Mark's Blog A developers point of view

Stop being lived and live!

A while ago when I was working on a Freelance project for Fabrique I noticed that Martijn (former colleague, college companion and friend) was reading "The 4-hour Workweek" (by Timothy Ferris). As I was intrigued by the title I asked what it is about.  As he explained I was immediately intrigued by it. In a few simple words I would explain it as: "Eliminate all (often boring) non-essential work things and instead do things you like".

There are probably a lot of people who have read books like "Getting Things Done", and alike, which aim to be more effective at work and become more productive. Although these books all have valid points and are all a way to be more effective, most of these books aim for the 'wrong' goal.  These books aim to be more productive/effective so that you can do more work and make your boss happy. But this book turns it around and says: "Be more productive so you can do your work in less time and have more spare time!". Now that's a way to get someone motivated! Be more effective/efficient and in return you have more spare time to do whatever you like! The book just takes about every point made in all those other books, but converts them into a profit for You, the reader. Not your boss or your company! And this is why this book gives you the feeling you already know the points made and yet be totally different!

The fun part about the book is that you can implement the ideas as you are reading them. When you're not reading, you are contemplating on where you can apply the things you have just read... And it pays off instantly! Just a few of those simple things; Email is a distracting medium. Yet everybody believes it is crucial to your work, so you have it running in the background. But the fun part is. It almost never is actually crucial! Tim explains he only reads his email 1 time a week! Now that's ridiculous for us mere mortals. So he suggests an alternative (I don't know if he actually does, but I do this now on a daily basis and if it is not in the book I based it on his theory) you open your email client just twice a day. One time at 12:00 and one time at 17:00 and try and stick to it. And while you're at it, create a mind block for yourself that you don't open any 'fun' web pages as well and close your instant messaging apps.

With the mailbox closed, no fun pages open in the background, and no IM, there is nothing that can disturb you in your work. Your work gets a speed boost, and before you know it you have your daily tasks 75% complete by the time it is 12:00! Now you open your mailbox, check your mail, and respond to the mail. In the first day I applied this technique, I realized that the important mails could be counted on just one hand. And no one was mad about the fact that I replied passed 12:00.  And of course, there are moments you need your mail client before 12:00, say when you work on something and you receive the data needed to continue working, these are exceptions. Not the rule! And in these cases it is fine to open your client.

After lunch I continued my work and was done at about 15:00. Then I picked up "The 4-hour Workweek" again and continued reading till 17:00 or so. Had diner, and I had a whole evening to do whatever I wanted.

So the result after this little experiment?

• A highly efficient morning where I had completed 75% of what I had planned to do for the day.
• A great feeling of accomplishment for the day (which in turn makes you motivated and more productive)
• Done working at 15:00 (instead of 17:00)
• Had time to read the book
• Still had time to do relaxing things in the evening

You can see I was actually able to step back from work and live like I want to instead of the continuous stream of tasks and chores which feels like it takes forever and gobbles up your entire day. And after you're done working, it still feels like you haven't done anything useful. I felt liberated and alive!

So to conclude, what's great about being this efficient is that you can get all the time you need for yourself. You can do whatever you want and keep your boss, or clients happy! Just make sure you do your work as efficient as possible and you'll find out you receive a lot of extra time in return to live again.

For the people reading this, I try you suggest this little experiment as well. If it works, I would suggest you buy the book and read it!

Leave me a comment if you tried and/or what you thought of it.