New timewasters

Just this week, I held a “summer mini-course” for incoming students where we went over the basics of Time Management, Reading, Note-taking, Memory and Concentration. (For any new students from our university looking to sign up for the next round in late August, you can do so here.)

I asked students what their favourite timewasters were and here were some of the favourites:

– Facebook

– Phone calls

– iPods

– Instant messaging

– Shopping

The very first comment when I asked how to deal with these timewasters? Turn off the computer! (Of course you’re going to have to add phone, iPod and TV to that list as well.) Other ways to deal with timewasters here.

I’ve certainly come to realize that the electronics that were designed to make our lives more efficient have become the very thing that causes us to waste time. There’s a tipping point, I guess. For example, Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with your friends and find out what’s new. After a while, though, you find yourself being on Facebook just for the sake of being on Facebook. Hence the advice to turn off that computer.

Still, we’re pretty good at finding other ways to waste time, and to a certain extent, you need to make the decision to waste time. You can turn off everything in your house, but there’s always shopping…

CG

The cure for procrastination

What, did you think I’d have a magic answer? No, as far as I can tell, the only cure for procrastination is still plain old action. 

But one of the things you need to think about before you can come up with ways to take action is that we all have different reasons for procrastinating. Are you bored? Are you overwhelmed? Are you afraid? You may even have something else going on in your life that’s sucking away your motivation. The causes of your procrastination will help you determine the best strategies to take.

CG

Taking tips from one of the greats…

… ladies and gentlemen, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and three lessons for productivity.

CG

Five Favourite Time Savers

So, I got a little feedback from that five favourite timewaster’s post. Basically it went like this: okay smart guy, anyone can list what makes them waste time. What do you do that actually works? Or do you just sit around all day trying to think of what to put up on the blog? (Of course not.)

Well. The thing is that for me, it is a bag of tricks, and I have to pull out several and hope that one works for me. But from that bag, I present herewith my five favourite ways to get moving.

1. The 25-5 rule. With a timer. The 25-5 rule is described here — read the last section, but basically it means work for 25 minutes then stop for five minutes, and repeat. I find that I can work in short bursts when I know there’s an end in sight. So when I know that I’ll be done in 25 minutes, I fell less daunted by the work. The five minute break is long enough to rest the brain, but too short to get into anything else. When I use a timer, I turn it around, stop watching the clock and focus on working until the alarm goes off. This one is number one by a longshot for me.

2. Cleaning off my desk. I’m not one to order people to clean up their desks. I probably lean towards the camp that says a messy desk is the sign of a creative mind. But sometimes putting things in the right place can get that mind to focus, and that always helps get me started. Here are some tips for cleaning up your desk, though probably more than I would ever do…

3. Making a list. But only one. And a really short one. To-do lists are great, but if they get too long, they just depress me. I try to keep my list to about three items, and add to it as I cross one or two off. It makes things so much easier to achieve!

4. Step away from the computer. Or any electronics for that matter. But the computer and the TV are the worst. I can’t seem to run a computer without having several programs and several windows in each program opened up. So it’s best just to walk away, do whatever work I have to do away from the computer and only do the computer work when I’ve done everything else. This sometimes means writing on paper, yes.

5. Um, well, daydreaming. Taking a few minutes (like those 5 minutes in the 25-minute rule) just to space out can be like a nice little vacation from the task at hand. In fact, when I focus on daydreaming, rather than just passively letting myself daydreaming, I find myself wanting to get back to work. I dunno, maybe it’s just me and my contrary nature.

CG

Can poetry be productive procrastination?

An haiku.

 

CG

Five favourite time-wasters

One of the exercises we sometimes use in workshops is to identify your favourite time-wasters. So, in the interests of participant observation, here are mine, in no particular order:

1. TV – I know, it’s so uncool, and sometimes it’s just me channel-surfing, but as a time-waster, it’s still the king.

2. YouTube – It’s kinda TV, but not TV. Who here hasn’t had the experience of trying to find something you never thought you’d see again, and watching it, just because you can?

3. Googling stupid stuff – When I’m really bored, okay, no, I mean, when I really have a lot to do, I turn to Google to find out information on things I don’t really care about or need to know. Not really sure I need to know, right now, the altitude of the third-highest mountain in the world — Kanchenjunga, at 28,156 feet — but now I know.

4. Daydreaming – If I spent as much time doing the things I think I could do instead of thinking about those things, well, I would have done those things by now.

5. Blogging about procrastination – And reading blogs about procrastination. And, well, reading blogs generally. I could say that reading about procrastination is professional development, but come on, who am I kidding? (See more on this here.)

(For the record, I think I have conquered that urge to stare at Facebook and keep refreshing until something new has happened to one of my friends. And it seems, for now, that I have not relapsed in my brief addiction to Wikipedia. I can quit using it anytime I like. Honest!)

Anyone else wanna share?

CG

Whittle down that list!

To-do lists can be a lifesaver, but the problem is that there’s always something else to do. So you keep adding to it. And adding. And the next thing you know, no matter how hard you work, no matter how many things you cross off the list, it just seems to get longer and longer. So then you avoid the list. And voila! Procrastination returns.

In workshops, I usually suggest that students make a manageable list each day. Things that they’re definitely going to get done. How many things? Hard to say for sure, but the shorter the list, the easier it is to feel you’ve accomplished your day’s work. I’ll often try to achieve three things — one very easy one, and at least one that’s high-priority.

It’s about building on success. You have a list that’s got 20 items and you get 8 of them done, you feel like a failure. You have a list of 3 and do them all — perfection! And if you do more than what was on your list, that’s all gravy. You can make bigger lists as you find yourself becoming more productive.

See this link for more on keeping to-do lists short. (Via Boing Boing.)

CG

Harry Potter author on the F-word

No, not that f-word:

“Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.

The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.

Given a time machine or a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.”

From J.K. Rowling’s commencement address at Harvard. A nice reminder for those times that perfectionism and fear of failure stop us from taking risks. CG  

15 Minutes A Day or Some Other Way?

I came across a great recommendation on the “Phinished” website to try rotating ways of working.  15 minutes a day is great for a while. Then it’s often helpful to switch to, say, a goal of 2 pages a day for a while, and so on.  See “Erika’s post”: “The 40 minute system and research on productivity (somewhat long),”

http://www.phinished.org/showthread.php?t=4184

For grad students—the “Phinished” website:

http://www.phinished.org/  

MF

15 Minutes, Part II

… and for those doctoral students out there, you might be interested in the fabulous book, Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day by Joan Bolker.

CG