Just Seven Things

Exploring why and how we do what we do, and how we can do it better

Archive for the tag “Time Management”

26 Jul 2008
4 Comments

The Balance between Focus and Multi-tasking

Out of Focus by Billy Alexander

Out of Focus by Billy Alexander

I commented yesterday on the challenging tension between multi-tasking and focus on GTD Times. I referenced how I use Mark Forster’s Do It Tomorrow methodology (see blogroll) to enable as much focus as possible during day to day working.

What’s been nagging at me has been catalysed by my reading of Guy Claxton’s Hare Brain Tortoise Mind.  

In the book Guy argues that our ‘intelligent unconscious’ is a sophisticated nervous system that gets to know the world by the idiosyncrasies of our own experience: ‘a brain is plastic: it transmutes ignorance into competence….. categories and concepts are distilled from particular encounters so that, by a process of spontaneous analogy, ‘what I do next’ can be informed by records of ‘what happened before”.

It ‘registers its patterns and develops and coordinates skillful responses’

Read more…

Posted in Action Orientation, Business, Control, Focus, Habits and Routines, Mindfulness, Time Management and tagged , , , , , ,
22 Jul 2008
2 Comments

Work Stress: Is it Wrong to Create it Yourself?

Men Sunset by Hilde Vanstraelen

Men Sunset by Hilde Vanstraelen

For a long (long) time, I’ve known very clearly about certain aspects of my personality. One of them that I had always labelled as somewhere along the spectrum of procrastination and laziness was the trait of always leaving important things to the last minute. Whether it was the last minute homework; the university essay deadline extension. The professional examination cramming or the Board papers finalised minutes before deadlines.

I had always put it down to laziness/ procrastination whilst at the same time being surprised whenever I came upon the output of my ‘rushed’ work. Invariably I was amazed with what I came up with in those final minutes. I was often left with the feeling that ‘if only’ I pulled my finger out, and gave myself ten times the time, I’d be able to incrementally improve what I produced tenfold.

Read more…

Posted in Action Orientation, Control, Creativity, Focus, Game Playing, Stress, Time Management and tagged , , , , , ,
19 Jul 2008

My Pursuit of Happiness III

Review

This is the main area in other systems (particularly in David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) ) that such emphasis is given to the importance and impact of this regular behaviour.

It’s always been something I’ve struggled with and I don’t really know why. It kind of feels like an easy thing to do compared to having to actually do tasks. I also find it to be an activity which is so easy to get sidelined in. So easy to just quickly do a short task that to come upon during your review……

I want to shift this by applying a structure to the review. A bit like I’ve heard about buffalos only travelling with the slowest in their herd, I want to cull the long tail of tasks by evaluating my accountabilities, projects and My 3 Very Next Actions for each. And then using Mark Forster’s ruthless time assessment (if you haven’t got the time longer term to do something, renegotiate it or drop it), review task ‘doability’

Posted in Control, Focus, Happiness, Management, Mindfulness, Time Management and tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

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