Mental traps. These are the processes of the mind, which in everyday life encourage you to act on the rolled-up, habitual way. The result is a loss of vitality and mass of time, but it does not produce the desired result. Our interests and needs are not being met. It is not easy enough to get out of this vicious circle, only a part of people think about it. How to fight mental traps?
This problem can arise for everyone, but some people put up with the situation and accept their own mistakes, as a matter of fact, for someone they become a habit.
Andre Doll wrote about the traps of mentality, he described the most important of them and told about their features. His book is a very useful collection of information, which will tell you what you do wrong, and how to fix the situation.
THE MENTAL TRAPS WE FALL INTO
Mental traps eat time, they make us waste our resources and cause a lot of inconvenience. Here is a list of the most common traps and tips on how to fight them:
- Perseverance. This factor forces us to do the same thing over and over again, the result of which will only be negative. Then we lose the sense of time, because we strive to finish the job, not realizing that we will still be in a loss.
- Amplification. The factor that arises in a situation, if we do more than necessary to achieve the expected result. Frequent problem of perfectionists.
- Fixation. A mental trap in which a person sets boundaries and starts waiting for an opportunity to start moving towards the result of the process. It can be a call, someone's permission or lack of inspiration, which is so necessary.
- Reversion. The result has already been obtained and it is negative. We are worried about it, slowing down the future. It is worth taking stock as a given.
- We are ahead of the curve. By making a lot of efforts, we want to achieve the result as soon as possible, but with the success, with less effort, we can get it a little later.
- Resistance. We resist the situation, try to change the situation, though we know that it is inevitable.
- Delaying. This is putting things off for later, looking for factors that will help delay the implementation of the action.
- Separation. You can not share attention to several cases at once. If you are working, it is important to think about the work, and vice versa.
- Acceleration. It is not necessary to increase the speed of their work to perform an important job faster.
- Adjustment. We are trying to regulate the situation, pushing ourselves within the limits of certain behavior and not giving in to impulses, although they would be preferable in this case.
- Formulation. You take the time to talk about your attitude and emotions, which leads to separation: you do the job and are distracted by unnecessary reflection on it.
THE TRAPS OF TIME AND HOW TO FIGHT THEM
You must avoid chronophages (time sinkers that distract you from your business) and look for ways to get rid of them. There are the following time eaters:
- Controlled (time for training sessions). To combat them, try to reduce the time spent on a certain action.
- Uncontrolled (traffic jams, queues, delays).
- Unpredictable (crash, meeting delay). You can use this waiting time to your advantage and, for example, read an e-book.
- Predictions (you know in advance that you will have to spend time waiting). You need to think about what you can do at this time and how to spend it as productively as possible.
- Individual (cigarette breaks, slow speed of work, constant rereading or repetition, the presence of doubts, their own disorganization and other features in the performance of work). To defeat individual time thieves one needs one's own willful efforts and self-discipline. Checkiant time-tracker will help you to identify such time sinkers in your work and life and will help you become more effective and conscious.
Untargeted waste of time not only eats up this resource, but also takes away from a person a lot of opportunities, goals and forces to fulfill them. Some people waste thoughtlessly minutes, hours or even days. Part of the time can be spent thinking about a problem, realizing it or understanding it. It is important to time the day to assess and improve your daily efficiency.
WHERE DOES OUR PRECIOUS TIME GO
The developers of the time-tracker Checkiant are working on the question: how to deal with time traps? In order for your work to benefit you, you need to eliminate all the factors that can take up your precious time. Among them:
- Social networks;
- Messengers;
- Computer games;
- Urgent emails;
- Viewing the series;
- Television;
- Telephone conversations;
- Incorrect priorities;
- Long shopping trips;
- Destructive friends.
HOW TO GET RID OF THE TIME EATERS
Set the right priorities, have a sense of time that many of us are deprived of. There must be appropriate motivation for the job, such as salary, personal growth, and the desire to learn new knowledge and opportunities. Change your own habits, set the right goals. Only planning your own time will save you from thoughtless mistakes and devouring time resources, which are already plentiful in our lives.
Time-tracker Checkiant - a service that will help you solve all these problems and identify the eaters of your precious time.
See also:
Efficient management of free time