Process of developing a Strong Work Ethic.

[Alyo]

So I made this commitment to start to like really develop, cement and embody a very strong work ethic, but not just working for work's sake of course, but by being intelligent about it as well. As in spiritual practices and in the survival aspects of the "dream" like business or paying bills for example.

So I was just wondering guys/girls, how would you approach this sort of a task?

Because eventhough my spiritual growth is like fucking skyrocketing every single day right now (been meditating for 4 years now every single day for an hour or more; just moving to the Netherlands and discovering the wonderful world of psylocibin and mindfucking me even more!), I still feel I'm not puting in as nearly enough as I could be. And I realize that, and I'm sort of aware that I'm being lazy sometimes, and having excuses to go and clean the room instead or washing the dishes, instead of focusing and commiting to a project at hand for like 4hrs with laser like precision and not get distracted by all the shit that is going around.

How would you approach this? Are you also struggling with this? If you're a guy/girl who has a strong work ethic, how did you develop it?

And I know that ultimately I will have to craft my own unique/custom path to this, but just in general and from an overarching big picture perspective, how would you aprroach this issue?                                                       

Aljoša

 

[JustThinkingAloud]

This is what I do:

1. Have a dream – it has to be the ultimate wish, no compromises, it has to feel awesome every time you imagine it. This is not a goal, goals are more realistic, when you have a dream you shoot for the stars! This gives you motivation and drive to keep going and get through tough times. Don’t worry about details too much, it just has to feel awesome, you’ll work on details as you go.
2. Have next couple of steps towards it – this is what you work on, think about, analyse, learn, research etc
3. Celebrate every progress – your motivation is you biggest energy source, you need to keep feeding it

So now you can setup a routine that needs to involve the following:

1. Productive time – working on your dream
2. Thinking time – analysing your strategy - How can I do it better? Is it the right step? What is the next step? Am I progressing? Do I need to learn or research more? etc. You can do this while exercising, watching TV, cleaning your room or doing the dishes.

Once you start doing it you'll know when you get tired etc you can setup how many hours a day you can do. Just don’t forget to take care of other important things (eg a loved one, your health).

[Alyo]

Good points to consider guys

Keep it coming.

[BjarkeT]

I think the first step is to develop a process you trust one of the reasons we procrastinate is because we use a process we don't trust. 

Second I would suggest to go all in on your goal for a specific period of time where you don't spend your time on things that could distract you from your goal. You can always spend time on those things once you are done. I recommend doing what Cal Newport suggests. (in the link below the video) I also think this is what he calls The Bimodal Philosophy in his book deep work. It helps to have a goal that is more important than spending time on distractions. 

A good tip is to have a commitment mindset.

http://www.calnewport.com/blog/2014/06/05/dont-fight-distraction-make-it-irrelevant/

Next you could try using the promodro technique. It works great with working for 25 minutes and 5 minute breaks. I use this website:

https://tomato-timer.com/

You could also use a productivity system to help organize your work which can help work progress. 

I use weekly daily goals by Scott young and fixed schedule productivity by Cal Newport.

http://www.calnewport.com/blog/2008/02/15/fixed-schedule-productivity-how-i-accomplish-a-large-amount-of-work-in-a-small-number-of-work-hours/

https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2008/04/08/how-to-finish-your-work-one-bite-at-a-time/ 

A really good thing to consider to have a strong work ethic is to focus on energy mangement and the type of work you do instead of how much time you spent. The reason why is because you can spent a lot of time on something but make little progress the reason why is because the process you use is ineffective you can make a lot more progress by using a effective method. An other reason could be that you have little energy so optimizing your energy may be a good strategy.  

An important part to have a strong work ethic is to also spend a lot of time to recover. The reson why we burnout is because we spent to little time on recovering our body from work.

https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/bootcamp-2015-day-4/

How scott young was able to focus for 8 hours+ doing the project he calls the MIT challenge. 

 

Edited August 6, 2019 by BjarkeT