Hello everyone, this is Helen Huang @ Organizing, based in Beijing, China.In order to better learn and practice the YiXiaoNeng Time Management System, after finished publishing 100 Chinese articles, I decided to continue writing and publishing a daily English article in another 100 days based on the "YeWuBin Time Management 100 Episodes" audio program. Today is the 109th day.
Today's topic is:The bottom up approach is the key.
Learning a little more about time management each day is efficient, keep it up veryone. Today we will begin with an important topic - the concept of execution.. It is also called action or executive force. Without execution, there is nothing. All the planning in the world is for naught without proper execution.
In Japan, there is an old proverb: Vision without action is a daydream, and action without vision is a nightmare. This is so important I want to say it again. Vision without action is a daydream, action without vision is a nightmare. We can only realize our expectations in life by combining the planning we have discussed this point with execution.
Now when discussing execution, we have to mention goals. Actually, goals and execution are respectively the horizontal axis and vertical axis of our life. Only when they were integrated with each other, we can realize the ideal life.
Let me ask you something should we start with the task we were talking and break it down into smaller tasks, or should we just start spring ourselves into action and improve as we go? In other words, should we take the top down approach, or the bottom up approach?
There are many studies and theories on this topic, and they are all agreed on one approach. Can you guess what it is? The answer is: the bottom up approach. In other words, we should first determine our personal goals and the long term goals of the company or business we are in. After these main goals have been established, we should focus on the execution of detailed plans. This is what studies and academic scholars and University courses have told me.
I've been studying and practicing time management and the GTD method for 10 years. And over the years,I have been learning about and applying other ideas and concepts and incorporating them with the GTD method. My ability to manage my time so effectively comes from combining the teachings of several of the most accomplished time management masters in the world. And I have discovered for myself the vital secret. Indeed the bottom up approach should be used.
I remember in "Getting Things Done I" David Allen mentioned that most people are continually trapped and dealed with affairs that are difficult to get out of. This prevents them from stepping back and assessing the overall situation. So David Allen's strategy of accomplishing tasks from the bottom up is key. We must start with matters directly in front of us and get them in control before gradually working our way up to more complex matters. Once we have done away with immediately pressing concerns, we can focus on the overall situation.
It reminds me of a concept: A busy man and a poor man have one thing in common. The busy man's time is occupied with emergencies that need his constant attention. The poor man is always thinking about how he will earn the next dollor, or how he will secure his next meal.
Unlike the busy man, the poor man cannot look into the future. Because his immediate concerns had taken all of his time and energy. This is why so many of those that hearing these lessons, writing on a diary and creating a plan failed.
Why? Why is this? It's because our time has been stolen from us by the immediately pressing matters, we have no time set aside to plan our future.
Imagine if you are wearing pants that are too large for your waist, you'd have to hold your pants up to prevent them from falling. And when you are doing this, you can not look up to see where you are going to.
Then what do you do? Well, he must execute better. And where should you start execution? Although we all know we should focus on important but not-urgent matters, we are always restrained by emergencies. That's the reality of our life.
So today you must understand a critical idea. You must learn to use discipline to fully control your tasks, whether these tasks are those that collected on paper, or in an app, or in a calendar, or those that remained in a plane, and yet to be collected. You must have the discipline to control all these.
And what method should we use to give us the discipline and focus we need to conquer these tasks without wavering from them? In other words, you must start the moment fromthe bottom and walk away on. We must act. We must get things done. We cannot constantly shift our fears from one place to the next. We must continually accomplish. We must execute.
If you cannot execute consistently each and every day, you will be unable to participate in high level thinking. To deal with emergencies and to deal with suddenly necessary tasks is critical in your ability to move forward. You must understand the importance of the work that lies beyond your immediate tasks. If you can improve your master your ability to execute consistently and completely from the bottom up , you will be great.
Now we need to talk about how to deal with emergencies. And we need to talk about how to do this from the bottom up.
In today's lesson, you've learned that executing from the bottom up is just the beginning of effective execution. In our next lesson, we'll learn specifically how we can accomplish this.
Well, that's all for this lesson.
Thank you being with me together today. I wish you a productive day and a wonderful day!