Reflections on the subject of personal effectiveness and organization of affairs.
What for?
Never had time in school. Any task I have stretched for the maximum possible time, confirming the Parkinson's law. “And this is only the beginning ...” - I thought, and fell into depression. Accordingly, I had no time for anything but lessons. Then the university and work. Race for money. Good lord Surely it will always be ...
I was surprised to find that the more and more efficiently you do the work, the more it comes down. And what is interesting, even if you charge the price tag to the skies.
Always wanted to have more. I did not leave the feeling that life is passing by.
That is, not quite by ... I just saw people walking around me to the gym, reading books, playing musical instruments, in short - doing interesting things for themselves and getting pleasure from it. And I did not have this. There was only a PC and tons of code. And, of course, the accumulated fatigue ...
It ended, as expected, with a breakdown. Within a month, I merged all current projects and ... changed jobs, because it was impossible to live for the then-salary. But the problem did not disappear. Then I wondered, can I correct this situation? What you need to do to get tired less? How do I clean up business? How to find time for your projects?
')
How?
1. I decided to take proactivity as a basis.
This is a life position based on free will. At the same time, a person determines the reaction to the impact based on his values [to realize which is the primary task]. Thus, a person’s responsibility towards himself is increased. I note that the opposite approach is called reactive, when the choice is determined by external circumstances.
2. It is noticed that one of the most important factors in developing a proactive approach is our speech. I began to deliberately exclude from phrases such phrases as: “impossible”, “I cannot”, “I would like to, but ...”.
Why? “Impossible” - immediately puts before us an insurmountable barrier. When I am going to utter this phrase, I almost always mean “I don't want to do it”.
The same applies to other phrases. “I can not”, in most cases, it makes sense to split into two parts. The first is: do I really want this? And after an affirmative answer: HOW I could do / get it.
In addition, the positive attitude is important. One of my friend’s manager, after each successfully completed case, utters the phrase: “Life is getting better.” I tried. And indeed, life is getting better =).
3. Goals define our development and movements [even if not consciously]. Influenced by the book “The Organization of Time” by Arkhangelsky, I painted a vision of my life in 5 years. Based on this, I made lists of goals for the year, month, week. Regularly browsing these lists does not allow me to get bogged down in the routine and move purposefully.
4. Motivation. “There are a million ways to spend this day aimlessly. And not one to make up for this loss. ” A slightly rephrased quotation from the book DeMarco, if you remember and repeat it in the morning - greatly increases the desire to spend this day better than the previous ones.
Also, timekeeping motivates me well. I think many IT specialists are familiar with the situation when a link or an ICQ message can switch from current [sometimes even urgent] tasks to some kind of research or just surfing. TimeFixer saves me, every 30 minutes he offers to enter a list of completed cases. Thus, once every half an hour, the thought arises, "But am I really doing the right thing right now ...". No, I didn’t stop doing research and surfing, but now I’m doing it consciously and not to the detriment of business. In addition, if you browse the log for the last day in the morning, you realize that a lot of time is spent on useless things. There is a desire even today to spend more time on more useful things for themselves.
5. Finally I bought myself a PDA. I use it to unload the brain from unnecessary information. It has been established that a person is able to keep in memory 7 + -2 cases [of an object]. Accordingly, if you remember all the meetings / letters / affairs - something will be forgotten. I have taken for myself the method of organizing affairs from GTD. What can be done in less than 5 minutes must be done and forgotten. Everything else must either be delegated or put on the to-do list [set the task for a specific day-time].
6. I really liked the parable from the book by S. Covey. Seven skills of successful people. [Skill 7. Hone the saw]
Imagine that while walking in the forest you see a man who is sawing a tree with bitterness.
- What are you doing? - you ask.
- Do not you see? - the answer follows. - I'm sawing a tree.
“You look very tired,” you sympathize. - Have you been cutting for a long time?
“More than five hours,” replies the man. - I barely stand on my feet! Hard work.
“So why don't you stop for a few minutes and sharpen the saw?” - you advise. “It would probably have gone much faster.”
- I do not have time to sharpen the saw! Says the man. - I'm too busy.
And if from life - please, correspondence of managers in the IT company:
- What are the difficulties you have with using an automated project management system?
- There are no difficulties, the automated system is not needed, it only takes time.
Thus, most people in everyday life do not even think about how to work more efficiently.
I constantly ask myself 4 questions:
- What do I want to get? (presentation of result, goal setting)
- What do I need to do for this? (creating a list of tasks)
- How can I do it? (tool selection)
- How can I do this as efficiently as possible? (“Sharpening the saw”)
Result.
At the moment I can not boast of millions in assets, I can not say that I have a high position and huge incomes. However, there are results.
First: I realized my values, set goals and began to strive towards them. Many have already been achieved, more is yet to be achieved. But definitely, I started to spend more of my time on what I like to do. I began to get more pleasure from life.
Secondly: the regular feeling of uneasiness was gone. For myself, I accepted the installation that anxiety comes from uncertainty, therefore, it must be quickly found and resolved. Lists of goals and cases help me in this. They are the guarantor of the fact that no important business will be forgotten.
Third: Cases at work are lined up in a rather harmonious system. The ASAP tasks have practically ceased to appear. Accordingly, I began to spend less nerves.
Fourthly: I, finally, was able to allocate time for my projects and for self-development.
Total
What I described above is by no means a panacea. This is just my approach. The problem with excessive workload and dissatisfaction with life, unfortunately, is quite a common situation. And letting it take its course, in my opinion, is not the best solution ...
PS: I want to note that I did not discover anything new. All that I use is either from books [G. Arkhangelsky, S. Covey, D. Allen], or from conversations with familiar managers. In any case, how many people - so many opinions. No matter how many people study the question of personal effectiveness, everyone will have their own opinion. As well as its residual knowledge, which has found application in life.
PPS: original here
Never had time in school. Any task I have stretched for the maximum possible time, confirming the Parkinson's law. “And this is only the beginning ...” - I thought, and fell into depression. Accordingly, I had no time for anything but lessons. Then the university and work. Race for money. Good lord Surely it will always be ...
I was surprised to find that the more and more efficiently you do the work, the more it comes down. And what is interesting, even if you charge the price tag to the skies.
Always wanted to have more. I did not leave the feeling that life is passing by.
That is, not quite by ... I just saw people walking around me to the gym, reading books, playing musical instruments, in short - doing interesting things for themselves and getting pleasure from it. And I did not have this. There was only a PC and tons of code. And, of course, the accumulated fatigue ...
It ended, as expected, with a breakdown. Within a month, I merged all current projects and ... changed jobs, because it was impossible to live for the then-salary. But the problem did not disappear. Then I wondered, can I correct this situation? What you need to do to get tired less? How do I clean up business? How to find time for your projects?
')
How?
1. I decided to take proactivity as a basis.
This is a life position based on free will. At the same time, a person determines the reaction to the impact based on his values [to realize which is the primary task]. Thus, a person’s responsibility towards himself is increased. I note that the opposite approach is called reactive, when the choice is determined by external circumstances.
2. It is noticed that one of the most important factors in developing a proactive approach is our speech. I began to deliberately exclude from phrases such phrases as: “impossible”, “I cannot”, “I would like to, but ...”.
Why? “Impossible” - immediately puts before us an insurmountable barrier. When I am going to utter this phrase, I almost always mean “I don't want to do it”.
The same applies to other phrases. “I can not”, in most cases, it makes sense to split into two parts. The first is: do I really want this? And after an affirmative answer: HOW I could do / get it.
In addition, the positive attitude is important. One of my friend’s manager, after each successfully completed case, utters the phrase: “Life is getting better.” I tried. And indeed, life is getting better =).
3. Goals define our development and movements [even if not consciously]. Influenced by the book “The Organization of Time” by Arkhangelsky, I painted a vision of my life in 5 years. Based on this, I made lists of goals for the year, month, week. Regularly browsing these lists does not allow me to get bogged down in the routine and move purposefully.
4. Motivation. “There are a million ways to spend this day aimlessly. And not one to make up for this loss. ” A slightly rephrased quotation from the book DeMarco, if you remember and repeat it in the morning - greatly increases the desire to spend this day better than the previous ones.
Also, timekeeping motivates me well. I think many IT specialists are familiar with the situation when a link or an ICQ message can switch from current [sometimes even urgent] tasks to some kind of research or just surfing. TimeFixer saves me, every 30 minutes he offers to enter a list of completed cases. Thus, once every half an hour, the thought arises, "But am I really doing the right thing right now ...". No, I didn’t stop doing research and surfing, but now I’m doing it consciously and not to the detriment of business. In addition, if you browse the log for the last day in the morning, you realize that a lot of time is spent on useless things. There is a desire even today to spend more time on more useful things for themselves.
5. Finally I bought myself a PDA. I use it to unload the brain from unnecessary information. It has been established that a person is able to keep in memory 7 + -2 cases [of an object]. Accordingly, if you remember all the meetings / letters / affairs - something will be forgotten. I have taken for myself the method of organizing affairs from GTD. What can be done in less than 5 minutes must be done and forgotten. Everything else must either be delegated or put on the to-do list [set the task for a specific day-time].
6. I really liked the parable from the book by S. Covey. Seven skills of successful people. [Skill 7. Hone the saw]
Imagine that while walking in the forest you see a man who is sawing a tree with bitterness.
- What are you doing? - you ask.
- Do not you see? - the answer follows. - I'm sawing a tree.
“You look very tired,” you sympathize. - Have you been cutting for a long time?
“More than five hours,” replies the man. - I barely stand on my feet! Hard work.
“So why don't you stop for a few minutes and sharpen the saw?” - you advise. “It would probably have gone much faster.”
- I do not have time to sharpen the saw! Says the man. - I'm too busy.
And if from life - please, correspondence of managers in the IT company:
- What are the difficulties you have with using an automated project management system?
- There are no difficulties, the automated system is not needed, it only takes time.
Thus, most people in everyday life do not even think about how to work more efficiently.
I constantly ask myself 4 questions:
- What do I want to get? (presentation of result, goal setting)
- What do I need to do for this? (creating a list of tasks)
- How can I do it? (tool selection)
- How can I do this as efficiently as possible? (“Sharpening the saw”)
Result.
At the moment I can not boast of millions in assets, I can not say that I have a high position and huge incomes. However, there are results.
First: I realized my values, set goals and began to strive towards them. Many have already been achieved, more is yet to be achieved. But definitely, I started to spend more of my time on what I like to do. I began to get more pleasure from life.
Secondly: the regular feeling of uneasiness was gone. For myself, I accepted the installation that anxiety comes from uncertainty, therefore, it must be quickly found and resolved. Lists of goals and cases help me in this. They are the guarantor of the fact that no important business will be forgotten.
Third: Cases at work are lined up in a rather harmonious system. The ASAP tasks have practically ceased to appear. Accordingly, I began to spend less nerves.
Fourthly: I, finally, was able to allocate time for my projects and for self-development.
Total
What I described above is by no means a panacea. This is just my approach. The problem with excessive workload and dissatisfaction with life, unfortunately, is quite a common situation. And letting it take its course, in my opinion, is not the best solution ...
PS: I want to note that I did not discover anything new. All that I use is either from books [G. Arkhangelsky, S. Covey, D. Allen], or from conversations with familiar managers. In any case, how many people - so many opinions. No matter how many people study the question of personal effectiveness, everyone will have their own opinion. As well as its residual knowledge, which has found application in life.
PPS: original here
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/9720/
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