Are You Focused?
In a recent interview with Marc Chernoff, author of “1,000 Little Things Happy, Successful People Do Differently”, he talks about how anyone can achieve their goals by following just a few life hacks that can increase productivity. Many people do not know effective ways to eliminate distractions in their life that keep them from achieving their dreams. One way to stay focused is to only do the things you need to do. Many people try to get things done as fast as possible or just blindly work on things without realizing they do not have to. Before making a game plan on what the most efficient method is, a great tip is to ask yourself, “is all of this necessary?” Leaving a little time to organize your thoughts and tasks will save much more time in the future. This is very similar to the idea of strong and weak ties. In order to fulfill Triadic Closure, people should not waste time trying to build every connection with as many people as possible. People should focus on those who they could have possible strong ties with because it will be more beneficial in the long run.
The reason people have trouble with achieving their goals is that they do not realize that some sacrifices are necessary to achieve one’s goals. Chernoff mentions that “if you want benefits, you also want costs,” mainly referenced towards entrepreneurs. This is exactly like game theory and Nash Equilibrium. You must be able to give up a little to gain a lot in the end, and must take risks even if you might lose in the end. Although it is almost impossible to know what your opponents strategy might be, in order to succeed in life, you must be able to take some risks in order to achieve your goal in the end.
Another great way to increase productivity is to automate and delegate. You can save a lot of time in the future by giving up a lot of time now. For example, instead of trying to work on a project 10% each day, it would be more productive in the end to give up a little bit of leisure time to find a more efficient method that would help you get more work done in a smaller amount of time. This will be more cost and time efficient in the future. Again, similarly to trying to achieve Triadic closure, do not waste time trying to build connections with every node, but only focus on those that will result in a balanced connection.
People should also focus on trying to surround themselves with people that motivate them and have similar goals. Is in important to surround yourself with people that you look up to because this motivates people to achieve greatness. Chirnoff mentions that is also helpful to have a circle of mentors, and specifically mentions to have one or even 3. If we associate ourselves with a small group of mentors or people we look up to, we will be more socially inclined to achieve the same goals and be just as successful. This, again, links to the idea of Triadic Closure. Have strong ties with two, rather than one, will not only motivate the student, the mentors in turn will motivate each other. Relationships have a greater chance of helping you, rather than hurting you. Therefore, surrounding yourself with role models will have a stronger influence on achieving your goals instead of trying to work alone.
Lastly, Chirnoff’s final statement is that “sometimes you have to go through the worst, to arrive at your best!” It’s important to not give up when you reach a road block because in the end, not only will you eventually reach your goal, but you are also learning from your past mistakes. This is true in achieving your dreams, but also in game theory. Game theory is all about losing some, and winning some. However, in the end, once you can start to get an understanding of your opponents strategy, you can eventually come out with the greatest winnings. Overall, do not be discouraged because with sacrifice comes reward.
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2014/09/22/marc-chernoff-how-entrepreneurs-can-increase-their-productivity/