Use the Unschedule to Overcome Procrastination

“Keep starting. Finishing will take care of itself.”       - Neil Fiore

Procrastination is a problem for many of us. There is a lot of work on our plate, but something is keeping us from starting. Maybe it’s the fear of failure, of being judged by others, maybe it’s perfectionism and criticizing ourselves too much. The work we have to do seems so overwhelming we rather look for something else to do to forget about it. The feeling we “have to” do things doesn’t make it easier.

The Now Habit, a book by Neil Fiore, provides helpful tools to overcome procrastination, and enjoying leisure time without feeling guilty about not doing anything. One of those tools is the “unschedule”. What is the unschedule and how can we use it to overcome procrastination? Read more

Book Review: The War Of Art

Sometimes a book can give you just what you need at that specific moment. It’s great to read a book and discover how you seem to recognize a lot of the information. It’s like you already know it but you never really thought about it. For me, Steven Pressfield accomplishes this with his book The War of Art - Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles.

Clear And Concise
It’s a small book containing a lot of short and easy-to-read chapters. This is good. The book is about winning your inner creative battles, and it’s good to see the writer doesn’t need 500 pages to explain this. It’s about starting, so the sooner we are done reading the book, the sooner we can start. Start what? Start creating!

There are negative forces inside each one of us that holds us back from doing what we know we should be doing. Pressfield calls those forces Resistance. Read more

Gain Freedom by Disabling Your Network Connection

Recently I discovered Freedom for Mac OS X. This application disables all wireless and ethernet networking on your computer for up to three hours at a time. When you open the application it asks you ‘how many minutes of freedom’ you would like.

Set the amount, hit ‘OK’ and it you will not be able to use your internet or your wireless network anymore. Afterwards your connections will be re-enabled. You can quit Freedom before the time you set, but this does not get you back on the internet. You will have to restart your computer to for that.

Why would we want to do something like that? Is it so hard to keep yourself focused on your task at hand? Yes, for some people it is! What could be so distracting then? There are more than a few things that can keep you away from what you should be doing. Read more

10 Things to Avoid During Presentations

Whether if it’s an assignment you present or a product you promote, a good presentation can give a great first impression!

Here are 10 important things to be aware of during your presentation:

1. Reading the text on the slides
   What’s the main reason for you to use a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation? To illustrate what you’re saying, to give yourself a good outline for your presentation, or to spice up your words with some flashy graphics? Whatever the reason, make sure you don’t literally read what’s on the slide. Doing that will eliminate the need for the slides to be there in the first place.
2. Speaking towards the screen
   This is directly connected to the first point. When you read what’s on the slides you have to turn your head towards the screen. This doesn’t only make it less interesting to watch, it also projects your voice in the wrong direction, causing it to sound muffled. While projecting your voice towards the audience they will also be able to see the expression on your face, making it easier for them to understand and stay focused. Read more

   Written by Hugo · Filed Under Presenting 
   Tagged: great first impression, keynote, powerpoint, presentation, Presenting, productivity, slides

   Use Parkinson’s Law To Get Productive

   April 20, 2008 · Print This Article

   I read about Parkinson’s Law in Tim Ferris‘ Four Hour Work Week, and I recently experienced again how this ‘law’ works. It all about deadlines, and avoiding procrastination. Do you know the moment you finish a job just before the deadline and you find out that it didn’t take as much effort as you thought it would beforehand?

   

   The definition Wikipedia gives for Parkinson’s Law is: “[...] a humorous observation (and not a scientific law) that states that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”.
   This basically means that the same job gets bigger and bigger the more time is available to complete it. So because there is more time available it also seems like you need more time for it.

   So how can you use Parkinson’s Law? Read more

   Written by Hugo · Filed Under Planning 
   Tagged: deadlines, parkinson's law, Planning, procrastination, productivity, streamlined workflow, time management

   A Simple Tip To Maintain Focus

   April 4, 2008 · Print This Article

   For many students procrastination is a problem, and there are many reasons why we tend to procrastinate. While having to work on various assignments there will always be tasks you like to do and ones you don’t like so much.

   Say you’re studying graphic design. Creating new work will be more fun than writing a review on the process of doing the project. So writing the review will be postponed and you will fully focus on the fun part (the creative process). But then, when the deadline is approaching, there is still this daunting task waiting for you at the end of the project. You will not have enough time to do some quality writing and you might have to do it the night before the presentation, leaving a bad feeling about a project that was so much fun at the beginning. Sounds familiar? Read more

   Written by Hugo · Filed Under Learning 
   Tagged: distractions, focus, Learning, productivity, Thinking