"Brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up from bed and doesn't stop until you reach office!"

It's a wonderful quote and it's true for many people we meet in the coporate world. Seems like they have left their brains at home. I can understand someone leaving his heart at home - that would be a felony. But leaving your brain at home - that's murderous. Yet we so many people guilty of it. Why should blame others - I can't say that I am not guilty of it myself. Often I work like a machine - without thinking. As if I am programmed to do things; programmed to press random keys on the keyboard and stare at the screen. It's a habit I need to break.

When I was studying for my engineering degree I had a rule - never begin coding before I have the code written down in my notebook. I followed it religiously and I became very good at programming. There is always a temptation type the code and run, without thinking about all the cases. Writing it down on a piece of paper helps resist that temptation. It forces one to think about the problem from all angles. Think about all the possible scenarios. It makes the code complete and reduces errors. In the end it saves a lot of time.

Today, I no longer do coding. But the rule that applies to coding should apply to other activities as well. Often I fall prey to the tremendous temptation to open laptop and start "working", without thinking about all the aspects of work. The pressure to complete urgent tasks is so much that I don't spend time on planning. It's a habit that I have to break.

In my school and college days I was always one of the laziest guys in the class. I used to study for hardly 20% of the time an average student in the class studied. But I always outscoreded even the most hard-working guys in the class. I should be able to replicate the same at work. I should be able to work 8 - 10 hours a day and still produce outstanding results. For that I need to apply the same techniques that I used at school to my work. I have to think and plan in so much detail that the time taken for execution is dramatically reduced. I know it's possible. And it is the correct way of working.

All the things that I need to do should be listed down in my diary in as much detail as possible. More time should be spent with pen and paper and less time staring at the screen. I should use my laptop as little as possible. Many problems require long uninterrupted thinking. The temptation to hit the keyboard interrupts thinking and causes loss of focus. The best way would be to close the laptop and think for a couple of hours and then open it and finish the work in half-an-hour. I think it's possible.

I even believe that every week we should work for one full day without the computer. Spend every Friday just thinking and planning. Think deeply about the problems you haven't resolved this week. Plan what you want to do next week. Don't boot the computer at all. Do all the important work that you can do without the computer. If that's not possible because you need to refer to emails or documents then switch on the computer but don't type anything. Just read and think. No typing. If you need to take notes, use your notebook. But no typing. Resist the temptation of "working". Do more thinking.

I want to implement this model. I will do it someday. And it will be sooner rather than later.