Second Life Log

I've noticed a couple of things that I've connected. One, when you have a list of steps to accomplish, it makes progression toward a goal easier to "digest" and proceed with. Also, a similar approach is used in video games, for the player to accomplish some in-game goal. Thus, it makes perfect sense that designating steps to get to a goal are important if you want to make progress toward your goal. If the steps are each doable in turn, you feel less overwhelmed and are able to take action. As you proceed through the steps, you feel you are making progress, and you feel more motivation as a result. In video games, this pattern is often used for the player to have more power within the game, eg more strength, greater weapons, and so on. This same method can be used to a certain extent in real life. If you have a goal that will make you feel more "powerful", and come up with doable steps to reach that goal, then the process will be similar to video games, and c...

I came up with a model for how drive, goals, and motivation will help you start work on and complete a project. This thinking was generated from the book The Motivation Myth by Jeff Haden , with the section named "How to start when you're 0 percent motivated". As a quick aside, that book refers to motivation as a feeling you experience after doing work. To account for this, I call the feeling to accomplish something drive . The question I seek to answer is "what is the key to starting work toward a goal when you do not feel 'motivated' to do so?" Here is how the cycle of work happens. You start with a drive to accomplish a goal . You want the goal to happen. If you don't have strong enough drive for a goal, you are not likely to do all the work needed to get there. With the drive to accomplish a goal, there is something that starts you working on that goal. This will be unknown for now, but I will come back to it shortly. With that initial p...

One cause of procrastination is the fact that while you desire a result that requires work, you may feel a stronger pull towards more immediate rewards than the later reward of doing work toward that goal. To put it another way, you would be far more open to a tangible reward now than a nebulous reward at some unknown point in the future. While it is possible to have enough willpower to overcome this temptation, willpower is finite, and can often fall short of the needed level. The way to combat this is to combine an immediate reward with work towards a future reward, also referred to as "temptation bundling" by the book Finish What You Start by Peter Hollins. This appeases the immediate desire for a reward with work towards a future reward. This reward helps bridge the gap in required willpower to do the work. In fact, the less you have to rely on rewards, the better. If the rewards you use are finite in nature, such as watching your favorite tv series, then you will quickl...

In a normal 9-5 office setting, people work in an environment full of potential distraction. While many suspect that such distraction is detracting from their work quality, it's possible some don't know the extent to which it can degrade results. And in these modern times, distractions range from work-related to personal to social media. To reference my own personal experience, I cannot focus on a task if anyone within earshot is talking, and in particular, people have walked right up to my desk and started talking about something. There are only so many times you can politely ask them to wait until you are done, and in some cases, the person's position in the company and/or personality make it even less plausible to ask them to put the request on hold. You could make the point that urgent matters would be the exception to the rule, and I would agree. However, the definition of "urgent" can be abused to advance someone's agenda at the cost of your own mental r...

Two successful days of productivity, so here's a small preview of my productivity schedule. This may seem like a lot, but this is only a summary. I plan on writing more on this later. CAVEAT: This is a work schedule I have worked out for myself through thinking, research, self-help books, and trial and error. I think every person would have a unique way of working optimally, and thus should feel free to make their own schedule in their own way. Quick spoiler: you need to know why you are doing each step of your schedule. It starts with three time slots: one for ongoing project work, one for chores, and one for learning something new. The ongoing project work is a single project where I do a little bit of work towards a larger goal every day. In the past I haven't had time / energy / willpower to finish much of anything. I want a healthy living environment, so doing at least one chore a day is important. Learning something new is something you should do as much as possible. I...

I read in "Finish What You Start" that one technique is to give yourself three complete-able tasks each day. You should decide on the tasks the night before, and they should be complete-able in one day. If you can keep that up, you will get stuff done in no time. I have a variation on this idea. Start with a small task that you WANT to do and can complete in about an hour or less. That will give you some momentum. Then complete a medium task you WANT to do that is about 2-3 h ours. Either during or after the medium task, take a lunch/meal/rest break Next is about an hour of chores that you DON'T want to do. Then you get to do a task that you REALLY WANT to do. For me that's learning something new or research or exploration of new fields. I currently have more time on my hands than most people, but I think some people may get some kind of use out of these ideas.

Today, I had started on a course to learn Kotlin, which is used to develop Android mobile applications. And then I had a familiar thought: if I get into Kotlin, but then, after studying for awhile, I lose interest, then all the time spent will have been for nothing. So, should I go ahead with the course or not? This question is a common catch-22 that the brain gets into. And here is why going ahead with your interest is never wasted time. First, as I have just stated, the fact that you are pursuing a line of interest is already a positive result. I highly encourage people to follow their interests. I will not say something like "follow your passion", as passion can be a fleeting emotion. So, following your interest is a much safer and more satisfying move. Additionally, by pursuing the interest, you avoid the inevitable dread of not follow the interest and wondering what it might have led to. The next positive result of following your interest is that by learning something ne...