Being 'Intentional'!

A week or two ago, in a post titled '50 Things I Want To Do Before I Die', i had talked about 'What am I doing today to ensure the tomorrow i want becomes a reality?'

While the statement makes me feel 'energized', I have been struggling with 'How does one effectively action on a statement like this?' There only are 24 hours in a day!

I remember reading an article by Swedish psychologist, Dr. K Anders Ericsson on 'Deliberate Practice'. In this article he talks about how experts in chess, music, sports, etc acquire their superior performance by extended 'deliberate practice'.

'Deliberate practice' - aah! The term had sounded interesting to me when i had heard it, and is something i keep on coming back to and exploring.

What does one mean by 'deliberate practice'? If I'm a cricketer with a flawed front foot drive technique, i keep on working everyday on my front foot drive technique. There is an element of 'intentionality' about such kind of practice.

'Being Intentional' about how we spend our day can help. It has atleast got me started. Many times my days are a bit crazy and i am not completely in control of my time. But then i would have thought for few minutes in the morning what are the things i want to achieve/do today. That helps, but only to a certain extent!

I like 'serendipity' and prefer doing things only when they 'absolutely' need to be done :). 'Being intentional' about how i am going to spend this hour - the hour i am currently in works for me. I decide on things i want to achieve in the hour i am in, along with the order i want to do those things in.

I prefer not to multi-task. So if you see me working at a point of time, would you find me multi-tasking? No! You would usually find me 'zoned' into what i am doing. But if you happen to meet me after an hour's gap, would you feel i have multi-tasked in the hour gone by? Maybe - because you would find that i have completed a number of things which ordinarily might have taken longer to complete.

Being 'Intentional' about the hour i am in works for me! It leaves me happy and satisfied at the end of the day - i feel i'm actively shaping my tomorrow!

What works for you?

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Sourav

A Fulfilling Life!

Some weeks back I received an email (a group mail) from Peter Bregman. He is an active blogger in the HBR blog circuit. He had written to some people (those who had commented on his previous blog entries, I assume) informing them about his new blog entry titled "Three Questions that Help Me Live a Fulfilling Life”. The blog entry can be accessed on the following link:

http://blogs.hbr.org/bregman/2011/08/three-questions-that-help-me-l.html

Having been personally invited to read this post ( J ), I felt obliged to go through it. I was intrigued by some of the points he had made. I wrote back to him, and also posted my comments on his blog.

Enclosed below is my email to him.

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Dear Peter,

Thanks for sharing your post titled "Three Questions that Help me Live a Fulfilling Life."

I am from the eastern part of the world, where it is usually believed that 'time is circular' - it always comes back.

I have often seen this manifested in the way we approach life. The environment and the individual do both have a role to play in the life of the individual - but there is a belief that the environment has a larger influence on one's life.

One of the ways this manifests itself is in our belief in the concept of serendipity - let things flow and life would emerge.

I have personally found this concept of serendipity and flow enticing, but over time i have also realized that this leads to a situation where the individual is a passive recipient in the process. He is not playing an active role in creating and shaping his surroundings.

I believe that we should not be overtly compulsive about controlling our environment and ourselves. At the same i don't relate to the belief that we should be passive recipients - letting things flow, or emerge.

There should be enough structure for there to be a direction, at the same time there should be enough space to flow.

The only part i felt was missing from your piece was the dreams we have. Dreams are not necessarily limited to 1 year time frame. May be we can look at a structure of "what do i plan to do in the next 1 year to give wings to my dreams."

Thanks for sharing your post. I enjoyed reading it.

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Most of the readers of this post would be from the eastern part of the world, like me. J. What’s your view about Peter’s post?

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Sourav