Slowly but surely – That was May 2013

May went by so quickly and I realize that our need to account for minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months is extremely counterproductive. You are on a roll and everything is fine until you look at your watch. “What!?  I already spent 3 hours?” And in this split second you can see your productivity virtually flying out the window.

As kids we didn’t care whether our Lego castle would take 5 minutes or 5 hours to build. When after lunch we had new ideas, then we never had reason to beat ourselves up for not completing what we had started. And we still accomplished our goal, which was learning for life and having fun doing it.

Goal setting is very important to get done what you want, but as I wrote earlier it is also important to understand where you come from (5 Rules) and what is realistically possible for the current situation. For me personally it means I have to realize how much time I can spend to accomplish the goals of my personal quest. I have a full time job and often the workday is not over when I get home. Communication across several time zones makes it sometimes necessary to work odd hours. At times a call can solve problems so much faster than possible via email exchange alone. In short there is always ‘my private time’ as buffer for work. The only buffer I have for my private projects is to cut down on sleep, which comes at a price.

Nevertheless, I am quite satisfied with my current work projects and also quite happy that over the last months I disciplined myself to be more rigorous about ending the work day when I get home. It is just a mindset, really. This changed mindset is so crucial for even having a chance in getting started with my private quest items.

It is about time to let you know how am I doing. (more…)