What is your worst quality?

[zinfamous]

I have a pile of ukuleles that I am trying to sell off, but I can't find anyone to....OH GOD DAMN IT!

 

[Kaido]

<------ Makes a note to ask Kaido for his procrastination fix at some point in the indeterminate future.

On a side note, does anyone else here make a thoroughly detailed "to do" list and then sit back feeling Problems Solved!

So one of the biggest reasons for procrastination is simply not knowing what to do next. The heart of my approach is GTD (Getting Things Done, an action-management workflow system), which solves that problem across the board. The basic idea is actually pretty simple:

1. Capture all of your to-do stuff in a list
2. Process that list using a checklist tool (it asks clarification questions like "what's the outcome desired for this task?" & "what's the very next physical action required to move this project forward?"))
3. Put reminders of those next-actions onto either a list or your calendar (calendar if they're time or day-sensitive, like a doctor's appointment, or a list for everything else)

So ultimately, you spend your day working on a list of next-actions, which you have pre-defined & can take immediate action on each one, rather than a vague list of to-do items. Then, you pick what to do based on calendar appointment, context (i.e. if you're at work, at home, at the grocery store, etc.), and your list of next-actions, which you can figure out by what the priority level is, how much energy you have, etc. The hardest part of the system is the initial couple days required to get in & capture 100% of everything off your head, your existing to-do list, projects around the house, etc. Then you hit "100% up-to-date" (so that you're not forgetting anything) & just file stuff away to do in the future, or maybe-someday, or whatever. It's a really neat system because for a tiny bit of daily effort, you don't have to hang on to stuff mentally anymore, because your system tracks it for you!

 

[SKORPI0]

How to Answer What is your Worst Quality Interview Question

 

[Humpy]

I think it's a poor question, being that quality is a degree of excellence. Why would knowing what someone's worst good thing is be beneficial knowledge? My worst quality is that my face is only a 9/10 in terms of aesthetics, but for example, my weakness is arguing semantics because I strongly believe that clear communication is important. Words have meaning so fucking choose wisely. If you need to know what a person's typical point of failure is, ask them.

 

[gorcorps]

I'm disorganized and get distracted easily. Makes work harder than it should be sometimes, and home projects too. If I was a more organized & neater person, some of the more hectic moments would be easier to get through. To balance it out, I feel like I think better at making quick decisions than some. I do better dealing with immediate issues that need fixed NOW, but can struggle keeping long term projects on track if I can't keep it organized.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I'm super impatient and I'm easily irritable. When I get irritated easily though it's typically something that is very easily avoided and it's due to someone else just being an idiot.

Haha, I think this is many of us in the tech realm in general. I'm horrible about this.

 

[snoopy7548]

So one of the biggest reasons for procrastination is simply not knowing what to do next. The heart of my approach is GTD (Getting Things Done, an action-management workflow system), which solves that problem across the board. The basic idea is actually pretty simple:

1. Capture all of your to-do stuff in a list
2. Process that list using a checklist tool (it asks clarification questions like "what's the outcome desired for this task?" & "what's the very next physical action required to move this project forward?"))
3. Put reminders of those next-actions onto either a list or your calendar (calendar if they're time or day-sensitive, like a doctor's appointment, or a list for everything else)

So ultimately, you spend your day working on a list of next-actions, which you have pre-defined & can take immediate action on each one, rather than a vague list of to-do items. Then, you pick what to do based on calendar appointment, context (i.e. if you're at work, at home, at the grocery store, etc.), and your list of next-actions, which you can figure out by what the priority level is, how much energy you have, etc. The hardest part of the system is the initial couple days required to get in & capture 100% of everything off your head, your existing to-do list, projects around the house, etc. Then you hit "100% up-to-date" (so that you're not forgetting anything) & just file stuff away to do in the future, or maybe-someday, or whatever. It's a really neat system because for a tiny bit of daily effort, you don't have to hang on to stuff mentally anymore, because your system tracks it for you!

This is great and is just common sense, but so easy to miss. I often feel like I really want to start or continue with a project, but my mind tries to plan ten steps ahead and I start to feel overwhelmed and get discouraged, and I eventually just don't do it. Making a list of each step would help a ton with that. A dining table isn't built all at once - it's all a bunch of little steps that need to get done in a certain order.

 

[BoomerD]

<------ Makes a note to ask Kaido for his procrastination fix at some point in the indeterminate future.

On a side note, does anyone else here make a thoroughly detailed "to do" list and then sit back feeling Problems Solved!

Not only do I make a detailed "to do list," but as I find/do other things, I add them to the list then check them off...

 

[realibrad]

Oh . . . mah . . . gawd . . . that's me to a 'T.' I'm still struggling to learn to be a better person in this regard.

Case in point: In a recent thread on the, ummm, crucially important topic of outdoor lighting, this butthurt bozo, amongst other bullshit, "concern trolled" me and this socially clueless shut-in, flat out called me a liar about a recounted detail of my personal life. It took all the will power I have not to prolong the bullshit by ripping each of them a fucking new one.

You sound like you have a bad case of the old man regrets and you are angry about your life. Relax, enjoy the fact that you are alive.

 

[zinfamous]

So one of the biggest reasons for procrastination is simply not knowing what to do next. The heart of my approach is GTD (Getting Things Done, an action-management workflow system), which solves that problem across the board. The basic idea is actually pretty simple:

1. Capture all of your to-do stuff in a list
2. Process that list using a checklist tool (it asks clarification questions like "what's the outcome desired for this task?" & "what's the very next physical action required to move this project forward?"))
3. Put reminders of those next-actions onto either a list or your calendar (calendar if they're time or day-sensitive, like a doctor's appointment, or a list for everything else)

So ultimately, you spend your day working on a list of next-actions, which you have pre-defined & can take immediate action on each one, rather than a vague list of to-do items. Then, you pick what to do based on calendar appointment, context (i.e. if you're at work, at home, at the grocery store, etc.), and your list of next-actions, which you can figure out by what the priority level is, how much energy you have, etc. The hardest part of the system is the initial couple days required to get in & capture 100% of everything off your head, your existing to-do list, projects around the house, etc. Then you hit "100% up-to-date" (so that you're not forgetting anything) & just file stuff away to do in the future, or maybe-someday, or whatever. It's a really neat system because for a tiny bit of daily effort, you don't have to hang on to stuff mentally anymore, because your system tracks it for you!

First question: What's a calendar?

 

[Kaido]

This is great and is just common sense, but so easy to miss. I often feel like I really want to start or continue with a project, but my mind tries to plan ten steps ahead and I start to feel overwhelmed and get discouraged, and I eventually just don't do it. Making a list of each step would help a ton with that. A dining table isn't built all at once - it's all a bunch of little steps that need to get done in a certain order.

So the way GTD defines a project is anything with more than one action step. Which basically means that a lot of stuff you normally wouldn't call a project, will actually be a project. The reason for this is that if you don't complete every single action step in the project list, then the project isn't really done. It's like not passing that last class in college to get your degree...if you drop the ball on one step, you're not going to get the outcome you want. So GTD is really just a combination of a checklist for converting vague to-do's into clear next-action steps, and a collection of various lists. So building a computer might look like this:

1. Figure out what your budget is, how much you can & are willing to spend on your PC
2. Figure out what you want to use the PC for - gaming, VR, video editing, Internet surfing, etc.
3. Figure out what parts you need - if you already have a really great monitor, then don't add that to the list
4. Research & order parts according to your budget & requirements
5. Build the machine & install Windows (or whatever)
6. Test the machine with memtest+ for 24 hours, then do HDtune on the drives, etc.
7. Computer is now "done" & project is complete

None of those steps is hard, when you tackle them one by one...for the first few steps, noodle around on Newegg & PC Part Picker & Anandtech to see what the latest & great is, think about what you want to use the computer for exactly, and figure out what your available budget is. Like, if you want to do CAD, then you'll want a CAD card instead of a gaming card, you know? So flesh all of that out, then get everything on order. Building is an easy & fun process as well...you need maybe a dozen screws for the motherboard, some cages for the drives & maybe the PSU & whatnot, you know, it's like building a Lego set! Fun & easy, and maybe a bit challenging if you've never done it before or have new tech like an NVMe drive or something to play with. Then zap Windows onto it via USB installer, run some tests to make sure it's good, and it's party time!

Like 99% of stuff in life is pretty easy to do, it just gets hard when you try to keep it all in your head because our brain doesn't have a built-in calendar or alarm clock or photographic memory (at least, most people don't!), so tracking it on a list is a way better way to do it, because you don't have to hang onto everything mentally...write it down once & then you can just work off the list of next-actions, which is easy because then each step is doable. Otherwise you risk running into exactly what you described, an emotional wall of negativity where you feel overwhelmed & discouraged because you're now having to mentally juggle a zillion things all at once. If you've ever felt an aversion to doing simple tasks like the dishes or the laundry, then you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. Individually, they are ridiculously simple & quick & easy to do tasks, but collectively, we get overloaded if we don't offload all of that thinking & tracking into a system that "remembers" it all for us, and reminders of what to do & when.

I think I'm going to take a week or two off in October & finish fleshing out the system into a step-by-step tutorial. My approach is basically GTD on steroids...very useful if you struggle with staying on top of stuff like I do!

 

[Kaido]

First question: What's a calendar?

According to North Korea, Kim Jong Un makes the sun rise & fall each day. So then we started wearing these cool Apple Watch alternatives called sundials. But they only tracked a single day, so Google invented the Calendar:

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/r

And thus man become productive

 

[dasherHampton]

I've become so cynical the past 5 or so years. Maybe longer.

I tried to re-watch a show on Amazon about a month a go called "Eureka". I had tried to keep up when it originally came out like 10 years ago but I lost track of it and never saw the thing through. I do remember enjoying it quite a bit despite of (or maybe because of) all of it's dorkiness. So when I saw it's on Amazon I figured it would the perfect time to start over and find out how everything turned out.

I made it through maybe 7-8 episodes, and the last two were really hard to finish. Some part of my mind keeps spouting out "My God, this is so stupid. How can you watch this?". We're not talking about something I watched as a kid. This is a show I enjoyed a lot not that long ago.

I just can't seem to enjoy things at face value anymore. I used to be such a dork who found something to enjoy in almost everything but I guess I've gotten too "deep" and too "smart". It's not a great pace to be.

 

[realibrad]

I've become so cynical the past 5 or so years. Maybe longer.

I tried to re-watch a show on Amazon about a month a go called "Eureka". I had tried to keep up when it originally came out like 10 years ago but I lost track of it and never saw the thing through. I do remember enjoying it quite a bit despite of (or maybe because of) all of it's dorkiness. So when I saw it's on Amazon I figured it would the perfect time to start over and find out how everything turned out.

I made it through maybe 7-8 episodes, and the last two were really hard to finish. Some part of my mind keeps spouting out "My God, this is so stupid. How can you watch this?". We're not talking about something I watched as a kid. This is a show I enjoyed a lot not that long ago.

I just can't seem to enjoy things at face value anymore. I used to be such a dork who found something to enjoy in almost everything but I guess I've gotten too "deep" and too "smart". It's not a great pace to be.

Its probably not an issue of being too deep and or smart. Its most likely an issue of raising your standard. Why watch something that offers less when there are so many other things to do in life?

 

[dasherHampton]

Yeah, I get that, but if you hold out for perfection your feelings of satisfaction will be few and far between.

I think a person can't get too selective to enjoy flawed things.

 

[realibrad]

Yeah, I get that, but if you hold out for perfection your feelings of satisfaction will be few and far between.

I think a person can't get too selective to enjoy flawed things.

The human condition.

We have so many things for enjoyment that its super hard to sit through anything that is lackluster. Further, why would you force yourself to sit through something you don't enjoy if its for enjoyment right?

 

[Kaido]

Its probably not an issue of being too deep and or smart. Its most likely an issue of raising your standard. Why watch something that offers less when there are so many other things to do in life?

I hate to say it, but I went through this with food. I'd eat whatever growing up, then I couldn't eat normal food for like ten years, and now I'm on food allergy medicine & can eat whatever I want...but I'm a LOT more selective about what I pick. Sure, I'll still go to McDonalds & stuff from time to time, but having limited access to stuff I previously enjoyed as a kid changed my perspective. I don't want to waste my calories on stuff that doesn't really do it for me anymore, you know? #FirstWorldProblems haha

 

[realibrad]

I hate to say it, but I went through this with food. I'd eat whatever growing up, then I couldn't eat normal food for like ten years, and now I'm on food allergy medicine & can eat whatever I want...but I'm a LOT more selective about what I pick. Sure, I'll still go to McDonalds & stuff from time to time, but having limited access to stuff I previously enjoyed as a kid changed my perspective. I don't want to waste my calories on stuff that doesn't really do it for me anymore, you know? #FirstWorldProblems haha

I'm at a level in my life where I now care about the quality of my food. I remember the day it happened too. I was at Universal Studios and I got a burger from some shitty place. It was one of those cheap frozen patties that you would get at a school. Cheap low quality beef, way over cooked, dry. I took a bit into it and realized, man, this is crap.

Its not like I am a food snob either. I can enjoy a Long Horn steak and be perfectly happy. Its just that cheap crap quality is not worth my time anymore. I look more at reviews than I do price now. $$ or under and I'm safe. $$$ is for special occasions.

 

[Kaido]

The human condition.

We have so many things for enjoyment that its super hard to sit through anything that is lackluster. Further, why would you force yourself to sit through something you don't enjoy if its for enjoyment right?

I feel like going to the movies has changed a lot in that regard. I see like maybe 4 movies a year at the local cinema. I used to go all the time, and would see whatever. Partly because I care more about the quality of the movie, and partly because I'm more stacked on time, plus the good theater with the cool chairs is like $16 a ticket now, so date night is $32 plus snacks plus gas plus babysitter plus time, so the formula has gotten a lil' bit more complicated as I've gotten older.

 

[Kaido]

I'm at a level in my life where I now care about the quality of my food. I remember the day it happened too. I was at Universal Studios and I got a burger from some shitty place. It was one of those cheap frozen patties that you would get at a school. Cheap low quality beef, way over cooked, dry. I took a bit into it and realized, man, this is crap.

Its not like I am a food snob either. I can enjoy a Long Horn steak and be perfectly happy. Its just that cheap crap quality is not worth my time anymore. I look more at reviews than I do price now. $$ or under and I'm safe. $$$ is for special occasions.

Yup same. Not picky, not a food snob...I guess the word would be "particular". Like, my brothers & I use to plow through a bag of Starbursts as kids; can't even swallow them now. They just taste like artificial wax. Bleh. Not worth my time.

 

[Mayne]

I kind of took kaido's advice today...showered and shaved my head and beard. feels good.

 

[gorcorps]

So one of the biggest reasons for procrastination is simply not knowing what to do next. The heart of my approach is GTD (Getting Things Done, an action-management workflow system), which solves that problem across the board. The basic idea is actually pretty simple:

1. Capture all of your to-do stuff in a list
2. Process that list using a checklist tool (it asks clarification questions like "what's the outcome desired for this task?" & "what's the very next physical action required to move this project forward?"))
3. Put reminders of those next-actions onto either a list or your calendar (calendar if they're time or day-sensitive, like a doctor's appointment, or a list for everything else)

So ultimately, you spend your day working on a list of next-actions, which you have pre-defined & can take immediate action on each one, rather than a vague list of to-do items. Then, you pick what to do based on calendar appointment, context (i.e. if you're at work, at home, at the grocery store, etc.), and your list of next-actions, which you can figure out by what the priority level is, how much energy you have, etc. The hardest part of the system is the initial couple days required to get in & capture 100% of everything off your head, your existing to-do list, projects around the house, etc. Then you hit "100% up-to-date" (so that you're not forgetting anything) & just file stuff away to do in the future, or maybe-someday, or whatever. It's a really neat system because for a tiny bit of daily effort, you don't have to hang on to stuff mentally anymore, because your system tracks it for you!

I just went down a rabbit hole after googling GTD... I found some good stuff. I've used OneNote in the past and think I could really utilize it again. My biggest issue with it had been my inability to sync notes between my work computer and personal phone. But since we've moved to 365, it looks like I can access my work account on my personal phone without having an approved "corporate device". Might help keep me organized. We'll see

 

[Thebobo]

I kind of took kaido's advice today...showered and shaved my head and beard. feels good.

Thought you were going to beard up, its is the thing now. Even Squirrel has one again.

 

[Mayne]

I would beard up ..but its getting near light up season here in Canada. I don't want to scare potential customers.

 

[lxskllr]

I'm inclined to say procrastination, but I don't think that's such a bad quality. As long as shit gets done, the exact time table's flexible afaic.

It's probably a tossup between being lazy and judgmental. I get right to work I enjoy, but something like cleaning the bathroom? Maybe tomorrow... I'm also pretty opinionated. I know a bunch of you must be shocked, but it's true! I analyze, classify, and compartmentalize people, then pass judgment to what I think they're worth. I mostly keep it to myself in the real world more than I do on the web, but it's the thought that counts :^D