@dtsomp wrote:

Damn, this ‘Rule of 200’ actually works. http://bit.ly/b3J1dL Thanx @hakmem.

There exists an even better rule which I’ve briefly mentioned before. I found about it via a comment made by John D. Cook:

I read somewhere that you can finish nearly any project if you work on it 15 seconds every day. The trick is “every day.” And if you do put in 15 seconds, you’re likely to put in more. Or more realistically, maybe you commit to 15 minutes a day. Same idea. Overcoming inertia is everything.

Usually when I fail to finish a project, it’s because I go for days at a stretch giving it *zero* time, not because I work consistently but progress too slowly.

One can eat an elephant bit by bit, but sometimes defining the size of the bit helps too:

“The Rule of 200 works like this: my document word count must increase by 200 before I am done for the day, no exceptions.”

With minor variations, this can be applied to other activities too (like writing code, etc).

[via]

This is how I try to explain “the zone” sometimes:

– Suppose that a task takes 60 minutes to complete. Can you break it to six ten-minute intervals and complete it in six days?

60-minute tasks that require you to be “in the zone” cannot complete in six or seven ten-minute intervals.

Unfortunately, “don’t break the chain” and “15 seconds per day” do not work unless you include the weekends too. Otherwise, the elephant regenerates.

Η ημέρα έχει 3 οχτάωρα. Σε ένα ιδανικό κόσμο αυτό θα σήμαινε πως μπορούμε να αφιερώσουμε:

• 8 ώρες για ξεκούραση / ύπνο.
• 8 ώρες για εργασία.
• 8 ώρες για προσωπικό χρόνο / οικογένεια / διασκέδαση κ.λπ.

Damn, agou is right!

A: Through many small bites.

“you can finish nearly any project if you work on it 15 seconds every day. The trick is “every day.” And if you do put in 15 seconds, you’re likely to put in more.”

I’ve blogged about this before, but earlier today I had a very fruitful discussion on the subject and decided to put down the above bookmarks that I’ve kept in my head for quite some time.

I found out about John Gardner’s “Personal Renewal” from a tweet by @karounos. Being employed in the public sector one gets struck by boredom fairly easily and even when not bored one wonders on the meaning of his work:

Someone said to me the other day “How can I be so bored when I’m so busy?” And I said “Let me count the ways.”

I found this essay highly inspirational:

There’s a myth that learning is for young people. But as the proverb says, “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” The middle years are great, great learning years. Even the years past the middle years. I took on a new job after my 77th birthday — and I’m still learning.

and even amusing at times:

Another example was Pope John XXIII, a serious man who found a lot to laugh about. […] When someone asked him how many people worked in the Vatican he said “Oh, about half.”

Do yourself a favor and read the speech, even when on the bus.

John Miller over at the Gemba Panta Rei blog asks: “What Did You Improve Today? If Not, Why?”

He then proceeds to write on how devoting a few minutes per day for personal kaizen can cause small but daily changes and improvements in our life. He even cites a personal example. Somehow, I find the “What did you improve today?” question together with the “do not break the chain” approach from Seinfeld very motivating.

Oh well, I guess it is time to finally sit down and finish that awful project that has landed on me and then move on the interesting stuff that are set aside and waiting for the awful project to finish.