What Are Our Goals And Deadlines For Next Week: Fill & Download for Free

Setting goals is overrated and most of the time we fail to keep them.I have a different approach to this.Since childhood, we are taught that if we want something we can achieve it.Is it really that simple?Most likely not. But why you ask?Because it’s vague. Because the middle part of the story is missing. Because we are raised with lies. Our dear ones just wanted the best for us but didn’t necessarily know how to guide us there, they just hoped for the best, that we will figure it out on the way.And most of us then struggle.Why haven’t I achieved anything substantial yet?Why can’t I accomplish my goals?Why am I not there yet?Why haven’t I found a mentor yet?Say hi to Anxiety! That one dude that always crashes on your couch uninvited and you honestly don’t know how to kick him out so you just cope with him hoping he will eventually leave. Anxiety is the most common mental illness in the U.S. affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18% of the population. Most of us are ashamed to do anything about it. So we wait, hoping eventually it will become better.Once in a while by some Herculean superpower we gather the will and force to set up some goals (usually around New Years, birthdays, our best friend’s wedding) where we promise that everything will be different this time.It’s time to DO or DIE.What happens one month later? We die.Well… at least a part of us does inside.Let’s take a look at why goals don’t work.Deadlines don’t help us structure our time.When the deadline creeps in some think that rushing in to finish everything is the key. We procrastinate until it’s too late and we lose the bet. We hope our superpower will save us again. But that superpower is long gone. Planning is easy. Implementation is what makes the difference. We suck at predicting how long it will take us to achieve something. We sabotage our future self with more pressure and more work to do later. How many times haven’t you wished you could go back in time and uppercut your past-self in the face for the mess he laid out on you.I know I had. Many times.Goals always make you feel less than you are.They are a binary way of looking at things. We are either a 1 or a 0. What if my goal is to run 10K next month? Should I feel incomplete and less than I am until then? New theories on Quantum mechanics dictate that time doesn’t actually exist. At least not as we know it. There is no past or future. So what matters the most is how you take advantage of the present moment.Human beings for the last 200.000 years have been “NOW” creatures.I want food now. I hunt and eat now.I sense danger now. I run away and move to a safer place. Now I’m OK again.I need a shelter now. I go out. Gather materials. Build. I have shelter now.Anxiety is caused because most of us today live in a “FUTURE” condition.Stay late at work now. Get a paycheck in a couple of weeks. Maybe a raise one dayDon’t go on that trip you always wanted. Save some more and go another time.Don’t apply for that job you really like now. You are not good enough yet.Don’t talk to that guy/girl in the bus station now. They are talking on the phone. Next thing you know, they took a different bus than yours and they are gone.Forever.Goals cripple us.We go in this crippling self-analysis where we find everything that is wrong with us and what we are missing in order to succeed. We start inventing excuses that didn’t even exist in the first place.Goals threaten our egoLast but not least the main challenger is our self-image. We just want the bling-bling, the fame, the achievement without risking making a fool of ourselves, crawling on our elbows and knees. We give so much importance to what others think about us that we don’t risk in disappointing them and that ultimately leads in disappointing ourselves.So what is the solution for all of this?The key to achieving anything is in compounding routines.For each of the above-mentioned let’s do this.Bring yourself in the NOWSet out to do actions that make you present every day. Unshackle yourself from the burden of not seeing the results you want on the horizon. This takes you out of the mindset of whether or not you are achieving your results and just enjoy tackling the task that’s right in front of you.It’s a liberating feeling that allows you to be focused on the task in front of youInstead of worrying about running that 10k in the future focus on just making sure you go out for a short run today.Instead of focusing on losing 20 lbs until summer focus on having a healthy meal today.Instead of focusing on building the next BIG business one year from now focus on creating value for 5 people today.All of these perception shifts will add up day by day bringing exponential growth in the future. (see how I didn’t use the word “goal” anywhere?)Build a system.There is this myth that says you need to always be excited and jump out of bed to start working on your goals. This is not always the case.Sometimes you feel tired. Sometimes the weather is bad. Sometimes you didn’t get enough sleep. Sometimes you just want to binge watch all the seasons of House of Cards. Sometimes you are just uninspired and in a rut.Getting up despite all of these excuses will help you create a system that is independent of external factors. On top of that, it will take the pressure of doing that one thing today just because the stars are in perfect alignment. It becomes a habit. Some days you will create great stuff and some days not.And that’s OK.Showing up every day will get you in places you didn’t believe possible.Be vulnerableIf you think about it, achieving something in life actually implies routine and the uncertainty that it will all pay off. Our ego protects us from these feelings. Doing any of the above actions scares us senseless.We are scared of other people’s judgment. We are scared of delaying a gratification that might never come. We are scared of making fools of ourselves. All great achievers at some moment were called crazy or stupid by the masses. Later the same people wanted to be like them.The good thing about ego is that it’s elastic. It grows and expands if you let it, but it can also shrink to a smaller size if you jump and stomp on it all the time until it becomes microscopic. Let yourself be judged, rejected and hurt.Accept it.A hundred years from now when we will be fertilizer dust, it won’t matter that we were too embarrassed and scared of doing that one thing that one time.Imagine two mountainsOne peak represents your current state. The other one represents your goal. That gap is all the possible excuses you can come up with that stop you from achieving greatness. But there is a twist here. Figuring out what that “X” is by being creative and working your way through is what will actually improve your life. What is on the other side of the gap is not really important anymore.You know what’s more exciting than getting on top of the other mountain?It’s the process of getting there. Because once you mastered that you can climb another mountain, and then another…Wake up every day and find out a new way to tackle that gap.Until it becomes a routine.At one moment you will realize you are getting a return on investment not based on the work you put in but on the value you are creating to get there.That’s what I call exciting.Consider sharing this answer with someone you care about.If you connected with my writing consider subscribing here

It happened a week back. Mindtree had come for campus recruitment, and i had been lucky enough to clear the technical round and qualify for HR round.HR: Hello Mayank, please sit down.Me: Thank you sir!Hr: So Mayank tell me about yourself.Me: I am blah blah blah, i did blah blah blah , I am the Founder and Leader of my college NGO.Hr: So how is it like managing an NGO?Me: Its actually fun. If you have a good team, hardworking people in your organisation then things get pretty simple.Hr: Oh that’s great. Can i ask you one question regarding your organisation.Me: Yes sir!Hr: If you have an event to organise, how will you do it?Me: I will first analyse how to organise the event, and then accordingly assign work to my members. I will assign work according to their performance and interest so that work is done in time.Hr: Ok lets assume you have assigned 4 tasks to people including you. You have been given a deadline by the college.Me: okay!Hr: Suppose one of them falls ill , what will you do?Me: Sir the three of us will take up his work and work harder to achieve our goal.Hr: You have so much things to take care of. You cannot take his work. Now what will you do?Me: We will ask for a new deadline from the college explaining them our shortcomings.Hr: So will you blame the guy who fell ill?Me: No Sir, since i am coordinating so its my duty to complete it on time. So blames on me.Hr: Suppose the college doesn’t extends your deadline .Me: Thinking (Pagal ho gaya hai be) Sir i will get a replacement for him.Hr: You can’t get one as only he knows the work.Me: Thinking (Pagal hai ye) Sir then I will go and apologize for not completing my task.Hr: Have you ever heard about the word “buffer”?Me: Yes sir , Buffer is a generic term that refers to a block of memory that serves as a temporary placeholder.Hr: hahaha in general.Me: Ya sir.Hr: You should keep a buffer day before deadline so that these types of problems can be tackled.Me: (hand on my forehead) Ok sir.. I will remember that.Verdict : RejectedI learnt a great lesson that day- Never stop learningp.s. - I am keeping a buffer day for the next event which i am organising for my NGO

I'm a software developer, designer, and entrepreneur. I'm the co-founder of Asana, team productivity software that many great companies (e.g. Uber, Pinterest, Dropbox) use to run their companies. Back when I was an engineering manager at Facebook, I designed the internal team productivity tool that the company still relies on.Suffice it to say, I've been obsessed with productivity for a long time.Here are the tips that I've found essential to my creative output. Each tip relates to optimizing one of three areas: your environment, your mind, and your process.Optimizing your environmentTurn off all distractions. The verdict is clear: "multitasking" makes people feel more productive, but research shows that it makes us less productive. The temptations of email are strong. But frequent interruptions make us dumber and it takes much longer than expected to get back on task. So when it's time to focus,Set your phone to Do Not Disturb. On iPhone: swipe up from the very bottom of the phone, and then hit the Moon icon.Close all browser windows that aren't directly related to the task at hand.If part of your work is composing emails, get into a state where you can write them without seeing new ones come in. In Gmail, bookmark Gmail (filtered to show nothing)Turn off email push notifications on your computer.Log out of chat.Find your flow time. If your day is constantly interrupted by meetings, it's very difficult to get into flow, a state where you're really jamming and go deep on complex tasks.Add 3-hour "meetings" to your calendar where you're the only attendee. Coworkers will schedule around these busy times, and you can get uninterrupted work done.If you can, get your whole company to agree to a day per week where there shall be no meetings. At Asana, we have No-Meeting Wednesdays.Track what times of the day work best for you for different activities. Do your hardest work during your "Superman time." Here's the process I used to determine that mine is from 10:00a-noon: Finding Your Superman Time.Master your tools. If you use a computer all day, every time you reach for your mouse, it slows you down a little, and you lose a little bit of flow. You want to interact with your computer at the speed at which you think. Doing so requires learning the keyboard shortcuts of the software you used most.Every time you find yourself using your mouse, see if there's a keyboard shortcut. Usually it will appear right next to the menu item, or on the little tip that shows up when you put your mouse cursor over a button. On a Mac: ⌘ means Command, ⌥ means Option, ⇧ means Shift, and ⌃ means Control.Use SizeUp to quickly rearrange your windows without a mouse.Optimize your mindOne of my favorite books on this topic is Tony Schwartz's The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal. Even the book's name is a powerful reminder.Take regular breaks. Common sense tells us that the more time we spend working, the more work done we'll get done. But that's just not true. Humans are not robots. Our minds need time to recharge. Research suggests that a 15-minute break every 90 minutes is a good rule of thumb for accomplishing more by doing less.Meditate. Here's how I picked up a daily habit.Take care of your body.Hydrate. At the beginning of the day, I put 5 tall glasses of water on my desk. I drink them all by the end of the day. Seeing them sitting there is a good progress indicator.Eat well. A carb-heavy lunch is often a disaster for afternoon energy.Exercise. Cardio at least twice a week has been connected to productivity.Fast. One day a month to one day a week.In short, make sure you're using your time outside of work to get nourished, so that you have the energy to give it your all when you're at work.Overcome procrastination by facing discomfort. I don't procrastinate because I'm lazy; I procrastinate because my highest priority task makes me subtly (or not-so-subtly) uncomfortable. When this happens you should:Be honest about what's making it uncomfortable. Explicitly, compassionately write down (or share with a friend) the exact source of the discomfort. Why does this feel so dreadful?Identify one easeful next step.I've written more on this technique at How to Overcome Procrastination by Facing Discomfort.If you don't have the energy to face the fear right now, then at least do the second-highest-priority thing on your list, rather than switching to Facebook. Prolific Stanford professors John Perry calls this "Structured Procrastination," and attributes most of his success to it at StructuredProcrastination.com.Optimize your processGet clarity of plan. A lot of un-productivity arises from a lack of prioritization. It being unclear what you actually need to do to achieve your goal, and what's highest priority.Don't do any more work until the next steps are 100% crystal clear to you, and agreed upon by everyone on your team.Start by grounding in: What is our goal? Why do we want to achieve it? What are all the steps required to achieve it? Who's responsible for each step? What order must they be done in?Here's more on how to get clarity of plan.Buddy up. Some people love working alone, but, for complex tasks, I generally find it painful and prone to distraction.Find a teammate who would enjoy collaborating. Sometimes tasks that would have taken me 2 days can be completed in 2 hours with the right partner. "Pair programming" is common in software engineering, but it works for anything.Alternately, you can have a conversation with yourself by buddying up with a text editor or journal: start asking yourself the big questions and write out your answers. I've had long, strategic, and productive dialogues with my computer by simply writing out questions and answering them in free-flow form.Publicly commit to a deadline. Harness peer pressure to your advantage. If an important task doesn't have a natural deadline, I'll tell people confidently, "I will send you a copy by end of day Friday." Now I don't want to look ridiculous in front of my teammates, so I will naturally make damn sure it's ready for them by Friday.Use software to track your work. Unsurprisingly, I believe Asana is the best place for this. Not only does it keep track of your own to-do list; it also manages the flow of work among the entire team, so you don't need endless meetings to stay on the same page. And it keeps the conversations alongside the work, so you're not constantly wading through emails to get the information you need.Take time to reflect. Budget just a few minutes at the end of each day, and consider what went well and what went less well. Are there improvements you could make in your workflow next time? If every day you could get 1% more efficient, then by the end of the year you'd be 15x as productive.