How can I be happy? pt1

23:30 tom 0 Comments

• Multitasking: Instead of taking up 10 projects at the same time -  make friends with 10 people working on those 10 disjunct projects and ask them to share their knowledge with you (and vice versa). Broaden your horizon by socializing. You are not only reducing your project-specific output by distributing your energy but you are also spoiling relationships with your peers who are expecting input from you to progress in their work.
• Environment: More important than the work - what matters is the environment you are working in. Do you get along with your boss? Your colleagues? Does there exist stability? Are people working against each other or together? Are your results being acknowledged? Are you valued as a coworker?
• Attitude: Don't be complacent. Be proactive. At the same time - be humble. Don't let success go to your head. You will end up losing more than you gain. Take days off. Take holidays. Regularly! Else - you might be regarded as inefficient.
• Procrastination: Work in intervals of intense focus and intense de-focus. Be efficient when you work and equally disciplined about NOT working in your breaks. Don't work at a stretch for too long. You will be highly inefficient and enter a state of procrastination.
• Knowledge: Focus on building up your knowledge in a structured way over a longer period of time. Mugging up new concepts and working under pressure might get work done but someday down the line you will notice deficiencies in your understanding. Trade short-term benefits for long-term productivity.
• Meetings and Deadlines: 50% of meetings are merely a formality and bear no substance. Interact closely with your peers and give them regular updates instead of preparing verbose speeches and aesthetic presentations. Finish your project FIRST. While polishing the final results you can estimate a realistic (!) deadline. You CANNOT force progress. Stop chasing crazy deadlines. Stop rushing from one meeting to the other. Pressure drains creativity and induces errors and therefore adds up on work load.
• Planning: Very often we do not set goals. We say to ourselves: "First I will study course ABC and then think about which company to work for. First I will work for company X and think about where to go next." We end up working in a disorganized fashion and doing a lot more work than necessary. And in hindsight, we might still not attain what we really wanted anyway. Set yourself a long-term goal. Before taking a decision ask yourself: "Is this going to contribute to my future goal? If yes, how?". Remove clutter as much as possible. Anything worthwhile takes time. Give it the time it needs. Many unpredictable factors and errors will come in which have to be taken into account. Make a plan. Or else you will end up with a suboptimal solution.

• ​​​​​​Focused mode: Given our past experiences and knowledge we adopt a traditional approach to solving a problem in a rational and analytical manner. The brain is functioning from the prefrontal cortex, located right behind the forehead - guiding the way through a layer of neural connections formed a priori.
• Diffuse mode: The worst thing to do once you are stuck on a problem is to keep going. Instead - divert your focus to a completely different activity, which forces your brain to relax. Take a shower. Go jogging by the river. Cook an exotic meal. Your brain will continue working on the problem by making random connections in an unstructured order - and voilà - there is the answer (epiphany)!
• Sleep: Our brain cells shrink when we are asleep. This allows toxins (e.g. stress hormones) to get washed away. Further, new connections between neurons (referred to as synapses) are formed which increase recall and solidify the learnt concepts. It also means that our brain looks different everyday :)

• Personality: The focused people have strong personalities. They radiate charisma, confidence, self-assertiveness. Their counterparts have no (strong) opinion of their own and get dragged along by the crowd and mainstream principles.
• Attitude: The focused ones have a positive outlook towards life. They are flexible and open to new perspectives and adapt easily to change. However, this does not necessarily imply that they agree with everything (strong mind, soft presentation towards the outer world). They are honest in their self-assessment. The aimless ones are conservative, stubborn and closed. They are not open to criticism. They like to complain.
• Social skills: The focused people share stable relationships with their close friends and family members. They encourage each other and move forward together. The aimless people lack empathy, gratitude and good friends. They are rather self-centered and bad team players.
• Language and tone: The aimless people are aggressive. At times - they don't shy away from using inappropriate language. Their counterparts are soft-spoken and sophisticated. Even in tricky situations they put in effort into remaining calm and composed.
• Work: The aimless people dabble and play around with everything. They like to experiment. They have time management issues. The focused people on the other hand, plan ahead. They move from one milestone to the next smoothly, calmly, coolly.
• Control: Aimless people lack control. In work. In relationships. In the gym. They defer the blame on others. The focused ones on the other hand take responsibility for their actions. If a situation is out of their control - they understand that it is time to say NO and leave. And they stand by their decision.

• Be a people's person! People are not only a source of happiness but also knowledge.
• The best way to make a new friend is to help. Identify the weak spot and put in genuine effort into healing the wound.
• You are an average of the 5 people you surround yourself by. Choose wisely!
• People move on. Everyone has their own plans. Today you meet each other everyday. Tomorrow your ways might part. Focus on enjoying every moment of each others' company rather than tying people to yourself (or vice versa).
• Seize the day, my friend! It is not going to come again!
• You CANNOT be best friends with everyone. There has to be a high amount of compatibility between both of you. Instead, focus on building up a relationship step-by-step. With time grows friendship.