Yo guys, back with another Time Management technique. This is going to be a bit of a doozy of a post, and I've accepted that most people aren't going to read the whole thing, but those who do are in for a treat! Also, my next post won't be for another few weeks since I'll be traveling around Japan for Spring Break. No, I don't plan on hitting up many beaches, but perhaps a ski slope or arcade or two.
In the last couple of months I've shown you how to organize your week and daily commitments with the unschedule, and attack your projects in the present moment by continuously starting with timeboxing. This, my friends, is the micro-view of time management, if you will. While these are great techniques, in the wrong hands they can be ABUSED for evil purposes. You don't want to abuse my poor children, do you? If in timeboxing you end up focusing on the nitty-gritty, nose-to-the-grindstone work, it may look productive but its actually just busywork to occupy your mind. It's not consulting with the overall project blueprint, and that's one thing that leads to workaholism - constant work without regard to priorities or direction.
Today, I want to discuss what I'm going to call the "macro-view" of time management, one of the missing links to efficient and assured goal success. I'm especially excited about this technique, because while it's partly made up of ideas that were borrowed, infringed, and created through reading about this kind of thing (especially from a book I just read called Awaken Your Strongest Self by Neil Fiore, same dude who wrote Now Habit), what I'm going to show you is something I came up with initially from scratch. "This" can be used for anything from learning Japanese to studying for tests, to losing weight. I've used it for all three of these purposes before (and in fact mentioned it when I was studing for the GREs last April), but if it's a goal you can dream of then the possibilities are endless.
But before I unveil the finished project to the world, let me talk about the philosophy behind it. The other day (literally) I came up with 3 basic principles to ensure goal success, and I found they fit quite nicely with this technique that I've been using for the past year and a half. Sweet.
In the last couple of months I've shown you how to organize your week and daily commitments with the unschedule, and attack your projects in the present moment by continuously starting with timeboxing. This, my friends, is the micro-view of time management, if you will. While these are great techniques, in the wrong hands they can be ABUSED for evil purposes. You don't want to abuse my poor children, do you? If in timeboxing you end up focusing on the nitty-gritty, nose-to-the-grindstone work, it may look productive but its actually just busywork to occupy your mind. It's not consulting with the overall project blueprint, and that's one thing that leads to workaholism - constant work without regard to priorities or direction.
Today, I want to discuss what I'm going to call the "macro-view" of time management, one of the missing links to efficient and assured goal success. I'm especially excited about this technique, because while it's partly made up of ideas that were borrowed, infringed, and created through reading about this kind of thing (especially from a book I just read called Awaken Your Strongest Self by Neil Fiore, same dude who wrote Now Habit), what I'm going to show you is something I came up with initially from scratch. "This" can be used for anything from learning Japanese to studying for tests, to losing weight. I've used it for all three of these purposes before (and in fact mentioned it when I was studing for the GREs last April), but if it's a goal you can dream of then the possibilities are endless.
But before I unveil the finished project to the world, let me talk about the philosophy behind it. The other day (literally) I came up with 3 basic principles to ensure goal success, and I found they fit quite nicely with this technique that I've been using for the past year and a half. Sweet.
- Confidence. From the outset, you not only believe you will succeed, that you'll become fluent in Japanese, but you KNOW you will. It's not even a question, you've made up your mind. It's only a matter of carrying it out. You don't need to be overflowing with motivation or all-knowing about how you'll do it, you just need to consciously choose the goal and be confident of your success.
- Direction. You should be able to feel the effects of your goal progress every. single. day. I'm talking in-your-face seeing, feeling, and tasting some part of the distant reward, living as if you've already achieved your goal. There's no way you could forget it's there. By going a step further and quantifying your progress, you can clearly see that you are better off today than you were yesterday, no matter how small, minute, or seemingly insignificant the progress seems. Even if it isn't measurable, feeling yourself (compared to the you yesterday, not to the people around you) going in an upward direction will bring you far.
- Enjoyment. Lastly, and most important, you are enjoying the everyday small progress actions that relate to your goal. It's just fun to do, you might do it anyway without even knowing that its bringing you closer to success. So forget about the future, distant goal and immerse yourself in the enjoyment.
"In the game of habit change, an immediate reward always wins over a distant and indefinite reward." -Neil Fiore
I've come to believe that if these three elements are in place, no matter what method you choose it's only a matter of time before you realize your goal. How much time depends on the person and the efficiency of your method. If you're missing one or more of the three, it may still be possible to reach your goal but your chances of succeeding drastically decrease. That road may take much longer and be much more painful than it has to be. Do you want to waste that kind of precious time in life? PLEASE NOTE: these aren't principles in the sense that if you don't follow them I'll disown you like I did my last two children. These are general guidelines that seem to work but are open to experimentation and fluctuation.
Now let's take a look at my Goal Calendar for learning Japanese, shall we?
English version
日本語 version
From here on out, things will go a lot smoother if you download the templates and mess around with them as I explain it. Here are the files:
- Goal schedule xls (English)
- Goal schedule xls (Japanese)
Unlike the weekly unschedule, I HIGHLY encourage you to try your hand at putting this together yourself in Excel. It's not that difficult once you get the hang of typing, copying, and pasting, but if you insist on a PDF version to write it in by hand here it is:
- Goal schedule pdf (English)
- Goal schedule pdf (Japanese)
Then again, if you're going to write in all those days of the week by hand, might as well just write out all your flash cards on paper while you're at it!! What year is this?! Does the internet still make that dialing noise when booting up?
Defining Your Goal
Our first objective is to define our goal. This is perhaps dually the most difficult as well as the most imperative part of the process. If you don't know where the finish line is, how can you expect to run towards it? So we are defining our goal in a way that's clear and measurable (see principle #2 above), and gives us some hint about what we need to do.
For example, your goal measurement isn't "to be thin," it's "to be 160 pounds" (don't give me that face!). It's not "to pass the test with an A," it's something much more in your control like "to replicate and master (using an SRS perhaps?) 500 test questions I'd normally have trouble with." It's not "to become fluent in Japanese," it's "to learn 2042 kanji (at first, anyway ~_^)."
Like I said, this can get difficult. And not all goals are going to have a single, straightforward goal measurement; you may end up working towards multiple measurements in one goal calendar, or creating multiple goal calendars to be used in succession. Any goal or project you can think of can be broken down into skills. Skills can be measured, and pro mad skillz we're aiming for can be placed at the peak of the graph. You can even use time as your goal measurement. Luckily, there's a formula to be the best - just invest 600,000 minutes (or 10,000 hours), and you'll be a world class musician, computer programmer, comic book artist, or whatever you want. If there's anything beyond that, you'll know what to do when you get there.
Creating Your Time Frame
Now we need a deadline for our goal. If you have a big test, event, or trip coming up that you're working towards, then use that date. Don't worry if you don't have a particular date in mind, just make a rough estimate and you can change it later since we're only working with 6 months at a time. If you're going for 10,000 hours, I'd choose a date about 10 years from now. ~_^ Write that deadline date in the bottom right after "End / 終わり."
Our birthline (get it?) will be set for about 2 weeks from now. Leading up to that point, your objective is to observe and motivate yourself. Without trying to change anything, simply observe your normal behavior and record your problematic symptoms (those behaviors inconsistent with your goal and high vision). Decide whether you really want to commit yourself to this goal, and give yourself the option not to, otherwise you haven't really chosen it. Read articles about your goal, make a public commitment, and talk with people about it to build up motivation. You can also use the time to make this goal schedule, so go ahead and put in that birthline date after "Start / 始め."
Let's do some simple math. First, count the number of days between your birthline and your deadline. That's right, all of them. This is your total time.
But doing this every single day sounds like a drag, huh? If you're following principle #3 it's not going to feel like work, but alright tell you what: you can take off one day a week. So find [total time - (total time / 7)], and this is your progress time.
I'll take you one further. If you can maintain your habit for 6 days (and not even continuously, AM I CRAZY?!) you can add a point to the "Non-H / 不習慣" box beside the +. When you accumulate these points, you can use them to take off a "non-habit / 不習慣" day in addition to your one day off a week. "A break / 休憩?!" No, no, no... this isn't a break, everyday is going to feel like a break ("Does this really count as work?" Yes, add it to your hours in your weekly unschedule). But even so, you should reward yourself for taking a step in the right direction toward goal success. When/if you take this "non-habit / 不習慣" day, don't forget to write a point beside the - box, and try to keep the + and - points about even. Find [progress time - (progress time / 6)], and you will have your action time.
Back-Time Schedule
Now I'm going to walk you through creating a "back-timing" schedule that goes from the deadline back to the birthline's starting point. This is the general goal blueprint.
I'll leave the details of your goal measurement up to you. A certain number of hours? A certain number of cards in your SRS? A certain weight and particular body sizes? A certain number of kanji or vocabulary words? A combination of the above? Whatever your ultimate goes is, write it now at the bottom of the calendar after "Goal / ゴール." Once again, this is your goal measurement.
Can you guess what's coming next? If you're planning this over years then do this -> goal measurement / # of years (for ex. 2 yrs, 1.5 yrs, 3.25 yrs), and write the answer after "Annually / 毎年." Cut that number in half and write it after "Biannually / 半年." Divide that into 6 and write it after "Monthly / 毎月." Now go back and get the number from your action time. Do this -> goal measurement / action time, and write the answer after "Daily / 毎日." Multiple that by 6 and write that answer after "Weekly / 毎週." I know, this sounds all over the place but just trust me. haha
Implementation
You're almost done! Man, I'm tired.
Once you decide on your goal, deadline, and daily actions, you should give some thought to your action plans:
- When will you work on it?
- Where will you work on it?
- How will you work on it?
You have those 2 weeks to think about these plans. Also, make a commitment for what you can do RIGHT NOW (once the birthline hits). Reviewing 5 minutes in your SRS? Learning one kanji? Doing 10 pushups? Write it after "Right Now / 只今." This is where it's at, we've come full circle back to the micro-view with timeboxing in the now.
Now print the sucka out and post it on your wall next to your unschedule.
At the top of the first month that you're starting, after "Left / 残り" write the number of months (including that one) remaining in your project. In the space under the month, write the measurement you entered after "Monthly / 毎月." This is your goal for the month (assuming you're starting from absolute scratch). For each day, you will record your progress according to the "Completed? / 出来た？" key in the bottom left. It's not just check or no-check - it's check or why-aren't-you-checking-me-fool, so you can test yourself and make adjustments as you're going. Under the "Now / 今" and "Total / 合計" rows, you can write in your current progress. After you write the "Total / 合計," subtract that from the "Goal / ゴール," and then go to the top of the next month and divide that answer by the number of months "Left / 残り." If you add what you get to your "Total / 合計," then you have your goal for next month. Yee-haw.
Your finished products should look something like this:
Psychology GRE
General GREs
日本語
Alright guys, try it out before you bash it too hard. Experiment, revise, and personalize - man, that could be my catch-phrase or something, sounds slick. I also recommend only doing one at time until you get really comfortable with it and it becomes a habit, then if you really want you can try two at a time. This concludes the time management posts that I had been planning, so I'll be focusing on some other stuff in the future.
Once you make your goal calendar, put all your focus and concentration on the action you can do today, the action you can do NOW, which is always the most important action. Tomorrow you'll be grateful you started this yesterday, making it easier for yourself today.
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