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I Don't Have Time

swanson.github.com

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Re: I Don't Have Time

#11

Post by kamaal »

swanson wrote: post #2

Author here - I'd be keen to hear if anyone has had success with different productivity systems for breaking done the big goals into smaller items. I've had varying amounts of success with pomodoros and personal kanban - but always interested in trying out something new.

Divide and conquer always works, especially when you are chasing tasks that can't be comprehended as a monolithic entity.

During chasing any big task you need.

    a. A way to break them down in logical chunks.
    b. Way to manage and execute them.
    c. Way of measuring progress and tracking feedback.
    d. Small chunks of iteration, where you can execute, take feedback and adapt quickly.
How you do this, is left to individual convenience.

Re: I Don't Have Time

#12

Post by edwinnathaniel »

swanson wrote: post #2

Author here - I'd be keen to hear if anyone has had success with different productivity systems for breaking done the big goals into smaller items. I've had varying amounts of success with pomodoros and personal kanban - but always interested in trying out something new.

I have heard many productivity techniques but I haven't read each of them in details how they work because well... I don't have time to read them in details. A 20 pages summary would probably fit me better.

Having said that, I've been building http://nbaschedules.appspot.com since October 20th (last weekend) one feature per day. An example of what I viewed as a feature: Facebook and Twitter share buttons, adding Google Maps to each stadium, adding navigation (first release didn't have a nav), etc.

I have a 6 month old kid and a full-time job in a "semi-startup" company. I also spend all of my son's waking hours to play with him. I wouldn't want to sacrifice that time slot even for a single second.

A progress is a progress is a progress. I suppose that's my core principle. Always work on something that contributes to the goal, no matter how big or small that is.

PS: This small website is just a personal playground to learn the whole SEO/Internet Marketing stuffs. Opinions and Advises are more than welcome since I'm fairly newbie (please be gentle!).

Re: I Don't Have Time

#13

Post by kamaal »

padobson wrote: post #5

You may have heard of paying yourself first to gain success in personal finance. Well, if you're looking to expend your energy on some passion project, you need to dedicate your first energy of the day to that passion project. If you have to go somewhere you're not passionate about for your 9-5, it's unlikely you'll be excited about working on anything when you get home. If you wake up on Saturday and go straight to…

>>You may have heard of paying yourself first to gain success in personal finance.

Can you elaborate more on this.

Re: I Don't Have Time

#14

Post by jaredsohn »

kamaal wrote: post #13
padobson wrote: post #5

You may have heard of paying yourself first to gain success in personal finance. Well, if you're looking to expend your energy on some passion project, you need to dedicate your first energy of the day to that passion project. If you have to go somewhere you're not passionate about for your 9-5, it's unlikely you'll be excited about working on anything when you get home. If you wake up on Saturday and go straight to…

>>You may have heard of paying yourself first to gain success in personal finance. Can you elaborate more on this.

I'm not the OP, but it just means that when you get your paycheck, immediately deposit a certain amount into savings. Since your paycheck seems smaller, you'll hopefully spend less.

Re: I Don't Have Time

#17

Post by hfsktr »

jaredsohn wrote: post #14
kamaal wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>You may have heard of paying yourself first to gain success in personal finance. Can you elaborate more on this.

I'm not the OP, but it just means that when you get your paycheck, immediately deposit a certain amount into savings. Since your paycheck seems smaller, you'll hopefully spend less.

I know (not well anymore) someone who owned a business (multiple I think) who's said that same saying and I'm sure I've read it somewhere else. I always assumed it meant: when you have a business treat yourself as an employee and pay yourself so that you don't use all the money (on business needs is all I can think of: staplers, paper, etc) and can pay your bills.

I might have misunderstood it or whatever but I always thought it made a bit of sense since you need to take some money home at the end of the day.

Re: I Don't Have Time

#18

Post by sharkweek »

unimpressive wrote: post #16

If you have time to be reading HN, you have time to do a chunk of work on something .

While I definitely spend too much time on HN browsing casually, it has on numerous occasions acted as a spark in my own creativity for personal side projects

Re: I Don't Have Time

#19

Post by Firehed »

prezjordan wrote: post #15

Easy to say for starting a project, but I find the "finishing touches" are always discouraging.

I can count the number of software projects I've finished on zero hands, unless you define "project" as a meaninglessly-small component of something larger (e.g. tweaking some copy). Even for software that you write to solve your own problems, your requirements tend to change over time so even that seems to never be done. With personal projects its worse, as (at least for me) they're not a way to make money so I have almost no incentive to add that last bit of polish and call it a day.

To combat this, I like to occasionally do projects with a more concrete finish - almost certainly NOT something software-related. Even something as mundane as cleaning my bedroom or some trivial home improvement type task. The more visual the result, the better.

It's so easy to get lost in this ongoing big picture that you feel like you're never accomplishing anything. I'm sure by breaking it down into smaller projects some people will better recognize their progress, but I find that doesn't work consistently enough. Maybe I'm not breaking stuff down far enough - definitely less than a day, probably a couple-hour task.

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