Tip: Now or Never

For past few months I was planning to write a new tip on time management. Title of the  tip was meant to be ‘Now or Never’ and what I will be writing in this tip kept resonating in my mind but didn’t make it so far.

Hectic work schedules, information overload, lack of attention, numerous distractions have turned me (may be some of you) into a busy bee  and now I suffer from ‘Now or Never’ symptom.  What I need to do keeps coming back to me at various times, but before I get to it, something else comes to my mind.

I have abandoned paper based planner because I am equipped with mobile device like Blackberry. But I find myself re-writing goals on my computer/blackberry which I had in my paper based planner. This is good news because my goals have not changed.

How am I planning to deal with this ‘Now or Never’ problem?

- Focus on at least one Important tasks instead of only Urgent tasks everyday.
- Schedule specific backlog clearance effort during weekend
- Clear at least one item from backlog every day.
- If you can do it, DO IT NOW and ignore possible distractions at that time

One thing is for sure, I am going to post this note TODAY as soon as I have written it instead of planning to reword and send it another day (or NEVER?)  and I DID IT by successfully ignoring a new instant messages I was getting while posting this message.

Being Flexible

I have written earlier a tip about being flexible. Recently I came across a concept of flexibility and flightiness. You should not assume flightiness is same as being flexible.

Flexibility is ability to take diversions from your main goals to accommodate urgent requests from others. For Example, you are in middle of completing a presentation due for tomorrow and one of your colleagues comes by asking you to join an urgent meeting that needs your expertise. While you are working on a deadline you accommodate this unexpected demand on your time. After you are done with the meeting you come back to your deadline and complete your task.

Flightiness is when you let the diversion throw you off-track from your key tasks.  Later you use the interruption as an excuse to postpone your own task. Continuing the above example, after attending the meeting, you suddenly take active interest in that project or something else and loose track of your time. Next day you realize that you forgot about your presentation. You postpone your presentation.

If this flightiness happens once in a while, it is acceptable. When it becomes a habit, it becomes a serious time management problem.  Be aware of this subtle difference and don’t pride your flightiness as your flexibility.  A strategy to make sure this does not happen is relying on your planner or reminder system to help you to get back to your Important tasks.

Blog Technology

I am impressed by the features provided by blogging tools. Sharing information has become quite an easy task compared to complex ways years ago of changing links on websites and uploading files. We are able to focus more on content and less on effort required to publish it. I have been writing content using blogger.com. After I started using wordpress.com to publish new blog, I had a task on my to do list to transfer content from blogger to wordpress. I was thinking that I will have to spend a lot of time doing it. I do remember that wordpress had a utility to import content from other blogs.

Recently I decided to accomplish this and it was all a matter of clicks to import all content from blogger to wordpress. I didn’t loose any content and now all my blog posts are in place. There is no need to switch between two blogs.

Next I wanted to transfer articles I posted earlier on my website to this blog. I wanted to make sure timestamp of the post remains as the day I originally wrote the article. Sure enough, I found that bloggers do provide an option to change timestamp of the post. This was impressive. Now you can see some articles I transferred from 1999 on this blog with an appropriate timestamp.

I know there are lot of other features which make publishing content easier. If you are still using traditional method to maintain a website, it is time you started using a blogging tool. Ask me if you have specific questions but I am sure all bloggers are simple enough to use by everyone and come with easy to use instructions.

At the same time, I also opened up my blog to public. I have kept this blog private so far and now it is open to search engines. I have seen increasing number of visitors that are looking for a specific content dropping by.

Life Transitions

I was reading blog article on managing life transitions.

This article was more elaborate than my earlier article on Tips for Stress Management. It is good to refresh our ideas on stress management once in a while. Whenever you feel you are overwhelmed, a few minutes reminding yourself to slow down will help. You are not alone having a hard time and take it comfort in that. I know it is easier said than done.

Read through the following links at leisure and reflect on them. Take your time and don’t rush through these articles. It is one of the important things in your life to reflect and not an urgent one. Do you need to finish reading this fast so that you can go to the next one? Slow down…. NOW.

Slow Down Therapy
Tips for Stress Management

Buying Books

If you have followed my website updates, books section etc. you will notice that I have read a lot of books. Sometimes I bought the books and sometimes I borrowed books from library or friends. One easy way to order books at less cost is buying used books.

Initially I always used to buy new books. As I realized that I am spending more than my budget for books, I looked for opportunities to save. Then I saw ‘Buy Used’ link on Amazon.com. Since these books are sold by third party and they may not be in perfect condition, I was not sure. After some initial hesitation, I gave it a try and was pleasantly surprised. I was able to find books at very cheap price and was able to get the books delivered in reasonable time. Almost every time the books were in reasonable condition.

Sometimes you may not find items in used condition. Then you don’t have a choice but buy new.

I have mentioned this tip to some friends in person. I wanted to share this tip through blog also. If you have not tried, I would definitely recommend it.

Browse Amazon.com for a book you were planning to buy and see if it is available ‘used’ now.

Usability of Blogs

I have been reading usability articles written by Jacob Nielsen for quite a few years now.  As mentioned in my previous blog, I was trying to make my website quality better and I realized I should make blog also of high quality.

I went back to Jacob’s website to search tips and I found article to improve usability of blog. I realized I need to follow some his guidelines in my blog also. You should see these tips incorporate on my blog in future posts.

Link to article Blog Usability by Jacob Nielsen (Link opens in a new window)

Are you playing at work?

Are you in a role that allows you to utilize your strengths? If yes, you will be literally playing at work. You are doing something that you enjoy every moment and then work will be like play.

In most cases you are in a role that utilizes your strengths but you may not be aware of it. Lack of this awareness may lead you to approach work as burden instead of play. To make it easy, I would recommend doing a SWOT analysis. Match your job functions with your strengths and see if > 80% of your job requirements match your strengths. Gap should fall in your weakness area and this can be an opportunity to improve and excel in your role.

Remember when you are using your natural strengths at work you are enjoying every moment.

If you feel otherwise, learn to enjoy what you do till you can find something that matches your strengths.

Other ways to bring this awareness to your front are:

• Find a mentor who can provide you guidance
• Work with your manager to fine tune your job expectations to your strengths. You have all the rights to demand a right job for you.

Related Articles

Careers and Talents
Discover you strengths and Grow by using your strengths

Exploring Youtube

I have not really explored Youtube till now, though it has been around for quite sometime and has gained lot of popularity. Only recently I started using Youtube and started liking it. One of the primary reasons for liking it is: I managed to located videos of some of my favorite songs. When I got to listen/watch videos of Boney M (which I could not find on Netflix or other websites even to buy), it created a great impression on me. As I continued to explore I could dig up music videos that I always wanted to watch.

Navigation is quite easy in Youtube. Ability to create quicklists, playlists, search content by tags, recommended videos based on what you are watching etc are nice features that made the experience enjoyable too. I am sure I will find out more interesting materials that add to my professional and personal interests.

As I checked around, I realized that youtube has opened up opportunities for many people to explore their passions. People with unique talents are following the tagline of “Broadcast yourself” and they are enjoying it.

If you are not using Youtube, it is time you went there.

Make Lists

I was checking some blogs and I saw a link to website called Listography. I went to the site and was impressed by it. I got the urge to sign up and create my own lists. This is a simple concept. I do maintain lot of lists like books to read, books read, websites, movies to watch etc. I naturally found the idea of using this site to make lists very exciting.

This site allows you to create private and public lists. Archive them or keep them active. I looked a few lists created by others and started creating my own.

You can click link below or under Me in Cyberspace on right and then explore lists. If you like it, do sign up and create your own lists.

Happy List making!

Lists I made so far

Goddess Lakshmi and Economy

Earlier I had written about Economy with a prescription to Spend Money to Earn Money.

I was reading a book about Goddess Lakshmi, a book by Devdutt. Following is an extract which conveys the aspect that you cannot hoard money. Read the extract below

Water must flow otherwise it will stagnate and breed diseases. Food must be consumed or distributed otherwise it will rot. In the same way, wealth must flow so that it can nourish society. For the economy to thrive, wealth needs to be constantly created and distributed. Lakshmi enriches and empowers only when she is in motion. Hence she is known as the restless one, Chanchala. She needs to always be on the move. Any attempt to pin her down and hoard her earns her wrath.

Lakshmi has no favorites. She does not discriminate on the basis of caste, gender, creed, or social status. The same bowl of rice can satisfy the hunger of a king and a beggar, the same blanket will provide warmth to a man or a eunuch, the same roof will shelter equally the judge and the criminal. She will go to anyone who seeks her and makes himself worthy of her.

Wealth and power are essentially impersonal. They come with a position not a person. People bow not to the man under the crown but to the crown itself. The symbols of kingship – crown, umbrella, throne, footstool, flywhisk, banners and scepter – remind us that our wealth and power are not dependent on us. We need wealth and power, wealth and power does not need us. when the rich mand dies, his wealth outlives him sustaining all those who are left behind. When the powerful man dies, the power he yielded goes to someone as worthy or gets distributed amongst many.

The spiritual man therefore does not get carried away by the bounty of Lakshmi. He knows that she will stay with him only as long as he makes himself worthy of her. If he fails to keep her, she will leave him.