What is it you all do to stay focused on the big picture when you're doing the seemingly endless mundane tasks of due diligence prior to forming a company? Or even when associated with a functioning company?
I've always been a hands on type guy, and would much prefer to being doing design work, physically interacting with people, etc. Than studying potential product, writing business plans, formulating strategies and so forth. Coming from a family of attorneys this is especially surprising, but it is what it is.
I'm sure many others deal with these same feelings and I truly doubt anyone really enjoys the monotonous studying.
In my few years here I've learned a couple things about being productive and getting through the b/s side of things.
One of my biggest helps was severely limiting myself with TV time. Not that I particularly enjoy much on there anyway but it's easy to get caught up in. At this point I watch maybe 4 hours of TV a week, total. Yeah it's on for background noise sometimes, but I hardly ever let myself totally focus on it. You would be amazed how much you can get done at night without the tv on.
Don't overwork yourself. Just like overtraining in the gym is bad, at some point you're best bet is to take a night off and relax, or at least give yourself a little winding down time. Personally I 'work' from 8 to ~4:30ish, home by 5. Eat, and in the gym from 5:45 till about 7. This really helps me clear my head of the days events and gets my mind off of 'work' so I can focus on the rest of the days plans. On top of that it keeps you healthy and feeling good. Office jobs can be hard on the body in more ways than you really think.
So by 8pm, I'm ready to sit down and focus on the distant future 9 figure sellout I'm trying to build. :coolgleamA: This leaves a solid 4 hours of uninterrupted time to focus on things, heck that's half of you regular work week getting it done, rather than staring mindlessly at a plastic box.
As for keeping an eye on goals, I have various pictures of things I would like to achieve placed all over my home and office. I mean everywhere, things taped inside kitchen cabnets, in the bathroom, cell phone background, EVERYWHERE. If you fully surround yourself with these reminders it keeps your mind at work even subconsciously and helps (at least for me) to keep my focus on the big picture.
One of the biggest helps to me is actually getting away from things. I know this sounds counterintuitive to the above paragraph, but some of my best ideas have come during a long quiet drive. Thus I try to dedicate the weekends to 'keeping me sane'. Going out with my g/f, hanging out with my buddies, trying to remove myself from the barage of never ending tasks. Productive time > forcing yourself to work to the brink of insanity.
At any rate I'm always looking for new ways to stay focused, driven, and keeping the big picture in sight. So please share what works, and what you have figured out doesn't work for you along the way.
ps, sorry for the super long post, it just kinda ended up that way.
I've always been a hands on type guy, and would much prefer to being doing design work, physically interacting with people, etc. Than studying potential product, writing business plans, formulating strategies and so forth. Coming from a family of attorneys this is especially surprising, but it is what it is.
I'm sure many others deal with these same feelings and I truly doubt anyone really enjoys the monotonous studying.
In my few years here I've learned a couple things about being productive and getting through the b/s side of things.
One of my biggest helps was severely limiting myself with TV time. Not that I particularly enjoy much on there anyway but it's easy to get caught up in. At this point I watch maybe 4 hours of TV a week, total. Yeah it's on for background noise sometimes, but I hardly ever let myself totally focus on it. You would be amazed how much you can get done at night without the tv on.
Don't overwork yourself. Just like overtraining in the gym is bad, at some point you're best bet is to take a night off and relax, or at least give yourself a little winding down time. Personally I 'work' from 8 to ~4:30ish, home by 5. Eat, and in the gym from 5:45 till about 7. This really helps me clear my head of the days events and gets my mind off of 'work' so I can focus on the rest of the days plans. On top of that it keeps you healthy and feeling good. Office jobs can be hard on the body in more ways than you really think.
So by 8pm, I'm ready to sit down and focus on the distant future 9 figure sellout I'm trying to build. :coolgleamA: This leaves a solid 4 hours of uninterrupted time to focus on things, heck that's half of you regular work week getting it done, rather than staring mindlessly at a plastic box.
As for keeping an eye on goals, I have various pictures of things I would like to achieve placed all over my home and office. I mean everywhere, things taped inside kitchen cabnets, in the bathroom, cell phone background, EVERYWHERE. If you fully surround yourself with these reminders it keeps your mind at work even subconsciously and helps (at least for me) to keep my focus on the big picture.
One of the biggest helps to me is actually getting away from things. I know this sounds counterintuitive to the above paragraph, but some of my best ideas have come during a long quiet drive. Thus I try to dedicate the weekends to 'keeping me sane'. Going out with my g/f, hanging out with my buddies, trying to remove myself from the barage of never ending tasks. Productive time > forcing yourself to work to the brink of insanity.
At any rate I'm always looking for new ways to stay focused, driven, and keeping the big picture in sight. So please share what works, and what you have figured out doesn't work for you along the way.
ps, sorry for the super long post, it just kinda ended up that way.
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