It is true that these days the majority of the people around the world read a lot of more than they used to in the past, despite that they read mostly social media posts. There are still those people who read books for pleasure and try to fill up their horizons with different experiences, viewpoints and new words to their mental dictionary. Answering the question about the reason that you are reading a book, or an article can instantly improve the chances of benefiting by it. Continue reading
Month: December 2015
When you start doing something, it is usually easier to continue working on it than abandoning it. We might find it very difficult to start, because the project that we intend to work on is a bit scary, or that we are overwhelmed from the amount of work that we ought to do. A solution to these types of cases can be starting a timer and tricking yourself into thinking that you will work simply for a short amount of time. Continue reading
One of the reasons why we are not aware of our changes and our ways of growth is that we do not review the day, the week or the month that has passed by. We simply try to live and not give a general overview of our past.
There might be some failures, some accomplishments, but we are not aware and we tend to let them go without realizing their importance.
We should learn from our failures and be grateful for our accomplishments. The more we review the past and have an objective approach towards it, the more we can benefit and improve our results. We have to overcome our past selves, and not compete specifically with anybody else.
A lot of trivial reasons are usually the causation of our procrastination. When we later think about them, it is really a regretful feeling, knowing that we should not let that opportunity to pass with seizing it.
An approach that I have read and also experienced myself which can help in this regard is asking yourself: Why are you not acting? Why are you procrastinating?
Try to not let yourself escape answering this Why and after you have answered, think whether that reason is a valid excuse of not acting. Procrastination and excuses are some of the biggest thieves of our accomplishments.
It is better to have a to-do list than not having anything written down to do and simply using our brain to store the tasks that we are supposed to do, but there is something even better and more effective than that. It is scheduling your tasks rather than simply using a general list that can sometimes turn out to be overwhelming and an insurmountable endeavor. Continue reading
It is not a big secret that we are really dived in such environments that we easily get distracted to things that do not bring any benefit to us. This is true especially for those of us who have their work tied up to a computer. A lot of temptations are stimulating us to satisfy our short term appetites that we have about getting informed the moment the news comes. All these distractions are costing us too much time in our lives and I wanted to share with you an insight that I had about the reason behind our attraction towards them.
The following gif summarizes quite well the evolution of the work desk and how a lot of things that used to be kept placed in a work desk have been now ported to our computer devices. This has been one of the greatest accomplishments that has been done in recent years towards simplifying our day-to-day lives. However, it has also had its down sides like preventing us from focusing properly on work and also wasting too much time in front of a screen.
Having the chance to see a new YouTube video that has been posted recently, or being able to send a message to the friend you have not seen for a long period of time can be compelling, but also distractions that were not present in the past. I am not saying that you should never do these things, but it is important to set at least a schedule when you will do them, and not mix them up when you are supposed to be working.
It is now harder than ever to concentrate and to focus on the things that you are supposed to do. The new IQ is the ability to concentrate on the task at hand. This skill is becoming rare and at the same time very valuable, especially for the knowledge workers.
Bookmarks are some URL shortcuts usually located under the address bar of your browser that are meant to help you visit a certain page easier later on. You might not be able to watch the whole video that a friend has sent to you right now, but you plan to keep it somewhere where it will be easy enough for you to watch it during your work break. You might not be in the right mood to read that five page article about a new technology that has been launched recently, but you intend to read it later on. These are times when bookmarks come in hand.
Whenever you receive an email, it is not meant to immediately reply back to it. Of course, there might be a few exceptions for some professionals, but for the rest of us, we do not have to immediately deal with it. We can focus on working on our tasks, or relaxing and have some scheduled periods when we dedicate a few moments to read and if necessary, reply to emails that we receive. Today I would like to suggest you a few things that you might consider to do each time you open your email.