Getting More Things Done Quicker

I have got into a position where there are quite of lot of profitable things I can do with my time, and also quite a few people waiting on me coming up with the goods.  I have tried really long hours in the past.  My experience was that it wasn't all that productive.  There are a number of reasons I wouldn't normally recommend it.  The two most important are that long hours aren't satisfying and they aren't focused.  Tumbling into bed late and then not being able to sleep doesn't feel good.  You also lose the ability to focus on what actually matters.  If you are planning to put in 10 hours solid you don't apply much thought to how much of what needs to be done can be ditched.

Why I Like Everybody

It isn't always easy to live up to your ideals.  Christians often sin.  Socialists can be very anti-social.  Exponents of the virtues of the free market are often surprisingly short of cash.  One of my personal ideals is social solidarity, which if it means anything at all must mean being positive about one's fellow human beings.  It is of course easy enough to be sympathetic about distant tragedies unfolding on the television.  And I have no problem with my friends.  The sticky bit is people I come across who seem to do nothing but frustrate and annoy me.

Set Compelling Goals

I have a potential crisis on my hands.  A big customer is being a bit slow paying a big invoice. This just might leave me unable to pay my salary next month.  (I don't think it will actually come to that in fact - but lets think it through.)  The obvious and logical thing to do is to try and get enough smaller jobs processed and billed to meet the shortfall.

Getting Back Into A Routine

I enjoyed seeing in May Day at 6.00 am in Oxford

I shouldn't be too hard on myself.  Over the last three days I have driven to Birmingham, given a talk there, driven to Oxford where I got up a 4.30am and then spent a couple of hours celebrating May Day at the crack of dawn followed by a long day of interesting but demanding lectures and drove home again not getting back until gone 8.  Perhaps it isn't that surprising that I got up late this morning and although I have made some progress, it is nearly 11 and I still not actually working.

Silence

I got stuck with a few hours to while away on a motorway service station.  I used them to enjoy some silence.  I shared my thoughts  about it on this video.

Basically I think we need to create periods of silence for ourselves so we get a chance to listen to ourselves.  We run about all the time being busy and multi-tasking.  This might be great in some ways but it means we never devote our whole brain to what is important.

Early Rising Update

Easing myself into the early rising habit is working well.  I have been generally getting up at 7 and getting an hour's work done before the day has started.  I have managed a couple of 6's, but still only got an hour done.  The earl;y hours of the morning are not as full of distractions as the rest of the day, but you still have the same work to do to keep focused.

I haven't yet succeeded in actually getting up early and doing my full planned 2 hours work before breakfast.  But I can see that it is practical and is a highly desirable thing to do.   For example, the last six posts on this blog wouldn't exist without it.  I am not sure whether I want to keep up this blog at its current rate of production.  It is a handy resource, and writing it is a good daily reminder of what I am trying to achieve and how I am going to get there.  But perhaps the law of diminishing returns will set in soon and I will transfer my efforts elsewhere.

But for now I will make sure that whatever else I do I'll at least jot a few notes on my thinking here.

 Photo credit: James Jordan via photopin cc

Breaking Bad Habits

In an episode of Breaking Bad the hero is in a store where he notices a young customer buying the components needed to make drugs.  He instantly goes into teacher mode and rather disparagingly points out what he has got wrong.  It is only a little later he realises that he is helping the competition and goes and threatens dire consequences for not respecting his patch.