Time management, making an impact at work etc.

I had a really great conversation with a mentor at work today. Here’s what I learnt:

• Say no by default.
  • The idea is not to be an ass. Instead, check with yourself whether the ask aligns with the direction you want to take before agreeing to it.
  • In other words, stay in control. If someone asks you to do something, try to understand what that ask translates for you.
• Meetings:
  • Only two types: those that announce/communicate something or where you want to make a decision (and all necessary parties are present).
  • What about other bureaucratic meetings (which are often recurring in nature)? Just ignore as much as you can. You think you made a deep insight by a single comment in an ops meeting but that’s probably false.
    • The org I am part of right now is full of operators. How will I stand out amongst them? By making an impact, not by making smart comments in ops meetings.
  • Only attend meetings where I am actively contributing.
• Multi-tasking doesn’t work at all. Don’t even try which leads to the next point…
• Intense focus.
  • Where do I find time to tackle big problems? His answer, which was a light bulb moment for me, was that you have no idea how much you can achieve in 1 hour if you focus intensely on the work. Just close out all distractions during such time chunks, like all of them.
  • This is exactly what the book, Deep Work, also claims. You probably don’t want more hours in a day, just more intensity and zero distractions when you are working.