Idea is the least valuable thing in the world, and execution is always the most important.
Author: Lupine Breeze & Joba (Columnist of Fushu)
Recently, a friend complained to me: good anxiety, no money, no house, no car, there are still many things to learn, what to do?
After a few days of anxiety, I repeatedly confided in me.
Later, I said you don't look for me anymore, and I said two words: action.
When we encounter something that makes us feel anxious, we often can't help but think wildly.
Psychology calls this situation of thinking about the same thing over and over again and not being able to get out of anxiety "thinking rumination."
We all inevitably fall into this trap, the difference is that cattle people will choose to use actions to resolve anxiety, while ordinary people will only fall into anxiety.
My friend Xiao Huang, a graduate student majoring in ideology and politics, works in a state-owned enterprise and is very dissatisfied with his work.
Every night I always clamored to make a change, but always stood still, before going to bed, all kinds of career plans, waking up or going to work.
I didn't see him studying for further study, or to understand the development of the industry he liked, but he just learned to complain about the world, complain about the unit and the leader.
Two years have passed, and the so-called change is still in words.
And my college classmate Xiao Li, her action is worthy of praise.
She worked as a civil servant in a fourth-tier city for 3 years, her work was lifeless, she had no boyfriend, and she was urged to marry by her parents, and her life fell into a trough.
Disobedient, she ignored her parents' opposition on the eve of her 30 years old, resigned and left her hometown to work for 3 years at a new media company in Shenzhen.
Every day I do my favorite text editing job, now I earn 20,000 yuan a month, and I have gained my love in the company.
Just take the first step and it will all come to fruition.
When faced with change, everyone starts out confused and doesn't know where to go.
But when you listen to your heart, there is always a voice telling you: you can't stay here anymore, you have to go out.
Procrastination is just an excuse to avoid action, and starting and completing something is more important than doing it well.
Writer Yu Hua said: "Among the young generation in China, there are many excellent people, but very few are people who can execute! ”
Execution is not only a matter of attitude of courage to take responsibility, but also a problem of development of ability improvement.
Action-driven systems: micro-habit strategies
When we really realize that we are going to do something, and it is ignited in an instant, the action is initiated, and there may be complex reasons behind it.
But it boils down to two aspects: one is to escape pain, and the other is to chase pleasure.
In contrast, the drive for pain is stronger, and the most common encounter is the pain caused by "unfinished events."
If a thing is not completed, it will be depressed and increase the psychological burden, even if it is a small matter such as taking a courier and washing dishes.
The theory of completion psychology holds that no one can escape the "unfinished event" in his mind, deliberately escape, and the result will be completely controlled by the "unfinished event".
If we develop this habit of procrastinating and escaping, it will be a disaster for our physical and mental health, and we will be exhausted every day.
In order to get rid of this torture, we had better start acting now.
Perhaps, we can't immediately complete major events such as buying a house and studying for a certificate.
But we can completely deal with small things, so as to maintain a positive and calm attitude.
When you start to act, it may be easier to set goals, start with micro-habits, and it is easier to harvest happiness.
For example, start practicing writing from a Weibo of 140 words a day.
Micro-habits are a very small positive behavior, and you need to force yourself to complete it every day.
Micro habits are too small to fail.
It is precisely because of this feature that it does not cause any burden on you, and it is super "deceptive", so it has become a very advantageous habit formation strategy.
The focus of action: to minimize viable products
Lean entrepreneurship is a very popular method on the Internet today, and a key concept is "minimizing viable products".
Refers to experimental products that can be used by users with the smallest resources, are the fastest to be made, can perform basic functions, and can be used by users.
Entrepreneurs release the product and then adjust it based on user feedback.
This process is a "build-measure-learn" cycle.
Life is also a kind of entrepreneurship. We can use the Lean Startup method to polish our products.
None of our actions can be perfect, we can only constantly adjust and tinker with the environment in our interactions with the environment.
Therefore, when you are not sure, it may be a feasible way to complete an experimental result with the best ratio of resources.
The key is that you have enough room for self-iteration.
For example, the systematic reports and reading notes you wrote during your internship at the company are your initial products.
After the product is completed, we should leave it to the market to verify our own results and collect feedback from others to improve them.
Overcoming the inertia of over-preparation, overcoming the mentality of self-defense, and overcoming the stubbornness of sunk costs, with these three points, you can continue to progress.
Even if it's negative feedback, criticism is your motivation to move forward, and the next revision is it.
When I first started writing, I was afraid of rejection.
Later, I found that there was nothing to lose, the editor's comments were my opportunity to grow, there are free writing training opportunities, why not enjoy it?
How to Act: Layer Work Method
Sometimes when there are too many things, we get busy and eager to go hand in hand, multi-threaded work.
From the point of view of cognitive psychology, it is impossible to achieve multithreaded work of people.
Because at any moment, one can only have one focus of attention.
You think you're paying attention to two things at the same time, but you're actually the result of a shift in attention.
Therefore, I firmly believe that only one important and difficult thing to be done in a period of time must mobilize all your bandwidth and cognitive resources to complete.
It's best not to interrupt work in the core thinking area (the most cognitively complex) because you have to pay a very high conversion cost (cognitive psychology has found that when switching from task A to task B, the effect of performing task B is significantly worse than that of performing B in the non-task conversion state).
And it's not easy for you to get back into that focused state of flow.
Can't we do multithreaded work?
The answer is still there, although in a moment, one can only have one focus of attention;
But in a period of time, we can take on different tasks at the same time, which can be understood as another meaning, multi-threading switching between multiple tasks.
After training, we can complete the hierarchical processing of different cognitive types of work, which is the layer work method.
We work with text as a type, visual images as another, and numerical calculations as another.
To be more efficient, we only need to focus on one layer at the same time.
Similar to the process when PS draws, a painting is divided into multiple layers, each breaking through.
For example, we can divide the novel into three layers: narrative, description, and dialogue.
The narrative is responsible for the advancement of the plot, the description is mainly used to create the atmosphere, and the dialogue is to show the character and conflict.
A writer may be able to write a good plot first, then create an atmosphere and carefully craft the dialogue.
Mastering the layer work method, we can take action to complete things efficiently.
Jobs said, "You can't foresee the dots of life." Only when you look back will you notice the subtle effect between these bits and pieces. ”
When we are not yet successful, we must not only precipitate down to improve cognition and ability, but also turn on the "radar" in the brain to scan at any time: pay attention to cutting-edge dynamics + understand the experience of cattle people + optimize the way of doing things.
In this way, every step you take will be connected in the future life and give you unexpected surprises.
The biggest problem with young people is that they always talk to others about their ideals, but they never have the motivation to achieve them.
In the final analysis, it is because of the weak execution, and the distance is naturally widened over time.
There's a good saying: The best time to plant a tree is ten years ago, followed by now.
What determines the height of life is never your high talk, but the execution that you say you do, and without execution everything is zero.
Only when you act can you reach the far place you want.
About the author: Lufan Qingfeng (Rich Book columnist) & Joba (Rich Book editor-in-chief), with 3 million people every day to upgrade life cognition, Zhihu, Weibo @ Rich Book. This article was first published in Fushu (ID: kolfrc), Fushu 2018 launched a new book "Good Life", the copyright belongs to Fushu, unauthorized, may not be reproduced, infringement will be investigated