Focus

Utilising thinking time – with structure

creativity, Flow, Focus, Habits, Human Brain, Thinking

In my posts earlier, I have shared with you some of the good tools I have found for focusing our time. I have especially liked the Dean Jackson video on Focus Finder. The methods he uses are simple yet profound. The key thing is that you have to ensure you are able to ensure you are able to pull out time for thinking activities.

Since we have so many things prompting us and drawing attention to them, getting dedicated thinking time is almost a rarity even for me. The challenge is that the brain has got so used to the idea of getting disturbed, that if you keep your phone away to concentrate on some activity, you actually feel guilty and end up seeing the phone just to ensure that you have not received an urgent call. The next off course is email. You dig into one and by the time you finish that there’s another one demanding your attention.

So inspite of so called success with some of the tools which have helped me, I have not yet been able to take maximum benefit out of the thinking process.

So I am working out to see how I can make thinking time a habit using the process suggested by B.J.Fogg in his book Tiny Habits. To make it useful I have also tried to incorporate a system of identifying the next problem to be solved in advance so that when I do get time to think, my brain is not going helper skelter, trying to figure out what needs to be done.

So yesterday when I tried solving one problem, I identified problems which are two layered below it. Meaning if don’t solve those problems, the problem I was trying to solve yesterday will not get solved. Therefore even though I did not solve the problem completely, the ideas that came to me during the thinking time, gave me some items to focus on to solve, before coming back to that problem.

Today since I did not have to think in terms of the problem to be solved, the moment I focused on the problem, my mind went into flow quickly before the door bell rang and disturbed me. But in that short time, with the problem to be solved, defined in advance, my brain was getting into action faster and came up with ideas much faster. If this can work, then I may not have the most elegant solutions immediately but would have started moving faster to solve challenges.

Please see if this works for you and let me know your views.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Autotelic – Have you read about it before?

Flow, Focus, Human Brain, Thinking

This is a new word I read about recently. It came about in the book The Art of Impossible by Steven Kotler. Today was the third time I read this word. The first two times also I read it in this book itself, but didn’t quite get it.

For those of you who read my blogs regularly, first of all thanks for doing so, you would have noticed that I like to see the nuances between words, the way they are used by different authors.

This word was however unique. Its kind of tongue twisting, but its a little scientific in nature so can be excused.

So coming back to the book where I read this word. This word has been used in context to getting into a “flow” state where the activity is its own reward. As Steven says – “the thing we are doing is so pleasurable and meaningful, that we will go to great lengths to do it……”

I have written earlier how just before I start to write I have a big lock on what I will write today. And then I put my hands to the keyboard on my tablet or computer and then just start typing. Soon I get into the flow and create something. Sometimes there are portions of topics, which may have been written by me earlier also but generally most of the content written everyday is fresh.

The key is that 1) when I start writing – I kind of forget about what’s happening outside, 2) after finishing my post I feel a deep sense of achievement. Now I am not an author – at least not yet. But writing helps me recover from the stresses of the day and feel rejuvenated.

So this word kind of resonated with me. I went and searched out for it on the internet. As per the “meriam-webster” “autotelic,” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/autotelic. Accessed 7/31/2021. dictionary it is an adjective – meaning having a purpose in and not apart form itself. with its first known use in 1900. Which means its not a very old word even though it has its oringins in the Greek language.

As per Steven, Autotelic is one of the six core psychological characteristics and if all six show up, we call the experience “flow”. In the flow state time just passes, without you thinking about it. While I don’t always reach flow state as the author talks about while writing, it does help me concentrate to what I am doing at the moment without thinking about the past or future , without getting judgemental about what I am writing, and helps me put thoughts in a matter of minutes.

Let me know in which situations you get into a flow state.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

The 80/20 of a daily routine

Focus, Leverage, Unique Ability

I have been analyzing my daily routine. On a weekly basis if we were to just take 40 hours of work, then after a month of monitoring my daily activities I have realized that

1. I spend more than 30% of my time in peer to peer meetings and unscheduled internal calls

2. I spend another 30-35% of my time in emails

3. I spend about 15% in reviews / feedback sessions with my team .

4. About 5-7% is spent on meeting customers to understand what is happening at their end or to give presentations or to get feedback ….this is one of my Unique Abilities and I love interacting with customers.

5. I spend less than 10% on actual marketing activities like conceptualizing marketing messages, strategies etc.

The last item I am able to achieve with the focused thinking time that I keep writing about.

The other day I was listening to the Ultimate Entrepreneur podcast by Jay Abraham. He had a guest by the name of Dr. Alan Barnard who is a practitioner of Goldiratt’s Theory of Constraints.

In this podcast towards the end they speak about a new offering they’re bringing to the market which shows entrepreneurs how they can convert their existing top line into the bottom line in less than 4 years.

That’s what got me thinking. I have been talking so much about 80/20, prioritizing, small hinges move big doors etc. in my blogs. To actually be able to convert the top line that I get for the company into the bottom line I will need to focus sharper and sharper on the 80/20 of the 80/20 of the items which actually get me business. Items where I have high impact and where presently I am spending less than 15% of my time.

I am on the experiment to see how I can convert the amount of my present top line to become my bottom line in next few years. Will keep you posted.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Thinking time- adding Beethoven, Mozzart & Jazz

Focus, Human Brain, Music, Thinking

This one will be a very short post.

I like to keep updating you on the successes I have with some activities which I have suggested to you earlier.

I have written multiple times on how if you can take out focused thinking time every day, you will be able to achieve much more in a day.

Last few days I have been using music from the various symphonies created by people like Beethoven, Mozzart. The symphonies they have created take your mind into a different zone for concentration and you are able to get into focus very fast. Assumption is you are sitting in a quiet room.

I have been a fan of Jazz since childhood. Especially the teams which play the trumpets, clarinets et al.

Since the Amazon Prime music has good selection of Jazz bands also, I tested them and I got the same benefits.

If getting focused thinking time is a challenge, I would suggest you try these music possibilities.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!