Making yourself do the uncomfortable

In "Mastery" Robert Greene makes the point that to really become a master you need to embrace "pain" in a way.  I think this article is saying the same thing.
http://www.businessinsider.com/hard-things-you-need-to-do-to-be-successful-2014-1
You have to do the hard things. 

• You have to make the call you’re afraid to make.
• You have to get up earlier than you want to get up.
• You have to give more than get in return right away.
• You have to care more about others than they care about you.
• You have to fight when you are already injured, bloody, and sore.
• You have to feel unsure and insecure when playing if safe seems smarter.
• You have to lead when no one else is following you yet.
• You have to invest in yourself even though no one else is.
• You have to look like a fool while you’re looking for answers you don’t have.
• You have to grind out the details when it’s easier to shrug them off.
• You have to deliver results when making excuses is an option.
• You have to search for your own explanations even when you’re told to accept the “facts.”
• You have to make mistakes and look like an idiot.
• You have to try and fail and try again.
• You have to run faster even though you’re out of breath.
• You have to be kind to people who have been cruel to you.
• You have to meet deadlines that are unreasonable and deliver results that are unparalleled.
• You have to be accountable for your actions even when things go wrong.
• You have to keep moving towards where you want to be no matter what’s in front of you.

You have to do the hard things. The things that no one else is doing. The things that scare you. The things that make you wonder how much longer you can hold on.
Those are the things that define you. Those are the things that make the difference between living a life of mediocrity or outrageous success.
The hard things are the easiest things to avoid. To excuse away. To pretend like they don’t apply to you.
The simple truth about how ordinary people accomplish outrageous feats of success is that they do the hard things that smarter, wealthier, more qualified people don’t have the courage — or desperation — to do.
Do the hard things. You might be surprised at how amazing you really are.

Read more: http://danwaldschmidt.com/2014/01/attitude/hard-things#ixzz2qUNciCg7

Piles: Stage 2

Horrifying.  Today I have to deal with the piles.  The really hard one is the one that is comprised of notes that I need to edit and decide what to keep and what to get rid of.  They say that decisions take more energy, or "bandwidth" than anything else in the realm of mental work.  Not sure if that's true or not, but today is the day.

Organizing

The full catastrophe of my desk. 
The good news is my desk is in a sweet spot, with views of the bridge and bay.  The bad news is, it's in the middle of the large living space upstairs, where the young people like to party.  So I'm repeatedly having to shove my stuff in to a hamper to get it out of the way.  So it's like an archeological site, with the oldest stuff on the bottom.  So I dumped it all out and here's what it looks like.  My plan is to make piles of different "actions."  We'll see how that goes....

The Value of Work

This is a quote from I know not where,

"There is one unbeatable rule for the mastery of sorrow and disappointments-the transmutation of those frustrations through definitely planned work.  It is a rule that has no equal."

New Year's Resolutions

I certainly don't agree with all of these.  And I highly resent that the wardrobe suggestions are all for men. (Hello?  What century are we in?)  But some of them I liked.  The reading and taking online courses.  Of course I do that anyway.  Also, to suggest that it's okay to drink until you black out is insane.
http://www.businessinsider.com/gselevator-guide-to-new-years-resolutions-2013-12

Time Management (again)

This post was a good reminder of many of the time management skills that have been helpful to me.  If only I would do them...  Since I never have to have meetings, those posts were ignored.  The graphic is odd, but information good.
http://www.businessinsider.com/time-management-and-productivity-hacks-2013-4?utm_source=alerts&nr_email_referer=1#-27

Do Less to Get More Done

This is a rehash of things I've read in other places, and bears emphasizing.  It's similar to the concept of lions on the hunt.  They don't waste their energy on small prey, they wait for the large prey.  But it can be harder for those of us who employ ourselves, when sometimes it can be a guess of what activity may or may not have the most impact.

"In a time of constant movement, constant communication, continual achievement and an ongoing list of to-dos, at the end of the day, we feel we’ll never get ahead. It seems like our days are controlling us, rather than us controlling them.

This constant busyness can actually take you off course from your high-value goals; hurt your physical, psychological and emotional system; and even damage or destroy relationships.
I’ve been studying some of the top executives, CEOs, authors and millionaires over the past couple of years, and I’d like to share some things I’ve observed that might help you work at your productive best:

1. 80/20 everything.

This is called Pareto’s Law. It can be summarized as follows: 80% of your output results from 20% of your input. Out of 10 tasks and activities you want to accomplish, two of them will produce more results than the other eight combined.
Sometimes when we get busy, we feel we must get more done rather than focus on the tasks that create bigger results. Challenge yourself to really think intelligently about what 20% of your work you can do with absolute focus that will yield huge results.

2. Most things don’t matter.

I remember Tim Ferris stating that “most things make no difference.” Being busy is a form of laziness, lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. Being overwhelmed is often as unproductive as doing nothing, and is far more unpleasant.
Being selective and taking more intelligent action is really the path to high productivity. Focus on the important few and ignore or delegate the rest.

3. Doing something unimportant well doesn’t make it any more important.

Activities that aren’t connected to an outcome or purpose are the drain of all fortune. Understand that what you do is a lot more important than how you do it. Effectiveness is still important, but it’s useless unless applied to the right things.
There are a handful of things you could be focusing on that will create exceptional outcomes for your goals. It’s easy to get caught in a flood of trivial matters.
The key to not feeling rushed is remembering that lack of time actually means lack of priorities. Take time to stop and refocus your priorities as often as needed. Intelligent thinking combined with the right action will get your productivity to a level few attain. Remember what Jim Collins stated in his bestseller Good To Great: “If you have more than three priorities, you don’t have any.”

4. Obey Parkinson’s Law.

Parkinson’s Law dictates that a task will become of larger importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion. I have personally found high value in deadlines. If I give you 12 hours to complete a project, the time pressure forces you to focus on execution, and you have no choice but to do only the essentials. If I give you a week to complete the same task, it will most likely be six days of validation, excuses and procrastination and one day of rushed work. If I give you a month, it usually becomes a mental monster.
The result of deadlines is often higher quality due to greater focus.
Identify the few critical tasks that contribute most to your income, and schedule them with very short and clear deadlines. If you haven’t identified your critical tasks and set aggressive start and end times for their completion, the unimportant becomes important. Even if you know what’s critical, without deadlines that create focus, the minor tasks forced upon you will rise to consume time until another minuscule task jumps in to replace it, leaving you at the end of the day with nothing accomplished.
I’ve spent months jumping from one interruption to the next, feeling run by my business instead of the other way around. Don’t make the same mistake — instead, adopt these four strategies in your life and business today."


Read more: http://blog.brazencareerist.com/2013/11/13/4-strategies-for-cranking-up-your-productivity/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=4-strategies-for-cranking-up-your-productivity#ixzz2kokXIqEe