Pomodoro Technique. The Pomodoro Technique advocates breaking big projects or tasks into smaller, more achievable tasks distributed throughout the course of your day and — notably — separated by frequent breaks. Each task should take no longer than 25 minutes and breaks should be approximately 5 – 30 minutes (depending on how long you need to recharge before the next task). The technique’s name comes from a tomato kitchen timer, used to time 25 minute increments. If you want a more modern solution, there are manytimers available online.
Pomodoro Technique
Pomodoro is about setting short intervals and having a few minute- long breaks. It is repeated throughout the day and helps in simplifying project and being more productive.
Here is an easy 6-step instruction how to use it:
Choose a task to work on
Set your timer (pomodoro) to 25 minutes or whatever works for you
Work on it until the timer rings
Take a 5 minute break
After three pomodoros, take a longer break for like a half an hour
Repeat until necessary
Using it you will become a way better planner who tracks results and efficiency. It goes pretty well with GTD, since you divide projects into small tasks anyways.
Once you formed a habit out of it, you will rarely finish earlier. If that happens – congrats and – it is time to set more difficult tasks or put more into one set. In short breaks you shouldn’t focus on that work. Go a take a short walk, exercise, call a friend, read a nice or funny post.
The whole point is to force yourself into the flow and keep a sharp focus. Never let yourself get interrupted!
Pomodoro (tomato) technique is a study method that helps avoiding procrastination using a kitchen timer
Habit trick:Create a framework (read Pomodoro and Get Things Done sections)
It is a very good technique for learning. Schedule the tasks and set goals. The best way to think about is as about habits in general. The more repetitive method you create, the easier it will get to do something. Combine what you have learned so far and use the Pomodoro technique with GTD. Make it something that you can stick to and form to a habit. It is like what Ernst Hemingway said: write 5 pages every day and you will have a book in 3 months. It is even more important if you are part of a project group or study group. Lastly here, setting up expectations on why you are doing something will keep your passion’s drive.
About the 80/20 rule aka Pareto Principle. One thing worth mentioning here is Parkinson’s Law. It’s about putting ourselves in a difficult time frame and magically we are still able to manage a nice job, if not even better than what we would have produce in twice as much time. All we need to do is limit ourselves in terms of tasks per hour let’s say. A good technique to use is Pomodoro. It uses a timer like those ugly kitchen tomatoes to break down work into intervals. You should test what works for you the best but it usually is 25 minutes long, separated by 5 minutes breaks. After 3 pomodoro, you take a half an hour break. If we do it right, the results and lift in efficiency is pretty amazing.
Running your own business is not easy at all. There are lots of things to concentrate on, without losing the focus on the main task you are doing. I’m an entrepreneur since I graduated so I had to find the best practices for scheduling and managing my daily routine. But these productivity habits aren’t only useful for entrepreneurs, everybody can save time with some of them. In the first part I want to introduce everybody into my favourite one: The Getting Things Done Method.
Getting Things Done Method
Getting Things Done (aka GTD), is the Grocery List method on steroids. It is simple enough to get started right away, but as you dig deeper, it can help you on so many levels. Tools, which you can install on your phone, may resemble classic Grocery List apps but they allow you to create sub- lists and manage time you spend on each task.
To not waste anyone’s time, let’s see GTD in 2 minutes:
Your mind is not meant to remember… tasks. Write down every little task you can think of, so that you can get everything out of your head. This goes to your Inbox.
Set aside 30 minutes each week (for me it’s Friday afternoon) when you clear your Inbox and put it to Other
Create the following lists name like (you can add other lists later):
Inbox: This is where you instantly write down everything. First question is if it is actionable. If there is something that can be done in less then 2 minutes, do it right away. It should be something precise like “Email Peter about XY”.
Some day: If it is not actionable, you put it to “Some day”. If it stays there for more than let’s say 30 days, you can either delete it to the trash or leave it there.
Next action: If it is actionable with a simple step (and it takes more than 2 minutes), you put it to “Next action” folder. Here you can decide to do it as the list is, or specify a specific date.
Waiting for: Works like the “Next action” folder, but this task is out for someone to be competed and you are setting a reminder preferably with a due date.
Projects: If it is actionable, but has multiple steps, you create a project out of it and define as many small tasks as possible. This is what we call planning. Remember, you always need to have a “Next action” subtask in every project. This is crucial to get things done!
Grocery: Let’s start with groceries. It can be an ongoing project, since you need to do that. In this project, you can list whatever you will need and just move it here from you Inbox.
That’s it. Simple like that.
Pros: GTD helps you get things out of your mind and never forget anything and get it done in the most effective way.
Cons: You must be very persistent and devoted to your work- you can’t skip days because this would cause even bigger mess instead of helping you to put everything in order. Also, those apps that are supposed to help you sorting tasks, are slightly more complex and can be a bit confusing in the beginning.
How to be a pro in GTD
As time flies, you will create and close many projects and find your own pace. You can add contexts and tags, but that’s not necessary. If you would like to get more into practical application, read this deep guide about GTD, but if you’d like to become a pro, I suggest the holy grail of GTD by the man behind.
After you know everything about the method in theory, let’s see the best apps avaiable for using GTD in practice:
Want to get started now? Take 5 minutes and write everything that is in your head.
It is a very good technique for learning. Schedule the tasks and set goals. The best way to think about is as about habits in general. The more repetitive method you create, the easier it will get to do something. Combine what you have learned so far and use the Pomodoro technique with GTD. Make it something that you can stick to and form to a habit. It is like what Ernst Hemingway said: write 5 pages every day and you will have a book in 3 months. It is even more important if you are part of a project group or study group. Lastly here, setting up expectations on why you are doing something will keep your passion’s drive.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me!
I am constantly trying to find ways to become more productive, finish my projects faster, and waste less time on things that are not important. I’m an entrepreneur, and effective time management and consciousness can really make a difference in my line of work. But it has positive effects outside of work, too.
One of the best ways we can improve ourselves is to form smart habits. I’ve read several books on this topic, and they helped me to change my attitude, worrying less about events that can hold me back, and focusing more on the ones that are important. In this post, I’d like to write about two of them, and provide a few tips on forming habits.
Smart habits of highly effective people
Stephen Richards Covey was an American author, educator, and businessman. His first book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is one of the most influential works written about habits. It has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide, and Bill Clinton tried to integrate some of its ideas into his presidency.
Covey believes we should take responsibility for our lives, and never blame circumstances or other outside factors for our failures. He advises focusing our time and energy on the things we can control, and worrying less about the rest, because this allows us to be more proactive.
He thinks we should find out what our priorities are, and create a plan for success that shows us what we’d like to achieve in the long term. In other words, we should begin with the end in mind, and work toward our goals systematically. He believes battling against others is counterproductive and that we should work together instead, and even learn to celebrate the success of others, too.
Simple rules
While the works of Covey can help you change your attitude and become a more proactive person, Simple Rules: How to Thrive in a Complex World, a book written by Donald Sull and Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, demonstrates a more practical approach toward forming smart habits.
The authors believe that creating simple rules can provide a powerful weapon against the complexity that threatens to overwhelm us, as they can save time and effort by simplifying the way we process information.
They advise us to create a set of rules that we can apply in situations we regularly have to face, similar to the way a financial institution deals with a crisis. Although most people use rules like this without knowing about them, by setting them up consciously we can simplify our life in many areas.
How to create smart habits
I wrote a post a few weeks ago about the smart habits of work and study, and I’m sure you can find several other articles online with tips that can help you become more productive. Not every one of those tips is going to be useful, though.
You have to create habits that are suited to your personality and can really move you forward in areas which are important for you. A good way to start is to use your existing routines and build new habits around them. For example, if you’d like to lose weight, first you can try to skip the dessert after lunch, and once you’ve gotten used to this, look for the next step which can take you closer to your goal.
I’ve worked a lot on developing smart habits, and I’m going to share a few of them with you. Some are more general, while others are simple and actionable. Not every one of them will be appropriate for you, but a few might help.
Sleeping habits:
A lack of sleep can decrease your productivity dramatically. By following these simple rules, you can avoid it in most cases, and maybe win a little extra time, too:
Don’t go to bed until you feel sleepy!
Wake up at the same time every day!
Only stay in bed if you’re sleeping. Really, get out!
Challenge yourself to reduce time spent in bed.
A practice that can help you stay focused:
Organize your thoughts! Don’t hold on to your ideas for a long time! To prevent your brain from losing faith in your collection buckets, make a habit of completely emptying all of them once a week. (You can read more about this at getthingthingsdone.com)
Habits that can make you more proactive:
Always take the initiative to do what you want.
React and respond to events that happen, and be responsible! Between what happens to us and how we react, there is a space. And in that space lies the freedom to decide how to feel, which can define our happiness.
Make others look good! Wherever you go, and whatever relationship you build -doesn’t matter if it is a networking or a long-term partner- be in the moment and constantly look for ways you can help.
Don’t be afraid to apologize! We continuously make mistakes and we should apologize for each of them. It’s not worth it to hold a grudge against people. You have to learn to forgive the ones who don’t apologize. Don’t let them hold you back!
So, these are some of the rules I try to live my life by. Most of the time they help me, but of course, sometimes I fail to act as I intended to.
Do you also have smart habits, or are trying to create some? Let me know!
I’m interested in your thoughts about my tips too. Do you find them helpful? Or would you rather do things in a different way? According to this infographic created by OPEN Forum, some of the most successful leaders had very unconventional habits…
I wrote about a really cool hack of working smart where we explained why 4 hours a day should be enough. To dig further, I would like to address entrepreneurship skills of working smart.
There are many amazing books on entrepreneurship. To start off with, you could get the mindset from Mr. Dale Carnegie in Winning friends and influencing people . Or find more out about new wave sales tactics in Aaron Ross’ Predictible Revenue .
Entrepreneurs are creators. It can be a product that makes people’s life easier or a venture that employs 50 or 500 people who can make a living out of it. They care and this is why they are in motion. They are the ones who are the most productive when put out of their comfort zone and are faced with challenges day by day. For them, the only imaginably reason for working for someone else would be a greater cause where they feel they are more effective to reach whatever they believe in.
They are the last to speak and the first to act. This is an entreprenurship skill.
Entrepreneurs don’t work for money. They follow their dreams, hustle, work smart, sacrifice a LOT and then on an amazing they, money will follow. Funny thing is that they don’t care about it. I believe that money is only issue for people who don’t have it. Without generalizing, these people never will have the gut to move out of the comfort zone and will just be sitting and waiting around. Serial entrepreneurs don’t care if they loose it all, because they will learn the lesson and know that have the skills to build whatever they want one more time. They think about money as a reward for something that they excel in – and more importantly they would do it without getting paid anyways.
“It took me five years to become an overnight success – and I don’t even feel successful.”
The whole idea is to spot an opportunity with great demand, find a test market and figure out if it really works in the fastest possible way. If it does, a growth and establishing phase starts where money will come. But the important point is that they don’t pay for money with their time, but with their thoughts and action. This is why they can make money in their sleep. Being an entrepreneur with a profitable business is like having half-passive income. You got to work for it, but you get your money after the results, not your time.
Prioritize. Check my Maker Time Guide: Assess everything that needs to be done. Before you plunge into something headfirst, remember that enthusiasm needs to be tempered with wisdom. Look over every aspect of the job, and allow yourself ample “pondering time” so that you can be sure that every detail is accomplished on time and accurately. Make an outline. Whether it’s in your head or on paper, you should have a checklist in mind and follow it in order. You don’t want to repeat steps, duplicate the efforts of others, make mistakes or forget anything.
Learn to say no. Avoid over-scheduling yourself and be realistic about what you can accomplish in a single day. Sometimes you just have to cut yourself off because in most professions, there is almost always something that could be done. In order to be able to dedicate yourself to these crucial tasks, you have to learn when to say “yes”, and when to say no. Even if we have a burning desire to say “yes”, we should also be able to say “no” when the thing we’ve been asked to do contributes nothing to the achievement of our long-term goals.
Give two or three choices – never more. To yourself and to your partnes/clients as well. This way everybody will feel like to have an option and they are the ones making the decisoin, but at the same time it is not overwhelming to choose from two or three. Handing a swatch book to a client and saying, “Tell me which colors you are interested in” is deadly. Too many choices will cause horrible delays as the customer peruses ALL possibilities and later tends to second-guess every decision. Instead, say things like, “Do you like this blue or this green better?”
Look for shortcuts. This does NOT mean taking the easiest method for the sake of it or being lazy. For example, if you respond to numerous e-mails per day and answer the same questions again and again, save your responses. When those questions come up, you can cut and paste your canned response. You might have to make minor edits, but the bulk of it will already be written.
Avoid procrastination. Every time you surf the net or needlessly check e-mail at work, your day becomes longer. Push yourself hard to do work when it’s time to do work and enjoy these activities once you’re done for the day. Another way to beat procrastination and get in to the mood is no matter if you have the mood or not, just do it anyways. “Shut the fuck up, get over yourself and do it anyways”
Delegate to the right people at the right times. Make sure your team is well-ordered. If one person is faster, put him or her on the part of your task that will take longest. If one person is more skilled and accurate, put him or her on the part of the task that is most critical. (Pro TIP: •When giving a task always use this framework: NAME, could you do, TASK by DEADLINE, NAME, please? For example, John, could you go today and buy a milk, andwhen you are there, buy 1% milk instead of whole milk please, John.)
Periodic breaks. Use Pomodoro . Even at the office, you need to allow time for your mind to regroup and recharge. Push yourself hard for the first 50 minutes of every hour and then reward yourself with a 10 minute break.
If I can only address one take away for this post that can help people live a more fulfilling life, it would be this: by forming fun routines and habits, you will not need to work hard. It is about working SMART and enjoying the hell out of the journey.
Work hard play hard is pretty misleading. It should rather be work smart.
The hardest part of controlling an organization or a workflow is overseeing the completion of tasks. Why does it seem so difficult?
In order to control the processes effectively you need to educate yourself in handling operative tasks or find someone, who is fit for this job. The one supervising day-to-day operations needs to see the big picture and have a passion for details at the same time.
Project management programs, like Asana, can help you achieve both objectives. With this software, you can generate smaller and larger projects, and add subtasks to any of them. The system is also able to send email notifications to anyone involved with a task, and allow clients to follow the progress.
Of course, you can also delegate people and set a deadline to every task in Asana, which is extremely useful because it makes everyone involved in the projects accountable. When the job and the responsibilities are obvious, overseeing them will mean less trouble for you.
For the best results, you will need the find the right people for every project, that you created. If you charge people with projects, that are inadequate for them, it will result in delays, or the quality will suffer. For example, if you know that someone in your organization is good at writing, don’t delegate this job to anyone else. If you do so, you will probably have to send the work back for correction and waste a lot of time to achieve the same quality.
As a leader you have to know the strength and weaknesses of your workers, for example, it should be clear how punctual they are. If you can also discover what motivates your colleagues you will be able to get the most out of them.
Some people are inspired by the tasks you appoint them with, but others will need further encouragement. It could be a good idea to allow some of your co-workers to set the deadlines for themselves. Also, if you have to charge someone with an unpleasant task, offer him or her a more engaging job for the next time!
Besides knowledge you should concentrate on occupational calling, and the applicants’ ability to perform in the chosen roles, when assembling a team. Keep in mind that some of your employees will have to be able to work together effectively on a day-to-day basis!
Using the personality assessment test developed by Myers and Briggs might help you obtain valuable information about your co-workers. Knowing more about their personalyty types will help you a lot during project management.
There is a golden rule to hiring people, which you should also remember. “Type A” workers will employ “type A” people, “type B” workers will look for “type C” people, and so on. We advise you to stick with “A”.
Probably, you also dreamt about completing twice as many tasks in a day, then you are generally able to. Although it might sound strange at first, it’s possible. The key to achieving this goal is organization.
Be your own assistant!
Like it or not, a day consist of 24 hours. Unfortunately, we can’t change this limitation, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to use our time better. What do I mean by this?
With very strong self-control we are able to create a kind of schizophrenic state. In this, we could be our bosses and assistants at the same time.
A good way to reach this is to picture two hats, that can summon the different characters. One of them is the hat of the boss, who will give us precise tasks with strict deadlines. The other one is worn by the assistant who executes the daily tasks from the to-do list. If we put on the boss hat in the morning, and then change the hats, we can structure our workdays easily.
Why is order the quintessence of productivity?
Most people have mastered the art of procrastination. They don’t even realize how much time they waste on useless stuff during work. They say to themselves things like: “Ok. One more cigarette, and I’ll start it” or “I’ll just listen to a song and begin working immediately afterwards”. By switching between the two roles, we can avoid the delays, and motivate ourselves to create valuable workdays.
The people who wake up early are often more productive and efficient in work than the ones who sleep till late. What is the reason for this?
If you set the alarm to 5 o’clock and use a few hours to do things that make you happy, for example, read a book, have breakfast with your loved ones, or run in the park, you will begin work differently. These events will make you feel like it was worth waking up early, or well, waking up at all. This can be a very strong drive throughout the day, and help you deal with tasks, which otherwise you might try to procrastinate.
One more productivity hack: punish and compensate
This system can only work provided that you are able to take it seriously. Creating a process of punishments and compensations can help you achieve this. It’s a rather difficult task if you’d like to do it properly because let’s be honest, we are much more likely to compensate than punish ourselves.
There is one thing that could be very useful, though. It is to come up with a prize, that you are eager to receive. If you choose a suitable gift and find the right time for the compensation, this will provide a strong motivation to endure suffering. For example, if you decide to apply to a tender, give yourself the present not when you acquire the work, choose the completion of the project instead.
Ask for help
Delegation could significantly speed up your progress too. Find someone, with whom you can work with, and ask him to do some of your tasks!
If you don’t know people with the proper abilities for a chosen work, you might consider hiring a freelancer. There are plenty of pages like upwork.com where you can find talented professionals from various fields, including programming, designing or accounting. This list can help you locate the most suitable freelance job site for your project.
If you’re a tech savvy person, project management applications are made for you. With Asana you can easily create the tasks with your boss hat on, and also, delegate them, and set the deadline if needed.
Many people are searching for ways to make life easier. If you found my advice useful, or you are also looking for ways to make your days more productive, I suggest reading the works of Napoleon Hill, John Maxwell, Robert Kiyosaki or Timothy Ferriss. The latter, for example, is a very important book on time and mobility centred around working only four hours a week.
There are many tips and guides available online too, that can help you boost your productivity. This post could aid you in creating to-do lists, or making them useful again. If you’re interested in project management applications, I suggest this article, because it lists most of my favourite programs. Finally if you’re looking for more productivity hacks, don’t go anywhere, you can find many posts about them on my blog, for example here you can read about smart habits, and this lengthy post explains the GTD and the Pomodoro method and also describes an experiment with them.
Organizing our life is one of the most difficult tasks. Its hardship comes from the fact, that we have to punish and compensate ourselves at once. But if we put on the right hat at the right time, the complications will seem less unsolvable. And who knows? In the end, when we’re finished with all of our tricks we might find a white rabbit.
In an experiment I used the Pomodoro Technique, the Getting Things Done method and the Maker Time theory together to improve productivity. The results were staggering! While writing, I feel more focused and efficient, I learned plenty of new things, and exercised at previously unimaginable times. This post walks you through the process and tell you what happened, when my peers joined the initiative.
Being a lazy ass, I constantly find myself looking for hacks to be more efficient. Sounds familiar?
I stumbled upon this treasure, just before the Holidays in 2015:
This video is based on an email written by Jeremiah Dillon, a manager at Google. He suggested his colleagues to become Makers.
There are two paradigms to scheduling — the manager and the maker. While managers work with 30 minutes intervals, the makers are most effective if they can dedicate a half- or a full-day for their tasks.
Dillon thought his colleagues could work more effectively on important projects if they created these half or full day blocks. In order to achieve this, he advised the other Googlers to change their schedule, shorten their meetings, and work on the projects intensely on days when their energy levels are high.
His ideas became popular at Google quickly, and the email was shared many times on internal networks.
Ingredients to improve productivity
I couldn’t have met with Dillon’s thoughts at a better time. Besides being with my loved ones, I always used the holiday season to process hundreds of saved content and set goals.
This time, I decided to kick off the next year with an experiment. I would combine the Maker Time Theory I just discovered with routines, the Pomodoro Technique, and the Getting Things Done method.
The Pomodoro Technique is a time management process. It was developed in the late 80s, and its goal is to improve your work and study habits. The practitioners of Pomodoro divide their tasks into 25 minutes long intervals and take a short break between them. During work, they try to minimize the external, and internal distractions.
The Getting Things Done method teaches you to capture all your ideas and record them. This both helps you to focus on the task at hand and decide which one of your ideas are actionable.
My hypothesis was, that combining these techniques would put my productivity on steroids.
So this is how I set up my Calendar for every week. Each week I just have to plan what to do in that given time.
And this is how it changes once I plan it.
Tools to Improve Productivity
First I collected the tools needed to carry out the experiment. I picked the following apps:
Google Calendar (for repetitive tasks and collaboration with my team)
Calendly.com (for automated meeting scheduling)
Asana (for task administration and scheduling)
iDoneThis.com (to keep us accountable)
Pomodoro One (to keep track of time)
Gmail with Yesware and Contactually.com
Blinkist, Podcast, Pocket on 2x times the speed
Ground Rules of a Productivity Hack
So let’s talk about some ground rules I set up to start with:
Following routines can make our daily tasks easier. At the same time, monotony can kill creativity, enthusiasm, and mood in general. Therefore, I decided to work in similar ways every day but with different tasks. I created blocks and filled them with the various tasks. I wanted my subconscious to know when to be in what state. To take procrastination out of the equation, I decided to “force” myself to do every task in my calendar.
The states my subconscious had to reach at certain times were the following:
o Maker Time
o Meeting Time
o Planning Time
o Creative Procrastination Time
o Email and Calls Time
o Me Time
My new weeks
Tuesdays and Wednesdays are for Making. Studies show that these are the most productive days, so I elimanted all the distractions.
This is why Monday is for Planning and Internal meetings.
This is why I only take in person meetings on Thursdays and Fridays, plus calls on Mondays(I prefer 20-minute calls that can be automatically selected at Calendly.com)
Friday is followed by Google’s 20% Personal Project rule and we can do whatever is on our minds, but have to keep the same schedule.
Every morning and evening I have routines to follow which consists of exercising, reading, watching videos, chatting with friends.
The main goal of the experience was to get in the flow and get more done while I have a lot of fun.
Want to know how that went?
In the following paragraphs, I will walk you through the process and write about my experiences each week. If you’re only interested in the summary and the conclusion, just scroll to the end!
Week 1.
The first day of my experiment felt like a rush. It was packed with activities but in a good way. This is funny, since it had been full of tasks for a few years, but not in an organized way. Sometimes this made me feel like my time is floating away
On a meeting with business partners, I’m always prepared and punctual. Until this experiment, I treated my personal tasks differently. I often delayed less interesting tasks or tried to avoid some of them.
But this day was different. For the first time in my life, I felt the same rush and level of professionalism toward myself, as with important external partners. I had my calendar booked with alarms, my Pomodoro One app was ticking. It felt good and was in a productive state all day long.
Additionally, I could measure the difficulty and timing of my tasks way better. Here is an example: I decided to spend 2 Pomodoros (about 50 minutes) on setting up a Hubspot campaign, but it turned out that I needed more time to finish it. So at the end of the second Pomodoro, I used the Get Things Done method and created a Project out of it..
As the rest of the week went by, sticking to the. plan got harder. There were two main reasons for this: 1) I had to adjust to other’s schedule and 2) force myself to stick to my own schedule even when I didn’t want to.
When I had my own Maker time for Tuesday and Wednesday, the system worked really well. I could get things done and move smoothly. Even though sometimes I was slower, then I originally thought I would be, rescheduling things and reminding myself that I don’t have to get everything done in a day, helped a lot. I could keep my level of energy and efficiency in a balance.
Then came Thursday. The day when I had to completely rearrange my timetable. I planned to have business meetings then, but they were delayed until Friday – the day devoted to my personal projects.
I had no other choice than to switch the days. My personal project was to catch up with reading. So I had gone to the gym, then went home, to do that. That is where, I fell into my bed, and fell asleep.
Why? I guess it happened because I couldn’t really sleep that week, thanks to the excitement.
I gave myself a day off, and it was a good idea. On the rest of the week, I managed to get approximately 40% of the scheduled readings, and I’m OK with that.
Based on the first week, I expected too much of myself and didn’t give enough time to balance myself. I decided to change this in the upcoming weeks.
Week 2
Just the fact that I write the blog and keep track of my time, helps me get better. Nice side effect, right?
Let’s take a look at, the second week of my human experiment!
Topics to cover:
Eliminating travel time
Emails
Planning and GTD’s in-basket
Too much todos
On this week, I significantly shortened travel times. Before that, I used to spend 100 minutes traveling each day, which is 8 hours in a 5-day workweek. Usually, I went to three different destinations a day. By setting up meetings close to the gym, I could replace those 3 trips with one, and spend more time on audio books or podcasts. (Startupchat.com and The Tim Ferriss Show is highly recommended!)
By the middle of the week, I realized, that I need more time for emails. Since I used to write them once or twice a day, I thought that 3-4 Pomodoros would be enough. It turned out that it is not, and I can’t answer them in a timely manner if I don’t devote more time for this task. The solution: I decided to spend 80% of one of Week 3’s content time on emails.
At the end of the week, I adjusted my schedule. Originally I planned to empty my GTD in-baskets on Monday mornings, but I moved this block to the end of the week. I decided to do so, since Monday was also a time for planning and adding personal and professional tasks to Asana and my Google Calendar.
Overcharged, but excited
In week two, I was sooo excited about this whole new level of productivity, that I addedtoo many tasks for Maker Time. I tried to finish 20-30% more than I what I am capable of doing. I have no short term solution for this, therefore, I rolled them to the following week. In the long run, I will need to master delegation.
Lastly, the same thing happened on my personal project day: todos stacked up and I ended up solving those. So I had to finish them at the weekend. Two meetings that I couldn’t manage on workdays also took place then.
The two extra day came handy, but it could only work as a short-term solution since it is very important to set quality time aside for loved ones. I guess I could do the same on the upcoming week, and it is actually nice, to get some pleasure work done (which was 4 hours and two 1.5 hour individual meetings with team members in this case).
Week 3
The important action of this week is that I changed the scheduling. I increased the number of Pomodoros devoted to emails and other work related tasks on Thursday. In the previous weekends, I felt overwhelmed by the unresolved tasks waiting for me, and this took away the stress from Mondays.
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Week 3 was also about team collaboration, delegation and the birth of new habits.
I started to feel some neurological effects in my brain and body, that it wanted to do X and Y at a given time. This applies to gym time, writing time, meetings and most importantly Maker projects. I also became somewhat better at the things I do.When I was writing, I felt more focused and productive – which was the whole point of my new routine.
Let me give you an example. On Wednesdays I don’t go to the gym, so I planned meditation and some 7-minute workout for the morning. I hated those things, but wanted to see how it turns out. On Week 3, I jumped right out of the bed and started exercising, then meditated. Like it was the most normal and obvious thing in the world. After the exercise, I met with a friend and had breakfast. We talked for an hour before I started writing. This break increased my productivity, the time I spent on writing was highly effective.
Bottom line, having Maker Time every week at the same time is a multiplier of productivity.
Teamwork with Maker Time
I asked others on my team and peers of mine to join my initiative. I thought if we could synchronize our working routine this way, we wouldn’t disturb each other at the meeting, or during Maker Time.
Tuesdays and Wednesdays are Makers Time for us. When we work together, we tend to lose track of time, since we literally feel the ecstasy of creation.
To give you an example, on the Tuesday of Week 3, we decided to rebrand our agency with one rule. We would be very simple and use only 3 pomodoros for this task. Although it took more time (approx. 4 pomodoros) at the end we almost finished every task. I was ready, and my coworker, Daniel only had to fine tune the website and the logo (which he did using 3 more pomodoros).
The lesson here for us was the following: if we are working on a creative project, we need to let the flow take over – even if that means delaying some other tasks.
Also, a well-delegated project will have a different time requirement for each member working on it. So it could be useful to discuss the developments after 3 pomodoros, and summarize who did what and what to continue with. After this, we can work on different things, needed to finalize the project.
I plan to have a similar Week 4 to Week 3, just to see if the adjustments I made over the past few weeks, could work in the long run. It was great to work together with my team this way, and I think everybody felt the same and enjoyed the project. I’m looking forward to the upcoming weeks!
Week 4
Ok, this week was a total disaster.
All the preparation and three weeks of work fell through because of one thing. That was dependency.
We moved to a new office. Originally, it was supposed to be ready two weeks ago, so I devoted the previous Saturday to moving.
I went to IKEA and other supply shops and bought new chairs, desks, and office supplies. and delivered them to the office, just to discover our rooms were not empty. We have two rooms, and both of them were stuffed with the previous tenant’s furniture. On top of that, the building’s doorman was sitting in one of them.
The landlord apologized and promised that everything would be ready for this week. Of course, he didn’t keep his promise. On Monday the office was still in an unfinished state, to put it politely. Finally, after an unnecessary trip on Tuesday, and some time spent on assembling the furniture, which, by the way, should have been done by the landlord, we could start work in our new office on Wednesday.
The net wasted time on this project was around 4 hours. Which is not a very long time, but as a result, two of my Maker days were totally unproductive. The whole situation was so bothering that I just couldn’t move forward the usual efficiency.
What can one do?
Sometimes things need to fall apart to build a solid base.
I decided to let this week go and switched to survivor mode. I did the mandatory stuff, like team and client meetings, emails, etc.
Better than expected…
This week I couldn’t sleep well at all. Three nights out of the five, I stayed up until 1-2 AM to get shit done.
Surprisingly it was worth the time, and switching to survivor mode, and working late had several great outcomes:
1) I found an excellent software for our CRM. It is called Contactually.com. I highly recommend it for small businesses. It’s a great tool to keep in touch and keep score at the same time on a very automated basis.
2) Sacrificing my 20% Friday, I managed to sit down with our dev team. We could finally improve our on-boarding system in a meaningful way – both functionally and design wise. It was 4 hours (8 pomodoros) of amazing Make time. I highly recommend you to do the same. Sit down and work alongside your developers!
2.5) I also managed to answer all my emails and complete the weekly task organization so nothing remained for the next week.
This week gave me the confidence that I needed. By the end of the week I was certain, that using this system would keep me in a productive mindset even when I feel down, or inefficient.
The 20% challenge: Reading Fridays
January’s twenty percent tasks for me were to clean my Facebook Saved items, Pocket Lists and finalize my book.
None of those happened.
The reason is simple: I overcrowded the first four days of the week and had to do some catching up on the last workday. Plus, on one Friday afternoon, I had to attend a conference, on another I had to visit our development team.
So much for plans, right?
The lesson learned here: we need a bigger team and better delegation. I will only be able to carry out the twenty percent plan if this happens.
I also figured that I could plan my weekends the same way I intend to do with my Fridays. I catch myself sleeping in, laying in the bed, thanks to the 7000RPM and burn out of the week. But. If I plan some activities or me time on the weekend that is related to the 20%, I can easily manage and maybe get involved my loved ones as well.
Conclusion to Improve Productivity Now
“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” – Bill Gates
The experiment had a lot of unexpected, and beneficial side effects. I read way more than usually and I was open to new things. This is how I met with Stoicism and great minds like AngelList’s Naval Ravikant.
Of course, I couldn’t achieve everything I planned for this period.
As productive as I wanted to be in January, I had to keep reminding myself that life is a marathon, not a sprint. We shouldn’t get caught up in the moment and overburden ourselves with tasks that need to be solved ASAP.
We need to form habits instead, that make us happier and help us fulfill our goals.
I will use the results of this experiment, to create new habits. Tasks that need to be completed at the same time and period of the week. I believe this will make me more balanced, and happier.
Main takeaways from the experiment:
If you can form one habit out of this make it the exercising. Do it for 10-30 minutes at the same time, every week and this will affect many areas of your life.
Work together, preferably at the same place with the same schedule. This way your presence motivates each other
Nothing is permanent. Experiment and continuously adjust your routines.
Cut meetings, try to stick to emails with bullet points. Use a background task management software or CRM where you bcc your task and never forget anything
Keep 20% of your time to work on something totally different and continuously develop yourself.
No matter if you are a solopreneur or a careerist at a large corporation, you can convince your partners/bosses about the two points above. Just show them the results in efficiency
If you put time pressure (just a bit realistic) on something, you can achieve great results without getting caught in the details
Make use of your travel time: schedule calls, listen to audiobooks or saved pocket readings. Just don’t let 60-120 minutes of the day float away.
Schedule activities, which are not work related for weekdays too. Meet with a good friend after a productive maker day! Close a workday with a long dinner with people you enjoy spending time with!
Don’t take things too seriously.
Will I keep using this method? Hell yeah. This is one of the best and most complex smart habit productivity hacks that happened to me in a long time!
I’ve been an entrepreneur ever since I graduated from college. I have the tendency to find myself wanting to do more than I’m capable of. In addition to that, I’m the biggest procrastinator of all time.
Combining these two factors, I’m constantly looking for creative ways to get things done. This is how I fell in love with smart habits of… basically everything. Smart Habits of Life, Work, and Study. Tips on how to hack our life and productivity to do more with less. This article is an intro that I wish I had when I got started.
Smart Habits of Life
To start off, we know that not all smart people are born that way. I wouldn’t call constant work and improvement a coincidence. There is no secret to smart habits of life. You just need to start working on one thing and keep doing it, no matter what.
Smart Habits Pro tip: A good way to start is to use your existing routines and build new habits around them. Just grab a piece of paper and a pen, and write down your routines. Here is a few of mine:
brush my teeth
Eat
Check Facebook and Email on my phone
Type
Now, let’s say I wanted to eat healthier. All I had to do is decide in advance what diet to do and just integrate it to my eating habits. The key is not wanting everything at once, but taking small steps. First, just don’t eat carbs afterlunch. Then divide meals into smaller portions throughout the day. Always, one step at a time.
Let’s grab another example. Let’s add reading to every day. I save every interesting article for later with getpocket, but don’t really follow up on them. But I want to. So, I wouldn’t start with an hour long reading time. On the other hand, adding this to my existing routine of checking Facebook and my emails seems easy. What I do is while loading my emails using Spark (spark.me), I open getpocket and read 2-3 articles. Then I open Facebook, waste my time for a few minutes, then go back. This way, I read articles for like 10 minutes. This is 10 minutes more than I used to. What I experienced after I got used to this, is that I could increase the reading time to 15-20 minutes, and then to 30 minutes. Nice hack, huh?
Smart Habits Pro Tip: you can use “audio reading” in getpocket.com. So you could listen to saved articles while you are commuting or working out, etc.
Whatever you decide to build, make it as fun and enjoyable as possible. Imagine people with smart habits. There is a trail that they prone to moments of idiocy too while delivering incredible results.
Shut your voice up.
Productivity is all about control. It starts with learning to control that little commentary voice inside your head, and try to find the zen. Just let your mind flow. A good way to reach a productive state is to spend a few minutes (I repeat, a few minutes, like 5 min) with meditation. There is no good or bad way of doing it. . Especially if you use an app like Headspace. It not only helps you to calm that voice, but this amazing mindfulness state also brings out the arguments you need to have with yourself. Needless to say, that awareness will lead to higher performance and better productivity.
Smart Habits of Study
Here, I’m not only going to give you some hints to study more effectively. But also, I’m also going to advise you on how you can use the world around you and your existing habits, to become a better learner.
“Most people don’t listen with intent to understand. They listen with an intent to reply”
Be present in the moment. If you are at a lecture, Google what it is about. When you hear something, make a quick Evernote. Even if you never will use it, it just helps you live the present. Let yourself just be. You are after class, caught in an interesting conversation, but want to talk to other people. Forget them and focus on quality over quantity. Don’t just small talk that you won’t even remember the day after. Have one or two good interaction that you will actually follow through.
As a child, everything was new to us. Thus, everything was outside of our comfort zone. Why not stepping outside as an adult as well? Most people regret what they have not done in their life, and are proud of the craziest things they did. “You cannot let fear run you.” – says Jennifer Dunphy. I love this quote! I always say, instead of resisting your fears, dance with them!
Focus on the world around you, not just you. Self-centered thinking doesn’t ignite smart habits, rather holds us back. Focusing on people around us creates opportunities. So listen first, act second.
I found that there are two reasons why people help others:
1)they want to give back and make a change;
2)actually they use it for their own purposes.
Smart habits pro tip: always look how you can be helpful. It is literally true, that the easiest way to be successful is actually to help others succeed”. You can start with small things like introducing people to each other.
If you want to be successful, help others and the magic will happen. Learn about Simon Sinek’s story (https://youtu.be/lmyZMtPVodo) on building a relationship with marines. He never asked for anything. When he did, they were eager to help him, since finally they could give back something to him.
Next time you are in a conversation try not to say anything, but be really interested and ask good questions. A pro version of it is that you can only say “yes?” or “no?”. Magic will happen. The other person will feel like you are their BFF☺
A smart habit to stay in a positive and productive mindset is to do something new every day. Or just look for it. To give you another example, you should do your homework. Know who is at a meeting or event and who you want to talk to, most importantly why. It puts you in the mindset of curiosity and will give you a boost in finding mutual small talk topics.
Now, the key to effective studying isn’t just memorizing or long study sessions. It is doing it in a smarter way. As with everything else, it is all about forming the right habits.
So how to learn effectively?
When it comes to learning – basically anything – the first thing we need to do is to find out what style works best for us.
Let’s start with the right mindset. Do you remember the feeling when you needed to force yourself to do something? It just doesn’t go that way. Actually in these times, avoid the tasks at all. Instead, find the positive in the situation, do positive self-talk. Don’t say “I can’t do this”, but rather “It is a challenge, but I’m doing it right now”.
Smart habits of Study is all about… Routines. Schedule the tasks and set goals..Think about them as you think about haits in general The more repetitive method you create, the easier it will get to do something. Combine things like the Pomodoro technique and the GTD.
Make it something that you can stick to and form to a habit. It is like what Ernst Hemingway said: write 5 pages every day and you will have a book in 3 months. It is even more important if you are part of a project group or study group. Lastly, knowing why you are doing something will keep your passion’s drive.
Smart Habits of Work
When it comes to productivity, Richard Koch’s book gives pretty good tips. “The 80/20 Manager” offers managers ten ways to become great at what they do. The book explains everything using the Pareto’s Principle, also called the 80/20 rule:
I strongly encourage reading it, but here are some quick actionable smart habits takeaways:
Working less can result in achieving more. Put time pressure on yourself by limiting the amount of effort. Extraordinary things can come out of it.
I’m in favor of Todo lists. Koch advices to find one thing each and every day to focus on and get it done! Once done, you can check the to-do list if you wish, but then… Just take the day off. Interesting, huh?
Master the skill of distinguishing between important and unimportant.
Mornings are these miraculous things. I truly believe in waking up early. Although I hate it from my heart, I have to admit, early mornings create magic: by 9 AM you feel like you created more than others in a day!
You never want to be the smartest person in the room, rather the opposite. Curisosity leads to amazing things. Don’t try to act tough like you know everything. The moment you accept and empower that you don’t have the right answers to everything, you’ll start gaining trust. This is why you should question everything with an open eye, challenge the status quo. Even if you are not, act like you are curious. Bring out that childis wonder about the world.
Hang out with people you admire and learn their smart habits. Eliminate toxic people. You can start by reading the room, It means studying body language and creating eye contact. Just check out how people act. Pro tip: If two people are talking and they are facing each other with their foot, don’t interrupt. But if it’s rather a 45-degree angle, feel free to hop in with a good opener.
I truly believe that once we set long-term goals we need to focus on what we should do today and tomorrow. Not one year from now. As stupid as it sounds, focus on the little things and the big things will take care of themselves.
Smart habits of All
Perhaps the most powerful words you can use to increase your productivity are the words; “Do it now! Do it now! Do it now!” Whenever you find yourself procrastinating on an important task, repeat the following word to yourself – with energy and enthusiasm -, “Do it now! Do it now! Do it now!”
“Kétféle ember létezik” mém következik: aki csendben tanul és aki nem. Én sosem voltam könyvtárba járós vagy elvonulva magamban tanulós. Imádtam a Közáz aulájának körasztalainál tanulni és közben a nyüzsgő tömeget mozizni, vagy beülni egy Starbucks-szerű kávézóban (anno még nem volt itthon ilyen) és magamba szívni az energiát. Sokkal produktívabbnak éreztem magam. És teszem azt most is munka közben hetente legalább egyszer kétszer.
Én valamiért utazás-, és hosszú értekezletek közben is remekül tudok dolgozni. A hosszú vonat-, repülőutakat vagy régen az egyetemi Szenátus üléseket azért szeretem, mert minden felhalmozódott teendőmet el tudtam intézni. Feltehetőleg mert ki voltam szolgáltatva. Tanulság, érdemes magunk néha rákényszeríteni egy hosszú de kellemes vonatútra, amikor ráfókuszálhatunk elmaradásainkra.
Miért is van így? Tanulmányok szerint a kávéházak közepes zajszintje elősegíti a kreatív gondolkodást. Nem véletlen, hogy a modern irodakialakításban egyre több közösségi tér van, amik nappalikra, kávéházakra hasonlítanak. Az emberek pedig nem hogy nincsnenek rákényszerítve az asztaluknál való munkához, hanem külön motiválva vannak arra, hogy a legmegfelelőbb helyszínen legyenek és kedvük szerint dolgozzanak. Mert így lesznek a legproduktívabbak.
Persze kérdés, hogy mi az optimális zajszint: mennyire legyen csendes/zajos a munkakörnyezet. Ravi Metha által vezetett kutatócsoport 5 kísérletet végzett el arra vonatkozóan, hogy a környezeti zaj hogy hat a kreatív gondolkodásra. Az egyik fő teszt arról szólt, hogy az alanyokat megkérték, hogy brainstormingoljanak valamilyen új termék kapcsán, vagy annak szokatlan, speciális használati módjairól, különféle zajszintek mellett.
Eredmény, hogy az aránylag csendes (50 decibel) környezethez képest a közepes környezeti zajszint (70 decibel) elősegítette a kreatív feladatmegoldást, míg az ennél nagyobb (85 decibel) hátráltatta. A tudósok magyarázata szerint az enyhe háttérzaj elég zavaró volt ahhoz, hogy az embereket sokkal nagyobb ötletességre, kreativitásra ösztönözze. (Ez a táblázat a zajszinteket foglalja össze: http://www.chem.purdue.edu/chemsafety/Training/PPETrain/dblevels.htm).
Legközelebb, ha kreatív munka előtt állsz, menj inkább egy kávézóba, ne a könyvtárba. Ahogy a kutatók fogalmaznak: ?Ahelyett, hogy bezárkózol egy csendes szobába, törj ki a komfortzónádból és keress egy viszonylag zajos helyet, mely képes kiváltani az absztrakt gondolkodást, és előhívni a kreatív ötleteket.
Én örömmel olvastam ezt, mert beigazolta azt a preferációm, amiért többen hülyének néztek évek óta.
Teljes tanulmány: “Is Noise Always Bad? Exploring the Effects of Ambient Noise on Creative Cognition,” publikálva: Journal of Consumer Research-ben.
Pár hete egyik posztomban említettem egy trükköt, amit Steve-Walk-nak hívok. Most vertikálisan mélyebbre menve, tudományos oldalról mutatom be. Laura Montini (@lmmontini) cikkében bukkantam egy stanfordi tanulmányra, mely eredményei szerint a legproduktívabb állapot séta közben érhető el. Az így zajló találkozók sokkal eredményesebbek és utat nyitnak a kreativitásnak.
Az eredményekből kiolvasható, hogy séta közben 60%-kal növekedhet a kreatív output esélye. Marily Oppezzo a Santa Clara Egyetem munkatársa és Daniel Schwartz a Stanford Graduate School of Education professzora 176 hallgató és felnőtt bevonásával végezte el kísérletét, melyet a Stanford News-ban tettek közzé.
A résztvevőket arra kérték, hogy egy “divergens gondolkodás” teszten vegyenek részt, mely a kreativitást általánosan méri. A módszer egyfajta brainstormingot foglalt magába, melynek lényege, hogy egy adott tárgyat minél több alternatív módon használjanak. Az alanyok egy része mindezt séta közben, a csoport másik fele pedig ülve végezte el. Mindkét esetben 4 perc állt rendelkezésükre hogy minél több felhasználási módot összegyűjtsenek. Oppezzo és Schwartz az ötleteket az alapján ítélte meg, hogy mennyire voltak újszerűek, vagy éppen kézenfekvőek.
Túlnyomó többségben, azok az emberek teljesítettek jobban, kreatívabban, akik séta közben, nem pedig ülve végezték a műveletet. Érdekes azonban, hogy kreativitás szempontjából elenyésző különbséget mutattak ki aközött, hogy valaki szabadtéren sétálgat, vagy egy zárt helyiségben, körbe-körbe.
Mielőtt mindenki nekiállna hevesen átszervezni a következő találkozóit, érdemes figyelmet fordítani a kutatás egy eredményére, miszerint a séta közbeni gondolkodásnál sokkal könnyebben veszítik el az emberek a fókuszt, azt, amire valóban koncentrálniuk kellene.
Ennek bizonyításául a kutatók egy szavakra vetített asszociációs játékot hívtak segítségül. A kutatási alanyok három szót kaptak, melyekhez találni kellett egyetlen olyat, ami mindhárommal értelmes összetett kifejezést alkot. (Például: pók, halász és szoba, a helyes válasz pedig a háló.) Ez a kísérlet világosan kimutatta, hogy azok, akik séta közben gondolkodtak, valamivel rosszabbul teljesítettek, mint azok, akik ültek.
Oppezzo javaslata szerint a legelőnyösebb, ha a két technika keverékét használjuk, attól függően, hogy éppen milyen munkafázisnál tartunk. Így például amikor egy ötlet vagy folyamat kezdeti szakaszában vagyunk, akkor bátran induljunk sétálni gondolkodás közben, de amikor eljön az idő, hogy konkrét dolgokra fókuszáljunk, akkor irány vissza az íróasztalhoz!
“Időbe telik, hogy megtaláljuk ennek a legjobb egyensúlyát és okait” – tette hozzá Schwartz, “ám ha ez sikerül, akkor e meghatározó tényező által képesek leszünk megfigyelni és feltérképezni testünk és gondolkodásunk összehangoltságát”.
Egy biztos: én továbbra is folytatom a Steve-Walkokat, sőt bárkivel örömmel folytatom, szóval szóljon, aki csatlakozna:)
Mikor Amerikában éltem, igyekeztem minél többet network-ölni és a számomra érdekes emberekkel leülni egy kávéra, úgynevezett életút interjút készíteni. Konkrétan megtudni, hogy kik ők és hogy jutottak oda ahol tartanak, hogyan váltak azzá akik ma. Konkrétan sértésnek vettem, amikor a válasz az volt, hogy “sure, we can schedule a 15 minute phone call”. Hülyéskedsz? Ha van negyed órád, miért nem ülünk be egy kávéra ? Pont elég rá… Évekkel később jöttem rá, hogy mennyivel hatékonyabb tud ez a módszertan lenni.
Nyílván megvan mai napig is az az üzleti protokoll, amikor egy tárgyaló asztalnál KELL találkozni, azonban a sok haszontalanul hosszú ülések helyett lehet mást is csinálni.
Rövid e-mail.03
Álítólag egy átlagos napi taskban, amit nem tudsz 15 perc alatt megcsinálni, ne is fogj neki. Ugyanez igaz egy probléma felvetés-megoldásra. Ha nem tudod egy rövid e-mail fordultával megodlani, ott nagyobb gond van. A cél nem csupán a konkrét probléma megoldása, hanem egy jobb módszertan. A csapatnak (és akivel aktív kommunikációs viszonyban vagy) a célja, hogy elsajátítsanak egy hatékony e-mailezési módszertant: lehet csak annyi kell, hogy még egyszer-kétszer magában átgondolják a felek a kérdéskört. Erre az email tökéletes. Máris spóroltak 1-2 felesleges meeting órát. Na és mennyi ilyen van egy nap…
Egy gyors hívás.
Hálás vagyok, hogy Amerikában belém szocializálták ezt a módszertant. Én is igyekszem ezt Magyarországon alkalmazni. Habár néha furcsán néznek rám, utána és a látható eredményeknek köszönhetően előszeretettel kezdik partnereim is használni. Vegyünk egy egy órás meetinget. Ahhoz minimum fél órát, órát kell utazni. Már eleve ez mínusz.. Valamint a felesleges elő-, és utóköröket -ami megint 15 perc kb.- kihúzhatjuk. Máris a felére csökkentettük az időt és hatékonyabbak is voltunk.
Séta-meeting. Azaz Steve-walk.
Steve Jobs életrajzában olvastam, hogy ő előszeretettel tartott séta közben meetingeket. Annyira megtetszett, hogy kicsit utánaolvastam. Több Fortune 500-as cég CEO-ja reggel 5-6 körül már a kutyáját sétáltatja a közeli parkban. Ebben az időpontban általában lelkes hallgatókkal találkoznak, akik elkísérhetik őket és egy fél órát beszélgetnek. Hasznos, jól indítja be a napot. Ha ezt reggel megtehetjük, miét ne alakítsunk ilyen találkozókat, főleg amikor brain stormingolni kell vagy egy adott kérdéskört átbeszélni? Ha ez pedig még nem elég, akkor ott van még, hogy egészségesebbek is leszünk.
Hozzá kell tennem, hogy van az a stádium, amikor a fentiek nem hasznosak. Vegyünk egy marketing terv kialakítását. Ötlet, megvalósíthatóság, koncepció, terv, kivitelezés. A cél, az egyes fázisnak legmegfelelőbb munkavégzési módszertan megtalálása. A teljesség igénye nélkül kiemelem, hogy például az ötletelésre és a korai szakaszban tökéletesek a séta-meetingek. Azonban a konkrét terv kidolgozásánál már jobb egy asztal köré ülni és ott kidologzni a fontos részleteket.
Amióta a fentieket alkalmazom, a napjaim hatékonyabbak, kevesebb idő alatt több mindent tudok elintézni és chill-esebb is vagyok.
About Péter Szántó
I’m a creative individual, speaker, photographer, CEO of B Creative, and Founder of SpringTab My team & I help Content Provider Brands with better Business Intelligence and Personalization. You can find me on the streets of Budapest, Los Angeles.
