#finido

Finido - In Finido voer je klussen in om te klaren de komende periode. Je geeft per taak aan wat de deadline is, prioriteert hem en belangrijk: maakt een indicatie van hoelang je ermee bezig bent. De app geeft op basis daarvan elke dag een pushbericht en overzicht van taken waar je die dag mee bezig moet. Natuurlijk kan je hem daarna afvinken met een veeg, maar je kan ook aangeven hoe lang je ermee bezig bent geweest. Het restant krijg je een van de volgende dagen gewoon weer voor je kiezen, net zolang totdat je een taak écht vinkt. Het is niet míjn todo-app, maar wel een verdraaid slim instrument. Een todo-app met een ingestelde uitstel-functie: daar kan geen duurbetaald zelfhulpboek tegenop. [link]

We knew exactly what we wanted. To make a tool that would help people to focus on the present, without losing sight of the their future. The benefits of living in the present were apparent: less stress, being more healthy and ultimately, being happier (read the previous blog). So we read all the books and blogs we could find, in search of the best techniques to be more productive. 

The right thing, right now.

After a few blogs we already came across a technique that we really loved: the Eisenhower matrix. Named after Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States of America from 1953 until 1961. Dwight had to continuously make tough decisions on which of the many tasks he should focus on each day. This finally lead to inventing the world-famous Eisenhower principle. The Eisenhower matrix is a 4-squeare grid. The top 2 boxes are respectively labeled Urgent and Not Urgent at the top. The top row is labeled Important to the left, and the bottom row is labeled not Important. The idea is that you list all the tasks you have in one or another of these boxes. The tasks that are in the box Important/Urgent should be done immediately, while the tasks in the Not important/Urgent box can be done when you have time left. The Imported/Not urgent tasks can be done whenever you want, and the Not important/Not urgent tasks should be delegated to somebody else or be thrown out. Are you still with me? Although this is a great system to prioritise your tasks, it does has some problems. For instance, who has time to manage all his tasks like this? Also, every day the importance and urgency of tasks changes. You would have to categorize your tasks every day! We think that you should only have to think about a task when you create it. The ideal solution would be if you could just enter a task and the tool would automatically prioritise the tasks for you and do this every day, without you worrying about it.

A step every day is a walk in a lifetime

But was the Eisenhower matrix enough to get the peace of mind we were looking for? We felt there still were some hurdles. If the Eisenhower Matrix tells you what to do, wouldn't you just overflow with work right before every deadline? To solve this we stumbled upon the work of William James, a pioneering psychologist and philosopher in his time. He wrote in 1887 about how behavioral patterns shape you and the beneficial effects of doing something daily. Rather than only working when there is much need, for instance when there is deadline in the near future, William James argues that by working every day a little, you develop a habit which takes the effort out of effortful control. It also helps you because you can finish tasks way before deadlines, so you don't have to stress when deadlines are near. That's why we decided Finido should be able to split tasks up and devide them over the hours you have.

Work hard. Break hard.

OK. So we have a tool that selects the right task for you and reminds you to work everyday. But then you have to start doing the real work. Could we also find a way to help you with working on these split-up, pre-selected tasks? Yes! After some weeks the answer was presented to us on a well-read productivity blog: the Pomodore technique. The official Pomodore technique is a time managment method developd by Francesco Crillo in the late 1980s. The Technique uses a timer to break down periods of work into 25-minute intervals called 'pomodori' (from the Italian word pomodoro for 'tomato'), seperated by short breaks. The method is based on the idea that frequent breaks can improve mental agility and helps you to be more productive over a period of time. The idea is that you decide on a task to work on a track your time for 25 minutes. After working 25 minutes you have to take a 3-5 minutes break and start working again. This combined is called a 'pomodoro'. After every four 'pomodori' you should take a longer break of 15-30 minutes. 

Finido. Live the moment.

How to implement this? Although you can read a lot about techniques and practice them yourselves, we felt there should be an easier way for people to use this methods. That's why we choose to develop an application for mobile devices. The reason for this being that you always have it with you which is convenient if you want to add a task on-the-go or want to work anywhere you want. An application that would keep track of all deadlines, organize all tasks, help the user to be more productive and ultimately, give peace of mind. So you know, that when you finished the tasks of today, you are truly free to live the moment.

To become successful you have to plan, make progress, focus on the future. That's what everybody says anyway. But live for your job and your job becomes your life. We think that people should be able to have a career and focus on the now (read previous blog). But what is so great about the now?

People nowadays are constantly worrying about their future, while not enjoying the moment they are living in. There are many people that can give you their opinion or their advice on why it is difficult to live in the present, but in the end, it comes down to the fact that we are always rushing from one thing to another. Whether it is our boss that gives us new deadlines or we want to take on new challenges ourselves, the focus is always on the future. Magazines, television and other (social) media are also stimulating you to concentrate on tomorrow  Everyday you get to see a mirror of what you could be. We are overflown with stories and advertising on how to become beautiful, rich and ultimately successful in life.

To achieve something you will have to focus on something that is not in the present. There is, however, no limit to success when you compare yourself to everybody in the world. So every time we achieve something, we cannot enjoy it, because we are already thinking about your next step. Our next achievement. Our next deadline. With this mindset, we will never be able to enjoy today.

What does it mean to live fully in the present moment? It means that your awareness is completely centered on the here and now. You are not worrying about the future or thinking about the past. When you live in the present, you are living where life is happening. How often are we worrying about things that have yet to come? The answer is too much. It’s long been known that the amount of mental stress you carry can have a big impact on your health. If you’re living in the present, you’re living in acceptance. You’re accepting life as it is now, not as how you wish it would have been. When you’re living in acceptance, you realize everything is complete as it is. If you’re worrying about the future, you’re living somewhere that doesn’t exist. It hasn’t happened yet. 

“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” – Buddha 

Live the moment: easier said, than done. Christian, Nick and I were also struggling with this. The benefits of enjoying the present are very apparent and we wanted to help people to achieve this, without losing the possibility of future successes. We read all the productivity books and blogs to look for the ultimate answer. After testing a lot of the techniques we found, we knew what worked for us and which ones where most useful. We wanted everybody to bare the fruits of these great methods, without having to follow numerous productivity blogs or read several books.

That's why we decided to create our own easy-to-use solution for everybody. An application for your mobile device, which you have on you at all time, that would remind you of the present and help you to be more productive. We went to the drawing board and started working. It would take us at least a year of brainstorming, designing and programming to make the app we wanted. 

Finido. Live the moment. 

Right from the start, we knew we wanted to do it differently. We noticed that we, and people around us, were constantly worrying about the future, while not appreciating the present. We felt this was our challenge: to make a tool that would help you to work on your career, without losing sight of the moment you are living in.

Everyday I have to cycle through the inner city of Maastricht. I take the same route for almost five years. Last week a friend of mine came to visit me. After he went on a city tour, he elaborately told me how lovely he thought my city was: the look of that statuesque church when the sunlight hits it perfectly, the many vibrant and picturesque shops that were situated in the recently restored historic buildings, and the beautiful view from the city-wall over the sailing- and rowboats that go over the river that flows through the city. So I was very curious to know where he had been exactly. Apparently, I had been cycling that exact same route. I was flabbergasted that all this beauty had been slipping past me for the last 5 years without me even noticing it. This got me wondering. Why did I not stop to appreciate all these great views more? 

One of the reasons might be that, while I was cycling, I was not in the moment. I was already thinking about the next appointment, all the deadlines I have to hold, all the things I still have to do. I was not enjoying the moment I was living in at all. The whole philosophy of Buddhism teaches that living in the moment is the key to happiness. So would focusing on the present really have that much of an impact on me? So for several days I tried to be less focused on the future. No deadlines, no worries, no stress. It was a real eye-opener. When I usually would go home early, I stayed and had a wonderful evening. Where I usually would cycle through at high speed, I stopped to enjoy the view. Then, however, reality kicked in. I had neglected all my obligations and deadlines were suddenly very close. This gave me suddenly even more stress and before I knew it, I was back in my old rhythm of running from one thing to another. So this was not the solution.

Convinced that I could not be the only one that felt this way, I talked to quite some people and asked them the simple question: are you living in the now or in the future? They had to admit that the last time they really enjoyed the moment was when they were younger or when they had less responsibilities or were less ambitious. 

So that’s it? You can’t have both? Christian, Nick and I were not satisfied with this answer and started looking for a way to be mindful about the future but also keep focus on what is really important: the moment you are living in. What we wanted was a tool that would help us to give us peace of mind, without neglecting our deadlines and tasks. Our journey to develop Finido had begun.

Finido. Live the moment.