Mar 14, 2023

Eye for detail

One of the things that I have struggled with a lot is my penchant to make silly errors, overlook mistakes, leave threads hanging

Also, I have been doing it for so long, it has become sort of an accepted side product of my work. However, it is too big a problem to be ignored and must be rectified -

I have thought about this a few times, on potential reasons, why it happens, what can be done etc etc

Potential Reasons - 
  • Too much focus on form factor - on how the output should look, framing etc and less focus on the actual content - the key arguments being made
  • Organization and structure  - The less organized I am, the more chances of error there are, the less structure I put in the the process of working, the  more chances there are that I depend on recall basis to get the work done. Surely quite unproductive
  • Intellectual laziness- maybe related - but the unstructured and unorganized thought process means that I am trying to close a thread in a bit of hurry, more often than not in context of an external stimuli
  • Distraction - Just too many open threads makes it easier to rationalize to move from one task to another
Given the same, here are the following things i can do that can help on immediate and long term basis
  1. Have a to do list - keep at it. Spend half an hour on it first thing in the morning and keep at it
  2. Have a process - ie if I am reviewing a report - have a process on the key aspects that I want to review - even better - share the expectations beforehand with the preparer. Similarly, if reviewing charts and graphs - 
  3. Arrive at similar process / structure/ checklists SOPs for other tasks such as Reviewing of RFPs (checklist), Development of a note, A&M, CVs, Credential checks etc. Use ChatGPT to arrive at potential ways to review
  4. Be more organized - Have organized folders, have organized to dos, have organized calendar, have organized communication
  5. Read atomic habits - a lot of these things are not to be improved through a one time process, but needs a sustained effort which needs to be built through habits
I would work on the above. Will see if this improves my self perception

Ciao



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