Charging up Mountains

Not surprising to me, a study shows that excellent people work fewer hours but in a more focused and intense way (High Intensity Interval Working?). And they set clear goals for themselves. I see this difference as climbing mountains (where you know when you get to the top — it’s down in every direction around you) vs heading out on the endless vista of toil. The latter sounds dreary, but it can become a surprisingly comfortable place to settle into and lose sense of whether you are actually getting anywhere.

This can work for big goals, big projects, with big teams, and it is also applicable at the individual level. The Pomodoro Technique has you break up the things you need to get done into strict 25 minute chunks. Each chunk needs to have a well-defined goal (mountain to climb) for what you are going to achieve during that 25 minutes, and then you need to create an environment where you can focus 100% on that goal. No distractions. The 25 minute time-box is meant to keep you focused and under a slight feeling of time pressure. As Leonard Bernstein said, “To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.” If you can’t reach your goal in a single 25 minute session, break it up into 2 sessions, with a well-defined milestone for the end of the first session. The reason people can find themselves on an endless vista of toil is because they can believe they have an endless vista of time, and can wander around, circle the goal without diving in, get distracted, etc.

The flip side of the intensity of charging up the mountain of your goal is in giving yourself time off. It is important to rest, to let go, to let your mind wander, just like the critical rest periods between intervals in HIIT. If you are slightly switched on all the time, you will find yourself lacking the energy for a high-intensity burst when you need to focus and get to the top of that peak.