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“There is no time, and you have to suffer, here nothing will be fulfilled without me, nothing will work without me …” – actor Andrei Mironov said more than thirty years ago. And since then, nothing seems to have changed. We are still running and in a hurry, worrying that there is not enough time for anything …
It seems that the more we work, the more we should be able to do. But for some reason this formula rarely works. It’s just that an adult cannot do the same job for more than an hour and a half.
In 90 minutes, or even earlier, his brain will get tired, his efficiency will drop, and after another couple of hours he will notice with irritation: “I’m exhausted, but I didn’t have time” … This state is well known to those who are trying to redo everything in one day off housework.
At the same time, it does not matter what exactly we do: young mothers who give their strength to the family get tired no less than the CEOs of large companies. And time is not enough for both.
The nervous system needs to switch from one activity to another
According to business coach Alexander Belanovsky, there is a very simple solution to the problem called “done, did, and did nothing”.
Change your activity every hour and a half
The first step to success is to break up the working day (whether it takes place in the office or in your own apartment) into two-hour “blocks”. An hour and a half is work, half an hour is a break. The main thing is to switch completely so that the brain does not confuse rest with an additional portion of work.
For example, if you have been sitting at the computer for 90 minutes and are going to “recuperate” by talking on social networks, there will be no effect. The brain simply does not understand how “rest” differs from shock work. The nervous system needs to switch from one activity to another.
Rest properly
The second misconception: “If you don’t work, then you have a rest.” If this myth were true, there would be no jokes that after the weekend we need another weekend, and Monday is the hardest day of the week.
If we “rest” at the computer, in shops or doing household chores, the body continues to accumulate fatigue. And at one fine moment, “emotional burnout” sets in – a state when there is neither time, nor strength, nor mood.
Alexander Belanovsky believes that this can be avoided by arranging an unusual vacation from time to time. For example, to leave for one day on an excursion to another city and turn off the phone. Most likely, after an hour spent in seclusion, you will certainly have a strong desire to go online or call … anyone.
Wasting yourself on trifles, you are unlikely to have time to do something important
Endure this impulse: it only says that the body really needs rest. By evening, you will feel that in just a day you have gained strength and become calmer.
Don’t try to do several things at the same time
Other common misconceptions: “In order to do everything, you need to do everything at once” or “Everything needs to be done perfectly”. What happens to our brain when we try to solve several problems at the same time?
Remember what happens to your computer when you download a movie and look for information on the Internet at the same time: it starts to “slow down” or “freeze”.
As for perfectionism, with this approach, no task can be completed perfectly, and if you waste yourself on trifles, you are unlikely to have time to do something important.
What actually takes time?
But let’s move from myths to reality. “Tracking where your precious minutes are running away is not so difficult,” says Alexander Belanovsky. Take a piece of paper and write down all your tasks for the day on it. Even the ones you don’t think are important. Specify the time devoted to each of the cases.
The list will look something like this: sleep – 7 hours, breakfast – 20 minutes, meeting – 2 hours. Now divide your activities into six groups:
- Job;
- essentials: cooking, sleeping, showering, gymnastics, grocery shopping;
- “nothing”: browsing social networks, waiting for transport, commuting to work, queues at government offices;
- routine: checking email, paperwork, washing dishes, cleaning, laundry;
- pleasant: recreation and entertainment;
- gaining new knowledge: any activity where you learn something.
Usually we are not enough for the most important thing because of “nothing” and routine
By grouping things in this way, you will understand what you are really wasting your time on. Usually we are missing the most important thing because of “nothing” and routine. One lives in social networks, the other gets to work through the whole city, the third has too many household chores.
“Under the guise of lack of time, too often, there is a lack of strength and health: someone plays on the computer because he is nervous, and someone is lying on the couch so as not to get sick from overexertion,” sums up Alexander Belanovsky.
“To eliminate the real cause of problems over time will require perseverance and ingenuity. But if a solution is not found, there will still be no time and energy.”