Getting thing done

Recently I read two articles describing complementary skillsets of getiing things done. The first article described life attitude required for getting things done, like not getting fear and controversy stop you and commitment to actually doing things. The second article described using flow and momentum to maximize performance and getting things done. These skills contribute to each other like strategy and tactics.

When I was a kid I played chess. A lot. I remember the distinction between tactics and strategy: strategy is knowing where you are going, tactics is about getting there faster. You loose tactics and the journey is long and hard, you loose strategy and you are lost.

We teach superlearning tactics, and this means reading a lot, fast, and remembering everything – almost. When done right, you will get into flow, will keep momentum going and [if nobody interrupts you] will finish reading your books. What to read, why to read, and how to act after reading [e.g. the strategy] is not a part of our course for a good reason. We have no idea what you are trying to achieve and how to achieve it.

Some basic tools you will probably need for your journey:
1. Compass: what are your values and what you believe in?
2. Map: what are the major milestones you may account on your way that will either stop you or tell you you are on right track?
3. Vehicle: what vehicle [it can be a financial vehicle, a job etc] are you using to reach your goal?
4. Toolbox: if your vehicle encounters challenges you need to be ready to fix them. Do you have a proper toolbox?
5. Companions: travelling alone is harder, more boring and more dangerous.
6. When are you starting your journey?

Superlearning helps you with everything. It helps you to understand yourself better [psychology/meditation], provides you a map [histories of other similar cases/business plan], gives you a vehicle [as knowledge worker everybody want you], toolbox [you can basically learn anything], companions [there are plenty of guides how to befriend people and keep relationships going], and even the starting time [watch for changing and emerging trends]. However, the journey should be planned incrementally, otherwise the required learning is too much for anyone.

For me getting things done is all about dismantling a monumental task into smaller manageable tasks, making one small success be build upon other small successes. I start with the big task and try to build a separate document for each aspect: vision, specifications, technology, timing, costs. Then I allocate the resources [time, attention, energy] to learning all need to know to proceed. Make no mistake, reading is a small element of the learning process. I make a lot of analysis and simulations, mental simulations of possible scenarios, software simulations of common use cases etc. Then I build the most simple and minimal prototype I can that still provides something visible, and then I build upon this prototype layer by layer. As I build I learn more and I learn faster to the point that I do not need to learn any more. I define the stopping point where I get the full understanding of the process I need to handle. And then I start over, but this time I do it right.

There is nothing complicated and genius in the way I work. I set up goals and achieve them, like everybody else. And each time I do not know what to do next, I search within my mind and I search on google – the answer is there if you find the right questions. Sometimes I need to talk to right people to understand what questions to ask… The qualities I need in my work are equally simple and universal:
1. Creativity – I generate and invalidate around 30 ideas per minute, that is 1000 ideas per hour. Some will eventually work.
2. Efficiency – I read fast, I write fast, I do not make too many mistakes
3. Persistence – Everybody has good and bad days. Reducing the number of bad days and increasing the number of good days is an issue of healthy habits.
4. Resilience – Being able to try more ideas, I fail much more than other people I know. I fail all the time. Very rarely I succeed. To cope with seemingly endless stream of failures, a lot of resilience is required.

You do not need to be a genius or a superlearner to get things done. But being a superlearner surely helps.