Plan your activities in blocks of time

Reading once again tips for being more productive, I found a good one from Amanda Mock. So, I would like to share with you her fifth tip from her post on dashburst.

I don’t know about you but I have often written out a to-do list in hopes of getting it all done. I have this fantasy in my head where like a productive machine I go through my day with my handy dandy to-do list, crossing each item off, accomplishing every last thing. All because I had a to-do list. But, fantasies aside, when I have barely finished half of my list at the end of a day, the harsh reality hits me: it just doesn’t work that way. The alternative I have found is to set blocks of time in my schedule, not for individual tasks, but for particular activities. 2 hours a day for working out, 2 hours a day for marketing my business, 3 hours a day for client work, and so on. Dividing my day into blocks allows me to focus on whole concepts or projects at a time. At the end of the day, I feel a sense of accomplishment I never used to experience when working off to-do lists. This sense of accomplishment keep me energized.

However, I tend to expand the hours working on tasks I prefer, and eventually minimize the time for the other activities. Finally, I try to put a priority to the tasks I deteste, just for keeping a balance.
How do you plan your activities and what kind of obstacles you encounter?

Adaptation

I don't know how many people are familiar with Ron Heifetz and his work on adaptive leadership, I guess a lot. In any case, I provide a link just to get you introduced or to remind you of this work.
adaptive leadership

Personally, I believe in this theory not only in the workplace but in everyday life as well. I do believe in the power of adaptation and I try as much as possible to expose myself in situations outside of my comfort zone. Actually, I don't try anymore. It has become a habit and every time I have to take a decision about what to do, I choose the one that I 'm not familiar with. Of course this doesn't mean that I take the right decision, but this is just me.

My sense after several years living like this is like not having a comfort zone at all. I can assure you that it is unsettling. However, I can't stop it. It seems impossible for me to "feel like home". I have no close friends anymore and I face problems in my relationship, since my emotional situation constantly changes. There is not this magic place where I can go and relax and feel secure. This insecurity (created by me) is apparent to my girlfriend, and eventually she feels insecure too. Sadly, I still don't want to stop. In my way of view, people should never stop trying to develop themselves. In my mind, there is always a "what-if" scenario. I constantly try to stretch myself to uncomfortable situations. I want to explore my limits and I always find that I can do something more. So, how can I stop it knowing that there is more? That wouldn't be me.

I was always complaining that there is nothing interesting enough to fascinate me. I was always jealous of my sister (and people like her) who knew that she wants to be a doctor since she was five years old. I never had such a commitment to something.Now, I realize that I have. I am committed to adaptation.

Finally, in an attempt to get some feedback from my actions, I think that I should not share my feelings from this journey. Maybe I should just share the experiences and results.

A culture killing-lesson!

In relation to my previous post, I would like to remind you a post by Jack Welch, the famous CEO, about the importance of corporate culture.

http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/04/12/goldman-sachs-culture-values/

A great HBR article on organizational culture

Should a company fire a great talent that doesn't fit in with its culture? Check this out!

http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/hbreditors/2012/12/zero_dark_thirty_and_corporate.html?utm_campaign=Socialflow&utm_source=Socialflow&utm_medium=Tweet

Ineffective team building

Team building activities give the opportunity to collegues to get to know one another better. In this way, cooperation becomes easier and employees feel more comfortable. The main difficulty in such activities is to persuade people to participate. For this reason, many companies choose something easy to realize such as dinner at a restaurant. It is considered that as long as they participate, the results are positive and the company is benefited. However, is this always true?

In my opinion, most of the times team building activities have something positive to offer. But there is a possibility that a deeper knowledge of a colleague's personality harms communication. Indeed, while communication in work lies within a context familiar to anyone, communication in a restaurant is almost free. As a result, some of the participants  may not be able to get along with. For example, introverts may feel outshined by extroverts who rule the discussion. Or some others may find that they just don't fit in this environment, while they don't face any problem at work.

Recently I had a discussion with a friend who found a new job and he was sharing his experience with me. He told me that he cooperates really nice at work with his colleagues, but, listening to some of them talking outside of the workplace, he felt "disgusted" (that's the word he used) by their way of thinking.

I am sure that such an experience cannot be a serious obstacle in the way they work. On the other hand, it creates a sense of distrust which can be harmful in the long run.

Since trust is essential in leadership development, team leaders should take actions in advance, and protect the framework of communication in team building activities, as long as it is possible. And it is very crucial that they don't make their colleagues feel uncomfortable with their behaviour.Even outside of the workplace, they should stick to the rules of communication. Besides, a leader communicates constantly!

Unusual facts!

In Greece, many married couples with children decide to take a divorce, so that their children would be accepted to a kindergarden!

Moral numbers

Nowadays that economy struggles, managers and governors have to watch every detail in their data. Everything seems to be number-driven. My question is if this "numberocracy" has a limit. Is there any context out of which one can't use numbers and indexes?
For example, it would be useful for our economy to kill pensioners. Of course, noone would dare such a thing. But, where is that limit when we stop deciding upon numbers and we take into consideration other factors?