Un emploi du temps bien rempli...

Je suis en train de lire un livre que je trouve très chouette. Ca s'appelle The Now Habit, de Neil Fiore.

Sa thèse, c'est qu'a notre niveau (c.a.d. hors de l'usine), on est pas des esclaves et on n'est pas obligé d'avoir une Work Ethic d'acier. La procrastination n'arrive que quand on a l'impression que le boulot est en train de nous bouffer la vie. Et souvent, quand on pense ca, c'est parce que c'est vrai.

Alors le but c'est de s'organiser une vie, et aprés, d'y inserer quelques plages de boulot hyper productives, le minimum nécéssaire pour atteindre nos buts définis par nous, et aprés de se casser a la plage. De toutes facon, personne n'est productif non-stop pendant huit heures tout les jours, alors cassons le mythe.

En gros, a bas l'ethique protestante et longue vie a l'ethique catholique (si tu me paies plus par heure, je bosse moins d'heures, c.f. Max Weber). J'ai résumé sa philosophie ci dessous:

Love it or leave it. You don't "have to" do something you keep saying you don't want to do. For example, if you don't want to write a thesis, you can look for another job that you would like more. There are plenty of other activities in the world.

"Unschedule". Never plan for work activities. Fill your timetable with fun activities that you really want to do. Get an empty timetable and write in the stuff you want to do with your life (reading in bed, eating our with friends, shopping, going to the cinema, decorating your house, planning a vacation, theatre, art, etc.).

Then try to "steal" some time for getting you work done. Don't "steal" more than 20 hours a week, and not more than five hours a day. If you have to be at work, make the remaining time enjoyable. (Coffee with colleagues, interesting stuff on the side, blogging, e-mailing, lunch…).

Whenever you "steal" some time for work, work for 30 minutes nonstop. Then take a break and do something enjoyable with your life. Then steal another 30 minutes. Etc… Never work for less then 30 minutes, because otherwise the insecurities that trigger procrastination can pop up (this is so hard, I'll never finish it, they'll think I'm stupid etc…). If you want to work for more time in a batch, that's fine, as long as you don't work more than 5 hours a day. Also, you must stop for breaks in the middle of a task. So that when you get back to it it's easy to jump right in.

When you have completed your 40 sessions of 30 minutes in a week. That's it. If you get fired, you'll find another job. If you get yelled at, you'll survive. Unless you're desperate to work more because you think your actual job is so damn cool. But unless it feels so, get the hell out and get a life.