Job and life of a geek with attention problems

foboss January 3, 2013 at 09:31

Job and life of a geek with attention problems

Everyone is brilliant. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb trees,
it will live its whole life with faith in its stupidity.

Albert Einstein

Laziness is a habit of resting before you get tired.

Jules Renard

Problems with concentration? Is external influence confusing? Does everything seem to collapse? Can't remember things? There is an exit. To make everything normal, you just need a little help. We must accept ourselves and learn how to live with it.

You can drastically reduce the number of problems by sticking to the following recommendations:

Keep in your head no more than three to five things at a time, combining actions into large semantic blocks.
Once and for all, choose a solution for a daily set of little things: add things to the calendar, check the iron, etc.
Arrange all things in their places and maintain routine.
Duplicate necessary and frequently used things; spread them out in all corners.
Skillfully use the calendar, mobile phone and other tools of the Internet century.
And most importantly: DO NOT BE DISTURBED BY Trivia!

1) Combining actions

It is necessary to strive to operate with only three to five objects at a time. For this, it is necessary to combine small objects and actions into semantic blocks, and they, in turn, into larger ones, etc. The fact is that human memory is finite. For most people, the amount of RAM is 3-5, less often 7 semantic units. If you exceed this "magic" number, it becomes bad. You can even go for a little trick and try to squeeze the number of objects to two or three, leaving as much space as possible for external stimuli. In this case, the risk of being distracted to such an extent as to forget something important is minimal.

Examples of semantic blocks and their possible enlargement:

Backpack + folder, keys + wallet, documents, umbrellas + jackets + raincoats.
Paper / Ticket / Document / Notepad -> Folder -> Backpack
Card / SNILS / VU / PASSPORT -> Lopatnik -> Backpack
Car, Garage, Gate, House, Flash Drive -> Keychain in your pocket

The same principle must be used in the virtual sphere - no more than 3 colors in the calendar, no more than 3 smart folders in the mail. If there are more, then it’s badly broken. It is possible and necessary to enlarge.

In order not to overload the combined ligaments with unnecessary objects, they can be broken down according to the place of application or action. For example: car, hiking, business trip, etc. Thus, it is logical to have two ligaments, each of which contains a partially intersecting set of objects, but intended for a specific purpose.

The main thing is that the total number of simultaneously used blocks is from three to five pieces. It’s hard to fit more in your head, but you still have to leave a place on the outside world.

This rule works great because exploits the features of the functioning of short-term human memory.

2) One-time choice for frequently repeated, minor and minor actions

We will use the advice from the book of T. Limoncelli: for all minor actions that take mental effort every day, a decision must be made once and for all. If you decide for yourself what to do in the selected situations, firstly, you will free up time to think about something more important, and secondly, the number of mistakes will be reduced. It will not be difficult to always put things on the calendar, check the iron before leaving the house, etc. It is not worth it to spend energy on daily thoughts about an umbrella or a diary.

Let us consider in more detail several life situations on the example of how I solve them.

In order not to suffer without an umbrella in the pouring rain, I solved the problem by simultaneously placing umbrellas at home, in the car and at work. The only and mandatory task in this case is the indispensable return of the item to its original place after use. Note that there is no more choice, there are mistakes too. No more guessing on the weather forecast.
To take or not to take an iPad? Take! It will not be superfluous even if it is not useful.
To enter or not to add any trifle to the calendar, hoping for memory? Make sure to enter! Do not overestimate yourself, the extra 3 minutes of poking into the smartphone will then be reimbursed a hundredfold. And, again, the head is completely free.
Should I put the document / file in Dropbox or leave it locally? Be sure to put it! It’s very “fun”, rushing off for 900 kilometers, to suddenly discover that a USB flash drive with a dissertation lies peacefully at home on a table by the mirror. Dropbox is power.
Should I start a timer if I need to do something in the near future? Definitely yes! And milk will not run away, and the chief will not forget to call back.
Do not answer phone calls while driving. Quite quite. The only exception is such a boring and unimaginably long traffic jam, in which you can not only manage to solve all the problems, but also watch a couple of Dr. House series.

The combination described in claim 1 also greatly contributes to a single selection. For example, you don’t have to think about what to bring with you if, for example, there is a house, a car with a garage, and a flash drive on a keychain.

3) Everything has its place

Work at the table, eat in the kitchen, sleep in bed. The same applies to the location of things - after determining places for objects, it is necessary to develop the habit of constantly supporting them. Over time, the body gets used to a certain environment and turns itself on to familiar stimuli. Do not rely on your memory and then feverishly turn everything around when you suddenly need it. Did you see something out of place? Immediately got up and put where it should.

Stress and insomnia books strongly advise against using the bed as a place to eat and work. This is necessary so that the body can relax in a familiar, proven nest.

By the way! If an idea came up that was not suitable for the location (for example, a working question at home and vice versa), it’s nice to outline this business in Evernote, which you open both there and there. Practice has shown that, for example, a thought comes to me in the same place, therefore, incidents are possible - at work you are planning to do something at home, at home you plan what to do at work, and in the end, you do something else there and there, remembering plans only at the end of the day. To-do lists easily tear this vicious circle.

4) Duplication

In order to conveniently operate with blocks, some objects can be duplicated between them. This is necessary to optimize the number of large blocks used to solve everyday tasks. If there is a chance to forget an item, it is best to try to make it so that it is always at hand. This is easy to achieve by spreading identical objects in different corners.

How I do it:

Three umbrellas: at home, in the car and at work. It is rather difficult to be taken by surprise in such a situation.
The keys to the house - both in the wallet and in the car bundle: going for a walk you take the wallet, into the car - your keys and you will never find yourself in front of a locked door.
Glasses at home, in a backpack and in a pair in the car (dark / light). It is rather unpleasant for the “bespectacled man” to be driving or in an unfamiliar environment in a state of “permanent boke”.
The timer in the computer, in the wristwatch and, at the same time, a separate mechanical in the kitchen. How people do without them at all, I don’t understand!
Dropbox + Evernote at home, at work, tablet and smartphone - no need to think about manual synchronization of files and notes between sites and on trips.

Nothing will be forgotten, nothing will be lost.

5) Technical assistants

All cases and reminders for more than an hour later should be reflected in the calendar . You can see the free days, you can decide when and what to do. You never need to keep in mind a ton of things when there is a great helper for this. And if you enter in the calendar not only plans, but also ex-post work done, then, if necessary, you can easily draw up the necessary reports on the work done up to an hour.

Need to call a person on Friday at 11.15 in the morning after 2 years? No problems! As Pyotr Didenko said, those who understand the chip with calendars always mock those who are not yet.

Evernote is an ingenious invention and an indispensable assistant in all types of structuring and storage of information. Well, yes, a lot has been written about him separately.

Wikiconvenient to use to describe work processes. Firstly, it allows in which case to escape from the case and return to it again after a while. Though distracted there is a fierce evil, but in IT work it happens, unfortunately, all the time. Secondly, in the event that several people work on a task, the Wiki automatically becomes a teamwork tool: you can see who is doing what, who has what difficulties, on the discussion pages you can conduct discussions on tasks, attach files and that's it. At the same time, the documentation itself is collected as a bonus.

Mobile phonefor a person of the 21st century, in fact, the same thing as a church cathedral for a medieval townsman. It is a window to the world, a central place in the system of values and just a mass of opportunities. With proper setup, the phone is able to make life easier for its owner.

It’s logical to use technical “chips” at 100%. In all contacts, it is necessary to fill in the names, surnames, positions and photos as soon as possible. Otherwise, why was it bought? It is worth refraining from nicknames, avatars and contacts of difficult fate like "123 to call back." It will be nice at night if the phone itself mutes the sound and only misses important calls. It is convenient to pre-prepare a set of SMS templates for typical situations so as not to waste time on repetitive messages.

If among colleagues there are especially talented and annoying personalities, instead of a ringtone, you can set the sound of silence on them - it won’t hurt the rest, but they will switch their attention to these friends when there really is an opportunity, and not a hundred times a day. It is necessary to automatically synchronize the calendar with a PC or Cloud. For owners of modern smartphones, this advice seems trite, but back in 2007 it was not so easy to organize for ordinary phones.

6) DO NOT BE DISTURBED!

We must learn not to succumb to external influences and work without deviating from the intended goal. It is necessary to get rid of all unnecessary irritants, which imperceptibly, but rather densely shrouded our attention.

First of all, you should try to abandon ICQ, Jabber, Skype, pop-up Growl notifiers. Make it a rule to check e-mail at a convenient schedule, and not by notification of a notifier. Notifications do not particularly speed up the speed of solving the issue, most often they are confusing, arriving at the wrong time. If you need to chat in real time, you can always agree by mail and allocate a specific time on the calendar.

Then you need to disconnect the second phone and (or) the second line. There is little use, but the problems are a wagon and a small cart. What is the use of solving an important question to find out what else is ringing? Nerves and extra money will be spent, the conversation will be delayed, the subscriber from that side will also be nervous. Ignoring the signal from the second line does not look good on the part of the caller. An unanswered call is psychologically harder than a setback failure. The second line - out of sight, out of mind!

The cons of the approach can be boldly attributed to the completely absent in some people culture of elementary planning. Mobile technologies do not fix, but rather exacerbate this phenomenon. Everything becomes firmly tied to the instantaneous availability of a remote subscriber. If it is Suddenly impossible to get through or hear the answer online, a lot of people trite into a stupor.

For example, I always, if I can’t get through to a person on an urgent matter, immediately duplicate the question by SMS and, if possible, by e-mail. Excellent results are achieved in 99.9% of cases. Either call back or resolve the issue and call back.

TV, RSS feeds - safely in the trash! You need to leave only the right. You should read all sorts of sites only when there is time. Is it inconvenient to scroll through 100500 sites without a reader? My friend, do you spend too much time reading slag?

For those who can not imagine life without aggregators, T. Limoncelli’s book has excellent advice: every month you should definitely unsubscribe from one rss-mailing, usenet-group or email-mailing. Choose the most unnecessary from the general list and get rid. This will keep only relevant things.

Conclusion

Summarize the above. If you keep in mind no more than three to five things at a time, then the risk of being distracted and forgetting something is small. You shouldn’t play on trifles and think about whether to add things to the calendar, whether to use dropbox, etc. It is necessary to make a decision once and for all and not hesitate to follow it as a ritual. It would be nice to put all things in their places and maintain order. It will be especially good if frequently used and necessary items are multiplied and laid out in all possible places both at home and at work. Use the calendar! It would be nice to keep your mobile phone in order: do not keep garbage contacts, fill out photos, posts and addresses, synchronize with the cloud. Do not be distracted by trifles - do not become a slave to notifiers and informers.

Job and life of a geek with attention problems