Comments on: Batching, Big Rocks and Bellyflops http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/batching-big-rocks-and-bellyflops/ Innovation, Creativity, Entrepreneurship, Personal Development Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:21:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Handy Practices to Run a Business Along With a Day Job : To Be Enterprising and Entreprenurial http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/batching-big-rocks-and-bellyflops/#comment-5320 Handy Practices to Run a Business Along With a Day Job : To Be Enterprising and Entreprenurial Sun, 21 Sep 2008 05:58:21 +0000 http://jonathanfields.com/blog/?p=397#comment-5320 [...] phases and to be honest I find it extremely boring yet phenomenally effective. I particularly like Jonathan Field’s post on batching, read it and say hello to [...] [...] phases and to be honest I find it extremely boring yet phenomenally effective. I particularly like Jonathan Field’s post on batching, read it and say hello to [...]

]]> By: riva http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/batching-big-rocks-and-bellyflops/#comment-4631 riva Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:25:33 +0000 http://jonathanfields.com/blog/?p=397#comment-4631 I've got big resistance issues to time management techniques. It's my creative soul rebellion. But I love how you (Jonathan) translate them into more soulful, human ideas that make sense to us right brained beings. I wrote a little about it on my blog and linked to you this morning. So if you have a moment for a little extra sand today, take a look. And may your day be filled with the Magic Medicine of time for the things you most love. I’ve got big resistance issues to time management techniques. It’s my creative soul rebellion. But I love how you (Jonathan) translate them into more soulful, human ideas that make sense to us right brained beings. I wrote a little about it on my blog and linked to you this morning. So if you have a moment for a little extra sand today, take a look. And may your day be filled with the Magic Medicine of time for the things you most love.

]]> By: Justin http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/batching-big-rocks-and-bellyflops/#comment-4628 Justin Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:34:02 +0000 http://jonathanfields.com/blog/?p=397#comment-4628 Time management can be a problem for a lot of people. I've never heard of batching before, but it sounds like a lot of other techniques I've come across before. Being proactive is much better than being reactive, and that seems to be the jist of this technique. Time management can be a problem for a lot of people. I’ve never heard of batching before, but it sounds like a lot of other techniques I’ve come across before. Being proactive is much better than being reactive, and that seems to be the jist of this technique.

]]> By: Flora Morris Brown, Ph.D. http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/batching-big-rocks-and-bellyflops/#comment-4625 Flora Morris Brown, Ph.D. Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:36:37 +0000 http://jonathanfields.com/blog/?p=397#comment-4625 I'm embarrassed to confess that working on my Internet empire and upcoming book are filling up the bulk of my thoughts and time, sometimes squeezing out the big rocks--connecting with my adult kids, grandkids, friends, family, exercising, reflection, spiritual and play time. That's why I made time to attend my first-ever family reunion this summer. I consciously tried to be present at every activity and in every conversation. Since returning home I've created a contact list with all my "new" relatives, followed up with email and photo exchanges. The best way for me to get these big rocks in is to schedule them in my calendar first. @Jonathan--Advanced Life Skills Since the invention of caller ID and voice mail handling phone calls has become a snap for me. Very few of the calls I receive are really emergencies. Most of them can be handled later. The really important contacts have my cell phone, and even then I sometimes am busy and have to let those go to voice mail too. As for email--that's my challenge. As Seth mentioned in his recent blog there seems to be this never-ending series of messages, dings, etc. that we feel compelled to respond to. To help cut down on this I've made it a daily task to unsubscribe from 10 newsletters, autoresponders a day. I'm working on restricting email reading to twice a day as Tim suggested(I haven't made it yet or I would have missed seeing that Jonathan had published this post.) @Dean You're right that for this to work requires ruthless pruning and making choices. Let's face it! There are some things that don't need to be in that jar at all. @Jason Menial tasks are not all bad. I find washing dishes by hand (I can't believe I'm saying this), for example, to be relaxing when I want a break from the computer. If instead of leaving them on the counter I go to the next step of actually drying and putting them away I get a feeling of accomplishment and a change of pace that enables me to return to more important tasks with renewed energy. I’m embarrassed to confess that working on my Internet empire and upcoming book are filling up the bulk of my thoughts and time, sometimes squeezing out the big rocks–connecting with my adult kids, grandkids, friends, family, exercising, reflection, spiritual and play time.

That’s why I made time to attend my first-ever family reunion this summer. I consciously tried to be present at every activity and in every conversation. Since returning home I’ve created a contact list with all my “new” relatives, followed up with email and photo exchanges.

The best way for me to get these big rocks in is to schedule them in my calendar first.

@Jonathan–Advanced Life Skills

Since the invention of caller ID and voice mail handling phone calls has become a snap for me. Very few of the calls I receive are really emergencies. Most of them can be handled later. The really important contacts have my cell phone, and even then I sometimes am busy and have to let those go to voice mail too.

As for email–that’s my challenge. As Seth mentioned in his recent blog there seems to be this never-ending series of messages, dings, etc. that we feel compelled to respond to.

To help cut down on this I’ve made it a daily task to unsubscribe from 10 newsletters, autoresponders a day. I’m working on restricting email reading to twice a day as Tim suggested(I haven’t made it yet or I would have missed seeing that Jonathan had published this post.)

@Dean

You’re right that for this to work requires ruthless pruning and making choices. Let’s face it! There are some things that don’t need to be in that jar at all.

@Jason

Menial tasks are not all bad. I find washing dishes by hand (I can’t believe I’m saying this), for example, to be relaxing when I want a break from the computer. If instead of leaving them on the counter I go to the next step of actually drying and putting them away I get a feeling of accomplishment and a change of pace that enables me to return to more important tasks with renewed energy.

]]> By: Jonathan Fields http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/batching-big-rocks-and-bellyflops/#comment-4623 Jonathan Fields Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:56:26 +0000 http://jonathanfields.com/blog/?p=397#comment-4623 @ Jonathan - You're not alone, it's a constant pursuit. Rebalancing, emptying out, refilling and making sure where we spend our energy reflects what matters most to us. Haven't yet met the person who's mastered it. But, it's so worth the effort @ Dean - it's an interesting question. Is there really never enough time? For some people, yes, even after batching the big rocks and incorporating a series of productivity enhancements, my guess is you're right, some people still won't have enough time in the day. But, you can never answer the question for yourself until you've actually taken the steps to restructure your time to better reflect your priorities. Which is why is said in the post... "You really do have time to do everything…or a least a whole lot more of what matters most." @ Jason - glad I could help spur a little action on a Monday! Good luck! @ Jonathan – You’re not alone, it’s a constant pursuit. Rebalancing, emptying out, refilling and making sure where we spend our energy reflects what matters most to us. Haven’t yet met the person who’s mastered it. But, it’s so worth the effort

@ Dean – it’s an interesting question. Is there really never enough time? For some people, yes, even after batching the big rocks and incorporating a series of productivity enhancements, my guess is you’re right, some people still won’t have enough time in the day.

But, you can never answer the question for yourself until you’ve actually taken the steps to restructure your time to better reflect your priorities.

Which is why is said in the post… “You really do have time to do everything…or a least a whole lot more of what matters most.”

@ Jason – glad I could help spur a little action on a Monday! Good luck!

]]> By: Jason http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/batching-big-rocks-and-bellyflops/#comment-4622 Jason Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:10:51 +0000 http://jonathanfields.com/blog/?p=397#comment-4622 This is a huge thing for me thank you for posting it, I have such a hard time setting the priorities that with the exception of menial chores and such i find my self looking at everything in my day as rocks and never stones or pebbles, the sad thing is i actually have seen that demonstration done in person and i still failed to apply it in my life, I will begin working on this immediately and from there post the results in my blog if anyone is interested. This is a huge thing for me thank you for posting it, I have such a hard time setting the priorities that with the exception of menial chores and such i find my self looking at everything in my day as rocks and never stones or pebbles, the sad thing is i actually have seen that demonstration done in person and i still failed to apply it in my life, I will begin working on this immediately and from there post the results in my blog if anyone is interested.

]]> By: Dean http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/batching-big-rocks-and-bellyflops/#comment-4620 Dean Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:53:15 +0000 http://jonathanfields.com/blog/?p=397#comment-4620 Your comments make sense. Where I differ is that I don't think that there is necessarily time to do everything. I just have not found that possible. So there has to be some choices ... sometimes ruthless pruning on what all goes intot he limited sized jar ... to make all the rocks, pebbles, and sand fit. You are right that if you don't put the big rocks first they will get crowded out by the sand and pebbles, everytime in my experience. Someone else who I cannot recall said it best ... you can do anything, but you can't do everything. And in my experience, autopilot is not a workable strategy when the choices come into play. Your comments make sense. Where I differ is that I don’t think that there is necessarily time to do everything. I just have not found that possible. So there has to be some choices … sometimes ruthless pruning on what all goes intot he limited sized jar … to make all the rocks, pebbles, and sand fit. You are right that if you don’t put the big rocks first they will get crowded out by the sand and pebbles, everytime in my experience. Someone else who I cannot recall said it best … you can do anything, but you can’t do everything. And in my experience, autopilot is not a workable strategy when the choices come into play.

]]> By: Batching, Big Rocks and Bellyflops http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/batching-big-rocks-and-bellyflops/#comment-4619 Batching, Big Rocks and Bellyflops Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:51:48 +0000 http://jonathanfields.com/blog/?p=397#comment-4619 [...] Go to the author’s original blog: Batching, Big Rocks and Bellyflops [...] [...] Go to the author’s original blog: Batching, Big Rocks and Bellyflops [...]

]]> By: Jonathan - Advanced Life Skills http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/batching-big-rocks-and-bellyflops/#comment-4618 Jonathan - Advanced Life Skills Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:22:47 +0000 http://jonathanfields.com/blog/?p=397#comment-4618 Hey Jonathan, I must admit to struggling in this area. You’re so right about those big rocks. It seems so easy to get sidetracked on the little things like emails, commenting at other blogs, twitter etc. and leave very little time for the biggies. One thing that was not addressed is interruptions! Every time I’m really into something important the phone rings or something pops up that absolutely needs attention right now. How do you factor in those unforeseen yet inevitable interruptions? Personally, I am months behind on the final edit of my new book. It almost seems like life has conspired to fill my days with detours. I can create the schedule and organize it according to priorities, but has anyone found a way to allow for the things you can’t plan for and still stay on schedule? Hey Jonathan,

I must admit to struggling in this area. You’re so right about those big rocks. It seems so easy to get sidetracked on the little things like emails, commenting at other blogs, twitter etc. and leave very little time for the biggies.

One thing that was not addressed is interruptions! Every time I’m really into something important the phone rings or something pops up that absolutely needs attention right now. How do you factor in those unforeseen yet inevitable interruptions?

Personally, I am months behind on the final edit of my new book. It almost seems like life has conspired to fill my days with detours.

I can create the schedule and organize it according to priorities, but has anyone found a way to allow for the things you can’t plan for and still stay on schedule?

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