A few days ago I finished reading this book, kindly provided to me by the publishing house Ivanov Mann and Ferber. I generally liked the book, so I decided to write this review. Perhaps the tips from this book, some of which I will publish in this article or the book itself will be useful to readers.
While I was reading this work by Neil Fiore, I cannot say that from the very beginning I was delighted with it. The book is very small, but, it seemed to me, too compressed, as if it was written in a hurry. The bad thing is that the information is not easily assimilated. Paradoxically, if this book contained the same number of ideas, but would be longer due to the fact that the author would explain them in more detail, I would have read it faster.
Well this is because there is not much superfluous, the book is very capacious and contains some useful concentrate of valuable thoughts and ideas of the author. In addition, this style of presentation makes the reader think about what he read, because not everything is clear from the first reading.
The author sometimes leaves some questions without a clear answer. He talks about the value of focusing on a goal, how important it is not to be distracted, but he doesn’t tell a lot about how to achieve this.
Yes, it makes the reader think in the right direction and sets the correct guidelines ... But I would still prefer this book to be longer and more detailed, since it contains undoubtedly very valuable and useful ideas, and it would be great if the author developed these ideas further.
Although, if we develop each of these ideas, we would have had more than one book ...
How this book helped me
My opinion from the book changed when I discovered that I had successfully applied the ideas of the author in my life. And by random irony, the first useful innovation that I drew from the author touched the very process of reading this book.
The study of any literature in recent years, I pass at a slow pace. Some time ago it seemed to me that I don’t have much time for that, although I really wanted to read a huge pile of books on various topics.
In the afternoon I am at work where I cannot read. And in the evening I set aside for sports, walks and yoga classes. I run, ride a bike, walk, because I can not do it all while working.
Therefore, I used to transfer reading books to the weekend. I thought these days I will have a few free hours in a row, and then I read. But on weekends there were some urgent matters, too, or I just fell asleep with a book in bed. This happened not because the book is boring, but because I love the nap of the day. And the opportunity to sleep during the day only happens on weekends.
As a result, I could not read as many books as I wanted to read ... I saw an objective limitation in this situation: I just don’t have time - this is how I explained myself to this slowness.
In fact, as I understood, it was a different matter. For some reason I wanted to allocate at least a few hours a day for studying books at once, and immediately read a lot. I certainly did not have such an opportunity.
As a result, I experienced a slight panic over the fact that I read so little, that several weeks had passed, and I still have not read the book. So it was with the book about which I write in this post. Despite its small size, I read it for a long time.
In the middle of reading this book, thanks to the author, I realized a simple and obvious thought that for some reason did not occur to me. No need to strive to do everything at once, in one sitting! You can approach the big problem in a lot of approaches!
After all, I can read at least half an hour a day! At least a few chapters. Half an hour of reading every weekday is 2.5 hours from Monday to Friday. On Saturday, I can go to bed and also fall asleep with a book, as I did the last times. But this time I will fall into a dream with a clear conscience. After all, in 2.5 hours I have already read not so little, and I don’t need to worry about the fact that I can’t master a lot of text on weekends when I want to relax.
After I realized that, Neil Fiore’s reading work went much faster! I read several short chapters every day. But by the weekend, these chapters imperceptibly turned into half of the book!
The author in his book says that one should not try to do everything at once, it provokes anxiety and, as a result, procrastination (by the tendency to put things off until later). Fiore advises: "just start doing something, work at least 15 minutes." Then these 15 minutes of work can turn into a few hours after you get involved in the business, and your anxiety disappears. After all, you have already begun!
I was glad that I could now apply this approach not only to the study of literature, but also to my other hobbies, which I had postponed for an indefinite period due to an apparent lack of time.
The book of Neil Fiore, mainly devoted to such topics as how to deal with procrastination and how to manage to do more things in a given period of time.
It is amazing that the book almost immediately helped me resolve the issue with my own procrastination, which I did not consider as such.
This book helped me find a bottleneck in the organization of my time to eliminate it.
Get started now!
The original title of the book The Now Habit at Work, which can be literally translated as "habit" now "in work" or "habit to work now." The wording, although not very beautiful in the literal Russian translation, but it reflects the main idea of the book.
The author tells how to beat the fear of big projects and how important it is to concentrate on the present moment of time, and not to think about what you have not done in the past and what you have to do in the future.
I, like every person, daily struggle with my laziness. I am sure that laziness cannot be eradicated completely, because laziness lies in our nature. You can simply learn to control her and be stronger than her.
Every day I go into battle with her when I need to work, write an article, cook a meal, take a run and do other things. But it often happens that my plans go ahead of my actions.
I do not have time to do something or do not do it as quickly as I wanted it. This book reminded me once again that at such moments you do not need to blame yourself and blame for the delay. You need to focus on the present moment and move towards the goal at a pace that you can withstand. And it does not matter that today you have not fulfilled a quarter of what you planned to do. The past will not return. Stop linking thoughts in the past and the future and do the work here and now. Otherwise you will do even less or do nothing.
This book teaches. I believe that meditation also helps to hone the skill of concentration on the present moment, because this is its essence.
My favorite tips from the book
- Start working now! Do not delay a big deal not later. Do it daily at least 15 - 30 minutes a day.
- Be able to listen to the interlocutor. I always wrote about how important it is to be able to listen to the interlocutor, and not to dwell on yourself and wait for your turn to speak. The author offers an interesting exercise on "active listening". When one of the two interlocutors speaks, then the other retells what he said, then they switch roles.
You can use this principle in the usual, not staged communication. Just let the interlocutor sometimes understand that you are listening to him and understand him. No need to repeat his every word. It can just be done from time to time.
- Use the pronoun "I" in potentially conflict situations. I will explain. I myself tried this advice in practice. I could not sleep at night due to the fact that neighbors roared above me.
I called them at the door and instead of saying, “You make a noise, stop, you are disturbing your sleep,” I said, “I have a problem (or I have a problem), I cannot fall asleep because of the noise in your apartment.”
It so happened that I came to the wrong place, they were making noise in another apartment. But the reaction of the neighbor to the fact that I rang the doorbell closer to the night and, perhaps, woke someone up, was normal.
Perhaps this was due to the technique I used. Probably, people start a defensive reaction when you start to "poke" or "extrude" them and accuse them. Therefore, it is better to talk about yourself and your problems. It turns out the same thing, but much more diplomatic. Try this trick at work during problem conversations.
- Concentrate on the task, not on yourself. Do not bury your thoughts in the past and the future, be in the present.
- Ask yourself not "why this happened," but "how to fix it."
- If the work does not go, rest - instead of being distracted by useless things.
- If you want to distract from work for some nonsense, stop. Do not follow the inertia of your habit. Take 10 long breaths and long breaths equal in time. This will give you the necessary time out and allow you to make a reasonable decision, and not to get involved in momentary impulses.
This one is applicable in relation to any situation when you want to do some nonsense. Before you make a spontaneous decision that just hit you in the head, do this trick.
Perhaps such a formulation was not in the book, and I thought of something myself. But it is not so important, let there be this advice =)
Advice that can change your life
At this point I want to finish the review of this good and undeniably useful book, the tips of which I successfully began to apply in life. I would like, in conclusion, to pay a little attention to one of the main ideas of Neil Fiore.
Advice to start doing something now, and not postponing for later can drastically change someone's life.
Many people postpone the realization of their most cherished goals for later: get creative, write a book, learn a new profession, start a business, etc. Because of this, they can become completely bogged down in current affairs and, after endless “later”, they can never find their dream.
The advice from me personally. Something does not suit you in your life? Do you want more? Are you tired of mindless work? Get rid of all "impossible", "no time", "later". Allocate at least half an hour of time daily at home or at work, in order to get closer to your cherished goal.
Do not desire everything at once. Start moving towards your goal in small steps, which will turn into kilometers traveled over a long period of time.
Do not blame the circumstances that you have something wrong. Until you begin to move yourself the situation will not change.
Good luck to you!
