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Procrastination – How to Manage this Common Vice
If you are reading this you might be like many of us who suffer from procrastination. But don’t stop there – this is just the tip of the iceberg, the symptom of something bigger underneath. Pay attention and address the root cause. In my case, I procrastinate for different reasons. For example, when the task: Needs deep attention (e.g. creative thinking) It is hard – something I am not naturally good at (e.g. accounting). Is boring (organizing, paperwork, chores) My strategy depends on the reason for the procrastination. For the high energy demanding creative work, I try to schedule them when my brain and body are in its best-performing state,…
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Ready or not the New Year is coming – Will your resolution be a small talk again?
In January, the common topic of the office kitchen conversation is the New Year’s resolution. Until recently I never actually did much of planning for the year, so when asked I made up something. My standard answer was “be more organized”, which hardly happened! I was not lying though, I really felt I needed to have better control over my life, but honestly, I didn’t know how to do it. So I forgot about it even before I finished that cup of coffee I brought from the kitchen. After becoming an entrepreneur the idea of resolution made more sense to me. Unless I have a vision for myself I don’t know what…
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Work-life balance in my own backyard
Among so many articles about work-life balance, this one in HBR, the Imperfect balance between work and life caught my attention today. The main idea is 1. Pick a few things that really need your focus 2. Delegate or let go of others, and 3. Most importantly, embrace imperfection. The author found that one major hurdle for achieving work-life balance is artificial images of perfection. She also points to the fact that sometimes what is assumed to constitute perfection can be counter-productive. For example, keeping babies always in a sterile environment would make them less adaptable to the real world or delaying a product release would risk losing the market…
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Too many to-dos… Not enough time…Cause or Symptom?
My friend Amy calls herself lazy as she is always running behind her infinitely long to-do list. Even when she is sitting down she feels guilty that she was supposed to do something useful. She says sorry a zillion times as she frequently cancels our coffee/phone chats at the last moment. Seeing her hyperactivity makes me feel underperformed:). I have been wondering why we are always behind despite all the hard work? Why she feels compelled to say “Yes” to every request? Recently found some answer from this article. Saying “Yes” 1. Avoids conflicts 2. Takes less time than pausing to decide whether or not the request is truly important 3. Feels…
