"That's been one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains."
- Steve Jobs
Growing up, my father always told me that men were supposed to be good at multi-tasking. If you were able to manage multiple things at once, it showed mental prowess. He cited things like Napoleon's ability to dictate 5 different letters to his secretaries at the same time. Now, let me give you a little background story.
My father was a reactor operator at the only nuclear plant in my home country.
As such, he had a few hundred thousand lives at stake. His job was extremely stressful and required a constant state of alertness. About 50 people that worked at that plant (out of 5000 total) were under his direct command, and their lives depended on his decisions. If he messed up and something blew up or failed to function properly... Well, I think we all remember Chernobyl and the Fukushima Daiichi disaster.
All reactor operators in my home country were men. Why? Most women don't handle extreme stress very well. Hell, most people don't. You can hang me for sexism and a lack of PC, but I will also cite that usually, women are better at multi-tasking than men. On the other hand, men are better at focusing on one single thing at a time.
Since growing up and learning that not everything my parents tell me is pure gold, I've learned that my father made a mistake. His ability to perform well at his job didn't come from his multi-tasking. It came from handling stressful situations and being able to make key decisions in crucial moments.
I've always been lousy at multi-tasking. Yet I've always been very productive and highly effective at whatever I do. How? I learned the secret, godlike, friggin' awesome power of focus.
After focusing on one single thing at a time, I got results much faster. I finished my school work faster. My homework was higher quality. My room got cleaned much quicker. My showers took less time. My meal time got shorter. I managed to read books much faster. I got a lot more done effectively at my weekend part time slowlane job. I got more ideas, and I execute my plans much more effectively after focusing on one single, simple thing at a time.
I thought that focusing actually made you lose time. I thought that reading your emails, being on facebook, listening to music, and coding at the same time was no big deal. NO! It was a huge waste of my precious time. If you want to cut throats and be a productive mother****er, you need to FOCUS. I'll be honest here and say that I don't know how this affects women, but I am sure that a lot of men will agree that if you taste the power of focusing on one single thing at a time, you will notice how your productivity and effectiveness jumps through the roof. Super Saiyan mode.
Get the most out of your time, be focused like a Super Saiyan!
If you haven't tried this yet, do it. Focus on one single thing. You have a lot to do today? Me too! Just make yourself a to-do list and do only one thing at a time. I'm a couch-potato lazy bum unless I focus and kick my own a$$ into action. I'm not a productive person, and yet I am. How? I control myself. I'm my own master. So go ahead and try it. If I can do it, you can too.
- Steve Jobs
Growing up, my father always told me that men were supposed to be good at multi-tasking. If you were able to manage multiple things at once, it showed mental prowess. He cited things like Napoleon's ability to dictate 5 different letters to his secretaries at the same time. Now, let me give you a little background story.
My father was a reactor operator at the only nuclear plant in my home country.
As such, he had a few hundred thousand lives at stake. His job was extremely stressful and required a constant state of alertness. About 50 people that worked at that plant (out of 5000 total) were under his direct command, and their lives depended on his decisions. If he messed up and something blew up or failed to function properly... Well, I think we all remember Chernobyl and the Fukushima Daiichi disaster.
All reactor operators in my home country were men. Why? Most women don't handle extreme stress very well. Hell, most people don't. You can hang me for sexism and a lack of PC, but I will also cite that usually, women are better at multi-tasking than men. On the other hand, men are better at focusing on one single thing at a time.
Since growing up and learning that not everything my parents tell me is pure gold, I've learned that my father made a mistake. His ability to perform well at his job didn't come from his multi-tasking. It came from handling stressful situations and being able to make key decisions in crucial moments.
I've always been lousy at multi-tasking. Yet I've always been very productive and highly effective at whatever I do. How? I learned the secret, godlike, friggin' awesome power of focus.
After focusing on one single thing at a time, I got results much faster. I finished my school work faster. My homework was higher quality. My room got cleaned much quicker. My showers took less time. My meal time got shorter. I managed to read books much faster. I got a lot more done effectively at my weekend part time slowlane job. I got more ideas, and I execute my plans much more effectively after focusing on one single, simple thing at a time.
I thought that focusing actually made you lose time. I thought that reading your emails, being on facebook, listening to music, and coding at the same time was no big deal. NO! It was a huge waste of my precious time. If you want to cut throats and be a productive mother****er, you need to FOCUS. I'll be honest here and say that I don't know how this affects women, but I am sure that a lot of men will agree that if you taste the power of focusing on one single thing at a time, you will notice how your productivity and effectiveness jumps through the roof. Super Saiyan mode.
Get the most out of your time, be focused like a Super Saiyan!
If you haven't tried this yet, do it. Focus on one single thing. You have a lot to do today? Me too! Just make yourself a to-do list and do only one thing at a time. I'm a couch-potato lazy bum unless I focus and kick my own a$$ into action. I'm not a productive person, and yet I am. How? I control myself. I'm my own master. So go ahead and try it. If I can do it, you can too.
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we spent lots of time memorizing ranges and limits of instruments just to have the head knowledge...connecting it with what your eyes see comes after repeatedly scanning the instrument panel in the particular pattern that you develop. At first, you physically train your eyes to follow the pattern, often forgetting to keep at it until corrected by the instructor because you are trying to remember to do a bunch of other things...then one day, it clicks and you get it....that's probably when your brain commits those actions into a habit and you are then able to process and act on what you see in your instrument cross check without thinking about it because your brain has attained a sort of "autopilot" type of state when it comes to that habit. 
