Day 2 of the media fast gave me no clear insights, except for one—it seems that the more productive I get on one end, the more others are trying to take it away from me on the other.
To paraphrase Al Pacino, “The more I try to get productive, the more they try to suck me back in to un-productivity.”
Since I was getting my work done so quickly, people in my office started asking me if I could “help” them (do their work for them) or “discuss a few things” (talk about nothing).
These time vampires (to borrow a term from Dan Kennedy) literally sucked all my productive time away.
Well, today I will employ a tactic my 4-year-old uses—the NO tactic.
I have written about it before, and have used it to great success. But it seems that when you start getting more productive, the time vampires smell blood. They figure that since you’re not “busy” you have time for them.
So, I will be cultivating my “busy” image even more. And when people ask me for help, I will use some phrases like:
“I’d love to, but I really have to take care of something right now.”
“I only have a minute because I’m on my way to X. Let me see what I can do now.” –Only at the end of yesterday did I employ this tactic (because it was true). But by forcing people to deal with me right then and there and putting a short time limit on it, those “emergencies” completely disappeared.
Do not and I repeat DO NOT let them say they can talk to you about it later. With the time vampires, if you leave the door open for them to “ask you later” then by gosh they sure will come by and ask you something later.
We’ll see how combining NO tactics with my media fast improves my productivity.
On the LeBron Front
It’s amazing what you can learn from headline news! I heard briefly that there was some trade to help out LeBron.
Now, I wasn’t able to read commentary telling me what to think about this trade. And I don’t even know the details. So, I can’t be so sure if this qualifies as giving LeBron respect.
I mean the media could spin the trade in so many ways so as to show utmost disrespect to LeBron. I’m sure they can. But since I’m not reading it, I don’t know.
I just have to deal with the raw facts of the matter and make up my own mind about what it means. Here goes that critical thinking again.
But with all the stories about the trade I’m sure some joker of a sportscaster will talk about how LeBron has “no more excuses” or use some other term that shows disrespect to LeBron. So, I’ll hedge my best and say they are still disrespecting him.
The protest continues…
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Posted: February 21st, 2008
Categories:
Eliminating Clutter,
Problem-solving/Critical Thinking,
Productivity,
Simplify Your Life,
Time Management
Tags:
critical thinking,
Lebron James,
productive time,
Productivity,
time limit,
Time Management,
time vampires
Comments:
No Comments.
No news web sites. No unnecessary web surfing.
The results so far?
Here are a few things I’ve started to notice from my media fast:
#1 Productivity has nearly doubled, but I have a lot of work
I roughly doubled my productivity. I’ll give myself a few more days to see if this wasn’t just a fluke. But what used to take me all morning and half and half an afternoon now took me only 3 hours.
I’d say that’s pretty good. Was I mindlessly surfing that much?
But this sudden jump in productivity made me realize I do have a lot of work. I’ll need to address that issue pronto!
#2 Is my critical thinking kicking it up a notch?
I do love politics and political news. As one my regular commentators to this blog Corinne Edwards said she couldn’t live without MSNBC, I was starting to feel the same way.
You see, I like election coverage. From headline news I know who’s winning the primaries. But without reading all the commentary, it feels like I don’t have anyone to tell me what to think anymore.
I may have to start thinking for myself. Perish the thought.
Seriously though. I get this same feeling I used to get in college. I used to read primary sources so I could come up with my own conclusions before reading others’. But with news, I find myself looking to see what others say before I make up my mind.
Media fast day #1 is showing me that I can come up with my own opinion about Barack Obama’s victory sans three columnists telling me what I should think about it and all the major implications thereof.
#3 Playing toy animals with a 4-year-old is quite fun
Cutting out some TV, I instead played animals with my daughter. I mean WOW! That kid does a spot on imitation of me and her teachers at school. She thinks I’m a zebra.
I thought I should be the lion, but nope…zebra.. There you have it. In the animal kingdom, I’m a zebra. Her teacher, however, got to be a tiger. My daughter was a small tiger.
I think I preferred it when my daughter was on a Star Wars kick and I got to be the Emperor.
#4 Lost is a cool show
I picked up the first season of Lost on DVD. I took in 45 minutes of TV this evening and watched an episode. Cool show.
I’ll tell you though. It pained me to listen to Daniel Dae Kim’s Korean. I’m sure most Americans don’t know, but I certainly hear the difference in his Korean and Kim Yunjin’s. No matter though. I liked Daniel Dae Kim in Crusade, so I won’t hold his Korean ability against him too much.
#5 Somewhere out there is LeBron James still getting disrespected?
Of course, my protest continues! Because I am not reading any sports pages, I have no idea whether or not LeBron is getting any respect. I assume he is not. But this media fast continues until LeBron James is shown some respect.
Those are my thoughts for today. I’ll keep you posted on this media fast and you can read more on how it is affecting my work and my life.
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