Category: Life skills

What is distracting you today?

This is a distraction, ignore it and get back to kicking ass

Distractions are a part of life. When your neighbour says hi while you are in the middle of a complex calculation and you stop to say hi back only to find that you have forgotten what step you were on and have to start again from the beginning, that is a distraction. It is impossible to eliminate distractions from your life. You can’t stop your friendly neighbour saying hi when you’d rather work in peace. You also can’t predict when your children will try to get your attention with the latest picture they have drawn. What you can do is choose how you manage distractions.

Broadly speaking, the distractions we have to manage fall into two categories: internal and external. An internal distraction is you suddenly curious to find out the year popcorn was invented while doing your business accounting. An external distraction is that phone call from your friend while you are in a meeting.

Social media icons
Social distraction, sorry, media

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Why do you want to achieve that goal?

A big question mark with the word "why" written many times in it

Happy New Year. This is that time when many people create a to-do list for the first two weeks of the year. I have written earlier about why New year’s resolutions are generally a bad idea for most people. Instead of creating a resolution, I advocate writing a personal development plan for the year. It takes longer but is more actionable than resolutions and you will achieve better results.

The question "why?" written four times
Today’s question

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Gratitude list

Thank you for your kindness

2019 was a very productive year for me. When I first thought of starting Amir Writes, I was not in a very good place emotionally. I had experienced a very challenging ordeal in my personal life and was looking for a way to forget my pain. Writing was something I enjoyed and I hadn’t been doing enough of it. I also had an interest in personal productivity. I decided to start a personal productivity blog.

This was the first time I had decided to take blogging seriously. I set up a website and committed to a weekly schedule. I learnt on the go and had an awesome support network. Friends like Lammy (Hexal Queen) supported me. If you ever need bulk sms services, please check out her awesome platform. Looking back at all that has happened in 2019, I am not sure I would have come so far without encouragement.

Thanks
I’m grateful

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Motivation is best found within

The word "motivation" handwritten

Many people feel they would achieve more of their goals if they could only stay motivated long enough to work on them. Motivation, they say, is that silent factor that determines how productive they are. The problem with that kind of thinking is that it is easy to procrastinate on important tasks because you are waiting to feel motivated. A classic example of this fallacy is the all popular “writer’s block.” The thinking goes, the most successful writers are able to somehow find inspiration all the time and that is why they are able to churn great works of literature. The truth is successful writers are successful because they do not wait for their muse to tickle them. They wake up everyday and commit to writing for a few hours even if what they turn out is trash.

What do you need to stay motivated
A good question

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You are entitled a million mistakes

"mitsakes" written in a notebook

“And that’s what youth is all about: a chance to make all the mistakes you can and get them out of the way.”

-Richard Templar

Mistakes are a part of life. They are the only way growth happens. How many of them have you made recently? If you are like most people, the answer probably is “not enough.” We work hard to avoid unfamiliar situations because we don’t want to make a mistake and look bad in front of others. We fail to try new experiences and acquire new skills because we know we will make mistakes and fear we will not be good enough.

Five x marks in a row
The more you make, the more you learn

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Creating your own personal productivity system (iv)

A person sitting in front of a computer

November has been the personal productivity system (PPS) month. I hope you read the three preceding articles that cover what you need to design your own PPS. In case you didn’t you can find them here, here and here. I felt this series wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t share some of what I used for my own PPS. I believe there is no such thing as the perfect productivity app and encourage everyone to experiment until they find what works best for them. However, if you are curious about what I use, here you go:

A blank pushing an app button
Try to focus on the principles instead of the apps

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Creating your own personal productivity system (iii)

A person sitting in front of a computer

Last week, I wrote about the best ways to deal with a task, an event and a process. Processes are generally more complex and are made up of many tasks being performed by different people. In order to keep processes, running smoothly, you will need to deploy a task management system.

The ideal task management system consists of three things:

  1. A medium for capturing tasks
  2. A calendar for noting events
  3. A system that can handle processes

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