals and objectives are chosen freely and truly inspire. In fact, the office and standard operating mode lead a person to the state of the same biorobot as the calendar. It becomes more stable, but is no longer capable of a high result, because freedom of choice is blunted. The ideal option is not to become attached to the place of work and the environment, but to focus only on the goal and clearly realize that time is limited.
Method 6 - one central task per week (successful)
In our company in the last six months, the rule of the “golden” task has taken root for a week. On Friday, the leaders of the directions are going to the planning meeting, share the results of the past week and discuss plans for the next one. At the end of the meeting, we fill out a table with tasks for the week, each highlighting one main task for himself with the most precisely stated goal.
As a result, I and each of my colleagues from Monday have one priority direction with one main goal, which you are trying to achieve as soon as possible.
Time itself is distributed more efficiently if the focus is not on the task list, but on one - really important. It’s natural to treat the list of cases as a routine, but when you realize that one specific and short goal is important, there is a desire to start it immediately, without delay. If its implementation requires several days, then a plan to achieve the goal appears in the mind by itself, without a calendar.
The importance of each “golden” task is supported by a small wager with a company - hence the name. About this in the next method.
Method 7 - partner, betting, posters (successful)
No matter how responsible you are, no matter how you want to create an ingenious product or achieve your goal, it is easy to get off the direction of movement. In this case, there is a risk of losing not a couple of hours, but several months or even years. Any circumstances that will remind you about the direction of movement and increase interest towards the goal will allow you to spend time with much greater efficiency.
Here is an example: in the promotion of the free version of calls in the “Marathon 310” mode, I work with a colleague who does not have a stake in the company, but in a partner mode. This means that responsibility, criticism and support are divided strictly equally. We have one goal. If we reach 310 new active users per month, we will receive a bonus from the company. And if not - throw off 10 thousand and buy something for the office. A bet, in which you can lose something, is very focused and works much better than a regular bonus.
With the gold tasks described above, everything is simple: if an employee has reached a weekly goal, then a piece of paper with his name and a thousand rubles from the company are put in a special bag. If it failed, he lays a thousand rubles himself. At the end of the month, a small prize pool is played out: one “nominal” piece of paper is blindly pulled out of the bag.
At the end of the article I want to attach a poster, which, although not directly related to time management, but greatly affects the meaningfulness of the time spent in our development team. Time management becomes natural - and not violent - when the goal for which people spend time is formulated and maximally strengthened.
“Rich companies make free products”
(our lowest logo)
Author: Anton Chernyatin, RedHelper CEO
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/297068/
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