Forget the Finish Line

Deadlines are important and are a great way for us to motivate ourselves to get things done. However they can also distract us from doing quality work. When our eyes are on the finish line it is easy to lose track of where we are in the race.

When you are working on a project do you see each individual step as something important to get done or something important in and of themselves? If the tasks that make up a goal or project are just stepping stones to the end we will not put the effort in to them that they may require. Let's imagine that we are building a pyramid from scratch. We cut the stone, shape the bricks and hall them in to place. We could approach it in two ways: we could rush through the stone cutting and shaping and slap together a pyramid or we could make sure each brick is well formed and perfectly square then build the pyramid. From a distance these two pyramids would look quite a bit alike but as we draw closer we will begin to see how slip shod and uneven the first one is.

By forgetting the finish line it becomes easier to focus on the element of the goal at hand rather then worrying about the entire project. If we are able to focus on each individual task then the project will take care of its self. IF the breacks are made level the pyramid will be as beautiful from ten feet as it is from one thousand feet.

Editing project: personal compass: part 1 values

Complements are good

Here is something I never understood when I was managing a restaurant: We would write up employees for bad behavior but we kept no permanent recorded of when they did things right. This is something that happens in society as a whole we are more apt to remember failures, our own or those of others, much longer then we remember the good things that people do. Unfortunately I do not have a solution to that other then perhaps giving out more complements.

If we are going to do this however there are some rules that should be fallowed.

Be sincere: If we are just throwing out complements for the sake of complementing some one then they become cheapened. However if we really appreciate what they are doing that comes through as well.

Be timely: Complements are not as powerful if we wait a year or two to give them. Let people know you notice their hard work, there effort or their skill when you notice it.

Be free: This is the hard one, do not just reserve complements for those you like and love. People we don't get along are also capable of doing good work and a few appreciative remarks can go a long way to building bridges or lessoning hostilities.

So why talk about complementing others in a personal development blog? Because by teach our selves to look for complements to give we will change the way we look at people. We will shift our attention from people flaws to their strengths. As this becomes habit we begin to see the world differently, we do not stop noticing the flaws but we begin to see that they are balanced by the positive efforts each and every one of us contributes to society every day.

Also complements are contagious. It is human nature when someone says something nice about us that we want to return the favor. Receiving complements is a great boost to the self esteem and confidence. By being in the habit of pointing out the positive aspects in others we help them to look for our own positive aspects. Take the time this week to look for the good jobs that other people deserve recognition for and give it.

Editing project: Look for your limiting beliefs

mGSD and a new way for me to work

It is new productivity toy time for me. If you have been reading this blog for any length of time you probably know I like web apps and particularly to do list programs for my computer. My goal has been to find a tool that fits the way I work. I prefer to be process driven, in other words I like to know do this then this then do this so I always know what my next step will be be. I have started playing with a new tool this weekend that looks like an improvement over what I have been using. It is called mGSD and while I found it a little confusing to use at first I like the layout and the project driven organization.

To be fair despite my earlier advice here about reading the directions first I did not so the lack of intuitive user interface any partially be my fault. Also after a quick review of some of the documentation just now the creator suggests a familiarity with David Allen's GTD system. While I have glance over how this works I have not spent much time trying to implement it so I am coming at this web site cool if not outright cold. That said I find the time I have put in to figuring out the sight worthwhile.

One of the strongest features of the app in my opinion is the ability to create complex projects and group tasks within that project in to sub tasks. This allows me to compartmentalize any process I am working on at the moment. For example I have been working on an essay for film class. Essay writing can be broken down in to several steps: research, planning, writing. Now in mGSD I can create a project containing each of these tasks and can cross them out as I complete each one. I could also go for finer detail. Rather than creating them as actions I could create them as subprojects for the essay writing project. Then under research I might create the tasks watch The Big Sleep, watch Diehard. Planning and writing subprojects would also get their own actions.

Another potentially powerful tool in mGSD is contexts. These are associations projects have. They may be times when the action is done, places the action is done or what type of action it is. I have the ability to view actions by context as well as by project. So if I have a number of things I want to get accomplished in the evening I can give them each the evening context then when I get home from school I can view that context list and get to work on those projects.

One potential flaw I have with this system is I would like to be able to schedule things to specific times. This is not a problem I have with mGSD but rather with GTD in general. However I am also not that good at sticking to the schedules of activities I make for myself. Perhaps it is time I step away from the mentality that there is a time for everything and everything done in its time. If I embrace a work flow that does not require me to stick to a posted schedule but rather works to keep me productive I may be better off. As always the biggest test of this type of app is will I use it? I will give it a week and report back with my findings.

Editing project: Lessons Learned From Google Wave