EPTPersonal & Business Productivity - Page 2
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FXOBoSs
337 Posts
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Erik.TheRed
United States1655 Posts
I feel that personally, going to a very competitive high school has allowed me to breeze through college without putting in a ton of work to get good grades. I've become so good at optimizing my course schedule that I can pretty accurately determine stuff like how many hours a paper will take me, which classes I can afford to skip without hurting my grades, how lenient the professor will be about handing something in one day late, etc.-- that I've started to feel guilty about perhaps becoming lazy. In reality I'm actually really ambitious about graduating and getting some practical experience in the business world. Maybe it's just that most of my courses are a bit too much theorycraft and I'm just ready for the real thing, because it's getting to the point where I only get into the productivity zone a day or two before a project is due. So I know that pretty soon, I'm going to need to drastically change my priorities/mindset to a degree that I've never done long-term before. So for right now I'm just trying to network and reach out to people who work in the fields that I find interesting, so that I have a better chance of working on something I can get passionate about. | ||
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KurtistheTurtle
United States1966 Posts
On February 01 2012 09:03 MightyAtom wrote: @MisterD I tend to agree with you current outlook; creativity isn't something that can be forced, nor is it just random spontaneous inspiration; it needs space, time and a different environment to simmer and then turn into something. I think to be in the zone for productivity is that, there is mountain of work that needs to get done, you know basically what to do, but it is an issue of volume and difficulty, but given the appropriate amount of time and focus, you'll get through it. I think creativity naturally happens and happens easily if you're not stressed or have any expectations to find a 'perfect answer' but once you get into that track of thinking too hard on a single issue, well creativity is going to be a long time coming. But again, I'm pretty much in the same boat and I think that is a necessary sacrifice. At the end of the day, if it works, then it works, and while we learn and work in a linear fashion, that doesn't mean that our minds actually do. ^^ creativity is dependent upon setting up the conditions in which it can flourish, much like focus. It's just, it takes different triggers. behavior requires 3 things: motivation (information determining the benefit to yourself of said action), ability (the "how-to"), and a trigger (stimuli which directly results in an action.) there is inertia in change due to how the brain works. certain networks and associations are stronger than others through consistent use or disuse. there is constructive or destructive, literally no middle ground here the circuit of neurons is used or it isnt. so if you have a behavior you want to integrate with yourself as a habit so it takes no willpower, choose a small small portion of it to focus on. don't use up too much willpower doing it, but reward yourself when you've completed that small area. inertia will cause this small portion to grow into the full behavior over time. the trick is to not rely solely on willpower, or use negligible amounts. examples: in this blog, mightyatom details this process. he's discovered the motivation, the ability, and detailed the triggers which lead to his success in "focus" or getting a fuckton of high-quality work done. the same can be done with creativity; pay close attention to HOW your great moments come and consciously integrate it with a trigger. when the circuit in your brain is linked up, used consistently, you don't have to use willpower (conscious effort) to obtain a certain state or behavior, but know your trigger and enact conditions where it can happen. we do this all our lives consciously & not. the difference between us & animals is that we can consciously direct the environments and conditions we set up for ourselves. negligible amounts: just remember, using too much willpower = bad thing for habitual change. if you decide you'll go running or meditate every day or whatever, require negligible amounts of time. 20 mins is probably too much. 1 required min (more only if you feel like it, its fine, but have to do 1 minute required and can stop after) may seem trivial, but done over a month and you can increase it easily to 20. the trick is baby steps and realistic appraisal of your current self. 1 minute a day sounds like a joke, but do it for two days. its easy. reward yourself. then 2 minutes. baby steps and you can get yourself to do anything not relying on willpower: for me, i realized this when i saw i was putting on weight. I'll eat everything around me healthy or not, reasonable portions or not. the trick is to make sure I'm surrounded with healthy food in sizeable portions. once i realized this, i grabbed my soda took it out into the front yard and stabbed the cans with a knife until it was all drained into the ground. threw out/gave away all my shitty food & replaced it with healthy stuff. this all happened in a spurt of willpower born of looking in the mirror seriously for the first time in a long time. after the willpower was gone, I'd run around the house looking for sugar. woke up dreaming of ego waffles & syrup. but since all i had was these healthy portions, i ate those. i keep all non-essential costs locked away in an account i can only access 3 days after i request it so that deters a lot of stupid impulse-buys. kept me from running to mcdonalds and taco bell because even if i transfered money, 3 days later and i wouldnt feel like it. the urge had passed. 3 months later im almost in as good shape as i was at the peak of my wrestling career. still trying to figure out how this applies to completely mental processes (mainly eliminating irrational thinking/self delusion) and how to develop mental triggers. anyway, interesting stuff | ||
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phosphorylation
United States2935 Posts
I definitely agree with this approach but I find that I am often too lazy to put myself into that zone every time I wake up in the morning (particularly if I am feeling slightly down or stressed). In addition, any irregularities or unexpected things tend to pull me out of the zone and I find it hard to snap myself back into it. Any suggestions? | ||
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Hidden_MotiveS
Canada2562 Posts
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tenacity
1587 Posts
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