The Holy Grail of Deliberate Practice
Following a particularly busy productive week, I am hugely struck by something that is probably screamingly obvious to a large section of the population. Those who:
1. Do not consider that they have any need for time management, personal effectiveness or personal ‘action system’ (e.g. GTD etc.) training
2. Just get on with stuff
3. Don’t worry about the stuff they’re not doing when they’re doing the stuff they’re doing
They may be effectively prioritising on the fly based on importance/ time/ energy etc. But I’m not sure whether they may gravitate to ‘noise’ or most apparent urgent/importance
Maybe it is some form of evolutionary curve, but striving for increased personal effectiveness has led me to:
1. Seek personal ‘stuff management systems’
2. Time management techniques
3. Prioritisation techniques
4. Creativity methods
5. Overcoming procrastination hints and tips
6. Etc. Etc.
Now I’ve not completely flipped and I’m not moving on my position that the pursuit of the 1-6 above isn’t hugely valuable.
It’s just that at the end of this week I feel that I have come full circle to a very simple truth.
None of the above (1-6) really helps until you start work. Until you do stuff. Until you take action and complete tasks, the above is all tool kit. You’re going out and buying the uniform and the tools and every other bit of kit you’d need to start a new job or take on a new hobby. You’re reading the theory. But you’re not putting it into practice. You’re not really challenging what works for you and what doesn’t on a consistent basis, because until you become consistently effective you’re not running the through-put to improve.
Just Seven Things 