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.
On March 30th, I went to "Star Wars in Concert" in Antwerpen, Belgium. An Impressive StarWars event where a great symphonic orchestra plays the well known tunes from the Star Wars saga. All of it accompanied with a lot of scenes from all six of the movies, a great light show and this all narrated by Anthony Daniels (the voice of C-3PO)...
A few months ago I came across an advert of "Star Wars in Concert" on one of the online forums which I regularly visit. As a Star Wars and John Williams fan I was immediately interested in this event.
What is it? A music event? A movie? A musical? A classical recital? It has everything of the above but at the same time you can not say it is all of the above.
Is it a music event?
Yes; because it is clearly an on stage event in which a group of musicians give a music show.
No; because it doesn't give you the feel of a live on-stage music event as you probably have visited in the past
Is it a movie?
Yes; because it tells the "Star Wars" story from start (ep1) to finish (ep6).
No; because it doesn't give you the experience a movie gives. You could say you get the "bullet points" from the movie, but you are not enveloped in the story.
Is it a musical?
Yes; because you get a story told in a musical-ish format.
No; because it is not so in the way you expect a musical to be
Is it a classical recital?
Yes; because a grand orchestra plays the well known StarWars music.
No; because it is all amplified and presented in a grotesque and entertaining way which removes the clarity and fidelity a classical recital can give
So, what the hell is it?! I would say it is a superb experience of the StarWars classical music presented in a way that is entertaining for a broad group of people. It won't go to the extremes in either of the above, but the combination of them all make it an epic event which is, at some times, really breath taking! The interaction of music, video and light is amazing! Yes, it is StarWars and yes you probably have to be a Star Wars fan to really appreciate it all. But; WOW! It was a great experience! And I'm very glad I went too see it!!
So there aren't any downsides to this event?
Well, in my opinion, there is one downside. Because the show is "entertainment-driven" and it is presented to a large audience (aprox. 12.000 people) , the sound is amplified. This amplification has a negative influence on the music. Some parts (mostly trumpet parts) where less amplified and sounded great. But overall it can't be compared with the acoustics and clarity of sound which is produced at a classical recital. My hopes were just a tad higher.
But, to conclude, once I got passed this little downside (which was after about 10 minutes or so) the whole event can be concluded in 2 words: Totally Awesome!
If you're a fan of Star Wars and it's music, this is a Must See!
After a few day's cool down (christmas, new year's eve and a nice long weekend) we can plunge ourselves back into real life and into the new year!
I would like to wish everyone the very best for 2010! I hope everyone will have a great, healthy and prosperous year!
I am looking forward to hearing from all of you some time in the future!
You might recognise the problem. You have a close friend group and you do lots of things together. So when you go out, or go to the movies you decide that you'll pay something, and the others pay other stuff and you dont realy worry about the money. They are your friends, and you trust everyone, so, no biggy.
Now although this is true, the problem lies where you can't keep track of what you owe who, or who owes you what. And although you know it's okay, it just doesn't feel right. Especially when it concerns larger amounts. For example, you go on vacation as a group. Decide that everyone will pay amount X as a money stash for group activities. But you know it is a matter of time before the plan becomes a bust. Eventually someone forgot his card and could not make a withdrawl. The account was empty sooner than expected. Etc. etc. In the end person X has deposited €400 person Y €600 and peson z only €200 because of whatever reason.
Now I have, on multiple occasions, decided to make a nice little Excel sheet which can handle these kind of problems. You enter the money you have spent (its a friend case so you trust everyone supplies accurate numbers) of each of the members, and it calculates neatly what the average amount spent is, and you can see who owes what to whom. Further, if person Z afterwards gave person X some money for something else, it is handy that these numbers can be specified too. So it will always reflect who has already settled his debt and who hasn't. The biggest problem is you have to manually keep track of changes. If someone pays somebody (partially or full), and didnt notify me, I can't keep track of the changes. And so it is a matter of time before it is not accurate anymore so you can't rely on it.
Because I (we) have these problems. I'd think I'm not the only one! So I think about making some simple application which can handle these kinds of troubles. Attach a mail service to it so people can easyly be reminded of his debts or request for information. Combine this with some type of grouping of friends and you have a centralised application to handle all current and future money oweing problems without worrying about who paid who (or didnt).