Posts Tagged ‘productivity’

The expandable hour

Posted September 24, 2008 by
in Planning Tips | 1 comment »

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In general, I think I’m a fairly efficient person, but I often find I fit the tasks I have to do to fill the time that’s available. Like many writers, I can be very productive when I’m on deadline or juggling multiple assignments. It’s when my workload’s light that things start to go downhill, as I take little breaks to catch up on blog reading, clean the house or re-organize my desk, and put off what little work I need to do until the very last moment.

Many different theories have been put forth to explain procrastination—that procrastinators are perfectionists, for example, or that they lack self-confidence. I wonder if it’s not also because we’re subliminally addicted to stress, since we know that’s one sure way to actually get the job done. If I feel like I’ve been wasting too much time at the end of the day, I start to get stressed, and then I tend to sit down and actually finish the work.

At any rate, the answer is as simple as it is hard to implement: prioritize your tasks, then do them (I also like Karen’s suggestion of using an hourglass to keep track of time). If you’ve got time left over at the end of the day, work ahead—or kick back with a book or a glass of wine and enjoy yourself.

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Freedom without self-control

Posted August 15, 2008 by
in Planning Tips | 1 comment »

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By now, plenty of productivity experts have suggested a relatively simple solution for battling the distractions of the modern workday: resist the urge to constantly check your email or surf the Internet, and don’t answer the phone unless you have to.

Not so easy, is it? If you can’t resist the temptation—and you work on a Mac—you might want to check out a new application called Freedom. Freedom disables all wireless and Ethernet networking on your computer for a period of your choosing, up to three hours at a time. After that, it re-enables your network and restores things back to normal. And don’t think you can just up and cheat whenever you want to; according to the Freedom ReadMe:

Stopping or quitting Freedom will not re-enable your network adapters. This is purposeful. To re-enable your network before the time period elapses, you must restart your computer.

You’re on your own, however, when it comes to not answering the phone.

[via Lifehacker]

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Put your thoughts—all of them—to work

Posted May 9, 2008 by
in Planning Tips | 1 comment »

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Did you know that the average person thinks around 60,000 thoughts each day? (Actually, it’s more complicated than that, but never mind.) According to Sharon Melnick, clinical psychologist and life coach, the key to success and accomplishment is to make sure those thoughts are directed positively, towards your goals. On her blog, she recently wrote about how to let go of things you obsess over.

The situation unfolded the way it did. That’s now a fact. But when you explain to yourself why it happened that way, you have made the situation to be a confirmation of a long held belief you have about yourself (e.g. I am not good enough; I’ll always be a “B+” kind of player; I’m a loser”, etc.)

To start moving forward, what you want to do is start to trace “what it means about YOU” that the situation happened the way it did. Write down on a piece of paper the explanation(s) you tell yourself for why the situation happened this way. With each answer you give, dig a little deeper to answer the question “and what does that mean about me?” This analysis will lead you to the root of what is making you ‘hold onto’ the situation. You want to see if you can come up with a personalized meaning that confirms your deepest fear or doubt about yourself.

The next step, of course, is to analyze the problem more objectively and stop blaming yourself… Easier said than done, of course, but that’s no different from most good advice.

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