Thursday 15 March 2012

Planning Ahead

I promised myself to start planning... and I did not. I checked some Kolb test on what was my typical learning behaviour. Apparently I am an activist and a pragmatist (both very strong). I filled out the test on how I imagine organised people to be and it cam out the exact opposite: reflector and theorist. Isn't that a drag! Most books on planning are probably written by people who are NOT like me (Sean Covey excluded of course, because I love him!). So I need to set-up a system (drag).
According to Rob Hanly you need to set a goal, devise a system and automate it. Sounds reasonable. Tried David Allen (no link there because he is no good for ADD/ ADHD people. Ned Hallowell advises to stick with people and that is probably just what I will do:

  • I already have a belief system
  • I also have a goal: increase me time by organising myself
  • In my me time I want to advance projects I believe in 
  • To get there I want to:
    • work with people: inform them, use their qualities, give them the benefit of my presence (there must be some since they are still paying me)
    • make people feel happy to work with me
  • To do that I need to:
    • reflect (awful word, not my thing, terrible etc. but very necessary to be able to relate to people. expect some autobiographical stuff soon) Kolb's fault for mentioning it. But there you have it.
    • Use the weekly time zoning approach to divide my time evenly over my interests 
    • Keep my word:
      • review notes to meetings
      • make a daily routine to get the obligatory stuff out of the way
      • SAY NO TO PEOPLE THAT DO NOT HELP ME ANYWAY
      • set priorities and communicate them
    • Use things I like to implement it:
      • automated systems
      • pen and paper
      • proper filing systems
    • find a way to remember to think about the people I like
    • learn to remember faces and names, and recognise people in the street
    • define roles and responsibilities with my surroundings to take care of standard business
    • use automation to make myself a likable and efficient person
Especially the last may sound boring, but it actually is not. It requires a great amount of wisdom and spirituality. It is much like Kung Fu:
A Wing Chun Practitioner, who only fights is just a fighter.
A Wing Chun Practitioner, who only poses well in forms and does not know the applications, is just a performer.
A Wing Chun Practitioner, who only lectures about theories of Wing Chun and does not practice them, is just an actor.
A Wing Chun practitioner, who knows, applies, and lectures on Wing Chun, But does not find enjoyment of life from practicing Wing Chun, is inept.
A Real Wing Chun practitioner is one who knows, applies, and lectures on Wing Chun while deriving enjoyment of life and fulfillment of soul from the practice of Wing Chun.
On this thoughtful note I leave you :)

Brandon

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