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by Rick Baker
On Apr 26, 2012
Take Command of Your Day…and don’t call that process Time Management
Time Management is a misnomer.
Really, when we say those words we are talking about Task Management and Self-Management. And, there is an important distinction between managing tasks and managing self. The key distinction is one must precede the other. Self-Management is the first thing.
Two of the greatest gifts a person can possess are intelligence and self-control.
Both of these gifts are housed in the brain…our emotion and information processing powerhouse.
If we want to manage our workload or ‘To Do List’ of actions and tasks then we must first manage our thoughts.
We can manage our thoughts by:
- wanting to – truly desiring to - change for the better,
- using our intelligence – focusing and thinking - to figure out how,
- planning the habit – a Good Habit – of self-monitoring,
- planning a habit – a Good Habit – of self-regulating,
- organizing - creating - better ways to think about and perform work tasks
- using our will power to initiate, maintain, and grow those Good Habits of thought,
- backing up our Good Habits of thought with persistent, consistent, goal-aimed actions, and
- taking on, focusing on, and attending to one task at a time.
When we manage our thoughts that way and back them up with actions we make full use of our innate, but often overlooked, gift of self-control. We are organized. When we do these things we are able to do a much better job of handling crises. And, of even more importance, we are able to do a much better job of avoiding crises.
When we have mastered self-control we have mastered tasks...and time, as it always has, will take care of itself.
Link to An Introduction to Time Management - Part 1
Link to An Introduction to Time Management - Part 2
Link to 'Time' Management
Link to Successful People Have More Time
by Rick Baker
On Apr 25, 2012
The business world rewards clarity.
Brain-energy: we should put that to its best use.
When people, processes, and situations are clear business can be both effective and efficient…and all that leads to pleasing bottom-line profits.
When people are not clear other people misunderstand them and their messages. Misunderstandings add distraction to an already-complex-enough world and workday. Misunderstandings are time-wasters and money-wasters and, even worse, they are energy-wasters. Specifically, when people are not clear brain-energy is wasted because it is consumed by confused thoughts.
When processes are not clear they are not understood and they are not followed. This creates confusion and it multiplies the amount of decisions required. This consumes and wastes brain-energy. To the extent people disagree with one another’s interpretations of processes or decisions about processes, again, brain-energy is wasted.
When situations are not clear the people in those situations must use extra brain-energy to get their bearings and determine proper actions. When people deal with unknowns it places special demands on their brains and it often triggers negative emotions and mindsets such as fear, doubt, worry, frustration, and anger. These negatives consume brain-energy.
Every person has a limited amount of brain-energy. Experts say the human brain consumes about 20% of the energy consumed by the human body. The brain represents about 2% of body weight…yet, it consumes 20% of the energy.
Where does all that energy go?
In simple terms, the brain uses up the energy doing 4 things:
- Overseeing the operations of the body…all those involuntary but necessary things we take for granted…like breathing, growing fingernails, and digesting food
- Handling other subconscious things…all those things that few if any of us really understand…like, emotions, where do hunches come from?, and how did we ever come up with that weird dream?
- Processing incoming stimuli…what we see, hear, feel, smell, and taste…perhaps more?
- In conjunction with the mind, processing conscious thought, which leads to conscious action and more conscious thought
These 4 things are ranked.
Conscious thought doesn’t get the gold, or the silver, or even the bronze. Thought sits in fourth place.
That’s why people say they do not have enough time.
The neurons in their brains are very busy doing lots of other things.
Link to An Introduction to Time Management - Part 1
Link to An Introduction to Time Management - Part 3
Link to 'Time' Management
Link to Successful People Have More Time
by Rick Baker
On Apr 24, 2012
Time Management...even though those are the wrong words...you know what I mean. I'm talking about feeling good about the pace of your work and the pace of your life. I'm talking about feeling you have control over the things you face.
A need to have a feeling of control: that's the root we are trying to get at when we work at time management.
When we believe work and life are reeling out of control, we feel uncomfortable. We feel uncomfortable because we feel rushed, confused, and too busy. When we feel like that we complain we do not have enough time. We brainwash ourselves into thinking and saying 'time' is at the root of our problem.
Let's take a more objective approach.
We know many or most of us are naturally inclined to skirt the blame for things and place the blame on others. Psychologists, for example, talk about attribution bias. Also, for some reason, when we feel we are too busy we blame it on 'time'...we say we don't have enough of it.
Time, or lack of it, is not our problem. On top of that, even if it was the problem we cannot manage time.
Time is beyond our control.
We can, however, control what we are thinking and what we are doing as 'time passes'.
Really, those are the only two things we can control; we can control the way we think and we can control the way we act.
If we want to feel less rushed, less confused, and less busy then we need to do the following:
- stop blaming the problem on ‘not enough time’
- start treating the problem as an issue of self-management
- realize self-control is one of the most important capabilities in life
- treat the symptoms of the problem: Habits – that is, replace Bad Habits with Good Habits
Link to An Introduction to Time Management - Part 2
Link to An Introduction to Time Management - Part 3
Link to 'Time' Management
Link to Successful People Have More Time
by Rick Baker
On Apr 13, 2012
Thought Tweet #455 We need to take a single, small side-step to get out of a Bad-Habit rut.
The Thinking Behind The Tweet
Habits exist in loops of brain circuitry. [Or, at least, that's a description that allows us to understand and address Habits.] With each repetition, a Habit becomes more ingrained...the Habit groove or rut becomes deeper and deeper. While it may seem this applies more to Bad Habits than to Good Habits, we must not underestimate the force of the good. We must understand the grooves and ruts of several Habits are 'overlapped' and 'intertwined'. Good Habits support one another in positive grooves. Bad Habits support one another in negative ruts. To escape a Bad-Habit rut we must focus our attention and interest on making a single, small side-step. That's the way to get out of a Bad Habit rut.
by Rick Baker
On Apr 10, 2012
Thought Tweet #452 Here's a paradox - we must learn to relax if we want to improve our faculty of attention.
The Thinking Behind The Tweet
Meditation guru B. Alan Wallace introduced it this way: “Before we can develop attentional stability, we first need to learn to relax.”
And, as an introduction to his meditation instruction, he wrote: "Our minds are bound up with our bodies, so we need to incorporate our bodies into meditative practice. In each session we will do this by first settling the body in its natural state, while imbued with three qualities: relaxation, stillness, and vigilance."
Source: B. Alan Wallace 'The Attention Revolution', (2006)
by Rick Baker
On Apr 10, 2012
Pay Attention!
Probably, very few of us can remember the first time we heard that instruction.
But - we know it happened way back when we were children.
And - for some of us, it happened quite a bit.
Yet - who has ever taken the time to tell us how to do it?
Answer...Edward de Bono1.
Here is an introduction to a simple tool de Bono presented in his book 'Water Logic'.
First...about Directing Attention, de Bono explained:
Attention flow is determined by:
- what is out there, the outer world
- our standard perceptual patterns
- the context of the moment and
- what we are trying to do
Then de Bono presented his simple attention-directing, thinking, tool...
PMI (Plus-Minus-Interesting)
You can develop your faculty of ATTENTION by taking the time to focus on 3 things:
- the Plus aspects of the situation
- the Minus aspects of the situation
- the Interesting aspects of the situation
de Bono clarified, "PMI is not at all natural. Rather, it is natural to interpret, recognize, and judge as quickly as possible. PMI ensures a basic exploration of the subject before judgment."
The way I describe it...
PMI is provocative. It disrupts the normal [natural] way our brains/minds function. It enables our thoughts to escape from deeply-patterned ruts. When our thoughts get out of the ruts the neurons in our brains say to one another, "Wait a nanosecond here...something isn't right...we better pay attention to this." The next thing our minds know...we are paying attention. In essence, when we use PMI we trick our brains into allowing our minds to pay attention. And, if we practice PMI until it becomes a Habit then that Habit will be a good one.
The Good Habit will be the strength/skill known as the ability to Pay Attention!
PS: If you have not tried PMI before then, for you...it is a New Thing.
Footnote
1. 'Water Logic' (1991)
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