I originally recorded this video for an e-mail newsletter for students I put together. But I’m sure you can see how the advice applies to your life too.
The main lesson from the video is this: There is a difference between being busy, and being productive. Set your goals in terms of being productive. Figure out exactly what you want to achieve, and focus on that, instead of focusing on “studying” or “doing work”.
This one simple tip can slash several hours of unproductive “work” from your schedule each week.
(If you’re reading this in your RSS reader and can’t see the video, click through to the blog and watch it there.)
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
one simple tip that will radically increase the quality of your videos (this one and future ones): apply a noise reduction filter on the audio track!
getting that buzzing sound removed from the background makes listening to what you say much, much more pleasant!
that said, thank you for the nice tip. this reminds me of the “getting things done” system, that i had a look at once before (any may now implement soon-ish), in which you write down the next physical action step for each “to-do”.
@Timo:
Thanks for the tip! You’re right, now that I listen to it again, the background noise is pretty annoying. I’ll have a look tomorrow if I can remove it.
As far as GTD… if you’re talking about the whole system from the book, I think it’s way too much, and I heard the same thing from several influential bloggers. But there are many stripped-down versions out there that implement the most important aspects, like setting goals and writing specific to-do lists. (What I’m saying is – don’t try implementing the full-blown version all at once. Find a stripped down version, or implement the ideas one by one.)
Have a nice … and productive
… day!
Great point about the fact that there’s a difference between busy and being productive. Thanks for sharing this!
Positively Present’s last blog post..the grass is always greener…or is it?
Btw: The Website/Project you are advertising (in some way) or working for http://smartleedsstudents.com/ …it is really suboptimal because: It remembers me of all this “Lose 5kg weight in two weeks without changing your eating habits!”-ads in (bad) newspapers. Also the “What others say about…”-part is totally similar. Everybody knows that you can’t take such ads seriously. I don’t know a good solution, but I would never take the current website seriously.
I’m pretty sure Vlad’s the big guy of that project. Try signing up for the newsletter and it will be he who sends it out.
I disagree with Mike. I think SLS.com advertises it’s newspaper efficiently. If you compare it to your common “buy my super method now!” advert you’ll find it a lot less repetitive, and that it’s free. There are similarities in layout though, but I don’t mind them – it’s an efficient way to convey information.
@PP:
You’re welcome.
@Mike, @Shadowart:
Yeah, I’m the guy in charge of that project
As for the signup page… you’re absolutely right, it does look scammy. But I couldn’t be bothered trying to come up with a brilliant design that doesn’t look scammy but still conveys all the information. The fact is, I’m getting a 50% conversion rate from the current version (i.e. 50% of people who land on that page sign up for the newsletter). Sure, I’m getting very targeted traffic, but 50% is still a damn good number.
Here’s what one of my friends said in a comment on my facebook status (he didn’t know I’m in charge of SLS) :
“is it real? Looks a lot like a site trying to sell you something and scam you. anyway, I subscribed.”
And that’s the goal – getting students to subscribe
. Once they do that, I just deliver good solid information, just like I do on my blog. Plenty of time to build trust afterwards.
By the way, the reason I didn’t advertise the SLS newsletter here on my blog is because I wanted to get clear numbers from the launch, and also because most of the content will be mirrored either here on my blog or in my procrastination newsletter. So you’re not missing out by not subscribing
Two alternative-take comments on what you presented:
1. I think in a lot of situations of (particularly student) distraction, the dynamic is really this: there’s a deep conflict between what I *want* to do (talk with my friends, be entertained by dancing hamsters on the web), and what I’ve been told I *need* to do (get a degree to get a good job so that I may eat). In other words, for most students, most of the time, the motivation (even if they haven’t entirely admitted this to themselves) is extrinsic and fear-based.
2. For me–and I’m sure this is entirely individual–ticking things off of a goals/to-do list does not work. What does (somewhat) work is having a daily schedule of what types of tasks I’m going to do when. Unlike your example of setting aside four hours for studying, but spending it on Facebook, I find that, if I know that I’m working on reading a particular book from 1 to 2 o’clock, I can focus on that, knowing that I’ll be able to check my email or whatever at 2. And if I do the same sorts of things at the same time every day, it builds up a habit so that it “feels right” to be reading then, and “feels wrong” to be watching 80′s videos on YouTube instead.
Brian Burtt’s last blog post..Etymological Digression
@Brian:
What I hear you saying is…
You feel you need to study, because that will lead to a degree, which will lead to you getting a good job, which is what you should do… or that’s what everybody’s been telling you your whole life.
Let me quote Chris Guillebeau on this one:
“You don’t have to live your life the way others tell you to.”
So before you even start tackling the issue of motivation, look into the much bigger issue of what you want to do with your life.
Have a look at Chris Guillebeau’s free pdf report – A Brief Guide to World Domination. It’s just 29 pages, but it will get you well on your way to figuring out what you want to do with your life.
And trust me, 99% of the time “getting a good job” is NOT the answer. (it might well turn out that getting a “good job” IS the best choice to move towards your dreams, but until you figure them out, just getting a job is not the answer.)
I’m with you, Vlad. But it took me more than a dozen (!) years of higher education before I got to that point, so I’m not surprised that it’s hard for 18-20 year olds. (Though with the radical increase in costs of higher education, at least in the United States, I think there has begun a re-evaluation of going to college as the default immediate post-high-school option.)
Brian Burtt’s last blog post..Etymological Digression
I’m having computer troubles. I have no sound, no java, no shockwave, and no space on the blasted disk to install the missing drivers. (And very little time available to work on the problem). So I can’t watch the video. Any chance of a short summary?
Sheila’s last blog post..Photos of Fiesta de la Cruz
@Brian:
. Sorry it took you so long.
Phew, I’m glad I realized that early on
As far as your second point – setting a time each day you will devote to a certain task…
I did that in the past. Like when I set an hour to read every morning, right after brushing my teeth (pretty much the first thing I do in the morning). It actually works really well.
I’m definitely going to think about that some more.
@Sheila:
I realized that not everybody can watch video, and some people simply can’t be bothered to sit through even 3 minutes of a video. So I did include a one-paragraph summary in the post. Read it again.
@Brian & Vlad
I actually have been implementing (for about 60 days) a hybrid of both your methods. I come up with a “routine” for the following day before bed that outlines the activities by hour, from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed. This serves as a guide for how I think the day *should* go, but it’s flexible enough to be adjusted. It’s a guide to stay on track and I sincerely try to maintain it, but life is… well life.
Within the actual day, I list things that I need to do that I can check off. These items need to be able to be done in under one hour. Anything over an hour I consider a *project* and I manage those differently. What this does is allow the routine to be more fluid with specific times, but the tasks still need to get done – so they simply might shift to a new timeslot in the routine. Make sense? Maybe?
So in my routine I might have something listed like “2:00 read from Twyla Tharpe” but in the to-do list it would be more specific like “read pages 50-75″ or whatever. If I have to shift the reading to 3:00, it’s not the end of the world and my tasks are still the same.
Love the insights here.
@Chris:
Ya, it makes sense. It’s great that you’ve found a method that works for you
In my posts I share what worked for me, but it’s only one man’s point of view. Which is why I love reading your comments and seeing that different people have different (though similar) ways of getting stuff done
Oops. I sort of sailed past that, probably because I knew it already. But you’re darn right that it makes a huge difference. I know I wish I’d learned it earlier.
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