noizZze

Today, as I was playing with ideas after a big chunk of work, one interesting thought came, and it’s worth sharing. Everybody likes when the job is simple, straightforward and easy to do. Sometimes though times come when an assignment is … well, different.

I like to shoot these tasks first and, speaking in the context of PROgramming, like to make everything possible to never get back. If it implies writing a hundred of tests, that’s fine, just never again… you hear me? It’s not that I hate what I do, it’s that I, as a living being, hate stress.

Usually, I took the rest of the day off right after dealing with a complex or mundane to refresh the mind. It worked well, but took a lot of time and had a bitter taste of excuse to skip working hours. Today I invented something different for myself.

Here the summary of points that I (and hope you) usually keep in mind when working:

• Focus on the task
• Stop watching the clock
• Keep a clear plan of attack with very small sub-tasks to cross them out as quickly as possible
• Do whatever it takes to protect yourself from getting back (comprehensive tests suite, clear design etc)
• Make a lot of comments to give you a hand if you still need to change something later

And now something new:

• When the task is over, check in the sources, run all tests, and finish anything else that attaches you to the task, and then
• Take a coffee break and detach yourself from it and the results as if somebody else did the job and you are left with an easy part (calling the module, using freshly designed database etc)
• Start (not continue) working refreshed and, possibly, give you some easy and fun tasks to get the happy feeling of great job you always did

These are all simple steps, but I know no one who would follow them. I read many standard advices, like 50 minutes of work / 10 minutes of rest that are far from a silver bullet. They sound like a quick and dirty rule for those (or by those) who don’t really want to think WHY these breaks are important and, what’s more important, what to do during them.

With this last summary I feel I got closer to a better understanding of my own brain and how it works. Now I know how to reset that anxiety and stress to continue moving on without passively waiting for the same effect first.

Hope I induced some fresh ideas and insights. Feel free to share back.

Cheers!

Today I bookmarked an article, and it’s extremely rare event just because usually I don’t see anything I would like to get back to and review later. Certainly, I don’t mean any reference materials, that are the essential part of my business life

The article I give extract from below is a great reminder. The reminder of all key moments you have to keep in mind when working and improving your working experience. Of course, many of the points are hard to implement as it sometimes scary to drive off the beaten track, but I believe some of them are ready for instant application and will make you feel more in control of your only life.

Even though our modern lives have an incredible number of time-saving devices, we seem to end up working more and more all the time. From time-saving devices in the home (microwave, the robot vacuum, and dishwasher, to name three), to time-saving devices at work (spreadsheets, email, Internet, etc.), we don’t seem to be able to take advantage of the time saved and claim it for ourselves.

(from: Top 10 Ways to Reduce Your Work Week)

Three years ago, when I was working for a company, we were obliged to build the daily timesheet reports. No one really analyzed them, but the management thought it was a good idea to control productivity of the staff. Should mention it didn’t work? It took less than a day to the staff to learn playing the tricks with their reports to make them look genuinely productive. What was the point in them if no one was interested in the outcome?

Recently I have become interested. The question I asked was where all my precious time goes. Of course, I’m working hard as most of us do, but do I spend all of the time productively? By this I don’t mean work with no breaks for eight hours just to wear yourself out in couple of weeks. The breaks are as important as uninterrupted working sessions. My goal though has become to spot unnecessary time eaters and bad habits for merciless removal.

(more…)

Yesterday I was fixing a pipe in the kitchen, today it was the bathroom door. These days I’m feeling like a true house-husband. Taking the wooden door heavy as hell off the hinges appeared to be not a do-it-alone kind of task even though I managed to succeed. Just let the professionals do their job the next time you need to fix something like that, or at least find a good helper if you still plan on doing it yourself. I was half dead when I finished as it took several rounds to make everything look just right. Phew…

This week I was working on my memory. I mean that part of the body you use to hold the address of this blog. Well, my amazement can’t be put in words. The site I discovered is very concise and has tons of practical advices and methods. They are dedicated to the single topic — memory training — and extremely easy to grasp. What distinguishes this resource from many others is that it cuts to the chase. No fluff, just stuff. Please meet Build Your Memory dot Com.

I spent no more than 20 minutes to observe the first results and, frankly speaking, I was close to shock. It virtually knocked me out when I saw how good my memory works when well-operated. The first bright illustration was my ability to remember 20 unrelated words (and I’m still able to recollect them easily) in the correct order. Can you do that right now? I bet you can’t.

There are heaps of valuable advices on working with memory. Just to name some, they teach you how to remember big numbers (like a hundred digits long or more), organize your dreams and recall them at will. If nothing else, you will have some good time exploring your limits and there’s no doubt you’ll find something excitingly useful.

In my case, the life has already started to change for the better. Today, when I worked with a text for my next English classes, I was able to remember and still able to recall more than 35 new words and phrases after the single pass without any visible effort. It used to take more than a day to learn them before and at most only the half of them made their way to active vocabulary. It’s a remarkable progress to me.

As a side effect of this miraculous improvement I’m no longer afraid of learning new. There’s no feeling that the head is about to explode, if you know what I mean, and there’s no need to preserve precious space for really important special occasions. It’s a great pleasure to know that there’s room for everything I need.

Another small step to perfection. I love it!

Couple of weeks ago I started the next round of attempts to improve my workflow and organize the day better. It had started to take way too much time to stay on top of things and something had had to be done about that. So, I began collecting feeds and read books on personal productivity and management, scanning them on a daily basis for new, more effective approaches and methods.

Today, catching up with collected reading, I stumbled upon an article by Michael Sampson sharing his productivity recipe. In the essay, he describes in details how Clarity, work without Interruptions, and Rested brain help to maintain top RPM of his brain cells during a business day. He gives a rousing speech with lots of examples; highly informative at the same time.

Needless to say, it helped me. I picked up some good advice and, what’s important, now I see that I’m not alone in my troubles with noise, distractions (I’m constantly fighting with) and documents organization. Thanks, Mike, for sharing your experience!

Please take a moment to read the article though as it may turn whole your life upside-down.