Brain Ram

I have found that people that are stressed get that way because they are trying to use more RAM than they have. If you are not familiar with RAM, it is the memory in your computer that is stores things that you are working on currently. Think of this as the top of your desk in your office.

The problem is that most people try to remember everything. This would be the equivalent or trying to keep everything on your computer open without storing anything on the hard drive. The office analogy of the hard drive is the filing cabinet. In your office you probably have files that you store in your filing cabinet keeping until you are talking to a client, or need to reference a particular file. Most people would do the same digitally, save the file on your hard drive for later access. Most people, however, do not do this for there brain.

Close Open Loops

Over the past week, I have closed various open loops that I have had open for 13 months. Closing these open loops has opened up a huge amount of mental ram, and eliminated a substantial amount of stress. I didn't really think that it was weighing on me all that much until I closed them and was doing more with less effort than before, things just seemed easier and I was completing them faster. The human mind is similar to a computer, the more ram you have available the faster and more responsive it will be.

I encourage everyone to close as many loops as possible this week. Post in the comments how this helped or didn't help you. If you do this I can promise you at the very least you will have a sense of completion and reduced stress.

To your success.

Using Time Management Tools: Pomodoro Technique

I have previously suggested the use of a tool, Pomodoro Daisuki. Unfortunately, this tool is no longer available. My thoughts on why this occurred are provided at the end of this article.  However, due to the removal of this tool, I have not yet vetted a suitable replacement at this time.

Regardless of what you call this method of managing your time, it is very effective. The Basic premise is that you do sprints with your time broken out over 30 minutes. The order should be 25 minutes in a pomodoro, and 5 minutes to break. After 4 cycles you should take another 15 minute break.

Example:
Pomodoro I - 25 minutes
Break - 5 minutes
Pomodoro II - 25 minutes
Break - 5 minutes
Pomodoro III - 25 minutes
Break - 5 minutes
Pomodoro IV - 25 minutes
Break - 5+15 minutes

This will take you through 2:15 and 4 can be preformed in a typical 9 hour day with a 1 hour lunch. A few