Discussion Forum > Without (insert tool/technique) I won't get it done (Personal examples)
I did not start FV, what works for me is keeping it simple with few rules
1. Write everything in one place, a spiral notebook
2. Review it often
3. Spend time working not organizing work
Good luck
Gerry
1. Write everything in one place, a spiral notebook
2. Review it often
3. Spend time working not organizing work
Good luck
Gerry
April 18, 2012 at 16:04 |
Gerry
Gerry
For me, avrum's 3, are excellent, and more than sufficient, but not necessary. Other motivators get me done.
Gerry's 3 are achieved by FV, so Gerry finds these sufficient, but the extra rules are not necessary.
For me, Gerry's 3 are insufficient, but FV is sufficient when combined with my personal motivators.
Gerry's 3 are achieved by FV, so Gerry finds these sufficient, but the extra rules are not necessary.
For me, Gerry's 3 are insufficient, but FV is sufficient when combined with my personal motivators.
April 18, 2012 at 16:20 |
Alan Baljeu
Alan Baljeu
An Audience.
I've always been a bit of a ham, so pressure to perform well works wonders.
Not writing things down!
Counter-intuitive? Yes. But I've found - particularly with dreaded tasks a la applying for my birth certificate - that writing everything down a la FV, GTD, decreases urgency. I think this is because if feels as if I've done something, or enough of something, and the pressure is off. I noticed this during my work with FV.
Delegating dreaded tasks (if possible i.e. $, etc)
I've always been a bit of a ham, so pressure to perform well works wonders.
Not writing things down!
Counter-intuitive? Yes. But I've found - particularly with dreaded tasks a la applying for my birth certificate - that writing everything down a la FV, GTD, decreases urgency. I think this is because if feels as if I've done something, or enough of something, and the pressure is off. I noticed this during my work with FV.
Delegating dreaded tasks (if possible i.e. $, etc)
April 18, 2012 at 17:25 |
avrum
avrum
avrum:
<< 1. A hard deadline i.e. A scheduled workshop, A scheduled client, etc >>
I agree - hard deadlines are good motivators. BUT they can sometimes induce paralysis if the pressure gets too great. And unfortunately a lot of life doesn't have hard deadlines.
<< 2. A partner i.e. Co-author, Co-songwriter, etc >>
It's probably just me, but I've never found that partnerships work.
<< 3. Fear/anxiety i.e. A real penalty (emotional, financial, etc) >>
I hate this. In fact the reason I invent time management systems is to avoid getting into situations where I feel fear and/or anxiety. Far from motivating me, they usually result in paralysis.
<< 1. A hard deadline i.e. A scheduled workshop, A scheduled client, etc >>
I agree - hard deadlines are good motivators. BUT they can sometimes induce paralysis if the pressure gets too great. And unfortunately a lot of life doesn't have hard deadlines.
<< 2. A partner i.e. Co-author, Co-songwriter, etc >>
It's probably just me, but I've never found that partnerships work.
<< 3. Fear/anxiety i.e. A real penalty (emotional, financial, etc) >>
I hate this. In fact the reason I invent time management systems is to avoid getting into situations where I feel fear and/or anxiety. Far from motivating me, they usually result in paralysis.
April 18, 2012 at 23:32 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Alan:
<< Not writing things down! >>
For me that is a recipe for getting nothing done.
<< Not writing things down! >>
For me that is a recipe for getting nothing done.
April 18, 2012 at 23:34 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Mark:
<<For me that is a recipe for getting nothing done. >>
That was mine ;)
This is something that I'm discovering over and over (regardless of system or tool). Over the next few days, I'm going to experiment with something and report my results.
<<For me that is a recipe for getting nothing done. >>
That was mine ;)
This is something that I'm discovering over and over (regardless of system or tool). Over the next few days, I'm going to experiment with something and report my results.
April 19, 2012 at 3:20 |
avrum
avrum
Avrum: Your top 3 remind me of when I was briefly in PhD school. The top achievers would commit themselves to a date for a poster or paper or whatever even before the data had been collected or analyzed. They knew that without that commitment and the pressure it brought, they would have spent more time analyzing the data and trying to make something perfect rather than just get it out the door. They were using the calendar to apply pressure to themselves.
For myself, I know that an aspect of my personality is that, if it's important to someone else, I'll move heaven and earth to get a task done. But if it's a personal project for myself and I'm tired, I'll postpone it till later.
So maybe what motivates you is committing to someone or something outside of yourself and your planner book? (You wouldn't keep a client waiting, after all.)
For myself, I know that an aspect of my personality is that, if it's important to someone else, I'll move heaven and earth to get a task done. But if it's a personal project for myself and I'm tired, I'll postpone it till later.
So maybe what motivates you is committing to someone or something outside of yourself and your planner book? (You wouldn't keep a client waiting, after all.)
April 19, 2012 at 15:32 |
Mike Brown
Mike Brown
<<So maybe what motivates you is committing to someone or something outside of yourself>>
Yes, yes and yes.
<<You wouldn't keep a client waiting, after all>>
Exactly. Regardless if I want to go to work that day or not.
Yes, yes and yes.
<<You wouldn't keep a client waiting, after all>>
Exactly. Regardless if I want to go to work that day or not.
April 19, 2012 at 15:38 |
avrum
avrum
Mike:
I wonder if a stickk like program, built into a task/project management app, would work. Penalty and carrots pushing/pulling you towards your goals.
I wonder if a stickk like program, built into a task/project management app, would work. Penalty and carrots pushing/pulling you towards your goals.
April 19, 2012 at 15:40 |
avrum
avrum
Avrum:
I don't know what stikk is, so I couldn't say. I guess finding the motivation blend of push/pull for each person is the secret. Although I am suspicious of the word "motivation" -- I'm never motivated to eat carrot cake, I just do it. So I think, for me, it's more identifying myself in some way with the outcome. I'm not articulate enough to define that vague idea further.
One of my PhD cohort said something I've remembered, that academics use time the way sculptors use clay. Time is a tangible substance they know how to use to their advantage; many of the academics I knew (and some of the principal investigators I work with now) have agendas that are years-long, and it helps guide their short- and medium-term decision making. (Tenure review, like an impending execution, helps to focus the mind.) That long view also helps them weather the setbacks and failures that inevitably come their way.
Here's maybe where Mark's "Dreams" method helps inform and shape how the FV list evolves and is used.
Here endeth the caffeine-powered afternoon daydreams of the everyday cubicle warrior :)
I don't know what stikk is, so I couldn't say. I guess finding the motivation blend of push/pull for each person is the secret. Although I am suspicious of the word "motivation" -- I'm never motivated to eat carrot cake, I just do it. So I think, for me, it's more identifying myself in some way with the outcome. I'm not articulate enough to define that vague idea further.
One of my PhD cohort said something I've remembered, that academics use time the way sculptors use clay. Time is a tangible substance they know how to use to their advantage; many of the academics I knew (and some of the principal investigators I work with now) have agendas that are years-long, and it helps guide their short- and medium-term decision making. (Tenure review, like an impending execution, helps to focus the mind.) That long view also helps them weather the setbacks and failures that inevitably come their way.
Here's maybe where Mark's "Dreams" method helps inform and shape how the FV list evolves and is used.
Here endeth the caffeine-powered afternoon daydreams of the everyday cubicle warrior :)
April 19, 2012 at 19:18 |
Mike Brown
Mike Brown
Mark,
You wrote that you <<hate>> #3 – fear/anxiety as a motivating factor. Then what's up with your Beeminder experiments?
You wrote that you <<hate>> #3 – fear/anxiety as a motivating factor. Then what's up with your Beeminder experiments?
April 19, 2012 at 21:33 |
ubi
ubi
ubi:
I don't get the connection.
I don't get the connection.
April 19, 2012 at 21:38 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Mark,
Doesn't the effectiveness of Beeminder depend ultimately on one's fear of having to pay real money?
Doesn't the effectiveness of Beeminder depend ultimately on one's fear of having to pay real money?
April 19, 2012 at 21:54 |
ubi
ubi
ubi:
I think there's a considerable difference between on the one hand voluntarily committing oneself to pay a certain sum and on the other hand suffering unwanted financial loss.
I think there's a considerable difference between on the one hand voluntarily committing oneself to pay a certain sum and on the other hand suffering unwanted financial loss.
April 20, 2012 at 0:55 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
What works for me (when I exclude specific methodologies):
(1) to have a basic plan for tomorrow (what, when, what is most important)
(2) to use environment/context to my advantage and to build habit (e.g. "I go to university library to have solitude time for writing", "no recreational web surfing on job site" etc. )
(3) to have one main "theme" for the day (something like most important task or current initiative)
(4) still, to try to look for balance between push and pull (=not to push too much, trusting the process, trusting inspirations and staying flexible to follow them, which sometimes means to cancel whole plan for the day and to do something absolutely different...)
(1) to have a basic plan for tomorrow (what, when, what is most important)
(2) to use environment/context to my advantage and to build habit (e.g. "I go to university library to have solitude time for writing", "no recreational web surfing on job site" etc. )
(3) to have one main "theme" for the day (something like most important task or current initiative)
(4) still, to try to look for balance between push and pull (=not to push too much, trusting the process, trusting inspirations and staying flexible to follow them, which sometimes means to cancel whole plan for the day and to do something absolutely different...)
April 21, 2012 at 16:22 |
Daneb
Daneb
Purpose and ownership.
If I can't see the point of something I have a terribly difficult time getting motivated to do it. I don't care who says how important it is, if I can't see it I'm going to hate doing it and probably not much effort.
Personality flaw? Probably.
If I can't see the point of something I have a terribly difficult time getting motivated to do it. I don't care who says how important it is, if I can't see it I'm going to hate doing it and probably not much effort.
Personality flaw? Probably.
April 22, 2012 at 6:24 |
Zack Allen
Zack Allen
Zack: Reality. I quit preparing many reports because, although I was asked for them once, no one noticed when I skipped a month or three. (Note: These were just informational reports, nothing that had to be filed and readily available for audit, or reviewed for trends.)
As a junior leader in Girl Guides, they emphasized, "If a girl does something, acknowledge it -- even if it's the third day in a row you say, 'It's good to see you all here in time for a relaxed breakfast."
As a junior leader in Girl Guides, they emphasized, "If a girl does something, acknowledge it -- even if it's the third day in a row you say, 'It's good to see you all here in time for a relaxed breakfast."
April 22, 2012 at 20:26 |
Cricket
Cricket
The hard deadline:
I don't need a hard deadline as such, but I tend to find that if it's on my calendar then it stays in my focus and that does tend to get it done rather than if I don't schedule it. I've been using Gqueues for task management for the past year for that reason principally. It has good integration with Google calendar. I'd use GTasks if it had a better web interface but at this time it's not so good as a standalone app.
I found FV very effective while I was using it but I like to keep everything in one place as much as possible so didn't really want to switch to another programme for task management which didn't show up on my calendar.
I don't need a hard deadline as such, but I tend to find that if it's on my calendar then it stays in my focus and that does tend to get it done rather than if I don't schedule it. I've been using Gqueues for task management for the past year for that reason principally. It has good integration with Google calendar. I'd use GTasks if it had a better web interface but at this time it's not so good as a standalone app.
I found FV very effective while I was using it but I like to keep everything in one place as much as possible so didn't really want to switch to another programme for task management which didn't show up on my calendar.
May 1, 2012 at 17:29 |
Shak
Shak
"1. A hard deadline i.e. A scheduled workshop, A scheduled client, etc
2. A partner i.e. Co-author, Co-songwriter, etc
3. Fear/anxiety i.e. A real penalty (emotional, financial, etc)"
I would subsume 1 and 2 into: a firm commitment to another person.
Hard deadlines, in themselves, do not work for me. I have blithely broken many deadlines that I set for myself, but about which I told no one else.
That's one reason I like tasksmash.com: it makes my commitments to myself public.
2. A partner i.e. Co-author, Co-songwriter, etc
3. Fear/anxiety i.e. A real penalty (emotional, financial, etc)"
I would subsume 1 and 2 into: a firm commitment to another person.
Hard deadlines, in themselves, do not work for me. I have blithely broken many deadlines that I set for myself, but about which I told no one else.
That's one reason I like tasksmash.com: it makes my commitments to myself public.
May 2, 2012 at 21:48 |
moises
moises
1. A hard deadline i.e. A scheduled workshop, A scheduled client, etc
2. A partner i.e. Co-author, Co-songwriter, etc
3. Fear/anxiety i.e. A real penalty (emotional, financial, etc)
The tools and methodology provide a bit of scaffolding and motivation (for the 1st week or so), but without the above 3, I'm drifting.
You?