WHERE DID MY TIME GO?
Today we are going to be your PAL.
Personal Activity Log exercise for transforming repetitive tasks into free time.
Time that passes, is the one thing you can not get back.
Do you really want to save those valuable hours that you spend daily doing unproductive activities? If the answer is in affirmative, then our Personal Activity Log will be a blessing for you. In this busy age of life, we are interrupted many times by alerts and various beeps, all designed to interrupt you and distraction your attention elsewhere. It creates the “click whirr” effect as outline by Robert Cialdini.
CHAPTER 1: WEAPONS OF INFLUENCE In this chapter 1 of Pre-suasion, Cialdini describes how both animals and humans have a built-in automatic response to stimuli called “fixed-action patterns” activated by a “trigger feature.” He characterizes these automatic responses with the phrase “click-whirr”: “Click and the appropriate tape is activated; whirr and out rolls the standard sequence of behaviors”
How Long It Takes to Get Back on Track After a Distraction?
Distractions catch you off guard and derail your focus and tasks entirely. In fact, according to a University of California Irvine study, it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the to get back into the swing of things after you’ve been interrupted .
When you have to completely shift your thinking, it takes you a while to get into it and it takes you a while to get back and remember where you were.
Most people often complain about not having enough time to finish all the tasks in the given time. Our Daily Activity Log exercise will help you in keeping track of your activities on a regular basis and will help you in figuring out just what is eating up all the time in the day. The worst thing is distractions can cause errors or rework as outlined in this study. The adage…if you don’t have time to right the first time, when will you find time to do it again.
YOU ONLY NEED TO DO THIS EXERCISE FOR 2 NORMAL WORK DAYS. IT IS PAINFUL BUT IT IS WORTH IT.
Then looking at the results, we see what repetitive tasks can be automated or delegated, so you free up your time to actually think critically and work with people to get things done.
Be human where it counts. Otherwise automate!™
DOWNLOAD THE PDF AND PRINT 4 COPIES
Next steps after completing the EXERCISE.
- Use the phone app “Scannable” to scan and email it to us. Now you have portable scanner as bonus.
- We will review it and discuss in our next Blue Print session!
All the best !
Josh & Sam
Resources:
Life Interrupted By Social Media?
WORKER INTERRUPTED: THE COST OF TASK SWITCHING | Fast Company
Increase your Focus 10x using the Pomodoro Technique