Posts tagged Main Objective
Communication Technology – Productive, Busy Or Distracted
Sep 23rd
Welcome to the world of communication technology and scatter brains. Some call it multitasking. It’s so easy to love the word multitasking as it sounds like you are getting so much accomplished. But, are you productive, just busy, or down-right distracted? Think of these two actions and which one you choose to perform as a priority in the morning: first cup of coffee or checking your email/blackberry. If it was the coffee, what’s the time lapse between the two activities? Facebook is enhancing the craze of constantly checking your messages.
Multitasking has disadvantages. Working harder and longer doesn’t produce more. It results in low productivity and sloppy work. The New York Times has an article highlighting some research to state that “multitasking is going to slow you down, increasing the chances of making mistakes” as indicated by David E. Meyer, a cognitive scientist and director of the Brain, Cognition and Action Laboratory at the University of Michigan. Researchers found that doing two things at once slows your response time down at least one second. When driving and communicating through our technology device, that one second can mean the difference between life and death.
To evaluate your level of productivity, consider the following questions as a self evaluation. Do you read all text and email messages as they arrive? When you complete a task, do you feel a sense of accomplishment? Are you able to sit for at least ten minutes at a time to quiet your mind – no sound, no reading, and no thoughts – just completely check out? Do you perform three tasks on your way to accomplish your main objective? Are your repetitive tasks performed to keep yourself busy or in order to accomplish them? Do you worry about what’s going to happen? Do you feel tired? Do you view your peers as less productive?
This is just a small sample of a larger analysis tool created to assist individuals and businesses with evaluating and improving their productivity ratio. Productivity is complete with a sense of purpose and the ability to celebrate accomplishments. It’ a beautiful, realistic view associated with a few objectives and tasks each day (not twenty four!) as to enjoy your life outside of the to-do list. This CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED in the work environment too. When you return to your office and your computer following a series of meetings, how does your body and mind feel as you sit and look at your messages and calendar? Tension and a feeling of being overwhelmed can tell you something. Additionally, as you’re working on a project and you see your instant messenger popping up with email notifications, think about (1) how often you just let them accumulate and visit/read them at a later time and (2) how often your body and mind stay centered on your task at hand and not on the subject you just saw pop up. There are procedures to keep your time and energy managed and focused, with the least amount of stress and anxiety.
Easy Ways to Calm Yourself Down
Sep 2nd
The art of calming oneself down is worth learning well, if only because it guarantees us much happiness when mastered.
Sometimes, the smallest things set me off on the path that ends in me feeling rotten, and I then find it difficult to snap out of it. Well guess what – over time, I discovered that it was better for me to exercise some control over my emotions and try not to get annoyed in the first place. Over time, I became better at this, and I am proud to say that I do not get so easily agitated anymore.
If it involves another individual, I try to disengage myself from the situation as fast as I can. Just walking away and occupying myself with something else gives me the opportunity to think more clearly and put things into perspective since emotion is not clouding my judgement at that point. Depending on the circumstances and whether I think it is worth my effort, I might then decide to go back and come up with a solution for the issue.
Of course there are times this technique does not work, for instance at your workplace or office. In this scenario, I just attempt to think of pleasant thoughts or do something to bring back the good memories. Oh, and do not forget to breathe deeply. Having had a (mostly) happy life, this is not too difficult a task for me.
Another method that works well for some people is to invent, in their minds, a hilarious, ridiculous or silly event and relate that to a person they get annoyed with. They regularly make that mental connection between the person and that imaginary event. Whenever things come to a head with that person, that funny thought automatically triggers in their mind, and they would discover that they are much less negatively affected by the less than desirable interaction.
The main objective of this mental exercise is to break the hold these annoying folks have over you. The dark clouds vanish and you get to go back to your inner place of equilibrium, peace and balance.
In the end, nothing beats old, reliable GSOH (Good Sense of Humor), which remains the best cure for avoiding high blood pressure and heart disease, not beta blockers or statins.
