Productivity vs guilt

"In our world, my dear, to stay in place, you need to escape, but in order to move, you need to run even faster".
Black queen

Sometimes I dream of quiet, so in the day it was 24 hours, and at least for a couple of hours. Because it seems that that's quite a bit more is not enough, and so I have all the time to all! And to work, and to check and cope with household chores, and play with the baby, and... well, anything! I have here only two more extra hours. And best of 10. And it is better to find a way not to sleep at all !!!

And then after that comes to mind is a logical question: "Why I do not have time ?!" Especially when all around you all the time to do almost anything. Followed by a logical conclusion in the form of seizure of guilt is the same.

But doing samoedstvom does not go far. And the extra hours in the day does not appear. But undone work and irritability increase. Therefore, it necessarily must be addressed. And each has its own recipe, the ingredients of which are periodically updated and shuffled;)

© photo

His recipe is divided GTD Scott Hanselman, a former professor, former chief architect in finance and currently speaker, consultant and Microsoft employee.

Always 8 ingredients that work. At least for the moment. Perhaps, when any component of his life will change, and will change the recipe.

1. Do not check your Email in the morning. Because it eats up a huge amount of wasted time. And to be precise, select yourself a certain period to scan the email and as soon as the time expires, the switch to a real job. Especially difficult it is given, if you are waiting for a very important letter and look in the box every 5 minutes. As a result, we have lunch on the nose, and you've just checked the mail. A sense of the work there, and the results, as such - no. Better to spend time on something more important. Because the feeling that finally managed to finish (or even start) something interesting and worthwhile, recharge your batteries for the rest of the day.

2. Do not surround yourself with "Towers of guilt." Do you have books that you all are going to read it, but my hands did not reach all the time, and time is not enough? I is such a pile on the table that it even scared to look, and not to think that all this should be read. But we often have time to read the entire post, blog posts, jump around in the rss General-tape and get into an argument with someone on social networks (roads, on the Internet someone is not right!).

And this pile of books puts pressure on you, it is a constant reminder that you are not getting us nowhere. So as not to remind myself every day about the transience of time and the inability to even split in two, remove almost all the books out of sight, leaving the two to read it for a week.

3. If it's important, make it into the schedule. If you want to keep pace with the most important things they need to be made to your schedule. Even if it is not directly related to work. Create a separate schedule for their hobbies or electives. Mere desire to start doing something and trying to find this for at least one hour of free time is not enough. Write a schedule, hang it in front of his nose, and follow after work.

4. Measure and then cut. One of the best ways to understand why it is so desperately short of time - is to measure it. Every time you sit down to work, turn on the timer, or use software that will make it for you (Rescue Time, eg). And then you can compare the time required to perform the work and its importance. After careful analysis to reduce the time that is actually not so important, but some jobs and completely delegate to someone else.

5. A great break apart. To undertake great things are always scary, and quite often it is not clear what exactly you need to start. And like all the gurus repeat GTD - break one large task into smaller and perform consistently (Typically "3 +2").

6. Let go of all that is not important. If you think carefully, you probably in your head spin the idea that you miss something interesting. Or that you can not leave unanswered comments on your blog, Facebook or Twitter. Or that you will miss some interesting news article or a new fashion show. Calm down and release. You'll never be able to do everything and everywhere. At least not yet invented a time machine. Therefore, it is time to accept and start doing as much as possible from what is really important.

To be honest, right now I feel all these charms on themselves fully. In the last week I was constantly afraid of missing something, do not read, do not write, do not see, and eventually it starts to drive me crazy, and the forces already on the wane. Since the only way out - it is not sleeping. And in this mode will not function normally any biological organism over time. Therefore, my mantra weeks now - "Right now, do not worry. Just for today do not be nervous. " Although from the magical gadget, which allowed Hermione to keep up on all the classes at the same time, I would not have refused.

7. Plan "sprints". Stay focused on any one lesson quite difficult. The average time is about 25 minutes, so the total return for the whole day just is not physically possible. Your brain will be tired and you start all the same to be distracted and make mistakes, feeling the guilt. Therefore, the Plan itself a kind of "sprints" and then make a break for 5 minutes. For this great Pomodoro technique.

8. And stop to spoil his mood. Flagellation never leads to anything good. It only takes power and spoils the mood like the one who is engaged in samoedstvom and others. Healthy sleep, good food and a correct understanding of and that you always have time to make the necessary changes and it does not have to be "right now", because "right then" is also acceptable.

And as you are saved from the constant feeling of total lack of time? You have your own recipe?