The Consumerist: Attaining more success could be simply a matter of tweaking your daily routines to make yourself more productive. By making better use of downtime and taking steps to avoid distractions, you may surprise yourself with how much you can accomplish.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Habits To Take On To Become An Overachiever
The Consumerist: Attaining more success could be simply a matter of tweaking your daily routines to make yourself more productive. By making better use of downtime and taking steps to avoid distractions, you may surprise yourself with how much you can accomplish.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
16 comments:
Waking up early seems like a no brainer and is often suggested on these types of articles. It is something I have struggles with for a very long time and my snooze addiction is a habit I want to kick. With everything going on in the school of drama it can be difficult to make time for sleep much less wake up early, i have tried every trick in the book but I still get tired easily and it is hard for me to stick to a regimented schedule. I did some reasearch, being inspired by this article and I think i am going to try yet another trick and we will see how well it goes.
These seem like useful tips, though it's hardly news. As I feel about most of these types of articles, I'm wary of the nature of their advice. I acknowledge that getting up waking up early, keeping on top of the news, and asking for help are all incredibly helpful and can set you ahead. Doing these won't just make someone an overachiever though. It's more complicated than that. Those are just good habits, they could, but probably won't change someone's ambition or work ethic. These are just mislabeled general tips to be slightly more successful. There's no quick recipe to "overachieving."
I agree that this article is nothing new but I am constantly surprised by the fact that if I don't hit snooze I get more done and ultimately feel better. We had a speaker last year that repeated a quote someone else had told him which was "when you wake up, get up" which I have tried to use as a mantra. It's all about finding the way that works for you to be able to succeed.
Since a vast majority of our business is done in collaboration the suggestion of getting up early so that you avoid the distractions of others bothering you seems to be less than a valid statement. Especially for those of us who do not have keys to some of our primary work areas we can not make considerable headway on projects by getting up early. It is nice to get up early but if it is impossible to schedule getting home and to sleep for a reasonable hour it is useless and ultimately self defeating. When sleep deprived you are less efficient and making yourself get up early will not help at all.
I have had a huge problem waking up recently. I have noticed that when I am able to wake up before others, I am more productive than when I stay up late nights working with others distracting me. Also, with classes beginning so early, it's difficult to get up any earlier than necessary. And on weekends it's tempting to get more sleep in order to be able to go out at night or just burn out less. All excuses aside, I know it is a good idea, but it is something that has become very difficult for me recently. The other tips seem useful as well, although they apply less to my life at the moment. Keeping up with the news can be an issue, but I don't think it greatly effects my efficiency. There are other things that I have read about for setting people ahead of others, and would have enjoyed this article more if more information was included.
Early or late, it is important to find some time to work when it is quiet and there are no interruptions. I found nothing else particularly helpful in this article. The hand written notes are only useful if they are sincere. Simply writing notes to write notes is counter productive. Most important in being productive is to love your work, something that is sometimes even more difficult than waking up early after going to bed late.
While I agree with the general idea of waking up early to get work done without interruptions, I have a problem when the assumption is that you have to get up early to do it and that if you stay up late you're doing something wrong. Assuming that you need about 7 hours to sleep each night leaves you with about 17 to do other things. If you decide to get up at 6 AM and work in the morning then you're looked at as normal, but if you are more comfortable getting up and noon and working until 5 AM you're assumed to be leaving things to the last minute, even if that's your regular schedule. I have to force myself to get these comments in by 2 AM even though I'm usually going to be up for hours after that because that's when I go to bed, I enjoy the quiet of the late night, it makes even early mornings look busy.
Not sure i agree with this one. It may work for someone at carnegie mellon who is taking like 25 units, but not us. or me. waking up earlier than i already do would be unhealthy. some of these parts of this article seem that the author applied common sense to life and then stuck a title on top of it. -in response though... sometimes i need downtime where im not working. to go from 9am to 11pm without stopping is stupid.. and i as a human deserve an hour of doing nothing in order to regroup.
We're supposed to wake up early so our friends won't be on AIM or Facebook to bother us? Um, how about kicking the habit of allowing ourselves to be distracted by those things, and learning to get off of facebook or even turn off our internet connection when extreme focus is necessary.
Also, if being an "overachiever" means that we don't get enough sleep, don't eat right, or sacrifice a social life we could have had, then our life isn't balanced and I don't think it's a good thing to do. Success isn't everything. Working as much as you can and being the best doesn't really mean all that much if it's all you do, or how you value yourself.
You have to take 36 units to be full time. Nobody taking like 25 units.
These are good tips to becoming an overachiever, but they seem a bit too basic and not quite enough to fulfill this goal of overachieving. This article seems like a good rough draft of helpful tips, but it seems too short and undeveloped to really be of much help to anyone. Of course it is important to keep up with what is happening in the world and to receive help when needed, but waking up early is just one of many tasks that are good additions to a life that can lead to over achievement.
I think all of these tips are great, but I don't know if its necessarily a good thing to be an overachiever. Being an overachiever will stress you out and often means you are spending all of your time trying to above in everything. Its spreading yourself too thin. I would rather excel in one or two areas in particular then attempt to be great at many area's. That way i have a less change at making a mistake and have less stress.
One of the most important things I learned in freshman year (and am still working at, in fact...) is NOT to be a perfectionist. You don't have the time, and you will make yourself ill trying to do everything at 110%. Granted, being an over-achiever is slightly different than being a perfectionist, but having "Overachiever" in the title gives the article immediate negative connotations.
Now...about the actual content of the article. If there were only three guiding principles about how to be a more successful individual (and worker), I do not believe they would be the three listed items. It is very telling that The Consumerist is listing these three items, because they aren't very thoughtful suggestions. Its three quick tips to (maybe) be more successful, instead of three thoughtful principles about what you can do as an individual to become more productive and successful in your life.
I am a huge fan of waking up early. It's hard to wake up earlier than I need to when I have early morning classes, but when I wake up early on days that I don't have to, I feel like that's when I get my best work done. Having a clear head in the morning without the baggage that you accumulate through out the day helps a lot when it comes to being able to sit down and get things done. I also feel like reading the news is a great way to be more productive. Every time that I read the news I learn something new or my view on things change, even if just a little bit.
I always wonder why so many self-help articles repeat the same, obvious strategies. If someone else had already given this tip, can't an article come up with something else?
However, these tips are useful. Maintaining a schedule and seeking help are the first steps to take when trying to reorganize your life.
I always enjoy reading these self-help articles. Not because I think they are all the most helpful things and I base my entire life off of them. I am simply interested to see how others define “success” or “productivity.” Those two concepts are very important in our everyday life, but extremely subjective, and it really depends on the person, the situation and the task. I find this article in particular to be a little bit misleading. It is titled “Habits to take on to become an overachiever” but only lists three very basic things. In summary, they were wake up a little earlier, pay attention and reach out for help with people who can give you a leg up. Most of these are just common knowledge and I would think we would already be attempting to do the last two. I do agree waking up earlier can help one to be more productive, but there is more to it. I myself keep a journal for setting goals which line up with the moon cycle, so I am not on my own time that I can manipulate and put off, I am on nature's time, which keeps me moving forward.
Post a Comment