What do I need to Understand versus What do I want to Understand

One of the most time consuming tasks is learning how to do something new.

Thus it is important we prioritise our learning at all times in order to maximise our use of available time.

What do need to understand to complete our tasks?  These must be identified and acted on. 

What do we want to understand? These must be acted on, but deferred, until we have acted on what we need to understand and are able to do that efficiently.

The Value of Doing Things Properly the First Time Round - And Documenting Confusions

It is very tempting to take shortcuts in tasks which allow you to reach your result faster, or if not faster, then perhaps with considerably less effort!

This is particularly true in tasks that require learning.

The problem with sacrificing effort is that the same task may come up later again and again. At each point in time, considerable effort must be made to reach the minimum level of understanding to complete the task.  In many cases, the task may recur in slightly altered form in future (for example, if a legislation comes up, or a particular government policy changes).

Another approach is to do the task properly "first time round". Understanding clearly what the task is about, documenting any confusions (and grouping them into "confusions that must be resolved to resolve the task" and "open questions for future thought"will help to prioritise your attention) as well as references relevant to the task (collated for easy access) will be extremely useful not only to complete the task of time but also in reinforcing your understanding which will help resolve future similar assignments.

Be confident in questioning the things you don't understand. Document your confusions. Then resolve them and document the resolution. This way you will gain a confident understanding for completing your tasks.

Learning to Do Things Without Thinking

As the British mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead once said: "Civilization advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about them".

Investing Time Learning Technology - Short Term Pain Long Term Gain

Using new technology requires a lot of learning - learning that comes from reading as well as from experimentation.  It is often tempting, and sometimes necessary, to find the "quick" solution - however, it often pays to take a little longer on the initial task, in order to build up repeatable skills that can be exercised in future tasks. Once the knowledge is gained on how the task should be performed in future, a record of the newly learned techniques should be written at once and regularly reviewed at later dates.

The Discipline of Not Doing

Managing Multiple Tasks

It is the nature of the world that human beings always have too  many tasks to do at any one time. The solution to the multiple task problem is not multi-tasking - it is organising and planning your work so you only do the most important tasks at any one time.

The main strategy for dealing with this problem is divide and conquer.  Group your tasks into high priority and low priority. Each set of tasks must be managed with extreme disciple.

Path A - the High Priority

Amidst the high priority tasks, identify the most important task of the day, and make sure it gets done. As you tackle the top task, you may encounter a rift of problems and need to break down that task into several subtasks.  Therefore, an early start is essential.

Path B - the Low Priority

For all the low priority tasks, you must employ the discipline of not doing. Do not be tempted to do those tasks because you understand how to do them, or they are small tasks, until you have addressed your high priority items.

Stick low priority tasks on a background thread and make sure they stay there. Keep a log of these tasks as they will likely accumulate a great deal in one day. They need to be tracked and managed. Write them down so you don't have to remember them.