Persistence Unlimited Personal Productivity Tips

Innovate, Optimize, Then Jettison Anything That Gets In The Way

If you are a techno-geek like me, you’ll enjoy the book The Masters of Doom by David Kushner.  It is book covering the biographies of John Carmack and John Romero, and of their company, id Software

It is an entertaining look at the creators of the game software series’ Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein 3D.  And as fun as it is to look at the way the team worked on building their games, there are some interesting work habits at play among the team.

One of Kushner’s quotes stuck out to me last night while I was reading

Carmack’s programming ideology: innovate, optimize, then jettison anything that gets in the way

I think it is an interesting quote to discuss.

When we talk about being more efficient in our work and more productive in our days what are we really aiming for?  I think we want more free time, more job satisfaction and enjoyment of our day to day lives.

In Carmack’s philosophy, I think he brilliantly points out that as we seek to be more efficient and more productive we are not only moving toward something (i.e. efficiency), We are also moving away from people and circumstances that get in our way.

In other words, while we chasing the Holy Grail of more productivity and efficiency.  Carmack suggests we seek to cut out the distractions, non-productive habits and time wasters that get in our way.

So being more productive means both seeking shorter and quicker actions as well as cutting the fat.  At least at work… We don’t want to go jettisoning our children off to orphanages or ignoring our friends because they aren’t bringing in a profit.

Considering Carmack was building Doom in the early nineties, I cannot help but be impressed by how forward thinking his programming was.  He knew back then that people were going to want things faster, more graphically intense and in their hands immediately.  And considering today’s “want it now” culture, that’s exactly what’s happened.

When you placed an order for a book back in 1992 you had to allow four to six weeks for delivery.  Now through Amazon if you’re a Kindle owner you can’t wait four to six minutes!  You want it now so Carmack’s vision of speed and efficiency by cutting the fat has paid off royally for him and his company.

The million dollar question is what obstacles can you cut out of your life?

I think it would be helpful to make a list of all of the distractions - a list of all of the things that get in the way of you being your very best.

Don’t deal with the list just yet… instead just concentrate on the list.  See if you can come up with 20 or 30 things that get in your way.  Once you have this list, keep it handy and see if you can eliminate some of them a little at a time.  But be careful, don’t spend a whole day getting rid of all obstacles that currently exist in your world.  That’s just an excuse to not do your best.  One or two today and one or two tomorrow and by the end of the month most of them will be gone.

If you are new to my blog, don't forget to get your free copy of the book 107 Goal Setting Breakthroughs. Thanks for visiting!

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6 More tips to get you in the zone…

Last week, I posted about how I get into the optimal productivity state of The Zone. A few of the comments contained some powerful tips we can use for a zone happy work day too.

The first two come from Mike Tee

A looming deadline works well too :-)

Another thing I found useful myself, esp for web workers is to work offline, without an Internet distraction. Even the smallest interruptions such as checking an email or responding to an IM can break the “zone concentration”.

Of Mike’s tips, I like the working offline best.

Working online always presents me with an opportunity to do something other than my work.  Answering an IM or e-Mail.  Googling the price on some new gadget…  Having the latest Flash, Ajax, Shockwave gadget blinking in the background.  These all interfere with The Zone.  Getting off the network prevents the interruptions to begin with.

Additionally, being offline can lead to quicker work.  There isn’t that gremlin in the back of your mind thinking about online adventures.  Or at least he’s quieted a bit.

Richard writes:

I also find that different times of day make entering “the zone” easier or harder. For example, for me, the first few hours after I get up are my most productive of all so this is the time I try to do my most important work.

I typically get up, head out for a run (helps to oxygenate my brain and boosts the results even further!) then I get home and start writing.

Emails, blog updates and all the other smaller stuff has to wait for a couple of hours until the biggest stuff is done.

Interestingly, different people seems to work best at different times so I would strongly suggest trying to get into the zone at various times of the day (or night!) to see what works best for you.

Finding your ideal time is one of the tips I’d rank at the top.  For morning people, trying to get in the zone right after lunch will be a train wreck waiting to happen.  It’s better to find the zone time right for you.  Think of a time in the past when you were in the zone.  What time of day was it?  Is it consistent with other days and times you’ve been in the zone?  If so, that’s probably your optimal time.

If you have any more you’d like to add click the comment button below and post away!

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The Harder You Try The Luckier You Get

I won a contest.

One of my favorite applications/sites Text2Go was holding a contest last month. I didn’t realize they were, but I won anyway. 

The rules were the person who used their new speech correction feature to correct the most words in the shared database won a prize.

You see, the new version of Text2Go has a cool new utility where you can correct the pronunciation of words for the TTS voices you use. It’s very fast and shares your corrections automatically.  This is very important if you want to understand the words that the speech engine is reading.

In my normal day-to-day use of the software, I compiled and corrected my own list of words all the time - I simply wanted better pronunciation from the voices.  Text2Go also allows you to upload your corrections to their server - it will also sync other people’s corrections to your library… which is an awesome enhancement.  Low and behold, I had more corrections than anyone.

So what did I win?

the prize was a pair of nice Sennheiser CX300 headphones that I can used with my iPod to listen to spoken word but  the music on my iPod. Here’s a picture FYI:

These are Bass enhanced noise isolating headphones. I did try them out this morning and they sound great. Also, they are very comfortable. 

So thank you Text2Go for not only a nice pair of phones but for a great product as well!

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