The Newbie Toolkit
I’m not well known for writing long articles, I prefer writing just enough, and that’s what this article is going to be like: direct and to the point.
Today I bring to you a series of tools that I have used both in my academic and professional life. The best example to illustrate this took place in the summer of 2015, when I managed to pass four exams for my Systems Engineering degree in just a month (a major challenge for me while my friends were having a great time at the beach).
In this context, the first issue is to keep focus. It is extremely hard (at least for me) to focus on a task without getting distracted by all the possible distractions that the internet life provides. So, in order to be able to be focused, I began using the Pomodoro technique. In a matter of days, and with a lot of practice, this technique helped me develop enough self-discipline to study for hours without looking at my phone and still maintain a little social life.
Step one: ✔ Now I am focused, but I have so much stuff to do! What should I do next? Where should I start? How much more is there left!? I need to be organized, and I can’t do everything at once. Creating a Kanban board helped me organize my priorities, establish limits as to how many things I can do at once, and visualize the progress of each task. For instance, after returning from a Pomodoro break, I could reorganize my activities just by looking at the board.
But wait… my friends are at the beach and I am here, studying… I need motivation or, at least, something to push me to keep going and not giving up… The use of gamification helped me complete tasks to the extent that I received some kind of reward (whether external or not). So, by means of those rewards I was able to stay motivated and focused, and therefore be efficient. Here’s an interesting Gamification course https://es.coursera.org/learn/gamification.
Now I’m focused and motivated, but what for? Where do I want to go? For all this to be permanent and useful, it is necessary to set a goal. Toyota Improvement Kata made it possible for me to set goals and define small steps to achieve them. Thanks to coaching Kata, I was able to systematically overcome the obstacles that came in the way.
To sum up, these tools, which I call the Newbie Toolkit, provide focus, motivation, work visualization, and clear and attainable goals. What do you do to achieve your goals?
