Tag: time

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Ideas

Give freely.

Give your ideas away, and do so often. Don’t hold on to them.

When you hold on to them, you suffocate them. Talk about them and give them room to breathe. The idea will appreciate it, and often, the people around you will appreciate it as well.

When I say this I often get the response -“What if someone steals the idea?” My response: so what?

An idea is a point in time. They can’t mimic your executive abilities. They can’t take the map in your head. All they have is a place to start.

By focusing just on the act of “stealing” you’ve stolen something from yourself. You’ve stolen your time, and that is worth far more than an idea.

While you pout, they execute, and those who execute, win.

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Time

Don’t rush it.

You can’t skip experience.

It’s coming whether you want it or not.

Might as well embrace it.

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Contain the Week

A Time Standard

Count the number of meetings, lunches, dinners, dates, etc. you have in a week. Try it for a few weeks and come up with an average and use that as a baseline.

After the baseline, communicate clearly, in writing, how much you want to do per week.

The simpler the better. Each item becomes a catagory.

For example:

  • 5 meetings
  • 2 coffee requests
  • 1 lunch/dinner

As/When people invite you out, mark it and remove one item from that category.

If I got invited to a meeting, I would mark the meeting down and have 4 meetings remaining for the week.

Experiment with the numbers. Once you found a sweet spot (where you have slightly more requests than slots) freeze it, and prioritize. Give the most meaningful items priority.

Use it as standard to mark time, start refusing things that aren’t important.

Communicate this clearly to the people around you.

If you don’t set a standard for your time, no one will. 

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Didn’t Think About Attention While I Was Looking For Time – What I Learned In April

Intentional rest is hard.

The people who make the things that grab our attention are good at what they do.  Really good. Good to the point that you, as the owner of your time, get defensive when they, the takers of your time, go away.

I am no exception to any of that.

This month I turned off notifications, moved devices to other rooms, and left home for a few days. All of them were a panacea for my “rest” problem but I still need that connection to feel connected.

This is hard.

But, through this process, I began to step away from intellectualizing attention and step into understanding it. Attention is the partner of our time, and like it’s partner it’s always fragmented. However, unlike its partner, it is up to us to master it. Time is external (something we can’t effect) and attention is internal (something we can).

I started this month thinking it was all about time and left it understanding that there are levels to this I don’t understand yet. Attention popped up as a theme when I didn’t realize it was a big part of that.

It’s funny how focusing on not working lets me realize how much work there is to do. 

Biggest Lesson – Manage your attention and pay attention to the time.

My Correct Assumptions

  • Accountability matters.
  • Experimentation got me over a few humps.
  • Limited willpower bit me a lot, I need to create some better systems, but I learned plenty along the way.
  • Being deliberate is KEY!!!! If you don’t focus you won’t take any rest.
  • Opportunity Costs and FOMO were a doubt sandwich this month. The most effective use of time is somewhere in the middle.

My Incorrect Assumptions

  • Calendaring– My battle with calendars continues. 

Important Posts

Books

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Can I Get Your Attention, Please!

Attention matters.

Your attention is one of the greatest gifts you have.  Your attention is the key to the depth you get out of the time you spend.

If time was a car, your attention is the gasoline.

Your car can run on regular, and most cars do.

However, if you consider your car high-end (and you should since time is the only thing you can’t get back) it suffers when you use regular gasoline. You would get so much more out of your car(time) if you used the best fuel(attention).

Whenever you are focusing, consider each text, IM, email etc.  lowering the quality of attention (gas) to your time (car).

It’s important because that understanding will take you where you want to go.

All of our cars eventually break down.

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The Word That Will Make You Better

Say “no” out loud.

Short, simple, powerful.

If you want impact in this world, you have to get used to saying it.

“Yes,” while sounding sweet, limits your ability to put your energy into projects that matter.

Time is the only thing we have. Our impact on people or our work relates to time shared or the amount of time we decide to share with the work.  Each “yes” takes away from that.

While it’s important to put work in the world, to get better at it, you have to give your work the attention. That’s how you have an impact.

How do you want people to remember you?

Hurried and “busy” (yes)

Impactful and powerful (no)

Make it a point to say yes to Kate Harvie’s new website today! She is a terrific writer. Go!

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Maximum Engagement, A Checklist

Time is short, I like checklists

We all have 24 hours in a day.

How does one maximize engagement and get purposeful?

There are plenty of ways to do it, but I promised shorter posts :-).

I’ll focus on what you can’t do.

You can’t do it if:

  • You have distractions
    • Turn your notifications off
    • Don’t check email
    • Single task
  • You have too many things
    • Say no ruthlessly
    • Time is the only resource
    • Prioritize
  • You don’t take care of yourself
    • Stop eating junk
    • Exercise
    • Sleep
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Questions In Conversations

Have you ever started with a question?

I rarely ever do this, and it causes me trouble. On customer service calls, I just start talking, saying what I need and my problems. I think I am making progress until I realize she can’t do anything until she has my name and some sort of number that she needs to even start the ticket.  For all the progress I thought I made, I haven’t made any. I am back at the start of the conversation waiting for her to enter my name, and I’ve wasted time on something that was easily avoidable.

I hardly learn my lesson, because on the next call, I am starting to rush through the call again, wasting both my and the operator’s time.

The wasted time is my fault

I didn’t consider the other person’s issues, problems, or concerns, I started with just my own. I wasn’t listening, I was directing. Instead of getting my thought across, I obstructed myself, all in the name of progress that cannot happen. If I start with a question, I would see what is necessary first, and then go from there. It gives me some ground to work. I am able to see without too much pressure. There is also pressure lifted off the person on the other end because they can’t direct, they have to listen first, and it leads me to talking, and this useless dance continues. If I asked a question upfront, it breaks this cycle because I learn what’s necessary first then I can talk.

Questions open discussion

This doesn’t just apply for trouble with my cell phone data, this applies to everything. When was the last time you opened conversation with questions, and what did you get out of it? How about continuing conversation with questions?  Most conversations start on uneven footing, and continue to go in different directions because people assume they are making progress and they aren’t. 

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History is a Critical Class – They Just Teach It Wrong

‘History’ is taking a beating now.

I have heard history described as “a collection of” facts.  The blow back from such a definition is that people think its an easy course to dispose of, since technology such as Google can return  information back to anyone who asks a question. So if it is “a collection of” facts, spending time teaching it is a waste. That it’s worth spending that time talking about programming, or some other technical skill.

A lot of people argue that for that reason, teaching history is a waste of time. If that is how it’s being taught, then they are right. Spending time repeating facts is a huge waste of time. The problem is that “a collection of facts” is a horrific definition of history. That is like calling math “a collection of numbers.”   The definition misses the context and power of learning.

Then what is it?

History is a case study of our existence. 

To look at history is to look at the human mind on a meta level. It is to understand what goes on in our heads. It teaches us lessons. It gives us discussions. History provides a backdrop for incredible storytelling and debate. Great history discussion humanizes us, because it allows our brains to go somewhere, free, to think as someone else did.

You can pick any time in history, and start a debate, and for the most part, if you take a look at the great historians, most of the great story telling is already done.  For example, lets take ancient roman history. If a teacher picks up a book like Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero by James Romm, there are a ton of discussions over concepts like power, corruption, intrigue, philosophy, business, and even storytelling. Those ideas directed by the book,and would equip anyone for high level political discourse.

And that’s history. Ultimately, history humanizes and contextualizes everything.

That sounds great but whats the problem?

Most things being taught in history class become standardized, so the argument above, that states “history is a collection of facts” is more correct. The case study model is rarely implemented, leaving questions like “when the Declaration of Independence was signed” the bedrock of exams. That is boring because history is the absolute worst class to “standardize” and “teach the test.” It turns something dynamic into something simple, and boring.

In that case, the class is useless. But in any well-rounded thinkers head, history is a required class, because it allows the thinker to move around in ambiguous circumstances, debate, and “see” in a way that other classes don’t allow.

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So The Initial Rust Has Worn Off

It’s the start of a long journey for me.

The rust is wearing off, I think…

I haven’t been to work in a week or so. 

There aren’t any frills that come with this post, because I am still figuring these things out. They will take time, and eventually I will say much more about them.

  1. Programming is real.
  2. Time is precious.
  3. Relationships are critical.

I will expand on these things with posts, and if I don’t please remind me, because I think they are critical ideas.

As I said earlier though, the rust is wearing off, and it feels different. Not good, not bad, but different.

 

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