Re-Posted from my blog Business CoFounder
I read a very interesting post the other day by Tony Schwartz, founder of the Energy Project, called ‘Take back your life in seven Simple Steps.’ First of all, let me say that the steps look simple, but implementing them is anything but simple.
The part that stood out to me was the description of what he called ‘Insecurity Work.’ Insecurity work is the ‘check in’ work we do everything every day - work that gives us an instant sense of progress, but does not contribute to the achievement of our goals. Examples:
- Check email - wow, 7 new messages. I must be important!
- Check Klout score - man, I am super influential
- Check Google Analytics - wow, 30% increase in day over day hits on my blog
This work needs to get done. But it need not interrupt us all the time. The video below has some excellent tips by Scott Belsky, the creator of the term, and author of ‘Making Ideas Happen.’ Simply be aware of when you are doing it, compartmentalize it, and batch it so that you are doing all this work together, in a 30-minute time when your energy is too low to do other, more productive work.
Sounds simple - but isn’t. It is much easier to do work that provides instant gratification, and much harder to put it off. But being aware of when it happens, and working slowly in the direction of changing things is a start.
I am personally working on this with the use of tools such as StayFocusd and LeechBlock that automatically block, or limit activities such as Facebook, personal email checks etc. So wish me luck!
I read a very interesting post the other day by Tony Schwartz, founder of the Energy Project, called ‘Take back your life in seven Simple Steps.’ First of all, let me say that the steps look simple, but implementing them is anything but simple.
The part that stood out to me was the description of what he called ‘Insecurity Work.’ Insecurity work is the ‘check in’ work we do everything every day - work that gives us an instant sense of progress, but does not contribute to the achievement of our goals. Examples:
- Check email - wow, 7 new messages. I must be important!
- Check Klout score - man, I am super influential
- Check Google Analytics - wow, 30% increase in day over day hits on my blog
This work needs to get done. But it need not interrupt us all the time. The video below has some excellent tips by Scott Belsky, the creator of the term, and author of ‘Making Ideas Happen.’ Simply be aware of when you are doing it, compartmentalize it, and batch it so that you are doing all this work together, in a 30-minute time when your energy is too low to do other, more productive work.
Sounds simple - but isn’t. It is much easier to do work that provides instant gratification, and much harder to put it off. But being aware of when it happens, and working slowly in the direction of changing things is a start.
I am personally working on this with the use of tools such as StayFocusd and LeechBlock that automatically block, or limit activities such as Facebook, personal email checks etc. So wish me luck!
