Toolshed Technologies
Andy Hunt. Author, Publisher,
Programmer, Musician.
How to Escape Trivia Enslavement
—Andy Hunt
05/04/2010
Published in Andy's Blog
- Written goals
- Public commitment
- Accountability
Just writing your goals down can be a big help. Sharing those goals publicly, even just with a close friend, helps even more. And for the trifecta, you can email your friend with periodic status reports on how you're doing.
Without that kind of support, it's easy to wander aimlessly through the jungle of e-mail, IM's, tweets, failed unit tests, and obfuscated requirements until the week has suddenly evaporated. And that's just on the project—your personal goals are just as important; in some cases, more so.
What happens without goals? Heinlein nails it:
"In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it." — Robert Heinlein
So here's today's challenge. Consider what you're doing. In what way is that advancing you toward your goal, versus daily trivia?
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