Getting Things Done

Getting things done is not easy. I want to share with you some productivity tips that took my life to a whole new level. Let's look at some questions first:

• How many times did you start working on something and then got distracted?
• How many times did you fail to meet a deadline? How about slaving away the night before the deadline?
• Why do you plan something but when the time comes you do something else?

Sounds familiar? I guess everyone has experienced problems with low productivity. It happened to me so many times that I decided to change it. My goal is to maximize the time spent on pleasures and minimize the time spent on things I enjoy less. Your goal is the same, right? Imagine a simple scenario. Let's say you are given 10 hours to do a task. Typically, you would plan your work so as to finish it in 10 hours. We can do better than that! Why not to finish the work in 6 hours and save 4 hours for ourselves?

Over the last 4 years I tried several things to improve productivity. They worked for me so I'm pretty sure they will work for you as well. Some of them sound silly, but believe me that they are effective.

1. Use a calendar. A calendar application helps to organize time and makes you more focused on the current task. Plan your work ahead and put all the important events to the calendar. The calendar reduces cognitive load because you don't have to remember times of all the events. Make use of reminders. Try out an online calendar (e.g. Google Calendar) or a standalone application (e.g. Mozilla Sunbird). Online calendars are great if you collaborate with others. A standalone application is preferable if you have no access to the Internet.
2. Stick to the schedule. Be a doer, not a talker. Putting events into the calendar is just a first step. To really benefit from scheduling do things as planned. If an event starts at 10am, then start it at 10am sharp. If an event ends at 12pm, then finish it at 12pm sharp. Don't go overtime. If you go overtime and have several meetings in a row, everything will shift. It is especially undesirable if you meet with different people and all of them have to wait for you. For each meeting prepare a realistic agenda. If necessary, schedule another meeting to continue the conversation.
3. Focus on important things. Take a look at First Things First. Before doing something ask yourself: do I really care about it? Remove all the unimportant crap from your life, such as watching TV. Focus on things that matter, such as meeting interesting people. Be goal-oriented and prioritize tasks. Rate each task/event in terms of importance and urgency:



	Urgent	Not Urgent
Important	Deal with it immediately (e.g. fire)	Put it into your calendar (e.g. jogging)
Unimportant	Deal with it as quickly as possible (e.g. interruptions)	Avoid doing it (e.g. watching TV)



4. Cluster similar tasks. It's good to cluster similar tasks/events so that there are no time-gaps between them. I found it extremely unproductive to have 3 meetings with 30 min gaps between them. Schedule the events one after another. That way you save 1 hour that can be spent otherwise.
5. Do small tasks right away.   If something can be done within 3 minutes, it's not worth putting into the calendar. Execute immediately and move on to the next thing. If there are several small tasks, cluster them.
6. Plan time to procrastinate. Procrastination is not necessarily a bad thing. Chaotic procrastination is bad, but a structured one is good. It makes little sense to try to work and procrastinate at the same time. It's not only ineffective, but you also don't enjoy the time to relax. If you need to relax, stop working. If you want to work, remove all the distractions.
7. Setup core hours. This is something that I'm experimenting with right now. The idea is to schedule a single block of several hours just for your work. Let others know when your core hours are. During that time focus solely on work and allow yourself to get into the flow. Don't check Facebook, don't check email, turn off instant messengers, turn off the phone, don't schedule any meetings. My core hours are from 1:30pm to 5:30pm. 
8. Outsource work. Don't accept more work than you can process. If there is too much work, try to get help of others. When describing a task to another person be very specific. It's good to leave some flexibility but make it precise enough so that the work gets done.
9. Try Kanban. The idea of Kanban is very simple: use a board to visualize tasks and don't perform more tasks than a predefined number (e.g. 3). I'm using LeanKit Kanban where I've got four lanes: 1) things  ToDo, 2) things ToDo this week, 3) things that I'm currently doing, 4) things that I've done. A board is complementary to calendar. While calendar focuses on time, boards are good for keeping track of tasks. I was initially skeptical because Kanban sounded too simple. I found it, however, very effective and can't imagine working without it.

Smell Memories

It's funny. When I was in Iceland, I thought that Iceland smells like eggs (there is a lot of sulfur in their water that comes from geothermal springs). Today I ate an egg and thought it smelled like Iceland :-)

You Can Change Everything

It's weekend and I'm sick. That's very uncool because I had to cancel some meetings with my friends. But hey, let's make the most of the time in bed. I'm trying to keep my mind in a good mental shape. It'll help me get better quickly. So, I started browsing through the old pictures of mine. They surely bring back memories. Almost all of the memories are good. Bad memories are not really bad, they're just something to laugh at now :-)

I looked back at my life and how it changed. Especially the last 2-3 years were phenomenal! It is the best proof that one can change everything about their life. Every single thing. Is there anything you'd like to change? Why don't you do that? What are you afraid of? If you were sure that you'd succeed with the change, you'd do it right away, right? So far I learned that there is nothing to fear. In the worst case, you'll experience a temporary inconvenience. That's it. In the end it'll work out well. If it doesn't, then it's not the end yet.

What has changed in my life?

• Country. I lived in Poland for 23 years. After that I did a summer internship in Sweden and began studies in Canada. I've been living in this country for over 2 years now. And you know what? I learned a lot about different cultures. I learned a lot about different lifestyles and a lot about people. When you move from one place to another, then there is the natural urge to compare things. I was consciously trying to avoid that. Instead of relating the new to the old (and judging which one is better), I tried to be open-minded and to accept things as the came. That definitely helped with adapting to the new environment. Of course I didn't succeed completely, but I feel really great in Canada. Both Poland and Canada feel like home.
  

• Language. Language is not merely a means of communication. It conveys cultural traits and tells you a lot about its speakers. Switching from Polish to English was a huge mental change for me. I almost got a new personality. How to succeed with the language? Practice whenever possible and don't care what others think about your accent. I attended many informal events just to have exposure to the language. After several months I was totally comfortable with speaking English. On the other hand, I know quite a few people who avoid learning the language and stick to their regional communities. Sure, that way they feel safe, but you can clearly see when they feel out of place.
• Friends. This is a controversial one. Friends/family/girlfriend/boyfriend is probably the most influential factor that prevents you from changing. If you've got friends in one place, you think that you'll never meet the same people anywhere else. You're right. But, you'll certainly meet other people who are also wonderful. You are forced to be more friendly and outgoing. You can find great, dumb, honest, lame people everywhere. It's not a trait of place, but a trait of each human being. Initially, I believed that I'll have to forget about the old friends. Reality turned out to be completely different. Thanks to Skype, Facebook, and Gadu-gadu I'm in touch with them. Can you believe that one of my closest friends lives 7017km from Waterloo? It's not about physical distance. I must say it's pretty cool to have friends in different countries or continents. When I visit various places, I'm greeted warmly by those who already know me.
• Attitude. It's all about attitude. I'm responsible for my life. I know I'm in control and the future depends mostly on my actions. If want something, I go and get it. In the worst case, I hear no. There is no point in waiting for offers of others. Do you want to be active or passive? I believe that only active people get what they want. I wasn't like that 10 years ago. My mother was even worried if I would do well in the future. I guess she's proud now :-)

• Living in the now. Recently I discovered that I had been living mostly in the future. My brain was always relating to future events or actions, e.g. I'll go for a great trip or I'll meet that person some time. The excuse for not doing something now was the promise of future happiness and possibility. Doesn't your brain work the same? That sucks, because it's like delaying happiness and thinking about the future instead of enjoying the now. I'm trying to live more in the now. It is not so easy to consciously live the now, but I'm slowly getting there.
• Habits. They evolve over time. For example, as an undergrad I couldn't imagine a party without alcohol. I wanted to change that. I'm not against alcohol (in fact I think that Ontario is a way too strict about it). I enjoy good (and bad) wine, heavy beers, and vodka. I wanted, however, to have the ability to have fun without drinking. That was fairly easy to change and I'm very happy with it. Is there any habit that you'd like to change? What prevents you from being persistent?
• Interests. In the past my interests were very focused around computer science. I'm discovering new things now. It's funny how almost anything can be interesting, including cooking, growing plants, and doing parkour. Just go and discover the world.

• Looks. Are you ready for this? I'm going to reveal something that will shock you. The first picture was taken several years ago when I had long hair. Longer than most women have. The second picture is just entertaining. The third one is a recent picture from summer vacations. Looks are the easiest to change. This is something one can change within several hours.

Changes are a way easier than I might have expected. The key is to be open-minded and to indulge in whatever comes. My biggest regret? Being passive and not allowing myself to experiment more in the past. Am I happy now? Hell yeah! Is it the end? It's just the beginning...

DiverCity

Last year I had a chance to visit some of the most diverse cities on Earth. I'm just looking at Google Maps and it's fascinating in a way! Look at those numbers:

• 59% of Miami residents were born outside of the country. It means that if you move to Miami, most likely your friends will be from overseas, rather than Americans. For over 60% of the city population Spanish is the first language (as opposed to English!).
• The percentage number of newcomers is a bit lower for New York (36%), but if we count the whole metropolitan area, it's over 5 million of New Yorkers!
• 50% of Toronto residents were born outside Canada. The only question is why anyone would come to such a cold place as Toronto :-)

You walk around the crowded streets and see people of all ages and races. Each of those persons has a unique story and some reasons why they decided to find new home. Newcomers have similar issues and the cities provide effective ways of dealing with them. The cities were designed to be immigrant-friendly. Nobody judges you or discriminates by looks or accent. Pretty much everyone is in the same boat. Personally, I found those cities very open to newcomers. You feel the diversity around, yet it's not a problem but a great strength!

Some of those cities are huge. I had subconsciously known that, but only realized how huge New York is once I got there. It's humongous! One city has the same population as half of my home country!

Of course a lot happens in the DiverCities. There are national festivals and cultural events every single day. It's not just the size that makes those cities vibrant. More importantly, it's about diversity of backgrounds of the residents. I find it very cool that I can experience how it's like in different part of the world just by exploring various districts. Each DiverCity is like the whole world put on several square kilometers. Is there a better place to learn about humanity? One day you can visit Little Italy, Chinatown, Little Havana, Little Portugal, and finally eat delicious Brazilian food at a Rodizio restaurant. If you're unlucky and visit a bad district, you might have to fight for your life like in the jungle. Well, that's part of humanity too :-)

If you think that this blog post is overly enthusiastic and naive, you're right. It doesn't matter in fact :-) What matters is the fact that there are millions of people who can coexist on several square kilometers and live their lives. I'm still amazed.

The Making of Limoncello (Part 1)

Last summer I was visiting Warsaw. A friend of mine bought me a magazine with a mysterious title Civilization 2.0. Any idea what it was about? The magazine discussed the influence of technology on our daily life, arts, architecture, and societies. It was a very interesting read because the reality changes so rapidly that we don't even notice it. We got used to continuous changes. Anyways, one of the articles was about the reviving do it yourself trend. I like experimenting and the article worked like a catalyzer for my inspiration. I wanted to start small and do something manageable. I decided to make a home-made alcohol. Personally I like drinks that combine three tastes: sweet, sour, and bitter. Limoncello seemed like a reasonable choice. And so I made it.

1. I asked my friends to help to get all the ingredients. We bought a bottle of vodka (750ml, 40%) and 16 large thick skinned organic lemons. That was fairly easy. Next, we needed a bottle of spirytus (750ml, 96%) which is pure grain alcohol. It's funny, but apparently they don't sell that strong alcohol in Ontario, so I asked my buddy to bring a bottle from the US.
2. Once we got all the stuff, we zested all the lemons to get lemon zest. This task was time-consuming. You have to be careful to zest only the yellow part of lemon because the white part is bitter.
3. In the meantime I filtered vodka and spirytus through a water filter. After doing that I changed the filter. If you don't change it, all the water tastes like vodka (no, this is not how you turn water into vodka).

4. We poured vodka and spirytus into a jar. We also added the lemon zest. The jar must be covered tightly and put into a cool dark place. Putting the jar into a sunny place will change the color of the infusion.

5. Once every two weeks I stir the mixture to refresh exposure to alcohol. Alcohol extracts oil from the lemon zest. The infusion smells very nice lemonish. Interestingly, there is no smell of alcohol. The color is something between green and orange.

This is the end of part 1. I promise that some of you will have a chance to try this delicious beverage. Stay tuned!

Do You Feel the Language?

Do you speak a foreign language? I bet you do. Do you feel the language? This is a more interesting question! Think about it for a while. Is there any gap between you and the foreign language that you speak? Not sure? This is my test: say the following sentences that refer to senses and emotions:

• I feel really great today!
• Lemon tastes sour.
• This is a green beautiful tree.

Now, say the above sentences in your native language. Do you feel any difference? If you're Polish, listen to the Polish and the English version of Charlie, Charlie by Ania Dąbrowska. Do they feel the same? They don't to me.

One day in December I realized that I speak English fairly well but I don't really feel it. I found this discovery very enlightening and wanted to share it with you. Why would that be useful? I think I can now better understand English-speaking people and imagine the things they talk about. I hadn't been able to do that before. Understanding another person is crucial in communication. Is it useful for you? Maybe. As always, you're the judge. Let's look at the whole thing and dissect it.

Let me tell you my story. I'm Polish and I moved to Canada over 2 years ago. My native language is Polish and I used to speak Polish for at least 20 years (I don't remember when I said my first word; probably my mother doesn't remember that either). Most of my memories are in Polish and I love that language. When it comes to learning a new language I'm not a genius nor a slow learner. I've been learning English since elementary school. In the meantime I picked up some German and taught myself Swedish (thanks Lina!) and several programming languages. Most likely there is no difference between you and me. We've got the same mental capabilities.

Learning a native language is an interesting experience. When you learn a language as a child you don't study grammar, you don't do listening exercises, you don't write essays, you don't take any tests, yet you learn how to speak and be understood. You just do it! How? You do it by practice and by associating words with actions, things, and emotions.

Language defines who you are and allows to express your personality. Each language expresses certain concepts. Different languages have slightly different concepts. For example, I still haven't found any good English equivalent for Polish załatwić or Swedish lagom. When you learn a native language, you learn something that your ancestors invented. Later, as you grow up, you introduce new words and use some of them more often than the others. You express yourself in a certain way and this is how others perceive you. Do you see where it leads to? The language identifies you... in a way. What is more, others identify you with what you say. There is a very small gap between you and the language. That's the reason why you feel bad when others criticize your ideas.

Now, let's look at the process of learning a new language. First, you pick up some words and phrases. Later, you mechanically repeat them and react to scripted phrases of others. Your brain works like a computer. If someone provides an input, you know what to output. If you can't recognize the input, you say WTF. What is the next step? You become more creative, play with the language and feel comfortable when talking to foreigners. At some point you internalize the language. You unconsciously think and dream in another language. What? You think in another language?

As far as I remember I started thinking in English several months after I moved to Canada. Most of my interactions were in English, which had a very negative impact on my Polish. I used to chat with my parents for only 40 minutes a week over Skype. Considering that there are 10080 minutes a week, I spent only 0.4% of the time speaking Polish. Chatting with my friends on Gadu-Gadu or Facebok wasn't helpful. 66% of the time I was communicating in English (sleep excluded). It sounds ridiculous, but I got worse at the language that I had been using for over 20 years! It's a shame, but sometimes I run out of words when speaking Polish. Then I need to stop for a sec to come up with a Polish translation of an English word (the same happens when speaking English). Of course, after a week in Poland my brain rewires itself and switches to the Polish mode.

What is the next stage of picking up a language? It's about feeling the language and embedding it into your feelings. Imagine learning a new language, e.g. Spanish. Do you immediately feel it? Unlikely. You start feeling the language once you've got enough cultural background and gazillions of hours of interactions with local human beings. I still have problems with feeling the English language. When someone tells me that something is awesome, I mechanically understand that the person has positive feelings towards that thing. I, however, don't immediately feel the awesomeness of that thing! If the same situation happens in Polish, I do feel niesamowitość (awesomeness) of that thing. Weird, isn't it?

Feeling a foreign language is a matter of time and effort. I realized that I can live with barely understanding the language but not feeling it. After several more years in Canada I would eventually internalize the language. Do I have to wait that long? No, I don't. I believe it is possible to speed up this process by consciously trying to feel what the other person says. How? I try to imagine what the other person has on their mind. It is not easy but eventually narrows the gap between the language and my perception of the language.

Thoughts or comments on that topic appreciated!