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TRANSCRIPT
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Finish what you started
Jack Davies@whatjackhasmade
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Who is this guy ?
I N T R O D U C I N G . . .
I'm Jack Davies, a young and enthusiastic designer born
and raised in Swansea, but currently situated in
Southampton!
I work at Moov2 as Junior Web Designer but I also work
on other creative projects.
L O O K AT T H I S C H U M P
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What to expect
WHY TO CARE ABOUT THIS TALK
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Two chaptersTelling you why you don’t finish your goals
So you’ve set yourself goals or tasks in the past and
haven’t made them. You know that you didn’t
complete them, but we’ll look at more specifically why.
Giving you effective tips on finishing your goals
After giving you the lowdown on how to avoid common
pitfalls or distractions, I’ll then present some methods
I’ve learnt of maintaining focus on your goal.
TA B L E O R S L I D E O F C O N T E N T S ?
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Why you don’t finishIf I had a dollar for every time I got distracted, I wish I had some ice cream.
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QuestionnaireT H E Q U E S T I O N
What do you find distracts you when working on a single task?
(e.g. Testing a program and being distracted by…)
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The results
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7 Deadly sinsWAT C H O U T F O R T H E S E G U Y S !
Mobile Notifications
Other People
Spam / Annoying Emails
Chrome Push Notifications
Slack / Instant Messaging
Unwanted Reminders
Desktop Notifications
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How to avoid distractionsOR AT LEAST TRY
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For most of us, our home desktop machines are a great
tool for achieving goals or completing tasks. If I wanted to
create a PowerPoint likes this one for example, I will need
to use the computer.
However a computer can be very distracting, even before
you open up your browser or another piece of software.
This is largely due to desktop notifications. Next time you
jump onto your machine, experiment with the do not
disturb or quiet hour settings. This will minify the how
distracted you will become.
Desktop notifications
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Another great tip for desktop or laptop users is to install
and use ‘RescueTime’. Rescue time is a google chrome
extension and desktop application which will monitor
what programs, websites, etc. that you have been using
and how long for.
RescueTime
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The great thing about ‘RescueTime’ is the ability to
generate monthly, weekly, daily and even hourly reports
of how you are spending your time. You can then identify
what un-useful applications you’ve been spending time
on or websites that you should think about avoiding.
RescueTime (Extended)
Source: https://www.rescuetime.com/
Source: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/rescuetime-for-chrome-chr/bdakmnplckeopfghnlpocafcepegjeap
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Another great Google Chrome extension that I
recommend is StayFocusd. I’ve found that my past
experiences with the extension have been strict.
However after using RescueTime for a week or two, you
will be able to gauge the settings that you should use for
StayFocusd. Both extensions are powerful on their own,
but together they are a strong killer for procrastination.
StayFocusd
Source: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stayfocusd/laankejkbhbdhmipfmgcngdelahlfoji?hl=en
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So you’ve muffled the annoying sounds of your computer
screaming notifications at you, and you’ve minimized
using your time and focus on websites that provide little
to no value.
Now your phone is mimicking your desktop and is still
trying to pull through highlighted tweets or notifications
that you’ve walked for 12 minutes. Fortunately, similar to
desktop operating systems, both Android and iOS systems
have do not disturb settings that can be applied globally
or to an individual application.
Mobile notifications
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99% of the time it takes at most 5 seconds to identify an
unwanted email by skimming the subject and body,
followed by deleting it.
Where as it usually takes a good 20+ seconds to find the
unsubscribe button and prevent anymore emails arriving
from the sender.
In most cases you will opt for the quicker option but if you
have to delete 10 emails in the future, over the course of
a year, you’ve lost 40 seconds of your time for not
investing in unsubscribing!
Unsubscribe from emails
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Messaging service (e.g. Slack)
Source: https://medium.com/@mishmosh/the-minimalist-s-guide-to-distraction-free-slack-cc901ae59d50
Slack is a helpful communication application that can be a great tool
for teams to work with. Although sometimes it may distract you
inside or outside of work.
“There is no need of my work apps being on all my devices. I decided
to delete it all. The only thing that can come to my phone that is
work related is a downtime alert.” - Wiktor Mociun
Michelle Lee wrote a great article with 4 tips on working with slack -
• Sound off
• @mentions and keywords only
• Do not disturb hours
• Mute this channel (When applicable)
Source: https://medium.com/planet-arkency/3-easy-tricks-to-be-less-distracted-when-using-slack-a22b7791b9a6
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It’s inevitable that you will be distracted by other people
at one time or another when you are attempting to
achieve your goal.
I share a home with 7 other students who at times can be
a rowdy bunch, especially when they’re coming home
drunk and want to play video games with me.
However, most of my friends and family understand that I
am very driven and passionate about my work. Simply
setting a schedule of work for yourself and explaining it to
them will work wonders, as they will be understanding.
Other people
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Although Google Chrome is by my favourite web browser,
it can be very distracting with push notifications. These
notifications pop up from a number of websites, including
YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
Fortunately you have the option to completely disable
notifications from all websites or disable specific
notifications.
Google chrome notifications
Source: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/3220216?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en
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Similar to unwanted emails, you may have subscribed to
reminders that you no longer want.
If you still receive reminders that aren’t applicable or
useful to you anymore, remove them today.
Unwanted reminders
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Tips on how to finishFound ice cream, and had ice cream. Now it’s time to get some work done!
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You’ll often find that you aren’t alone when it comes to
becoming distracted or sidetracked. Reach out to friends
and family and see if you can form a completion buddy.
You can check in on them to make sure they are
accomplishing goals and vise versa. I run an event which
focuses around this simple idea with Moov2.
Engage with others
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When you are at home relaxing or preparing for hosting a
gathering of guests, organizing your music is important
and you may want to flick between songs.
However, when working on a task it is recommended that
you either use a set playlist, listen to an album or listen to
the radio.
I personally find that listening to lo-fi hip-hop beats on
hour loops do the trick for me. The music is almost
hypnotic and allows me to feel a rhythm whilst not having
it become my primary focus.
Don’t micromanage music
Source: https://youtu.be/Ybp9NsmTA2o?list=PLYA0mw5E_QfvbqzgzNcajrisj02vTVtIV
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Often, using ambient sounds alone or alongside your
music playlist can help relax an individual.
I usually use the sounds of rain, thunder and a fireplace to
add background noise to an otherwise flawless song.
There are many studies that show using background
sounds can help when studying and relaxing.
Ambient sounds
Source: http://asoftmurmur.com/
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Often when we make commitments we see it is an
optional task. We weigh up the option of doing the task
or watching Netflix.
Imagine you had the same mindset as that when you had
a work meeting. I could go and meet with the client or I
could watch Netflix.
Doesn’t have the same feeling to it, does it? Schedule a
meeting with yourself, make it so you have the same work
mindset and that you never miss an appointment.
Schedule a meeting with yourself.
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Whenever I used to get an idea for a project, I’d dream
big. I’d throw in so many ideas to a project scope, I never
knew where to begin.
Start small, what’s the single, smallest checkpoint you
need this project to reach to count it as a success. Work
toward it and focus.
Say you wanted to start a YouTube series, focus solely on
getting the video done. Don’t worry about branding just
yet. Just start small.
Start small
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If you have scheduled to work for 30 minutes at 6pm –
6.30pm every other day. You should know what you steps
are going to be, before the session begins.
A great way of doing this is to plan what you are going to
do in a following session, at the end of your current
session.
If you find you didn’t reach your goal for that session then
plan to complete in your next.
Plan at the end
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@whatjackhasmade
WhatJackHasMade
Feel free to view any of my work on my website www.whatjackhasmade.co.uk
Get in Touch.