Personal Development For Distracted People

  There's a notion in time management that there is the big picture and the minor details. The best known metaphor for this Dave Allen's altitude one. The view from the ground is one thing - but don't forget the view from 40,000 feet. The obvious implication being that what matters at a high level is further up the hierarchy of importance.

  It's a job that never started that takes the longest to finish is an old saying. It's a very true one. I have considerable empirical evidence to back it up. In fact, I was just pondering just how much time I spend not starting things. It's a daily habit for me. The first thing I do when I sit down at my desk in my office every morning is have a cup of tea and catch up with the news. Basically, I delay getting started on a daily basis. So this is a habit I'm going to? end. I've already started. From now on, I only have two choices when I sit down hard work at the beginning of the day. I'll leave a write a blog post like this one – following my 10 minutes and it's done rule. Or I will tackle the most important job on my list. Again, I'll follow the 10 minute rule on it. So from now on and for the rest of my working lifethe first thing I will do every morning will be either write a blog post or work on my most top job.

  A lot of people, including me for many years, live in their inbox. What turns up in it determines the priorities for the day. The length of it indicates the backlog. Replying to and sending emails forms a big part of the day.

  I've been getting a lot of satisfaction from writing blog posts, and some other bits of writing, in 10 minutes flat. But can I apply the same strategy to finishing old jobs off? I have loads of things I've started and parked until I have time to finish them off properly. What if I could get them done in 10 minutes? With what I have learned from writing new pieces in 10 minutes I think the trick is to focus on first getting the job in a state where finishing it is possible, and then giving it total concentration until its done. But I need a get out clause here. Some things simply can't be done in ten minutes. So one acceptable outcome is - this is going to take longer than it is worth. Drop it now forever. Another is, this is worth spending more time on. In either case I need to get to the stage of actually dropping it - i.e., delete previous work and forget forever. Or I need to leave it so I can get closer to a ten minute finish than before.

  Ten minutes is longer than you think, but all the non-writing bits of composing a blog post take longer than you think to. And my 10 minute blog post concept is that you finish the whole thing and have it scheduled to appear within 10 minutes. As soon as you let yourself drift over the end point you are already into mission creep.

  Do you have days where whatever your intentions, you just can't seem to get anything done?  I particularly get them when I have a constant stream of interruptions and attention destroyers.  I dare say people who are possessed of iron willpower and laser like focus can simply shrug this sort of thing off and get on with it.  I however, simply make myself a cup of tea and fail to achieve anything very much.  But I have got a counter-tactic which while not foolproof works often enough.

Most people appreciate that while time is always short and there are never enough hours in the day, the thing that is really in sMost people appreciate that while time is always short and there are never enough hours in the day, what's really in short supply is concentration. If you have something difficult to do, something that requires your brain to exert itself, you don't just need time. You need to summon up something else as well. We often regard this as needing willpower. You're sitting there ready to do great things, but you just can't get yourself started.