www.fastcompany.com: My job has two basic parts, and chances are yours does, too:
Generating ideas
Implementing them
In my case, as a writer, the challenge is to come up with something to write about in the first place, and then turn that idea into some sort of coherent, engaging piece of content. The first half requires creativity, and the second requires me to focus without distraction. Many if not most knowledge workers’ roles are set up similarly: First you’ve got to come up with a solution or an action to take, and then you’ve got to put it into action. Nailing both steps is the real productivity challenge.
7 comments:
This article reminds me a lot of the theory in “Getting Things Done.” His main premise is that it is most productive to do the tasks that you have the energy for and you are in the right physical location to make that task most efficient. This article takes it a step further to say what sort of mood you are in. I somewhat reject that you can quantify your moods to “postitive” and “negative”, but I do think it is way easier to work when you are in the mood for a certain type of task.
I also appreciated his discussion of work momentum. That once you start on something that you are in the mood for, it is easier to keep working.
I have been experimenting with this way of working this year. For the most part, it has been great. I find it easier to do homework quicker and happier when I pick the thing I am excited about rather than the thing that is due first. The problem with this has been those assignments that I seem to never be in the mood for. It seems to be harder to muster up the will power to do those things after working with your moods for the rest of the time.
This is an interesting approach to work ethic. I can see it’s times in which this might be a very valid way in which to work. I can see times in my own life in which this method of evaluating the mood in which I am and what kind of work I am the most capable of doing to the best ability during that time would help in my efficiency over time. However, I disagree that a large party of this is not also time management. The author begins by saying that time management is not important and then sort of circles back to the idea that it includes both time and attention management. I agree with this most. The most productive kind of person is going to be the one who can effectively manage both time and mood to find not only the best times but the most effective use of those time.
I found it really interesting when the article mentioned time management vs. attention management. As the years have progressed in the graduate program here I have found that this is most certainly true. If my head is not in a project (or if I’m just too exhausted to process what needs to be done) what normally takes as little as 3-4 hours easily ends up taking 6-8 hours. Whereas if I had simply switched to a different part of the project or a different project altogether my productivity would have been much higher and would have been better served overall. The quality of work would also have been better served as forcing myself through a project ensures work that is far less finessed and thoughtful as I would normally like. This form of free flowing work would have to often be swapped out for a more constructive type of work once deadlines came closer, but I think if adopted you might not have to worry about the pressure of those deadlines so much as you would have been more productive.
I feel like this make sense if you’re a writer but makes less sense in a more collaborative industry. Coming from the perspective of technical direction, it doesn’t matter if I’m in a good mood for loading in a show, it is either load in or it isn’t. Or even though I could arguable work on a less or more complex project depending on my mood, there are way too many other factors regarding what is a priority (paint, needing to finish something to store it, etc.) that how any individual is feeling today is typically going to be pretty irrelevant.
That being said, I’ve always done this to a degree with my classwork. If I have a few potential assignments to work on, I’ll work on the one that I feel in the mood for. Sometimes I want to come up with ideas, sometimes I just want to get some reading done. Sure, if it is due pretty soon or if it is an assignment I’m never going to want to do, I just have to suck it up and do it, but usually I can pick what I work on based on what I’d rather work on at a given time. However, I’m expecting this option to be less and less of a possibility as my career progresses.
Just reading the title of this article had me cringing. We all work in cush a charged high-stress industry that if we all just let loose, it could spell disaster exceptionally quickly. I do like the idea of being able to allow things to go a little more, and the trick comes in turning things to a positive emotion and mood and realizing that we have control over some manner of how we feel and any funk we are in. Sometimes it merely takes others asking a question because they see how your actions or not reacting to make you aware of how your mood is affecting your day. It's in those moments that we are empowered to try and take control and motivate things for the better. Overall I think that there are good things to glean from this article but by no means should we all start letting out first impressions of our moods dictate our days.
I agree with people above that this article may be less relevant to us working in task-oriented (have to open the show in time) and high pressure industry. But I believe there are two parts to all kinds of work. There is the thinking part, where some sort of creativity is required and there is the doing part, where it may require less creativity and more practicality. It is true that different moods can differently influence the two parts, even though they may have negligible impact. So being aware of your mood of the day and accordingly picking tasks that you can do best at the moment could be helpful, even if you don't feel it significantly boosting productivity. Perhaps we should not let our moods dictate how we plan out a day, but at least consider what would be the best to do at the moment if any kind of mood is dominating the brain. For example, maybe you shouldn't go around and talk to people when you are feeling extremely down and stressed but instead focus on paperwork.
I like the ideas in this article. I have read one of the studies she referred to and found it to be insightful, but nothing all that new or unable to understand. I think the most important take away is that everyone is different, and that their are many approaches to efficient working for different people. I enjoyed reading my peers comments, and I do agree with most of the thoughts, especially about time management and attention management. When I had a major concussion, it was recommended to me to track my attention span and my general moods. I didn't find too many patterns in myself and I think part of it comes from the fact that I am a very efficient person so I prefer to schedule time for something and just do it. Part of this comes from the fact that I am doing less creative thought provoking work.
Post a Comment