The tension habit

I am at home having problems with my back. I take it as a lession: When I look at me and trying to get aware of what happened I notice that whenever a problem arises, an email is arriving that is potential workload for me then I get tensed up - my muscles are not relaxed. People are loading me with work. It is so easy to write a mail asking somebody to get your problem to be done.

I wonder where this behaviour comes from. I immediately think of the Neanderthals stalking for animals or listening to the sounds if there probably a bear is getting close to them. - Or next thought: A soldier is at the front and tries either to stop breathing to not move - to avoid being discovered by the enemy.

Why the hell do I behave the same way when an email arrives or when I am in the middle of a big work? - It is like being out at the front. In modern offices you are always on the front because communication is not limited to the conference rooms. You have fixed phone, mobile phone, email, chat (often not only a single chat application running), people rush in...

In stone age people went out hunting then they turned back to their group hiding in a cave. Until some years ago people could hide in their houses but nowadays everybody needs to stay connected not to miss any of the important changes out there. Economy continues even while you are sleeping. The PC connected to the internet always may have bad news delivering through RSS feeds, mailing lists or other websites all of a sudden.

But the big question that remains: Does it make a difference to be tensed up? I could also face all that stuff in a relaxed manner. There is no reason to constrict my muscles.

So I am asking me now as often as possible:

1. How many of my muscles are constricted?
2. Are there more muscles constricted as really necessary to get the thing done I am actually doing?
3. Do I stress my brain and my muscles more than necessary?

And I say the following to myself:

• Relax, things will not get faster done if I am tensed up.
• Relax the muscles, relax the mind, relax the nerves.
• Slow down, I can't do everything.
• If I could do only one thing now, which thing should it be that makes most sense?
  

Last, but not least a quote from David Allen:

Your power is proportional to the ability to relax.

Related posts: How not to eat the frog, You can't urge the river flowing, All Done status, Reduce the stress factors, In the present moment.

Show respect to the team

When you meet a person then get aware of all the effort that was/is necessary to get and keep this person "up and running". There were/are a lot of people contributing to the health of a person while growing up:

• Parents (especially the mother)
• Grandparents (often being continuously a very great helping hand)
• Aunts, Uncles and other relatives
• Close friends (often they behave as close relatives)
• Other people doing public services (e.g. doctors)

Samples of work done:

• Changing diaper
• Preparing to eat
• Paying food, clothes and all the other necessary equipment (which often makes it necessary for parents and relatives to forgo about things for their comfort)
• Paying assurances
• Education
• Surgeries
• ...

When you are aware of all that effort needed, you may also get aware that everything positive you are doing to this person will also make other people happy - those people giving their best to support this person ensuring a healthy and happy life.

Take into consideration that all those people did their best but nobody is perfect. That team of parents, relatives, friends and others did the best from their knowledge to avoid negative impacts and gave their best possible on the person you are meeting. No matter what size the team was/is and who were/are the members - they might have created some "unwanted side effects" also (neurosis and so on). Where work is done there are also mistakes happening.

And the person you are meeting might also be making a lot of effort currently to take care of other persons himself (children, parents that are bedridden).

Say thanks to the team that is supporting you, say thanks to those who are supporting those you love and do your best to continue the supporting work of others wherever possible.

Related posts: Little respect, Respect by attention, Unattended mode, Knowledge is freedom, Be united.

Stake your claim

The problem: You feel hemmed in because you don't want to hurt others and don't want to trigger litigation.
You may be (already) convinced that hate and anger are bad habits and only cause suffering. You are a peaceful person and want to help people reducing their suffering and achieving their goals for god's sake.

The problem is that while trying to satisfy all the others your power gets consumed and maybe exhausted. And while helping the others and getting more and more productive to make others achieve their goals you feel that you loose opportunities and realm to act.

The reason: Others discovered that they can utilize you for achieving their goals and they make use of it.The reason is quite similar as mentioned earlier in the post "Stop the service". Others got used to your assistance, your helping hand, your support and as people's thinking is mostly concentrated on themselves they neither recognize that they are consuming you. And not enough in their unconscious mind they might think something like "if not me than somebody else will take advantage of this guy".

As people's thinking is mostly concentrated on themselves waiting for those utilizing you to give you something in back or to stop utilizing you is no solution. That day will not come - in contrary they will increase their demands if you do not stop it.

The solution: Stake your claim.
You have to set limits for others "stepping around on you"! Empathy is a great thing but trying always to satisfy others and help them achieving their goals on your costs will ruin you in the long term!

You have to thump your rights! You have tell others the limits and if they do not respect you then you have to fight others when breaking inside your fences!

Search for peaceful solutions whenever possible but some people simply do stick at nothing and sell their own grandmother to clear-cut their path and people behaving this way must be stopped!

Related posts: Stop the service, Dissolved aggressiveness, An eye for an eye, Man in the middle or honor the people, Switch to authentic mode, How to rebuff somebody, The wise talk less.

Efficient meetings

I have been on an interesting meeting lately. The big boss joined the meeting in a rush, told taht he has only 10 minutes time - and left after about 15 minutes. At the beginning I thought that he is just a fan of Parkinson's Law (I wrote earlier about my opinion on this) - but observing the situation I learned the following things:

• Have a team that you can trust.
  There were 3 other people in the meeting and I think he has chosen the attendees very wisely. There was one who I imagine to be a creative head with ideas and he was the excited. The second was the critical eye and the third the one with the technical know-how.
  
  
• Have very few and clear goals and have your team be aware of those.
  When the big boss joined the meeting he clearly stated his goals. However, the team already knew since one or two weeks ago (because they already told us in advance to get prepared).
  
  
• Don't give others too much time to answer your questions.
  If the others have too much time to respond to your questions they can talk you into something step by step. If one has only few time to respond to your question the other has to get to the point directly.
  
  
• Ask the most important questions that are needed for you to make decisions.
  Those questions can be: What do I get? What does it cost?
  
  
• Trust your team.
  Seem to be a double entry - as already mentioned above? - No, the point is: Setting up a team you could trust is one thing. Actually really trusting the team members is a second step that clearly came out at the meeting in my opinion. When the big boss left, he left in the full trust that his team will manage the details.
  
  
• Be prepared.
  The big boss had an overview about the topic and situation and he had some important background information.

Related posts: Parkinson's law and quality, Why investing enough time rules, How to rebuff somebody.

Stop the service

The problem: People loading you with work.
Many like to be important and many do hard work at lower levels. For both the opportunity of being a manager is sugar on their ego. Those who usually do hard work at lower levels are often argued if something is not done (fast enough). They like it if they can play the other role once a time.

What I am talking about here is not (necessarily) boss related. There are a lot of other people also trying to load you with work who are on equal level as you are.

And the worst what than can happen: They complain that you are not performing enough.

Such situations usually cause anger and litigation with collegues, family members (yes even your wife/husband or even children can load you with a lot of work).

The reason: They got used to your assistance, your helping hand, your support.
People find out quickly from whom they can get easy help to solve their issues. Those who have a helper syndrome are easily found by those who are looking for patronage. And people like it to be helpful and to achieve a lot of goals. But this can exhaust your power.

The solution: Stop the service.
I do not mean that you should refuse any support completely. But from time to time it is important to set or raise the limits - for you and also for the others. This is different from learning how to say "No" because the problem I am talking about is usually addressing something you already accepted somehow earlier and you get utilized. Maybe you accepted to give a little help and slowly the issue grows up. So you are already in the middle of something.

If you just stop when a thing grows too big and you feel to get utilized then others get the opportunity to notice their exaggerated request for your support.

When to temporary refuse: When family members or important colleagues are asking too much in too few time then usually a temporary refuse is the appropriate action. Retreat for a while and use the time for relaxing, personal development or for your hobby. Depending on how penetrating people are demanding your services the longer you should refuse.

When to completely refuse: Some people might simply got used to the fact that you are a friendly person always trying to help. If they do not play an important role in your life and you are not expecting a big change in this then it is better to stop completely supporting them if they get too cumbersome and annoying.

It is always better to simply stop the service than quarreling and arguing about your occupation and engagement!

Related post: Setting borderlines, Stake your claim, How to rebuff somebody, Scoundrel days, Productivity limits, The family.

Principles over rules

While growing up you are trying to figure out how things work and you build the rules according to your experiences. There is in general nothing wrong with this as it works in a lot of cases. You learn that glass bursts when it falls down onto the tiles, you learn that 2+2 is 4 and so on.

We feel more secure and it makes our decisions easier when we have rules. However, often we could get a better outcome if we do not only have rules but also have principles and pay more attention to principles than on rules in cases we are not sure about the next step. More - it can be better to completely prefer to focus on principles over rules. World is very complex and so your rules can also become very complex and you could easily loose the overview and further you get inflexible.

This summer I read an article (How to Renew Yourself as a Leader - Part 1) that shows a very good example where principles are more important than rules: If you are leading a large teams than you can't have the overview what happens at lower - more concrete - levels. You have to rely on the team members in their ability to proper valuate and decide what to do. So you have to rely on their intelligence to realize the big picture.

Defining principles and goals is more important than defining rules.

Although rules do not necessarily have to be very concrete they have an inflexible character. You would also label the word "goal" with the attribute "fixed" - however the way how you achieve the goal is free. Principles are more a direction - a helping hand when it comes to decisions.

Related posts: Setting borderlines, Direction over goals, Focus by direction, Focus by decision, Finding the proper priorities, Between short and long term goals, The main purpose, Living your opportunities, The golden rule, Replace constraint with freedom, Considerations on decisions.

Distractions and sleep

What distractions have to do with sleep?

You are more vulnerable to distractions if you did not get enough sleep!

It does not make a difference to the number of phone calls arriving but if you didn't get enough sleep then

• Other things you are usually able to ignore (e.g. collegue talks in the background) drag you away from your current thoughts.
• It is far more difficult to get back to focus.
• You are suffering because of the higher impact of distractions.

So sleeping enough is not only healthy but also a productivity boost.

Related posts: Take care of you, The value of rest and review.

Hunting for degrees

Lately I was decluttering one of my drawers when I faced some older certificate of a course I attended. I can see that nowadays you get those everywhere. You get them already for attending presentation sessions where you don't have to accomplish a single exam.

But sometimes when I look into the newspaper on the job advertisements I can see that some new kind of degree is often requested. Even here in Austria they have some good sounding new titles - "new", because they haven't been there when I was passing by (from about 1992 to 1996). They sound good but I do not have an idea for what they stand for.

From time to time in our company we are searching for some new IT professional. And it happened already sometimes that we hired some Microsoft Certified Professional. But often it turns out that these people do have their knowledge only from those courses made especially for getting through the certification exams and this often has only a few in common with the knowledge you need for real world projects.

And the mania does not stop there. There are people "collecting" degrees and certifications and they decorate their rooms with those! For some of them getting a specialist in something and get up working moved completely out of view.

I do think that their are some kind of degrees which do mean that you are facing a person that is well prepared for specific real world scenarios. But the way how is dealt sometimes with those degrees and certificates is often exaggerated.

While hunting for degrees people often forget that the two important factors are:

1. Knowledge and
   
2. Experience

A lot of courses are a time waste and you should carefully choose which degrees you want to achieve. If they don't present content that matters, than don't waste your time there!

Have the focus on gaining knowledge that improves speed or quality of what is your job or what you want to do. Improve those parts where you can gain money from.

Even if everything is labeled with very cool names, basically the same jobs have to be done as earlier. But unfortunately the main goal to transfer as much knowledge as possible is often not the first priority. There are either certificates you can buy (maybe sometimes the answers to the test questions and sometimes maybe the complete certificate.

So watch out to accumulate knowledge that is relevant for your job or daily life and gain experience working with it. In reality there is no substitute for this process.

Related posts: Who cares?, 101 posts or how to improve step by step, Knowledge is freedom.

How not to eat the frog

Yesterday I told about the phrase "eat the frog" in "Eat the tadpoles". And after stumbling over the frogs of borneo site, this post is dedicated to the frogs.

Here are the tips:

1. Have a diet day where you strictly don't eat frogs.
   What it means in your daily life: Have a regular day where you do some part of your work that motivates you (if really all of your work is demotivating than you should consider changing your job). When you get problems to solve brought from customers or from co-workers or from the boss then put them aside for the next day. If you can't avoid dealing with them then shift your diet day to another day - but do not skip it!
   
   
2. Transform the frog - if you like cocktails, mix your frog and have a frog-cocktail.
   This is the most anti-frog-tip of this post - what it means: If you face a problem that you don't really want to care about then try to modify it in a way that it matters to you. Example: When I have to write a new program to solve a specific problem that I do not consider to be useful also for other customers then I search for some common problem and try to write the program in a more general way so it can be used also to solve similar other problems and hence be useful for more people.
   
   
3. Hand the frog over to somebody who likes frogs.
   When you get notice of a problem it is not necessarily you that has to deal with it. What is a problem to you might be the core service that is provided by other people. Example: If somebody asks you to change a website layout this might bring you in trouble because you hate it struggling with style sheets, but your co-worker might like to do web-design.
   
   
4. Just wait - the frog might prefer returning to the pond.
   The frog-version of: "Some problems dissolve silently if you do not disturb them".
   
   
5. Put it to other similar frogs and create a frog farm.
   If you get often similar problems it might be a good to develop a common strategy dealing with those - making it a core service of your company for instance. This might include to hire a new person (or find one already there).
   
   
6. Build (and sell) anti-frog fences.
   Problems usually do have reasons why they occur. Try to find the reason and implement a solution to avoid facing the problem at all. You can either sell those solution. Look at anti-virus software. Some people are not sure if it is not them also producing the viruses. ;-)
   
   
7. Paint it red with blue stripes, welcome it and create a hype around it.
   The frog version of: "It's not a bug, it's a feature" - and there are many things I associate here... - But important: Check before at Frogs of Borneo if such a frog already exists (you might to use other colors then). ;-)
   
   

Related posts: Eat the tadpoles.

Eat the tadpoles

"Eat that frog" is a phrase often cited in combination with procrastination and will tell you to start the day with the biggest, most important task. - What the phrase itself tells is that if you start the day eating a living frog then you can be calm the rest of the day because the worst of the day already happened.

I have noticed that - at least in software development - when I start with the most important and biggest task it often eats up the whole day. So it's not me eating the frog, it's the frog eating me. ;-)

The result often is, that sometimes neither the big task is finished nor a lot of other things so I end up with the same amount of things open and nothing was finished. Searching for application bugs (that often turn out to be problems of third-party-components and I sit there hours to search for workarounds) is for my job the best example here. But I imagine that for other jobs it can be preparation of presentations and so on.

What then happens when even the next day a lot of other smaller (or bigger) things are added to my task lists I either cannot focus well any more on the main big frog task because I feel overwhelmed with the amount of work. Indeed one big task seems to produce less stress than the same amount of work split in many small tasks.

And last but not least many small frogs or even the tadpole tasks can grow up and produce more difficulties when they don't get done in their early stages of growth. So it is better to eat the frogs when they are still tadpoles/polliwogs.

So what I do is:

1. Start with the more predictable tasks.
   I first pick the smaller tasks that are more predictable and more reliable to be finished within the estimated time. - To get 3 things off my list early in the morning is a good start into the day.
   
2. Split big tasks over several days.
   Big tasks and especially those that are difficult to estimate because quite unpredictable in amount of work really needed I do always split over several days. For instance a task estimated with 6 hours is split over two days each 4 hours. So there is another 2 hours spare. And further it is often better to do something else when facing a difficulty. After a pause and step back the problem gets clearer when looking at it again later.
   
3. Schedule some time for the unpredictable interrupts.
   I schedule some extra time a day for the small frogs that other people come to me with during the day.
   

Related posts: Early intervention, Procrastination and interrupts, How not to eat the frog.

Problems and Dilemmas

The problem: Some sort of problems are easier to solve than others.
Have you noticed that with some problems you struggle more than with others although the complexity is not higher or the problem does not seem to be really more difficult?

The reason: Some problems are problems and some are dilemmas.
Not all problems have the same "meta" structure and thus they should be treated differently.
Sample: You want to by a deodorant spray. So you go to an appropriate shop and search for the shelf where the deodorants are.
Scenario 1: There is only one type of deodorant spray there available. - In this case you simply take it, go to the counter to pay and that's it.
Scenario 2: There are plenty of different types and brands available. - In this case the effort needed to buy a deodorant can be much higher because you have to choose first.

For scenario 2 it means that you are in a dilemma - you are facing several opportunities. You have to analyze and evaluate the options and choose the best fitting solution. This also means that you have to be more aware of your own favors and priorities.

The solution: Identify the character of a problem and deal with it accordingly.
The first step is to identify the different problems. With some training you could identify the different problem types early:

The "normal" problem: Something does not work or something new should be achieved. Characteristics of this type is that you face a new field of interest or you have been disappointed Steps:

1. Define the problem and/or desired outcome.
2. Gather required information to get an overview or to know more details.
3. Get or build the necessary tools to solve the problem.
4. Solve the problem by doing solving actions (paint a picture, construct a house, ...).

The dilemma: Several goals should be achieved but there is some sort of deadlock and a decision is required.
Characteristics of this type is that you are blocked in proceeding and the next action is not clear to you. Steps:

1. Review your set of goals and prioritize them.
2. Review the information you already have.
3. Decide whether it makes sense waiting until probably more information is available.
4. If waiting does not make sense then take your decision now and accept the consequences you can already expect and also those that you do not see yet - as you can be satisfied that you have taken the decision from your best knowledge that was available yet.

Related posts: Finding the proper priorities, Find the root problem, Considerations on decisions.

Spam critics

The problem: Loosing self-esteem due to overwhelming criticism.
To prevent from social exclusion it is necessary to seek for confirmation. Without approval of our actions in the world and communicating with our fellow human beings we would not be able to live together. So social adjustment is important.

But it can happen that critics of others occur in masses reducing your self-esteem and it could cause depression.

The reason: Greed for love and credit, Fear of others, bad social adjustment.

• Bad social adjustment:
  If you in general are very lonely, only have a very few friends then it might be necessary to quality proof your strategies for social adjustment.
  
• Greed for love and credit:
  You might already have poor self-esteem and therefore seeking confirmation, credit and affection everywhere. Every critics is again reducing your already poor self-esteem. And others with the same problem not able to increase their own value try to reduce yours.
  
• Fear of others:
  Others may fear your power, your authenticity, your charisma. In such cases it also can happen that you are criticized a lot.

The solution: Appreciate every constructive critics and discard the rest.
There are two ways to deal with different kind of critics:

• Every critic is a chance to learn. Critics are donations to you to help you in your personal development. But these must be constructive. You might have a number of friends (more likely less than five) who you fully respect or at least consider being constructive and honest real friends. There can also be family members playing such a role for you. Critics coming from those should be considered with a higher priority and you should deal with it.
  
• To deal with critics is work for you, because you have to deal with the problem - analyze, think of other strategies, review. And the big problem is that there are spammers here. And be careful with social hostility. Getting completely negated by others can drastically reduce self-esteem although you do not need to consider those people (or let's say their critics). People, continuously offending you and telling you that you are wrong on any little opportunity should be considered as spammer and hence they can be ignored.

You cannot please everybody - focus on those who matter for you (basically the family, close friends and customers).

If they breath down your neck then just tell them what they want to hear (for instance that you are terrible sorry) - give sugar to the ape and just let it go. This is probably the most easy way to get rid of them. They are not part of you - you do not need to be honest and sincere. Although in general you should like to be a honest and authentic person, there are brick-walls where you need to search for new methods.

For those who fear your power you can deal with them the same way as you deal with spammers, but you can see it as a confirmation for you!

Related posts: Who cares?, All Done status, When to criticize, The family, Primary motivator.

Man in the middle or honor the people

The problem: People being greedy to feed their ego.
You might know very well that being greedy to feed your ego is cause of suffering and hence you hold it down to keep it in it's fences. But there is also a lot of suffering produced by other people being greedy to feed their ego.

Sample: It can be seen often that in groups there are some people that always trying to be the most attractive point. Such people by tendency do also not allow other opinions than their own (this is some sort of "man-in-the-middle-attack" ;-) ).

When we see such people we get often annoyed of them or we are just tired of dealing with them.

The reason: Missing respect and credit.
We often find such people aggressive in some way, but it is "simply" their desperate effort of getting some respect and credit. Actually in our intuition we do avoid them or we fight them but the last thing we would give them is a little respect and credit although that is what they really want.

The solution: Do something for other people's ego.
Why not doing something good for those people? Even if you are very good in holding down your ego, you also need confirmation, respect and you need to be honored. And even if you can live completely without any validation response from other people that you are on the right path in your personal development and do the right things right, it gives you power!

That does not mean that you should sit down, being proud of your glory and stop working! You should use the glory as a fuel to go ahead!

Do give other also some fuel and so the power to do more healthy things than being greedy to feed their ego!

And while you are honoring others you are doing a good exercise in taking your own ego back. Which also is good because of several reasons, for instance:

• You do usually know very few about a thing so staying in the back to watch a while is not the worst idea.
• When you are in the front line you are watched by all and every little mistake is noticed and goes to your account.
• You can develop more empathy when you are in the back watching.
  

Related posts: Little respect, The most important things to know, To be important.

Little Respect

Finally our baby is sleeping. Lately he often wakes up already after a few minutes although still very tired. So I might have only a few minutes. And I have to listen carefully to eventually baby crying.

I remember my time in the army. It was similar when we went to bed. There was always the possibility of an alarm (although always practice alerts). So I often listened carefully because for me it was pure horror to get awake by loud alert. And this was only the obligate training service I did. I have never been in real war.

This makes me feeling empathy for army soldiers fighting in wars. I do love peace and I remember well the T-shirt slogan of a friend saying: "Imagine there is war and nobody shows up."

In a war there is no winner, there are only losers. Some loose more, some less. So war does not make sense. But do people always behave in a manner that makes sense? Often it is enough to feel some fear to cause unhealthy actions that lead to big conflicts. Such conflicts may grow fast or slowly over many years and then escalate.

I think the army has not a good image. The army is like the savage guard dog of rich people. They let him out in the night to feel save. In the morning and when visitors arrive they lock him away because they feel some sort of shame or because of the danger they can be. But in the night they let him out again.

We can easily say that we are against war and want to live in peace. But when there are armed forces invading and we have to fear that your children may get harmed then we do want a strong army.

I think similar applies for many other things in our life. When we do currently not need specific things or specific services, we might ignore those or disrespect them. Only when we need them in a sudden we give the appropriate respect and support.

Let's try to give the appropriate respect to everything - and everyone - that is - even if we currently don't care too much because we don't see the need yet.

Related posts: To be important, Stop war by stopping defense, Dissolved aggressiveness, Best defense, The wise talk less.

101 posts or how to improve step by step

I started blogging about a year ago and since then I have written 100 posts. And I have read even a lot more posts on other blogs (I guess more than thousand in the last two years).

So a lot of information and I wonder...

• ...if life is really so complicated that it needs so much learning about it?
• ...if I need life-long-learning on how to get the right things done right and to be happy with the success? - Maybe the dead people are not dead but just overwhelmed about all the cool stuff they learned an now meditating about it. ;-)
• ...when I will have time to review all the helpful information?
• ...how much of all that helpful information I already implemented yet?
• ...what are the most important next elements to implement into my life?

Fortunately bloggers do write again about older topics providing abstracts, more details or adding some value another way. So they help me in the reviewing process. By all this information out there we often think about information overflow but if you look at the mass of information it helps you finding the more important things by recurring thoughts and tips. So be attentive to patterns showing up while reading news and other information sources.

But I can imagine you also already read a lot of helpful information on the web, so what's next? Consolidation and implementation can be a next step.

My tip:

1. Think about your biggest and most often occurring concrete problems (can be different ones).
2. Then think about your general philosophy (how you want to act in general) - your "big picture".
3. Turn back to your concrete situation and to the concrete problem and try to solve it from the "bigger point of view" - so that it is compliant to your "big picture".
   

Related posts: Information overflow, Quickly change a habit, Finding the root problem.

The most important things to know

My 11 month old son is sitting next to me on the floor playing with the door. I am thinking of what I would tell him when I am about to die. What is the most important that I would like to tell him?

Is it that I love him? - I think he knows it already. When I come home I play with him and I hug and cuddle him - and I am there when he needs me.

What is the very most important to know?

I think I would tell him the following:

Beware of the major reasons of suffering:

• Greed
• Attachment
• Missing knowledge
• Absence of compassion
• Selfishness

In some book some years ago I read that greed and attachment are the reasons of suffering. I added the other three here above. Maybe you could reduce it to two major reasons. you could either explain attachment with greed. Attachment to something lost is the greed to keep something. - But I think that some suffering can be decoded easier by knowing some other styles that suffering could have. I was about to add "missing patience" also but it is a kind of greed and I don't want also to add too much to this list.

Important message should not be too long because then nobody can remind.

Related posts: There is suffering, Ethic economy, Scoundrel days, Knowledge is freedom, Biggest worries, Needs and meaning, 6 Triggers of bad action, The fool gives way without borders.

Spam thoughts

The problem: There is not only spam information - there are also spam thoughts.
Spam is reducing our productivity and happiness. But there is not only spam mail and spam information - there are also spam thoughts.

The reason: We want to note everything down because our brain tends to forget.
We want to improve and learn from our experiences. Going to work in the morning offers a lot of impressions that triggers thoughts as every impression (as well as information) contains potential issues to learn. GTD tells us to write down everything - although there are also some critics on this.

The solution: Trust your brain and let go.
While on the go or while working on something else there are thoughts coming only loosely related to the topic of your focus. If it is important it will return, come back in the same or similar way on other opportunities. If the same thought returns more often then it is worth more being noted down and reviewed. Don't act immediately on a single thought or let a single thought be the reason for (big) decisions.

Related posts: Information overflow, Who cares?, All Done status, Crying for attention, Analysis and therapy.

To be important

The problem: Being called an idiot or to call other people an idiot.
When somebody is doing something stupid people tend to call the complete person for an idiot. And this although a human being is such a complex being with so many possibilities. A person can give so many good contributions to the world and neighbours.

The reason: Poor self-esteem and fears
It sounds crazy but it is confirmation of self-esteem if others can be seen as stupid. In the relation if others are stupid, do not well perform and do know less than you then you are the hero and you will survive if it comes to confrontation. It is the fear that only a few will survive and life is seen as a daily fight for survive.

The solution: Honesty and compassion
Be honest: Only because you are calling somebody an idiot, the others will not be complete idiots. It is more likely that they will do a lot not to be seen as an idiot. All humans want to be respected and to be loved.

The lone warrior might win in the videos but in the real life you are dependent from the others. Teams and groups can survive a war but not a lonely fighter like Rambo - that is cinema.

If you look at yourself with the critical eye, you will see that you are not perfect - as the others are too. Being tough on somebody else needs also being tough on yourself.

Be tolerant to others and to yourself as nobody can always do everything right.

Develop compassion to see that others are also giving their best to be loved and to survive. Help others and generate win-win situations.

There is nowhere written that you cannot survive both - you and your fellow human being!

And what I heard in a song text: It's nice to be important - it's more important to be nice!

And if you are still concentrated on yourself then remember that if you listen and learn from the others what they can do better than you will bring you further.

Related posts: Healthy motivation, An eye for an eye.

You can't urge the river flowing

The problem: Desire to solve issues immediately.
I know it very well from all around that by accident issues rise and people want to get them solved immediately. Some people are either negating existence of problems. People (me included) get inpatient with the first small obstacle - not talking about solid brick walls that may turn out to be real show stoppers.

The reason: Unrealistic view of the world and unclear situation about personal goals.
Why is it possible that a suddenly upcoming event can have the power to change priorities completely or either cause people close their eyes frightened by what they have seen? - A critical view makes it clear, that there are only a few events having a big impact to the current situation changing priorities immediately - for example car incidents, if something catches fire, getting knowledge of a severe illness and so on. In such shock situations it is either understandable creating a temporary mental barrier.

But there are - in relation to the above - really unimportant events that make us change priorities immediately or - worse - cause us taking big decisions. Such an event is for example when a customer is agitating because of a delay in product delivery. In most cases it does not make a difference if a package arrives one day earlier or later. In most cases when people are having urgent issues the reason is that they did not plan well.

An example: Let's say 1 worker needs 100 days to build a house. You might tend to calculate that 100 workers can build a house in 1 day. But this is simply not true.

Unrealistic view of the world is given by not understanding how involved things work, too high expectations and simply impatience.

The solution: Have goals and accept that nothing can be done in less time that it takes.
Keep cool! - Before taking action immediately, take you a moment of time thinking about the real impact of the latest event to your big long term goals.

If you have some long term goals in mind then you will not loose concept immediately on every incoming news article. And as long term goals are not in reach within a week or two you need to advance step by step.

Trying to solve all problems in an instant (and either the desire) is like trying to urge the river flowing.

If there is action needed plan the necessary steps scheduling sufficient time!

You can't urge the river flowing!

Related posts: There are no problems, All Done status, Reduce the stress factors, Change hype, Why investing enough time rules, Urging to forge at full speed, What is reality?

Healthy motivation

Yesterday I had a discussion with a friend about my last post "There are no problems".

He mentioned that expectations are a motivation to continue taking action, work and trying to overcome obstacles.

I agree with him that expectations can be a motivation although I do not think it's the best choice to have expectations as a main motivation. Anyway in that posts I was only talking about expectations being too high when you experience problems.

And he also stated that there are serious problems where he cannot just screw down his expectations. Sample: Your baby is very ill. If you don't make a problem of it and just do not expect any more survival then this is not a healthy and good mentality.

Let's imagine I would be able to drop all expectations in an instant: I wouldn't let someone die only because I don't have any expectation! Either without any strong desire (greed) I wouldn't let somebody die!

I will help because of love, compassion and the intention to do healthy things (for me, for you and for everybody).

I do think that my friend would bring his baby to hospital more because of love than because of expectations!

I want to quote from an earlier post ("Expectation dropping"):

when you do something you do it out of the current necessity or benefit without having to fear investment loss (because you simple do not invest - at least long term),

Maybe the only expectation I want to keep is that world can be improved. But this is more a believe than an expectation (see also "Being positive").

Related posts: There are no problems, Expectation dropping, Being positive, The power of intention, Ethic economy.

There are no problems

Sometimes I get told to be more positive. I do not want to be pessimistic but life often let me experience problems while trying to achieve something.

That does not mean that I do not continue working on a solution and often I am successful in finding a solution or at least a workaround. But when people ask me about a topic I mostly do point out possible pitfalls and obstacles that might come up while implementing a solution for the particular problem.

I do not really see this as being negative - I always find it realistic considering the most probable hurdles. And often a set of little issues can reduce general feeling of satisfaction. I just want to avoid such issues in the beginning by choosing the solution attempt where less issues are expected to come up (according to experience and feeling in the belly).

But however, most people do not want to hear about (possible) problems. They "simply" want to have everything working - no discussion - they don't accept problems.

Today I discovered that they are right:

There are no problems - just expectations might be too high!

And I am not responsible for other people's high expectations. That is something they have to live with.

Related posts: Expectation dropping, Success with optimism AND pessimism, Positivity barricades, Healthy motivation, When to criticize, Optimist meeting pessimist.

All Done status

The problem: You cannot relax while open work is waiting to be done.
There is so much to do - although we are optimizing and improving efficiency there still remains so much on our to-do lists. We are always in a hurry because we need to do more things and faster.

The reason: Open issues make us staying uncomfortable.
We want to get our head empty, clear everything out to be free for one new thing that we can focus on in tranquility and undisturbed.

Or maybe we simply learned: First the work then the leisure time.

The solution: Stop hunting for the "All Done" status and focus on the things that matter.
The desire to have a single thing you can concentrate on and everything else is in archived status is an unrealistic hope.

And imagine if you would have this status and then get in boredom status and focus on a single thing only: While thinking and working on the single thing, do you really believe that you then will not get a hundred ideas and thoughts that are triggered by working on one particular thing?

So why trying to achieve such an unrealistic status that there is nothing left to do? All you could get then is the feeling of being worthless in a sudden.

Instead focus on the really important things - focus on the things that matter (to you or the world)!

Related posts: Who cares, Information Overflow, Reduce the stress factors, What is reality?, Hurry home ... no more running, Being like a child, Needs and meaning.

Who cares?

There is a famous (although stupid text) song from the muppet show called Mahna Mahna. The text is only "Mahna mahna, düdüü-düdüdü". But why I am telling this is because of the final comments of the two old guys in the box after the song finished:

Old 1: The question is: What is a "Mahna Mahna"?
Old 2: The question is: Who cares?

And this is a very good advice for people who want to improve their productivity! It could be a ZEN koan, if it wouldn't be so easy to understand. ;-)

In the information age there is not only "good" and healthy information that brings us further. No, there is also a lot of spam (by the way there is also a funny video here). There is not only spam e-mail, there is also other types of spam information that just reduces our productivity. This goes so far that they print stupid quotes (intended to be funny) on the toilet papers (at least here in austria). At the toilet I could have really undisturbed time without distractions so I could be productive (physically ;-) ) and mentally. But no, those stupid quotes ruin it... - and from now on I will change the vendor realizing this productivity reducing effect now.

One method to separate spam information from real and helpful information is the very good question "Who cares?" Asking it, will immediately block a lot of information surfing through your mind.

There is a lot of news and a lot of carnival barkers soliciting a lot products and services fading immediately after thinking of who cares.

The question is: Who cares? - And the answer could be:

• Everybody cares.
• My family cares (wife, children, parents or other relatives).
• My friends care.
• My customers care.
• My boss cares.
• My colleagues care.
• Somebody else cares.
• Nobody cares.

And then the all-dominant question: Do I care?

If you look at the list above then you could find also that the list order is possibly a good order of priority.

Depending on who cares, the information, thing or either task needs different attention and handling. Priorities are set according to who cares.

Related posts: Information overflow, Change hype, The big difference of the How, In the present moment, Get focused with 3 questions, Crying for attention, One and a half words, The family, The value of rest and review.

Early intervention

The problem: Although planning well there is still too much work and too many problems.
Although you do plan everything that needs to be done and you learned to estimate the needed hours for a particular work quite accurate you still wonder about the big amount of work. David Allen

The reason: Overcommitment in the past and late intervention.
When I heard the first time a talk of David Allen speaking about overcommitment I was not sure if he is right - there was some doubt because with a lot of work I never had the feeling that there is something I could commit or deny. A lot of work somehow falls into my competence and duty and I do not have a real choice.

I realized that overcommitment is a part of the reason but there is also another factor: When work hits me it is often already effects of something that could have been foreseen and avoided earlier or simply taken into consideration when planning. In addition to that there is a lot of unplanned work coming up by accident.

The solution: Early intervention.
As suffering comes from unhealthy actions in the past the key is to solve problems when they are still tiny and can be solved or circumnavigated easily. This does not mean that you should go and try to avoid every possibly negative experience. No, I am talking about "known issues".

To give an example: If your boss is often coming up with unexpected desires then the desires and exact times are not known - but you know that there will be rising some unexpected work. So you could schedule for example 1 hour a day dealing with unexpected work from your boss. If somehow now unexpected work is brought to you then you have an extra hour for other good work.

Another example: Ever needed to get in touch with a partner because of some questions arising while working on a project and noticed that the person is on vacation exactly in that week when you scheduled working on that project? - Just ask people in time about their plans so that you can adapt your schedule.

So, what to do?

1. Analysis
   Get the scope and identify the problem or possible problems that come up often.
   
2. Measuring
   Estimate the average time needed, evaluate available resources etc.
   
3. Scheduling
   Schedule time for the unexpected or note down foreign appointments.
   

Be prepared and you solve the problem in advance.

I do use 4 calendars in my case:

1. My own commitments
   That calender contains appointments that I have with customers but also commitments with self to get a particular thing done (internally).
   
   
2. Probable upcoming work - listen to the environment, often there are little signs of possible work long before the work actually has to be done.
   For instance when customer calls with ideas for a new project. I can schedule it although the customer has not ordered anything yet. But moving around scheduled pieces of time is much easier than finding free space later.
   
   
3. Foreign schedules
   In this calendar I do mark vacations or out-of-office times of important co-workers, partners and customers. This helps scheduling my own projects because it makes more sense scheduling work on a particular project within a week where I can ask the appropriate other people involved if questions come up.
   
   
4. My wifes appointments
   This is another very good sample of early intervention: My wife was used to call me often in office when trying to fix an appointment with friends, doctors etc. Now she can see my calendar and I can see hers. So when talking with friends to get a free weekend she can look at my calendar and there is no need to call me for that in the office asking whether on that weekend there is IT-system changes at some customer.
   

Remember that you deal with repetitive problems you already now and which are part of your life. Do not try to solve issues that most probably never arise! You do not necessarily deal only with potential problems you know from your own experience but they should be at least in the category "known issues".

Related posts: Quickly change a habit, Safety distance, Eat the tadpoles, Analysis and therapy.

Take care of you

While trying to develop peace in mind and further peace in relationships, at work and so on, there are those situations where we are loosing patience and get wild.

I have read a related post a few days ago: Are 'Difficult' People Really Difficult?

Are they pushing your buttons — or are you doing it to yourself?

There’s no question that in most every organization (plus home and anywhere else we spend time), we come face to face with folks who push our buttons, antagonize, frustrate, or otherwise annoy us. People who behave in ways that make us want to scream. They’re commonly referred to as ‘difficult’. Some we simply label irritating; some we label rude and some we label “impossible to work or be with”.

This evening I have experienced a set of cases where I honestly cannot put the blame neither on somebody else nor on me. Our power is limited and sometimes we have not any more left, to deal properly with a situation that is difficult for us. - I am talking about difficult situations and not about difficult people! The Dalai Lama says - forces should never be used against a creature in general, only against violent actions - see "An eye for an eye".

When we are balanced and in good mood we have extra energy to absorb bad mood of others or we can develop compassion to support others while they are suffering.

When our power is exhausting then we are the ones others must absorb.

Difficult people are not difficult themselves in their being. They are just full of sufferings and they need help to get out. Depending on our own sufferings and the power left other people's sufferings can cause excessive demand exceeding our capacities.

And it is not limited to particular people - there are several situations which can cause the same effects described at the beginning.

So you should not think of finding somebody guilty for what happens to you - not you and not others. What you should do: Take care of you!

When you get exhausted because of too much work, few sleep, too many interrupts and so on you will get aggressive (apart from the fact that you will get also ill in the long run)!

Only a rested and fresh person can tackle problems and get things done efficiently!

Saying that I can see being late another time... :-(

Related post: An eye for an eye, Getting older.

Information Overflow

The problem: Information overflow.
Information overflow is an intensively discussed topic and many bloggers are giving great help in their posts how to reduce information overflow and deal with it. As I always try to find the root problem I was thinking about the reasons.

Then I stumbled upon an interview that David Allen gave on FastCompany.tv regarding GTD - see the video here. He mentions that it is not information overflow, it is "potential meaning overflow" what is the problem.

Well, I think he is right - but he made me thinking more about this. A few days ago I got an e-mail with the subject "Error starting program ..." and I knew that there was not only potential meaning in this. - There was potential work for me in this! - And either as there was no doubt that I have to figure out what the problem is in that case it was not only potential work - it was work, definitely.

So I was about to replace "potential meaning overflow" with "work overflow" when I noticed an IT news article. As IT changes so fast that it can happen that as soon as you start working on a piece of software there is already new technology and you should start all over using the newer technology. So the information can be relevant for your decisions. Regarding the e-mail mentioned above it was relevant to my other planning. As it is not only important to do things right but also to do the right things, sufficient information is required. So incoming information has "potential influence" - on your decisions, on your workload.

So I was about to replace "work overflow" with "potential influence overflow" when I remembered that the original problem I wanted to write about was "information overflow". I noticed that if I wouldn't have read my e-mail and if I wouldn't have read the news then I wouldn't have experienced any problem (therefore I kept the post title as it is ;-) ). And this is what most other people recommend when experiencing information overflow: Reduce your information intake.

But hell, I can't just overlook tons of informations that could change my life. What, if I am on the wrong way? - I think any of you already desired to be young again keeping the knowledge and experience you got when you are older. I think I would have made a lot of things completely different - maybe not from the long-term goals and alignment - but in the daily life I would deal with several problems completely different. So Information is important and actually there is an information underflow and not overflow (this is by the way also what David Allen says), because there is not only information but also information on the information - for instance the relevance of the information. And depending on the relevance it can have appropriate influence on our decisions and either life plans. What, if Randy Pausch did not know about his disease? Only because of the information about his cancer and about the approximately remaining time (which was initially estimated between 3 and 6 months of good health) he was able to adjust his alignment accordingly.


The reason: Potential relevance of information for survival strategies.
Our daily life is full of potential opportunities as well as potential risks. Our decisions "handle" them based on the information we have. Most of our decisions highly depend on the information they are based on. Our preferences, goals and priorities do also have influence but they are just applied to the information we have. And they are influenced by the information we have. Our complete view of the world is based on the information we have (we could rather still think that the world is flat without the according information). If I didn't know that there are computers I barely would have decided to become a software developer. ;-) - And if I would have known earlier that sitting all the time in front of the computer can have big impacts on health I would have started training earlier.

So it is the potential opportunities and potential risks that drives us taking action and the potential relevance of information makes us collecting information. There wouldn't be that large amount of information if it would not have any relevance. Every knowledge of any type can help being more creative in finding solutions on a completely other type of problems. This makes it either more interesting looking left and right also to completely different areas and domains of life and science.

We could have very different kind of goals and so information could have very different meaning and relevance, so what can be generally said? - Well, at the end there are two kind of goals I think:

1. Goals that give our life more content, more sense.
2. Goals that - achieved - promise a longer life.

But the rush for information, the importance that we give to information, let me think more of the general desire to survive or fear of "not making it" as the intention behind it rather than living a life of satisfaction and happiness.

There are a lot of people living on this planet and the population is still increasing. It is clear that not everyone can survive when the limits are reached. So I can understand people's fears. I cannot avoid thinking of the dinosaurs in comparison to humans. What, if in those times it was just increasing the probability to survive if the creature was a little bigger? - I imagine that a rush in size could cause exhausting of the world resources and hence to the extinction of the dinosaurs. - I don't have any scientific proof for this theory. The phrase "size matters" can have two meanings here... ;-) - However, I can see similar patterns in development of human beings, just the definition of "size" is different.


The solution: Look at the costs, quality of information and the relevance in the long run and use time management methods to manage information.
Intake of information is not only benefit, it does also cost something: It costs time and brain resources - and sometimes also money (buying books for instance). Here I remember again the many other bloggers that say: "Reduce your information intake". ;-) - And I think they are right. The problem is to decide what information is really important and learn to decide quickly. It is also a matter of focus to reduce the amount of information you really take into consideration and process. Focus on what really matters!

Before looking back to information itself, let's have a short look on the role of information regarding the desire of survival. There are also other factors relevant here:

• Physical power (Health and strength)
• Intelligence
• Substantial resources
• Financial resources
• Tools (either material tools or mental tools and methods)
• Flexibility
• Allies (mentors, friends, partners, family and other helpers)
• Entourage / Leaders (depending if want to lead self or prefer to "escort" others)
• Speed
• Derivation / Karma (if you believe in Karma)
• Accident
• Information, Knowledge and Experience (last but not least)

Information can be an important factor - but information is not the only factor to success! This important fact reduces the relevance of information in general. The right information can help improving the other factors, but the major part to improve the performance on the factors mentioned above is hard work!

Now, when we look back at the information in detail we can see that the relevance of information depends on it's quality - and here are a few factors:

• Reliability (of the information source)
• Accuracy (scientifically proofed or just opinions)
• Timeliness (actual information, late information or future prediction)
• Costs (time and money needed for you to get benefit from the information)
• Relevancy (for your goals, priorities and preferences)

Evaluate the quality of information regarding the factors above and then decide what informations not to consider and which to process. Remember that there can be a whole bunch of information (e.g. a specific news channel) that - as a whole - can cause too much costs to keep reading (if only one out of 30 articles contains really new information for instance).

Depending on your current life stage and current requirements some information can be more relevant than other. Do not consider everything important at the same time - so do not set the focus on too many things within a single year/month/week/day. There might be times when you focus on education and times when you focus on your work or on your family. And there might be a week with focus of optimizing investment and another focusing on your hobby.

You can deal with information arrival as with emotions while in mediation. Just salute them and let them pass. See "There is suffering" for details. Welcome every information but this does not necessarily means that you need to deal with it.

When selecting relevant information think more on the long run than on actual hypes and things of temporary interest. If you change your focus with any new incoming information you will barely bring anything to an end. Prefer the better and lasting solutions against the quick fixes. But also remember that it is better to put a towel on a bleeding wound than searching too long for a better solution. A good solution that is established is better than a perfect one that never gets realized.

I find that several methods useful for time management can also be applied for selection of information intake:

• ABC analysis
• 80/20 Rule (Pareto principle)
• Eisenhower method (when doing research)
• ...

And remember that not every new information is really new. Some of the repetitive information can be useful if it reminds you on important things you keep forgetting but a lot of information is just repackaged old stuff.

And before you begin to take action because of some new information take a moment to think if the new thing is really promising an improvement - because change is only movement - not necessarily in a better direction or to a better future.

Related posts: Hard exercise, There is suffering, Change hype, Setting borderlines, Crying for attention, Tell not more and not less, Razor sharp focus, Analysis and therapy, Knowledge is freedom, Direction over goals, Principles over rules,New year decisions, People and Information, Prejudice vs economization, Team meeting with yourself.

Plan to get fear done

The problem: Worries are escorting your daily life.
Often, when decisions have to be made and when things have to be done time is lost while "fearing around". If you look at your daily life there can be plenty of little fears that accompany plenty little things that you are doing or thinking of.

The reason: Missing plan how to deal with new issues.
Looking into detail there are multiple reasons for the problem: Missing alignment, missing priorities, missing goals, missing knowledge, open decisions, sticking to things that passed away, Missing acceptance.

The solution: Have a plan to get things done and close the file.
When new issues - new problems, new goals, new phases of life - show up then you should deal with them correctly in order to solve them. Otherwise they will remain open somehow (even if "only" in the hidden basement of your brain). The final intention is to "close the file" - to make a checkmark the completed task or issue.

Although the issues might differ a lot in detail what they have in common is that they are open issues - they are consuming "brain force" and hence blocking you. As for recurring things you should have a procedure, here is a proposal:

1. Become aware.
   Other than with emails where it can be clearly defined when there is a new item in your inbox for your personal mind it is not so obvious. Get sensitive for the blocking status - get a feeling for your mental "inbox". So that you can be conscious of new issues that touched ground of your mind and keep staying there. Look at yourself, step back and name the issue - definition is an important thing. Then become also aware of the related fears that come up when you think about the open issue.
2. Get the facts.
   When you know your problem you can examine the facts that come along with your problem. Stick to clear facts at this stage because you are currently making experience. It is important not to make unproven assumptions at this stage. Facts can be related to the current effects you are experiencing as well as to the reasons or the environment you are in.
3. Set goals and priorities or remind on them (if there have been set already priorities for such a type of issue).
   Goals and priorities are two different things that shouldn't be mixed: A goal mostly implies or comes along with the definition of an outcome and can be that you arrive from point A to point B but the solution can be very different depending on your priorities which can be for instance to arrive as soon as possible, consume less energy, pay less, have opportunity to know new people and so on. Depending on the priorities the variety of solutions is narrowed which later makes decision easier.
4. Do research.
   Gather knowledge about the issue, about the effects, side effects, reasons and possible "cures". Separate clear and proven facts/rules (during practical use) from theoretical knowledge and from theories (unproven theoretical knowledge). And put aside your hopes and desires. Only with a clear separation of the knowledge item according to it's "strength" good decisions are possible. The research part is often the one that cannot be satisfied completely - especially when issues are urgent or not expected to have strong impacts. The time invested into the research phase should be adequate to the size and impact of your issue.
5. Evaluate possible solutions.
   Find existing/known solutions or invent new solutions. This is the creative part. Then summarize the expected effects, side effects, benefits and drawbacks of the most applicable solutions. Think of a worst case scenario also.
6. Review.
   Depending on the sum of facts, goals, priorities, results of research and evaluations it might be necessary to "go back to the start" or at least some steps back. Depending on what turned out in the previous steps it might be necessary to go back to point 3 - Set goals and priorities. Depending on urgency and impact the review phase might be skipped.
7. Choose your way.
   Make your decision, choose the best fitting solution for your issue. It can also be a set of actions and strategies that can lead to solution of your issue.
8. Accept the consequences.
   You have chosen your way and actions from best knowledge in an efficient way. All the consequences give you new experience and it is not worth crying if something happened in a different way as you expected. Remember that there is no wrong or correct decision - just actions and effects and as you have chosen your way the consequences are just bringing you the results of what you have decided to do in your life. So, why worry?

Related posts: Crappy guesswork, The fear, Something more important, Primary motivator.

To-Do-Lists and the calendar

About a week ago I read about to-do-lists at lifehack ("Back to Basics: Your Task List").

And then I also watched some videos of David Allen about the GTD and how important it is to get the things out of your head (see an interview with David Allen here and a presentation held by him here).

I do also feel better when writing things down and when I make lists (of what to buy, what is still to do in our new flat and so on). Until about two years ago I was using mostly To-Do-Lists but I used the calendar only for noting down appointments with external people.

Now I use GTD like methods (see "GTD - E-Mail Folders or Tags") - see also See also "A Two Minute GTD Overview from Success Making Machine".
But: I make also intensive use of the calendar.

Mr. Allen points out, that actions that take more than two minutes should be done immediately and others should be deferred. One "destination" for the longer tasks may be the calendar. I want to point out that using the calendar is even more important than creating to-do-lists!

When I used only To-Do-Lists I had the following problems:

• When asked for a particular project finalization date or asked for possible schedules for new projects then I could never tell real dates instantly.
• I wrote down the things to do but mostly did not write a time duration estimation to each task.
  
• I set priorities but no deadlines.
• I had noted an order by in reality it is usually not possible scheduling bigger tasks always one after the other. The reality is that I have to work on different projects in parallel.
• I was not in Sync with other people relevant for a project.
  

When you use a calendar and schedule everything you need or want to do then the problems mentioned above are all addressed:

1. When you are about to put a task into the calendar you automatically think of the task length because on most calendars there are written real times. As you need to find free time for each task you will automatically fill up the next days. You can see free space (gaps) and when your last task is scheduled. Tasks taking longer than a day must be split and you have to schedule another day and another. - The big advantage is that you are dealing with fixed dates. So you have an overview about your time (spent) and not "only" about the things that need to be done.
2. Priorities are set implicitly by moving or deleting a task to make fit in another. It is also a decision about priorities but you don't have to figure out a number (as it is usually done).
3. You can schedule two hours working on project A and afterwards scheduling two hours working on project B. Next day can be the same time splitting and so you can make progress on both projects. Such splitting is usually not showing up on a to-do-list.
4. As I note down also the vacations of other important people at customers I also have an overview of not-available-times of other people and can sync my actions accordingly.
   

You can also schedule for instance 1 hour each day for all the small tasks that you get notice of (un)expectedly - for example review and act on the items in the action folder.

Related posts GTD - E-Mail Folders or Tags, Network planning. The benefit of planning.

Procrastination and interrupts

I am definitely not feeling to be a procrastinator but lately I found myself procrastinating a bigger task. - The very strange thing was that I was not fearing that task and I either found it to be meaningful. So I could not find a reason why I procrastinated that task.

I analyzed the situation and came to the following conclusion:

1. I experienced a lot of interrupts before and I was already expecting the next one.
2. To get back onto the task after an interruption can take a while if the task needs intensive concentration and therefore needs time.
3. When too many interrupts occur it is frustrating because you waste your time with getting back to your task and before you achieve a mentionable step forward you will be interrupted again. So you work and concentrate but without progress. That is really frustrating.
4. To avoid that frustration you stick to little tasks that can be finished between two interruptions. Those little tasks are often not so important but it is more efficient to get them finished than trying to advance in a bigger task without success.
5. So my subconscious brain made that decision to proceed on the small tasks. And it was not procrastination! - It was improved efficiency as far as possible in that situation!

What I learn from it:

• Eating the biggest frog first (working on the biggest task first) is not necessarily the best choice. You should schedule the biggest task at a time where you usually experience less interrupts which is not always in the morning hours.
• You should try to get some isolation when you want to work on a bigger task. - In my working environment it is quite difficult - as I wrote earlier here - but not impossible to reduce interruptions anyway.
• The subconscious brain tries to help you and is not just repeating bad habits learned in the past.

Related post: Why not multitasking howto.