Do It Now by Steve Pavlina - The Diigo Meta page

• 04 May 15
  

  mrgroknroll
• 18 Apr 15
  

  phaytsukiming
  • It became immediately obvious that I'd have to manage my time extremely well if I wanted to pull this off
  • two Bachelor of Science degrees (computer science and mathematics)
  • a full time job
  • They allowed me to shave years off my schooling while also giving me about $30,000 to start my business (all earned in my final semester as a game programmer, mostly from royalties).
  • Without further ado, here's the best of what I've learned about mastering time management:
  • In the moments when you regain your awareness, ask yourself, "What exactly is it that I'm trying to accomplish here?"
  • If you cannot define your destination precisely, how will you know when you've arrived
  • It wasn't just that it helped me focus on what I wanted -- perhaps even more important is that it made it easy for me to disregard those things that weren't on the path to my goal
  • Most people wallow way too long in the state of "I don't know what to do."
  • Do not wait for clarity to spontaneously materialize -- grab a chisel and get busy!
  • There's a key difference between knowing your destination and knowing the path you will take to get there.
  • You cannot know the exact path to your goal in advance
  • integrity in the moment of choice.
  • Do you stick to your original plan, thereby missing the opportunity, or do you stop and go after the opportunity, thereby throwing yourself off schedule?
  • Sometimes you can reach your goals faster by taking advantage of shortcuts that arise unexpectedly. Other times you should stick to your original plans and avoid minor distractions that would take you further from your goals. Be tight on your goals but flexible on your plans
  • Sometimes you can reach your goals faster by taking advantage of shortcuts that arise unexpectedly. Other times you should stick to your original plans and avoid minor distractions that would take you further from your goals. Be tight on your goals but flexible on your plans
  • I believe that having a clear goal is far more important than having a clear plan
  • A lot of time is lost in task switching because you have to re-load the context for each new tas
  • In fact, when possible I would batch up my assignments within a certain subject area and then do them all at once before switching subjects
  • I believe this habit helped me remain relaxed and unstressed because my mind wasn't cluttered with so many to-do items. It was always just one thing at a time.
  • Sometimes the quickest way to find out if something will work is to jump right in and do it
  • It's the ready-fire-aim approach, and surprisingly, it works a lot better than the more common ready-aim-fire approach
  • The reason is that after you've "fired" once, you have some actual data with which to adjust your aim.
  • If the word "failure" is anathema to you, then reframe it: You either succeed, or you have a learning experience.
  • There is a tremendous cost in putting things off because you will mentally revisit them again and again, which can add up to an enormous amount of wasted time.
  • but action is far more important.
  • you only get paid for your results.
  • When in doubt, act boldly, as if it were impossible to fail. In essence, it is.
  • Writer's block means you're stuck in the state of thinking about what to write instead of actually writing. I don't waste time thinking about writing because I'm too busy writing.
  • so even if you're faced with ambiguity, just bite the bullet and make a decision
  • If you can speed up the pace of making decisions, you can spend the rest of your time on action.
  • One study showed that the best managers in the world tend to have an extremely high tolerance for ambiguity
  • If a decision can be made right away, make the decision as soon as it comes up. If you can't make a decision right away, set aside a time where you will consider the options and make the decision. Pour the bulk of your time into action, not deciding. The state of indecision is a major time waster
  • When in doubt, throw it out.
  • Every activity has an opportunity cost
  • In college I was downright brutal when it came to triage
  • So if a certain decision you've made in the past is no longer producing results that serve you, then be ruthless and dump it, so you can move onto something better.
  • If you don't have clarity, then your attempts to install more efficient habits and to break inefficient habits will only fizzle

  • The reason to shave 15 minutes off a task is that you're overflowing with motivation to put that 15 minutes to better use. 

      
  • If you get the highest level of your life in order (purpose, meaning, spiritual beliefs), the lower levels will tend to self-optimize (habits, practices, actions).
  • Find out what parts of your life belong in the crucial 20%, and focus your efforts there. Be absolutely ruthless in refusing to spend time where it simply cannot give you optimal results. Invest your time where it has the potential to pay off big.
  • If you happen to work in a high interruption environment that's negatively affecting your productivity, change that environment at all costs
  • Whenever possible I just allow myself to stick with a task as long as I can, until I eventually succumb to hunger or other bodily needs
  • While frequent breaks are often recommended to increase productivity, I feel that suggestion may be an artifact of industrial age research on poorly motivated workers and not as applicable to high-motivation, purpose-driven creative work.
  • While sometimes I suffer from the problem of the task expanding to fill the allotted time (aka Parkinson's Law), I often find that it's worth the risk.
  • I find it more efficient to act on those ideas at the moment of conception instead of scheduling them to be done at a later time.
  • Turn off your phone, or simply refuse to answer it. Go to the bathroom before you start, and make sure you won't get hungry for a while. Don't get out of your chair at all. Don't talk to anyone during this time.
  • If you need a break, then take a real break and do nothing else. Don't semi-work during a break if you feel you need rest and restoration
  • Work with either 100% concentration, or don't work at all.
  • You will be amazed at how much extra knowledge you can absorb just by reading during other non-mental activities.
  • One of the best ways to save time is to learn directly from people who already have the skills you want to master.
  • If a teacher wrote out something on the board, I would memorize it then and there; I couldn't afford to learn things later and risk falling behind.
  • Whenever you do something physical, such as driving, cooking, shopping, or walking, keep your mind going by listening to audio tapes or reading.
  • ut whereas the previous tip refers to high intensity work where you must concentrate all your mental resources in order to do the best job you can, this tip addresses low intensity work where you have plenty of capacity to do other things at the same time, like standing in line, cooking dinner, flying on a plane, or walking from point A to point B.
  • The harder you work, the greater your capacity for work, and the more restorative your rest will be.
  • Take advantage of your own strengths, and find ways to compensate for your weaknesses
  • Whenever you come up with a wacky new idea for increasing your productivity, test it and see what effect it has.
  • Partial successes are more common than complete failures, so each new experiment will help you refine your time management practices
  • Even the ongoing practice of conducting experiments will help condition you to be more productive.
  • The word "enthusiasm" comes from the Greek entheos, which means literally, "the god within."
  • Don't beat yourself up if your current career has become stale.
  • Since most people are negative to one degree or another, you'll naturally lose your positive charge over time unless you actively cultivate your enthusiasm as a resource.
  • Unless you're a naturally hyper person, your enthusiasm is going to need daily reinforcement.
  • It's truly amazing how constantly feeding your mind with positive material can maintain your enthusiasm indefinitely. And if you multitask, you can get this benefit without investing any extra time into it.
  • my class schedule kept me zigzagging around campus each day to attend all my classes, and I'd usually have to carry a 20-30 pound backpack full of textbooks with me.
  • Through diet and exercise you can build your capacity for sustained concentrated effort, so even the most difficult work will seem easier.
  • Make a committed decision to shed those extra pounds, and enjoy the lifelong benefits of living in a more efficient physical vehicle.
  • I don't think it's easy to sustain long-term productivity, health, and happiness if your life is totally unbalanced.
  • The high turnover rates at the end of "death march" projects are caused by a lack of balance
  • To focus exclusively on your primary work at the expense of every other area of your life will only hurt you in the long run.
  • As you grow in your career, be sure that your personal life grows as well.
  • she started machinating to spend more time alone with me, but I couldn't take the bait because I just didn't have time for dating
  • I believe the main goal of time management is to give you the power to make your life as juicy as you want it to be
  • I set an enormous stretch goal and grew tremendously as a person in the pursuit of that goal.
  • If you wish to become more productive, then do so with the intention of improving the totality of your life from top to bottom. The reason to master time management is to take your good life and transform it into an exceptional one. Time management is not about self-sacrifice, self-denial, and doing more of what you dislike. It's about embracing more of what you already love.

  73 more annotations...

• 26 Oct 14
  

  Muchenxuan Tong
• 26 Jun 14
  

  zinoxx
  • Clarity is key.
  • The first step is to know exactly what you want.
  • Your goal is to become a black belt.
  • regain your awareness, ask yourself, "What exactly is it that I'm trying to accomplish here?"
  • If you cannot define your destination precisely, how will you know when you've arrived?
  • The key period I've found useful for defining and working on specific goals is ninety days
  • snapshot description of how you want your life to be ninety days from now. What will your monthly income be? How much will you weigh? Who will your friends be? Where will you be in your career? What will your relationship be like? What will your web site look like? Be specific. Absolute clarity will give you the edge that will keep you on course.
  • Just as an airplane on autopilot must make constant corrections to stay on course, you must periodically retarget your goals.
  • If you aren't yet at the point of clarity, then make that your first goal.
  • I like to generalize this to say that no plan survives contact with the real world.
  • What that means is that you should not follow your plans blindly without conscious awareness of your goals.
  • Be tight on your goals but flexible on your plans.
  • Then I'd do my general education homework. In this manner I would put my brain into math-mode, programming-mode, writing-mode, or art-mode and remain in that single mode for as long as possible.
  • Failure is your friend.
  • failure is really your best friend
  • My advice to anyone starting a new business is to begin pumping out products or devising services and don't worry much about whether they'll be hits. They probably won't be. But you'll learn a lot more by doing than you ever will by thinking.
  • Thinking and planning are important, but action is far more important.
  • I use a 60-second rule for almost every decision I have to make, no matter how big or important. Once I have all the data to make a decision, I start a timer and give myself only 60 seconds to make a firm decision.
  • Usually delaying a decision will only have negative consequences
  • so even if you're faced with ambiguity, just bite the bullet and make a decision.
  • out to be the wrong one, you'll know it soon enough
  • If you can speed up the pace of making decisions, you can spend the rest of your time on action.

  20 more annotations...

• 31 Dec 13
  

  NYDIA peterson
• 04 Oct 13
  

  eskor25

  PPD

  • This article explains in detail all the time management techniques I used to successfully pull this off.
  • It became immediately obvious that I'd have to manage my time extremely well if I wanted to pull this off.
  • The first step is to know exactly what you want.
  • When you work for yourself, it's easy to spend a whole day at your desk and accomplish nothing of value. This almost always happens when you aren't really clear about what it is you're trying to do.
  • In the moments when you regain your awareness, ask yourself, "What exactly is it that I'm trying to accomplish here?" You must know your destination with as much clarity as possible. Make your goals specific, and put them in writing.
  • The key period I've found useful for defining and working on specific goals is ninety days, or the length of one season. In that period of time, you can make dramatic and measurable changes if you set crystal clear goals. Take a moment to stop and write down a snapshot description of how you want your life to be ninety days from now. What will your monthly income be? How much will you weigh? Who will your friends be? Where will you be in your career? What will your relationship be like? What will your web site look like? Be specific. Absolute clarity will give you the edge that will keep you on course.
  • Reconnect with your clear, written goals by re-reading them every morning.
  • It wasn't just that it helped me focus on what I wanted -- perhaps even more important is that it made it easy for me to disregard those things that weren't on the path to my goal.
  • There's a key difference between knowing your destination and knowing the path you will take to get there.
  • You cannot know the exact path to your goal in advance. I believe that the real purpose of planning is simply so that you remain convinced that a possible path exists.
  • It is said that no business plan survives contact with the marketplace. I like to generalize this to say that no plan survives contact with the real world.
  • you should not follow your plans blindly without conscious awareness of your goals.
  • Be tight on your goals but flexible on your plans.
  • I believe that having a clear goal is far more important than having a clear plan.
  • Instead of using some elaborate organizing system, I stuck with a very basic pen and paper to-do list. My only organizing tool was a notepad where I wrote down all my assignments and their deadlines. I didn't worry about doing any advance scheduling or prioritizing. I would simply scan the list to select the most pressing item which fit the time I had available. Then I'd complete it, and cross it off the list.
  • If I had a 10-hour term paper to write, I would do the whole thing at once instead of breaking it into smaller tasks. I'd usually do large projects on weekends. I'd go to the library in the morning, do the necessary research, and then go back to my dorm room and continue working until the final text was rolling off my printer. If I needed to take a break, I would take a break. It didn't matter how big the project was supposed to be or how many weeks the professor allowed for it. Once I began an assignment, I would stay with it until it was 100% complete and ready to be turned in.
  • A lot of time is lost in task switching because you have to re-load the context for each new task.
  • Single handling minimizes time lost in task switching. In fact, when possible I would batch up my assignments within a certain subject area and then do them all at once before switching subjects.
  • Most people seem to have an innate fear of failure, but failure is really your best friend. People who succeed also fail a great deal because they make a lot of attempts.
  • Those who have the most successes also have the most failures.
  • There is nothing wrong or shameful in failing. The only regret lies in never making the attempt. So don't be afraid to experiment in your attempts to increase productivity. Sometimes the quickest way to find out if something will work is to jump right in and do it. You can always make adjustments along the way. It's the ready-fire-aim approach, and surprisingly, it works a lot better than the more common ready-aim-fire approach. The reason is that after you've "fired" once, you have some actual data with which to adjust your aim. Too many people get bogged down in planning and thinking and never get to the point of action. How many potentially great ideas have you passed up because you got stuck in the state of analysis paralysis (i.e. ready-aim-aim-aim-aim-aim...)?
  • Understand that failure is not the opposite of success. Failure is an essential part of success. Once you succeed, no one will remember your failures anyway.
  • If the word "failure" is anathema to you, then reframe it: You either succeed, or you have a learning experience.
  • Letting go of the fear of failure will serve you well. If you're excited about achieving a particular goal, but you're afraid you might not be able to pull it off, jump on it and do it anyway. Even if you fail in your attempt, you'll learn something valuable and can make a better attempt next time.
  • recite the phrase, "Do it now!" again and again at the start of each workday
  • You don't get paid for your thoughts and plans -- you only get paid for your results. When in doubt, act boldly, as if it were impossible to fail. In essence, it is.
  • Thinking and planning are important, but action is far more important.
  • It is absolutely imperative that you develop the habit of making decisions as soon as possible. I use a 60-second rule for almost every decision I have to make, no matter how big or important. Once I have all the data to make a decision, I start a timer and give myself only 60 seconds to make a firm decision.
  • Too often people delay making decisions when there is no advantage to be found in that delay. Usually delaying a decision will only have negative consequences, so even if you're faced with ambiguity, just bite the bullet and make a decision. If it turns out to be the wrong one, you'll know it soon enough.
  • If you can speed up the pace of making decisions, you can spend the rest of your time on action.
  • One study showed that the best managers in the world tend to have an extremely high tolerance for ambiguity. In other words, they are able to act boldly on partial and/or conflicting data. Many industries today have accelerated to such a rapid pace that by the time you have perfect data with which to make any decision, the opportunity is probably long gone.
  • Where you have no data to fall back on, rely on your own personal experience and intuition. If a decision can be made right away, make the decision as soon as it comes up. If you can't make a decision right away, set aside a time where you will consider the options and make the decision.
  • Pour the bulk of your time into action, not deciding. The state of indecision is a major time waster.
  • Make a firm, immediate decision, and move from uncertainty to certainty to action.
  • Get rid of everything that wastes your time. Use the trash can liberally. Apply the rule, "When in doubt, throw it out."
  • Realize that nothing is free if it costs you time. Before you sign up for any new free service or subscription, ask how much it will cost you in terms of time. Every activity has an opportunity cost. Ask, "Is this activity worth what I am sacrificing for it?"
  • Ask yourself this question: "Would I have ever gotten started with this project, relationship, career, etc. if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I now know?" If your answer is no, then get out as soon as possible. This is called zero-based thinking.
  • I know a lot of people that have a limiting belief that says, "Always finish what you start." They spend years climbing ladders only to realize when they reach the top that the ladder was leaning against the wrong building.
  • Whatever you've decided in the past is largely irrelevant if you would not renew that decision today.
  • Batch your errands together and do them all at once.
  • Trying to cut out time-wasting habits is a common starting point for people who desire to become more efficient, but I think this is a mistake. Optimizing your personal habits should only come later. Clarity of purpose must come first. If you don't have clarity, then your attempts to install more efficient habits and to break inefficient habits will only fizzle.
  • You need a big, attractive goal to stay motivated.
  • If you get the highest level of your life in order (purpose, meaning, spiritual beliefs), the lower levels will tend to self-optimize (habits, practices, actions).
  • Also known as the Pareto Principle, the 80-20 rule states that 20% of a task's effort accounts for 80% of the value of that task. This also means that 80% of a task only yields 20% of the value of that task. In college I was ruthless in my application of this principle.
  • Find out what parts of your life belong in the crucial 20%, and focus your efforts there. Be absolutely ruthless in refusing to spend time where it simply cannot give you optimal results. Invest your time where it has the potential to pay off big.
  • To work effectively you need uninterrupted blocks of time in which you can complete meaningful work. When you know for certain that you won't be interrupted, your productivity is much, much higher. When you sit down to work on a particularly intense task, dedicate blocks of time to the task during which you will not do anything else. I've found that a minimum of 90 minutes is ideal for a single block.
  • While for some people it's helpful to block off a specific period of time for a task, I find that I work best with long, open-ended stretches of uninterrupted time. I'll often allocate a starting time for a task but usually not a specific finishing time. Whenever possible I just allow myself to stick with a task as long as I can, until I eventually succumb to hunger or other bodily needs. I will frequently work 6+ hours straight on a project without taking a break. While frequent breaks are often recommended to increase productivity, I feel that suggestion may be an artifact of industrial age research on poorly motivated workers and not as applicable to high-motivation, purpose-driven creative work. I find it's best for me to maintain momentum until I can barely continue instead of chopping a task into smaller chunks where there's a risk of succumbing to distractions along the way.
  • The state of flow, where you are totally absorbed in a task and lose all sense of time, takes about 15 minutes to enter. Every time you get interrupted, it can take you another 15 minutes to get back to that state. Once you enter the state of flow, guard it with your life. That is the state in which you will go through enormous amounts of work and experience total connection with the task. When I'm in this state, I have no sense of past or future. I simply feel like I'm one with my work.
  • While sometimes I suffer from the problem of the task expanding to fill the allotted time (aka Parkinson's Law), I often find that it's worth the risk. For example, when I do optimization work on my web site, I'll frequently think of new optimization ideas while I work, and I'll usually go ahead and implement those new ideas immediately. I find it more efficient to act on those ideas at the moment of conception instead of scheduling them to be done at a later time.
  • During one of these sacred time blocks, do nothing but the activity that's right in front of you. Don't check email or online forums or do web surfing. If you have this temptation, then unplug your Internet connection while you work. Turn off your phone, or simply refuse to answer it. Go to the bathroom before you start, and make sure you won't get hungry for a while. Don't get out of your chair at all. Don't talk to anyone during this time.
  • Decide what it is you should be doing, and then do nothing but that.
  • When you should be working, work. Work with either 100% concentration, or don't work at all.
  • Listen to educational audio programs whenever you can. When you drive your car, always be listening to an audio program. One of the best ways to save time is to learn directly from people who already have the skills you want to master.
  • I simply had to learn everything the first time it came up. If a teacher wrote out something on the board, I would memorize it then and there; I couldn't afford to learn things later and risk falling behind.
  • You can probably find numerous opportunities for multitasking. Whenever you do something physical, such as driving, cooking, shopping, or walking, keep your mind going by listening to audio tapes or reading.
  • The idea of multitasking may seem to contradict the previous piece of advice to work all the time you work. But whereas the previous tip refers to high intensity work where you must concentrate all your mental resources in order to do the best job you can, this tip addresses low intensity work where you have plenty of capacity to do other things at the same time, like standing in line, cooking dinner, flying on a plane, or walking from point A to point B. Multitasking shouldn't be used where it will significantly degrade your performance on a crucial task, but it should be intelligently used to take advantage of excess capacity. Take real breaks when you need them, but don't waste time in a state of partial effort. It's more efficient to cycle between working flat out and then resting completely.
  • I find that classical and new age music, especially Mozart, is terrific for web development work. But for most routine tasks, listening to fast-paced techno/trance music helps me work a lot faster. I don't exactly know why, but I'm twice as productive when listening to really fast music as compared to listening to no music. On the other hand, music with vocals is detrimental to my productivity because it's too distracting.
  • And when I really need to focus deeply, I'll listen to no music at all.
  • Go after what really inspires you. Don't chase money. Chase your passion. If you aren't enthusiastic about your work, then you're wasting your life.
  • While in college I could not afford to let my enthusiasm fade, or I'd be dead. I quickly learned that I needed to make a conscious effort to reinforce my enthusiasm on a daily basis.
  • while walking from one class to the next, I would listen to time management and motivational tapes. I also listened to them while jogging every morning. I kept my motivation level high by reinforcing my enthusiasm almost hourly.
  • Unless you're a naturally hyper person, your enthusiasm is going to need daily reinforcement. I recommend either listening to motivational tapes or reading inspiring books or articles for at least fifteen minutes every day. Whenever I've stopped doing this, I've found that self-doubt always returns, and my productivity drops off. It's truly amazing how constantly feeding your mind with positive material can maintain your enthusiasm indefinitely. And if you multitask, you can get this benefit without investing any extra time into it.
  • So if you find yourself having a hard time focusing on mentally intense work after lunch, your diet may very well be the culprit. Even Benjamin Franklin credited eating lightly at lunch time as being a significant factor in his productivity. While his colleagues were sluggish and sleepy in the afternoon, he could continue to work productively the rest of the day.
  • Regular exercise is also necessary to maintain high energy and mental clarity. In college I would go running for 30 minutes first thing every morning before breakfast. And of course I'd be listening to motivational and educational tapes at the same time.
  • If you want to master time management, it makes sense to hone your best time management tool of all -- your physical body. Through diet and exercise you can build your capacity for sustained concentrated effort, so even the most difficult work will seem easier.
  • I don't think it's easy to sustain long-term productivity, health, and happiness if your life is totally unbalanced. To excel in one area, you can't let other areas lag behind and pull you down. While in college I made an effort to take off a full day each week to have a personal life. I exercised, went to parties, attended club meetings, played computer games and pool, and even had time to vacation in Las Vegas during my final semester.
  • To focus exclusively on your primary work at the expense of every other area of your life will only hurt you in the long run. Maintain balance by paying attention to every area of your life.
  • I believe the main goal of time management is to give you the power to make your life as juicy as you want it to be. By getting clear about what you want and then developing a collection of habits that allow you to efficiently achieve your goals, you'll enjoy a much richer, more fulfilling life than you would otherwise.

  66 more annotations...

• 24 Apr 13
  

  lgdiigo
  • "What exactly is it that I'm trying to accomplish here?" You must know your destination with as much clarity as possible. Make your goals specific, and put them in writing. Your goals must be so clear that it would be possible for a stranger to look at your situation objectively and give you an absolute "yes" or "no" response as to whether you've accomplished each goal or not.
  • The state of indecision is a major time waster. Don't spend more than 60 seconds in that state if you can avoid it. Make a firm, immediate decision, and move from uncertainty to certainty to action.
  • nothing is free if it costs you time.
  • how much it will cost you in terms of time
  • "Would I have ever gotten started with this project, relationship, career, etc. if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I now know?" If your answer is no, then get out as soon as possible.
  • integrity in the moment of choice

  4 more annotations...

• 05 Feb 13
  

  Lee Dryburgh

  goals

• 28 Dec 12
  

  Chris Burbridge
  • The first step is to know exactly what you want.
  • When you work for yourself, it's easy to spend a whole day at your desk and accomplish nothing of value. This almost always happens when you aren't really clear about what it is you're trying to do.
  • You must know your destination with as much clarity as possible.
  • Make your goals specific, and put them in writing.
  • Your goals must be so clear that it would be possible for a stranger to look at your situation objectively and give you an absolute "yes" or "no" response as to whether you've accomplished each goal or not.
  • The key period I've found useful for defining and working on specific goals is ninety days, or the length of one season.
  • In that period of time, you can make dramatic and measurable changes if you set crystal clear goals.
  • Take a moment to stop and write down a snapshot description of how you want your life to be ninety days from now. What will your monthly income be? How much will you weigh? Who will your friends be? Where will you be in your career? What will your relationship be like? What will your web site look like? Be specific. Absolute clarity will give you the edge that will keep you on course.
  • Reconnect with your clear, written goals by re-reading them every morning. Post them on your walls, especially your financial goals.
  • Years ago (during the mid-90s), I went around my apartment putting up signs in every room that said "$5,000 / month." That was my monthly business income goal at the time. Because I knew exactly what I wanted, I achieved that goal within a few weeks.
  • It wasn't just that it helped me focus on what I wanted -- perhaps even more important is that it made it easy for me to disregard those things that weren't on the path to my goal.
  • If you aren't yet at the point of clarity, then make that your first goal.
  • clarity is self-created
  • You cannot know the exact path to your goal in advance.
  • I believe that the real purpose of planning is simply so that you remain convinced that a possible path exists.
  • nearly all of the businesses that succeeded did not do so in the original way they had intended
  • I believe that having a clear goal is far more important than having a clear plan.
  • A lot of time is lost in task switching because you have to re-load the context for each new task. Single handling minimizes time lost in task switching.
  • In fact, when possible I would batch up my assignments within a certain subject area and then do them all at once before switching subjects.
  • Understand that failure is not the opposite of success. Failure is an essential part of success.
  • If you're excited about achieving a particular goal, but you're afraid you might not be able to pull it off, jump on it and do it anyway. Even if you fail in your attempt, you'll learn something valuable and can make a better attempt next time
  • Letting go of the fear of failure will serve you well.
  • My advice to anyone starting a new business is to begin pumping out products or devising services and don't worry much about whether they'll be hits. They probably won't be. But you'll learn a lot more by doing than you ever will by thinking.
  • W. Clement Stone, who built an insurance empire worth hundreds of millions dollars, would make all his employees recite the phrase, "Do it now!" again and again at the start of each workday.
  • Get rid of everything that wastes your time.
  • Ask yourself this question: "Would I have ever gotten started with this project, relationship, career, etc. if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I now know?" If your answer is no, then get out as soon as possible. This is called zero-based thinking.
  • know a lot of people that have a limiting belief that says, "Always finish what you start." They spend years climbing ladders only to realize when they reach the top that the ladder was leaning against the wrong building
  • This is another situation where you must practice integrity in the moment of choice. You must constantly re-assess your present situation to accurately decide what to do next. Whatever you've decided in the past is largely irrelevant if you would not renew that decision today.
  • To work effectively you need uninterrupted blocks of time in which you can complete meaningful work.
  • When you know for certain that you won't be interrupted, your productivity is much, much higher.
  • When you sit down to work on a particularly intense task, dedicate blocks of time to the task during which you will not do anything else. I've found that a minimum of 90 minutes is ideal for a single block.
  • During one of these sacred time blocks, do nothing but the activity that's right in front of you.
  • Decide what it is you should be doing, and then do nothing but that.
  • If you happen to manage others, periodically ask them what their #1 task is, and make sure they're doing nothing but that.
  • If you need a break, then take a real break and do nothing else.
  • Rest until you feel capable of doing productive work again.
  • Go after what really inspires you. Don't chase money. Chase your passion. If you aren't enthusiastic about your work, then you're wasting your life.
  • If you're like most people, you can get yourself motivated every once in a while, but then you get caught up and sink back down to a lower level of productivity, and you find it hard to continue with a project.

  36 more annotations...

• 26 Oct 12
  

  jonar90

  productivity college school article lifehacks

  • The state of flow, where you are totally absorbed in a task and lose all sense of time, takes about 15 minutes to enter.
• 29 Sep 12
  

  Giacomo S
  • "What exactly is it that I'm trying to accomplish here?"
  • The key period I've found useful for defining and working on specific goals is ninety days, or the length of one season.
  • econnect with your clear, written goals by re-reading them every morning.
  • No plan should be followed blindly.
  • I believe that having a clear goal is far more important than having a clear plan
  • Instead of using some elaborate organizing system, I stuck with a very basic pen and paper to-do list. My only organizing tool was a notepad where I wrote down all my assignments and their deadlines. I didn't worry about doing any advance scheduling or prioritizing. I would simply scan the list to select the most pressing item which fit the time I had available. Then I'd complete it, and cross it off the list.
  • Most people seem to have an innate fear of failure, but failure is really your best friend. People who succeed also fail a great deal because they make a lot of attempts.
  • The great baseball player Babe Ruth held the homerun record and the strikeout record at the same time. Those who have the most successes also have the most failures. There is nothing wrong or shameful in failing. The only regret lies in never making the attempt.
  • So don't be afraid to experiment in your attempts to increase productivity. Sometimes the quickest way to find out if something will work is to jump right in and do it. You can always make adjustments along the way. It's the ready-fire-aim approach, and surprisingly, it works a lot better than the more common ready-aim-fire approach. The reason is that after you've "fired" once, you have some actual data with which to adjust your aim. Too many people get bogged down in planning and thinking and never get to the point of action. How many potentially great ideas have you passed up because you got stuck in the state of analysis paralysis (i.e. ready-aim-aim-aim-aim-aim...)?
  • Understand that failure is not the opposite of success. Failure is an essential part of success.
  • If the word "failure" is anathema to you, then reframe it: You either succeed, or you have a learning experience.
  • Letting go of the fear of failure will serve you well. If you're excited about achieving a particular goal, but you're afraid you might not be able to pull it off, jump on it and do it anyway. Even if you fail in your attempt, you'll learn something valuable and can make a better attempt next time. If you look at people who are successful in business today, you will commonly see that many of them had a string of dismal failures before finally hitting on something that worked, myself included. And I think most of these people will agree that those early failure experiences were an essential contributing factor in their future successes. My advice to anyone starting a new business is to begin pumping out products or devising services and don't worry much about whether they'll be hits. They probably won't be. But you'll learn a lot more by doing than you ever will by thinking.
  • Thinking and planning are important, but action is far more important. You don't get paid for your thoughts and plans -- you only get paid for your results. When in doubt, act boldly, as if it were impossible to fail. In essence, it is.
  • It is absolutely imperative that you develop the habit of making decisions as soon as possible. I use a 60-second rule for almost every decision I have to make, no matter how big or important. Once I have all the data to make a decision, I start a timer and give myself only 60 seconds to make a firm decision. I'll even flip a coin if I have to. When I was in college, I couldn't afford to waste time thinking about assignments or worrying about when to do them. I simply picked one and went to work on it.
  • If you can speed up the pace of making decisions, you can spend the rest of your time on action.
  • If a decision can be made right away, make the decision as soon as it comes up. If you can't make a decision right away, set aside a time where you will consider the options and make the decision.
  • Pour the bulk of your time into action, not deciding. The state of indecision is a major time waster. Don't spend more than 60 seconds in that state if you can avoid it. Make a firm, immediate decision, and move from uncertainty to certainty to action. Let the world tell you when you're wrong, and you'll soon build enough experience to make accurate, intelligent decisions.
  • Get rid of everything that wastes your time. Use the trash can liberally. Apply the rule, "When in doubt, throw it out." Cancel useless magazine subscriptions. If you have a magazine that is more than two months old and you still haven't read it, throw it away; it's probably not worth reading.
  • Ask yourself this question: "Would I have ever gotten started with this project, relationship, career, etc. if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I now know?"
  • If your answer is no, then get out as soon as possible. This is called zero-based thinking. I know a lot of people that have a limiting belief that says, "Always finish what you start." They spend years climbing ladders only to realize when they reach the top that the ladder was leaning against the wrong building. Remember that failure is your friend
  • So if a certain decision you've made in the past is no longer producing results that serve you, then be ruthless and dump it, so you can move onto something better. There is no honor in dedicating your life to the pursuit of a goal which no longer inspires you. This is another situation where you must practice integrity in the moment of choice. You must constantly re-assess your present situation to accurately decide what to do next. Whatever you've decided in the past is largely irrelevant if you would not renew that decision today.

  19 more annotations...

• 14 Sep 12
  

  Tomek G
• 02 Aug 12
  

  learnngetbetter

  productivity

• 13 Feb 12
  

  keliabanks
  • graduate in only three semesters
  • I'd have to manage my time extremely well if I wanted to pull this off.
  • I accomplished my goal by graduating with two Bachelor of Science degrees (computer science and mathematics) in just three semesters without attending summer school. I slept seven to eight hours a night, took care of my routine chores (shopping, cooking, etc), had a social life, and exercised for 30 minutes every morning.
  • I graduated with a 3.9 GPA and also received a special award given to the top computer science student each year
  • They allowed me to shave years off my schooling while also giving me about $30,000 to start my business
  • "Your goal is to become a black belt."
  • This helps remind each student why s/he is going through such difficult training.
  • If you cannot define your destination precisely, how will you know when you've arrived?
  • ake a moment to stop and write down a snapshot description of how you want your life to be ninety days from now.
  • you must periodically retarget your goals. Reconnect with your clear, written goals by re-reading them every morning.
  • Do not wait for clarity to spontaneously materialize -- grab a chisel and get busy!
  • A typical commercial airplane is off course 90% of the time, yet it almost always arrives at its destination because it knows exactly where it's going and makes constant corrections along the way. You cannot know the exact path to your goal in advance.
  • the real purpose of planning is simply so that you remain convinced that a possible path exists.
  • no business plan survives contact with the marketplace. I like to generalize this to say that no plan survives contact with the real world.
  • I believe that having a clear goal is far more important than having a clear plan.
  • I stuck with a very basic pen and paper to-do list. My only organizing tool was a notepad where I wrote down all my assignments and their deadlines. I didn't worry about doing any advance scheduling or prioritizing. I would simply scan the list to select the most pressing item which fit the time I had available. Then I'd complete it, and cross it off the list.
  • If I had a 10-hour term paper to write, I would do the whole thing at once instead of breaking it into smaller tasks. I'd usually do large projects on weekends. I'd go to the library in the morning, do the necessary research, and then go back to my dorm room and continue working until the final text was rolling off my printer. If I needed to take a break, I would take a break. It didn't matter how big the project was supposed to be or how many weeks the professor allowed for it. Once I began an assignment, I would stay with it until it was 100% complete and ready to be turned in.
  • Single handling minimizes time lost in task switching.
  • So I'd do all my math homework in a row until it was all done. Then I'd do all my programming assignments. Then I'd do my general education homework. In this manner I would put my brain into math-mode, programming-mode, writing-mode, or art-mode and remain in that single mode for as long as possible.
  • failure is really your best friend
  • People who succeed also fail a great deal because they make a lot of attempts.
  • The great baseball player Babe Ruth held the homerun record and the strikeout record at the same time.
  • Those who have the most successes also have the most failures. There is nothing wrong or shameful in failing. The only regret lies in never making the attempt.
  • Sometimes the quickest way to find out if something will work is to jump right in and do it.
  • Too many people get bogged down in planning and thinking and never get to the point of action.
  • I was willing to fail again and again for the off chance I might stumble upon something that gave me an extra boost.
  • Understand that failure is not the opposite of success. Failure is an essential part of success. Once you succeed, no one will remember your failures anyway.
  • My advice to anyone starting a new business is to begin pumping out products or devising services and don't worry much about whether they'll be hits
  • They probably won't be. But you'll learn a lot more by doing than you ever will by thinking.
  • you only get paid for your results. When in doubt, act boldly, as if it were impossible to fail.
  • I just pick a topic and begin writing. I believe this is why I never experience writer's block.
  • Writer's block means you're stuck in the state of thinking about what to write instead of actually writing.
  • Too often people delay making decisions when there is no advantage to be found in that delay.
  • sually delaying a decision will only have negative consequences, so even if you're faced with ambiguity, ju
  • Pour the bulk of your time into action, not deciding.
  • Get rid of everything that wastes your time. Use the trash can liberally. Apply the rule, "When in doubt, throw it out." Cancel useless magazine subscriptions. If you have a magazine that is more than two months old and you still haven't read it, throw it away;
  • his is called zero-based thinking. I know a lot of people that have a limiting belief that says, "Always finish what you start." They spend years climbing ladders only to realize when they reach the top that the ladder was leaning against the wrong building.
  • I will frequently work 6+ hours straight on a project without taking a break. While frequent breaks are often recommended to increase productivity, I feel that suggestion may be an artifact of industrial age research on poorly motivated workers and not as applicable to high-motivation, purpose-driven creative work.
  • The state of flow, where you are totally absorbed in a task and lose all sense of time, takes about 15 minutes to enter. Every time you get interrupted, it can take you another 15 minutes to get back to that state. Once you enter the state of flow, guard it with your life. That is the state in which you will go through enormous amounts of work and experience total connection with the task.
  • Decide what it is you should be doing, and then do nothing but that.

  • Work with either 100% concentration, or don't work at all. It's perfectly fine to take as much down time as you want. Just don't allow your down time to creep into your work time. 
  • Whenever you go out, carry at least one folded up article with you. If you ever have to wait in line, such as at the post office or the grocery store, pull out the article and read it.
  • I had classes back to back from 9am until 10pm. Because I was taking about a dozen classes each semester, I would have several tests and projects due just about every week. I had no time to study outside of class because most of that time was used for my job. So I simply had to learn everything the first time it came up.
  • teacher wrote out something on the board, I would memorize it then and there; I couldn't afford to learn things later and risk falling behind.
  • The word "enthusiasm" comes from the Greek entheos, which means literally, "the god within."
  • I doubt it's possible to master the art of time management if you aren't gushingly enthusiastic about what you're going to do with your time
  • Don't chase money. Chase your passion.
  • I don't believe in pushing myself to do something I really don't want to do. If I'm not motivated, then getting myself to sit down and work productively is nearly impossible, and the work is almost painful. When you're highly motivated though, work feels like play.
  • While in college I could not afford to let my enthusiasm fade, or I'd be dead.
  • I kept my motivation level high by reinforcing my enthusiasm almost hourly.
  • Even though I was being told by others that I would surely fail, these tapes were the stronger influence because I never went more than a few hours without plugging back in.
  • Unless you're a naturally hyper person, your enthusiasm is going to need daily reinforcement. I recommend either listening to motivational tapes or reading inspiring books or articles for at least fifteen minutes every day. Whenever I've stopped doing this, I've found that self-doubt always returns, and my productivity drops off. It's truly amazing how constantly feeding your mind with positive material can maintain your enthusiasm indefinitely. And if you multitask, you can get this benefit without investing any extra time into it.

  50 more annotations...

• 11 Feb 12
  

  Denis Rudders
  • The first step is to know exactly what you want.
  • You must know your destination with as much clarity as possible. Make your goals specific, and put them in writing. Your goals must be so clear that it would be possible for a stranger to look at your situation objectively and give you an absolute "yes" or "no" response as to whether you've accomplished each goal or not. If you cannot define your destination precisely, how will you know when you've arrived?
  • It's a big waste of time to go through life being unclear about what you want. Most people wallow way too long in the state of "I don't know what to do." They wait for some external force to provide them with clarity, never realizing that clarity is self-created.
  • Do not wait for clarity to spontaneously materialize -- grab a chisel and get busy!
  • No plan should be followed blindly. As soon as you gain new knowledge that could invalidate the plan, you must exercise integrity in the moment of choice.
  • Be tight on your goals but flexible on your plans.
  • It didn't matter how big the project was supposed to be or how many weeks the professor allowed for it. Once I began an assignment, I would stay with it until it was 100% complete and ready to be turned in.
  • A lot of time is lost in task switching because you have to re-load the context for each new task. Single handling minimizes time lost in task switching.
  • Most people seem to have an innate fear of failure, but failure is really your best friend. People who succeed also fail a great deal because they make a lot of attempts.
  • There is nothing wrong or shameful in failing. The only regret lies in never making the attempt.
  • Too many people get bogged down in planning and thinking and never get to the point of action. How many potentially great ideas have you passed up because you got stuck in the state of analysis paralysis
  • Understand that failure is not the opposite of success. Failure is an essential part of success. Once you succeed, no one will remember your failures anyway.
  • There is a tremendous cost in putting things off because you will mentally revisit them again and again, which can add up to an enormous amount of wasted time. Thinking and planning are important, but action is far more important. You don't get paid for your thoughts and plans -- you only get paid for your results.
  • Writer's block means you're stuck in the state of thinking about what to write instead of actually writing. I don't waste time thinking about writing because I'm too busy writing. This is probably why I've been able to write hundreds of original articles very easily. Every article I write spawns ideas for at least two more, so my ideas list only increases over time.
  • Usually delaying a decision will only have negative consequences, so even if you're faced with ambiguity, just bite the bullet and make a decision. If it turns out to be the wrong one, you'll know it soon enough.
  • If you can speed up the pace of making decisions, you can spend the rest of your time on action.
  • Where you have no data to fall back on, rely on your own personal experience and intuition. If a decision can be made right away, make the decision as soon as it comes up. If you can't make a decision right away, set aside a time where you will consider the options and make the decision. Pour the bulk of your time into action, not deciding.
  • Every activity has an opportunity cost. Ask, "Is this activity worth what I am sacrificing for it?"
  • if a certain decision you've made in the past is no longer producing results that serve you, then be ruthless and dump it, so you can move onto something better. There is no honor in dedicating your life to the pursuit of a goal which no longer inspires you.
  • Also known as the Pareto Principle, the 80-20 rule states that 20% of a task's effort accounts for 80% of the value of that task. This also means that 80% of a task only yields 20% of the value of that task.
  • Find out what parts of your life belong in the crucial 20%, and focus your efforts there. Be absolutely ruthless in refusing to spend time where it simply cannot give you optimal results. Invest your time where it has the potential to pay off big.
  • When you sit down to work on a particularly intense task, dedicate blocks of time to the task during which you will not do anything else. I've found that a minimum of 90 minutes is ideal for a single block.
  • The state of flow, where you are totally absorbed in a task and lose all sense of time, takes about 15 minutes to enter. Every time you get interrupted, it can take you another 15 minutes to get back to that state. Once you enter the state of flow, guard it with your life. That is the state in which you will go through enormous amounts of work and experience total connection with the task. When I'm in this state, I have no sense of past or future. I simply feel like I'm one with my work.
  • If you need a break, then take a real break and do nothing else. Don't semi-work during a break if you feel you need rest and restoration.
  • Work with either 100% concentration, or don't work at all. It's perfectly fine to take as much down time as you want. Just don't allow your down time to creep into your work time.
  • Many of the skills I use in my business today didn't even exist five years ago. The best way I know to keep up is to multitask whenever possible by reading and listening to audio programs.
  • Whenever you come up with a wacky new idea for increasing your productivity, test it and see what effect it has. Don't dismiss any idea unless you've actually tried it. Partial successes are more common than complete failures, so each new experiment will help you refine your time management practices.
  • The worst waste of time is doing something that doesn't make you happy. Your work should serve your life, not the other way around.
  • If I'm not motivated, then getting myself to sit down and work productively is nearly impossible, and the work is almost painful. When you're highly motivated though, work feels like play.
  • The reason to master time management is to take your good life and transform it into an exceptional one. Time management is not about self-sacrifice, self-denial, and doing more of what you dislike. It's about embracing more of what you already love.

  28 more annotations...

• 20 Jan 12
  

  Sola Soyombo
• 29 Oct 11
  

  s_m_roberts

  productivity gtd lifehacks management time motivation howto toread

• 28 Oct 11
  

  Ben Ceschi

  system:unfiled delicious

• 

  Daniel Drexler

  worthReading article advice

• 27 Sep 11
  

  Tom Hammond

  Productivity organization

• 29 Aug 11
  

  Dana Cummings

  executive_function personalization Learning_Profile flow workflow

• 30 Jul 11
  

  Greg Larson

  procrastination productivity

• 07 Apr 11
  

  arniheidar

  productivity management gtd lifehacks time motivation

  • Realize that nothing is free if it costs you time. Before you sign up for any new free service or subscription, ask how much it will cost you in terms of time. Every activity has an opportunity cost. Ask, "Is this activity worth what I am sacrificing for it?"
• 10 Mar 11
  

  Sean Briel
• 26 Jan 11
  

  James Herrick

  self self-improvement SU Personal Improvement

• 11 Jan 11
  

  David Palme
• 19 Dec 10
  

  viewer07

  Personal Development

  • I believe that having a clear goal is far more important than having a clear plan. In school I was very clear about my end goal -- graduate college in only three semesters -- but my plans were in a constant state of flux. Every day I would be informed of new assignments, projects, or tests, and I had to adapt to this ever-changing sea of activity. If I tried to make a long-term plan for each semester, it would have been rendered useless within 24 hours. 
  • devised
  • reframe
  • anathema
  • dismal
  • imperative
  • gruntwork

  • If you get the highest level of your life in order (purpose, meaning, spiritual beliefs), the lower levels will tend to self-optimize (habits, practices, actions). 

  • Work all the time you work. 

      

  • If you're like most people, you can get yourself motivated every once in a while, but then you get caught up and sink back down to a lower level of productivity, and you find it hard to continue with a project. How easy is it to start a new project when your motivation level is high? And how difficult is it to continue once your enthusiasm fades? Since most people are negative to one degree or another, you'll naturally lose your positive charge over time unless you actively cultivate your enthusiasm as a resource. I don't believe in pushing myself to do something I really don't want to do. If I'm not motivated, then getting myself to sit down and work productively is nearly impossible, and the work is almost painful. When you're highly motivated though, work feels like play.  

      

  • What you eat can have a profound effect on your productivity. Animal products take significantly more time and energy to digest than plant foods, and when your body must divert extra energy to digestion, it means you have less energy available for productive mental work. Effectively your work will seem harder while you're digesting meals containing animal products, and you'll be more inclined to succumb to distractions. So if you find yourself having a hard time focusing on mentally intense work after lunch, your diet may very well be the culprit. Even Benjamin Franklin credited eating lightly at lunch time as being a significant factor in his productivity. While his colleagues were sluggish and sleepy in the afternoon, he could continue to work productively the rest of the day. 

      

  • Maintain balance. 

      
  • turnover
  • machinating

  12 more annotations...

• 29 Aug 10
  

  George Bush

  productivity gtd

• 14 Jun 10
  

  Alison Ruth

  productivity management business education toread delicious

• 29 May 10
  

  Frida Lee

  |Academia| Self-Improvement GTD EducationalResources Business Management Lifehacks Articles Imported

• 07 Mar 10
  

  lukelux

  Time Managment Concepts. How to mange time extremly well. It's a must read article.

  management Freelance productivity

• 24 Nov 09
  

  vikramsjn

  steve pavlina time management time-management now deliciousExport20110319

• 03 Oct 09
  

  kellyhulme

  productivity lifehacks howto tips business motivation time mba

• 07 Aug 09
  

  Julie Kwak
• 31 Jul 09
  

  Guy Burdick

  imported productivity gtd lifehacks management howto time toread

• 26 Jun 09
  

  Craig King
  • The first step is to know exactly what you want
  • Your goals must be so clear that it would be possible for a stranger to look at your situation objectively and give you an absolute "yes" or "no" response as to whether you've accomplished each goal or not.
  • The key period I've found useful for defining and working on specific goals is ninety days
  • It wasn't just that it helped me focus on what I wanted -- perhaps even more important is that it made it easy for me to disregard those things that weren't on the path to my goal.
  • If you aren't yet at the point of clarity, then make that your first goal. It's a big waste of time to go through life being unclear about what you want. Most people wallow way too long in the state of "I don't know what to do." They wait for some external force to provide them with clarity, never realizing that clarity is self-created
  • There's a key difference between knowing your destination and knowing the path you will take to get there
  • A typical commercial airplane is off course 90% of the time, yet it almost always arrives at its destination because it knows exactly where it's going and makes constant corrections along the way.
  • We've all heard the statistic that 80% of new businesses fail in their first five years, but a far more interesting statistic is that nearly all of the businesses that succeeded did not do so in the original way they had intended.
  • Be tight on your goals but flexible on your plans.

  • Use single handling. 

      

     Instead of using some elaborate organizing system, I stuck with a very basic pen and paper to-do list. My only organizing tool was a notepad where I wrote down all my assignments and their deadlines. I didn't worry about doing any advance scheduling or prioritizing. I would simply scan the list to select the most pressing item which fit the time I had available. Then I'd complete it, and cross it off the list. 

      

     If I had a 10-hour term paper to write, I would do the whole thing at once instead of breaking it into smaller tasks. I'd usually do large projects on weekends. I'd go to the library in the morning, do the necessary research, and then go back to my dorm room and continue working until the final text was rolling off my printer. If I needed to take a break, I would take a break. It didn't matter how big the project was supposed to be or how many weeks the professor allowed for it. Once I began an assignment, I would stay with it until it was 100% complete and ready to be turned in. 
  • Understand that failure is not the opposite of success. Failure is an essential part of success. Once you succeed, no one will remember your failures anyway.
  • icrosoft wasn't Bill Gates' and Paul Allen's first business venture. Who remembers that their original Traf-o-Data business was a flop? The actor Jim Carey was booed off many a stage while a young comedian. We have electric light bulbs because Thomas Edison refused to give up even after 10,000 failed experiments. If the word "failure" is anathema to you, then reframe it: You either succeed, or you have a learning experience.
  • Whenever you feel the tendency towards laziness taking over and you remember something you should be doing, stop and say out loud, "Do it now! Do it now! Do it now!" I often set this text as my screen saver.
  • There is a tremendous cost in putting things off because you will mentally revisit them again and again, which can add up to an enormous amount of wasted time. Thinking and planning are important, but action is far more important. You don't get paid for your thoughts and plans -- you only get paid for your results. When in doubt, act boldly, as if it were impossible to fail. In essence, it is.
  • It is absolutely imperative that you develop the habit of making decisions as soon as possible. I use a 60-second rule for almost every decision I have to make, no matter how big or important. Once I have all the data to make a decision, I start a timer and give myself only 60 seconds to make a firm decision.
  • Too often people delay making decisions when there is no advantage to be found in that delay
  • One study showed that the best managers in the world tend to have an extremely high tolerance for ambiguity. In other words, they are able to act boldly on partial and/or conflicting data. Many industries today have accelerated to such a rapid pace that by the time you have perfect data with which to make any decision, the opportunity is probably long gone.
  • here you have no data to fall back on, rely on your own personal experience and intuition. If a decision can be made right away, make the decision as soon as it comes up. If you can't make a decision right away, set aside a time where you will consider the options and make the decision. Pour the bulk of your time into action, not deciding. The state of indecision is a major time waster. Don't spend more than 60 seconds in that state if you can avoid it. Make a firm, immediate decision, and move from uncertainty to certainty to action. Let the world tell you when you're wrong, and you'll soon build enough experience to make accurate, intelligent decisions.
  • Realize that nothing is free if it costs you time.
  • Ask yourself this question: "Would I have ever gotten started with this project, relationship, career, etc. if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I now know?" If your answer is no, then get out as soon as possible. This is called zero-based thinking.
  • know a lot of people that have a limiting belief that says, "Always finish what you start." They spend years climbing ladders only to realize when they reach the top that the ladder was leaning against the wrong building. Remember that failure is your friend. So if a certain decision you've made in the past is no longer producing results that serve you, then be ruthless and dump it, so you can move onto something better. There is no honor in dedicating your life to the pursuit of a goal which no longer inspires you. This is another situation where you must practice integrity in the moment of choice. You must constantly re-assess your present situation to accurately decide what to do next. Whatever you've decided in the past is largely irrelevant if you would not renew that decision today.
  • Optimizing your personal habits should only come later. Clarity of purpose must come first
  • f you get the highest level of your life in order (purpose, meaning, spiritual beliefs), the lower levels will tend to self-optimize (habits, practices, actions).
  • While frequent breaks are often recommended to increase productivity, I feel that suggestion may be an artifact of industrial age research on poorly motivated workers and not as applicable to high-motivation, purpose-driven creative work.
  • Work all the time you work.
  • During one of these sacred time blocks, do nothing but the activity that's right in front of you. Don't check email or online forums or do web surfing. If you have this temptation, then unplug your Internet connection while you work. Turn off your phone, or simply refuse to answer it. Go to the bathroom before you start, and make sure you won't get hungry for a while. Don't get out of your chair at all. Don't talk to anyone during this time.
  • Decide what it is you should be doing, and then do nothing but that. If you happen to manage others, periodically ask them what their #1 task is, and make sure they're doing nothing but that. If you see someone answering email, then it should be the most important thing for that person to be doing at that particular time. If not, then relatively speaking, that person is just wasting time.
  • If you need a break, then take a real break and do nothing else. Don't semi-work during a break if you feel you need rest and restoration. Checking email or web surfing is not a break. When you take a break, close your eyes and do some deep breathing, listen to relaxing music and zone out for a while, take a 20-minute nap, or eat some fresh fruit. Rest until you feel capable of doing productive work again. When you need rest, rest. When you should be working, work. Work with either 100% concentration, or don't work at all. It's perfectly fine to take as much down time as you want. Just don't allow your down time to creep into your work time.
  • The idea of multitasking may seem to contradict the previous piece of advice to work all the time you work. But whereas the previous tip refers to high intensity work where you must concentrate all your mental resources in order to do the best job you can, this tip addresses low intensity work where you have plenty of capacity to do other things at the same time, like standing in line, cooking dinner, flying on a plane, or walking from point A to point B.
  • he word "enthusiasm" comes from the Greek entheos, which means literally, "the god within." I really like that definition
  • doubt it's possible to master the art of time management if you aren't gushingly enthusiastic about what you're going to do with your time. Go after what really inspires you. Don't chase money. Chase your passion. If you aren't enthusiastic about your work, then you're wasting your life. Switch to something else. Consider a new career altogether. Don't beat yourself up if your current career has become stale. Remember that failure is your friend. Listen to that god within you, and switch to something that excites you once again. The worst waste of time is doing something that doesn't make you happy. Your work should serve your life, not the other way around.
  • While in college I could not afford to let my enthusiasm fade, or I'd be dead. I quickly learned that I needed to make a conscious effort to reinforce my enthusiasm on a daily basis. I always had my Walkman cassette player with me (there were no portable MP3 players back then), and while walking from one class to the next, I would listen to time management and motivational tapes. I also listened to them while jogging every morning. I kept my motivation level high by reinforcing my enthusiasm almost hourly. Even though I was being told by others that I would surely fail, these tapes were the stronger influence because I never went more than a few hours without plugging back in.
  • I don't think it's easy to sustain long-term productivity, health, and happiness if your life is totally unbalanced. To excel in one area, you can't let other areas lag behind and pull you down. While in college I made an effort to take off a full day each week to have a personal life. I exercised, went to parties, attended club meetings, played computer games and pool, and even had time to vacation in Las Vegas during my final semester. The high turnover rates at the end of "death march" projects are caused by a lack of balance. To focus exclusively on your primary work at the expense of every other area of your life will only hurt you in the long run. Maintain balance by paying attention to every area of your life. As you grow in your career, be sure that your personal life grows as well.

  31 more annotations...

• 13 Jun 09
  

  Jim Jaiden

  stevepavlina

• 09 Mar 09
  

  Dick Morrison
  • "What exactly is it that I'm trying to accomplish here?"
  • Take a moment to stop and write down a snapshot description of how you want your life to be ninety days from now. What will your monthly income be? How much will you weigh? Who will your friends be? Where will you be in your career? What will your relationship be like? What will your web site look like? Be specific. Absolute clarity will give you the edge that will keep you on course.
  • It wasn't just that it helped me focus on what I wanted -- perhaps even more important is that it made it easy for me to disregard those things that weren't on the path to my goal
  • Do not wait for clarity to spontaneously materialize -- grab a chisel and get busy!
  • A typical commercial airplane is off course 90% of the time, yet it almost always arrives at its destination because it knows exactly where it's going and makes constant corrections along the way.
  • no plan survives contact with the real world.
  • As soon as you gain new knowledge that could invalidate the plan, you must exercise integrity in the moment of choice.
  • It didn't matter how big the project was supposed to be or how many weeks the professor allowed for it. Once I began an assignment, I would stay with it until it was 100% complete
  • A lot of time is lost in task switching because you have to re-load the context for each new task
  • People who succeed also fail a great deal because they make a lot of attempts.
  • Once you succeed, no one will remember your failures anyway.
  • Get rid of everything that wastes your time.
  • You need a big, attractive goal to stay motivated.
  • If you get the highest level of your life in order (purpose, meaning, spiritual beliefs), the lower levels will tend to self-optimize (habits, practices, actions).
  • Be absolutely ruthless in refusing to spend time where it simply cannot give you optimal results. Invest your time where it has the potential to pay off big.
  • The state of flow, where you are totally absorbed in a task and lose all sense of time, takes about 15 minutes to enter. Every time you get interrupted, it can take you another 15 minutes to get back to that state.
  • Decide what it is you should be doing, and then do nothing but that.
  • Work with either 100% concentration, or don't work at all.

  16 more annotations...

• 04 Mar 09
  

  Gary Tse

  organization education

• 29 Jan 09
  

  Jacob Fan
  • The key period I've found useful for defining and working on specific goals is ninety days, or the length of one season.
  • If you aren't yet at the point of clarity, then make that your first goal. It's a big waste of time to go through life being unclear about what you want.
  • Too many people get bogged down in planning and thinking and never get to the point of action.
  • There is a tremendous cost in putting things off because you will mentally revisit them again and again, which can add up to an enormous amount of wasted time.
  • When in doubt, act boldly, as if it were impossible to fail. In essence, it is.
  • the habit of making decisions as soon as possible
  • In other words, they are able to act boldly on partial and/or conflicting data.

  5 more annotations...

• 02 Jan 09
  

  Riyaz Mohammed Ibrahim

  great

  productivity

• 20 Dec 08
  

  shrirajmisal
  • It's a big waste of time to go through life being unclear about what you want.
  • They wait for some external force to provide them with clarity, never realizing that clarity is self-created.
  • Those who have the most successes also have the most failures. There is nothing wrong or shameful in failing. The only regret lies in never making the attempt.
  • Sometimes the quickest way to find out if something will work is to jump right in and do it.
  • You can always make adjustments along the way. It's the ready-fire-aim approach, and surprisingly, it works a lot better than the more common ready-aim-fire approach.
  • Too many people get bogged down in planning and thinking and never get to the point of action.
  • Once you succeed, no one will remember your failures anyway.
  • Microsoft wasn't Bill Gates' and Paul Allen's first business venture. Who remembers that their original Traf-o-Data business was a flop?
  • We have electric light bulbs because Thomas Edison refused to give up even after 10,000 failed experiments.
  • Thinking and planning are important, but action is far more important. You don't get paid for your thoughts and plans -- you only get paid for your results.
  • I use a 60-second rule for almost every decision I have to make, no matter how big or important
  • I'll even flip a coin if I have to.
  • So my brain knows that if it wants something other than fruit, it had better decide quickly. If you can speed up the pace of making decisions, you can spend the rest of your time on action.
  • One study showed that the best managers in the world tend to have an extremely high tolerance for ambiguity. In other words, they are able to act boldly on partial and/or conflicting data. Many industries today have accelerated to such a rapid pace that by the time you have perfect data with which to make any decision, the opportunity is probably long gone.
  • Let the world tell you when you're wrong, and you'll soon build enough experience to make accurate, intelligent decisions.
  • This is called zero-based thinking.
  • There is no honor in dedicating your life to the pursuit of a goal which no longer inspires you.
  • The reason to shave 15 minutes off a task is that you're overflowing with motivation to put that 15 minutes to better use.

  •   

     Also known as the Pareto Principle, the 80-20 rule states that 20% of a task's effort accounts for 80% of the value of that task. This also means that 80% of a task only yields 20% of the value of that task.
  • Be absolutely ruthless in refusing to spend time where it simply cannot give you optimal results. Invest your time where it has the potential to pay off big.
  • While frequent breaks are often recommended to increase productivity, I feel that suggestion may be an artifact of industrial age research on poorly motivated workers and not as applicable to high-motivation, purpose-driven creative work.
  • It's perfectly fine to take as much down time as you want. Just don't allow your down time to creep into your work time.
  • If a teacher wrote out something on the board, I would memorize it then and there; I couldn't afford to learn things later and risk falling behind.
  • You can probably find numerous opportunities for multitasking.
  • The harder you work, the greater your capacity for work, and the more restorative your rest will be.
  • Take advantage of your own strengths, and find ways to compensate for your weaknesses.
  • Don't dismiss any idea unless you've actually tried it.
  • The word "enthusiasm" comes from the Greek entheos
  • I've always found that whenever I want to take my business to a new level, I must take my thoughts to a new level first. When your thinking changes, then your actions will change, and your results will follow.
  • I recommend either listening to motivational tapes or reading inspiring books or articles for at least fifteen minutes every day.
  • find a dumbbell (or two) that weighs as much as the excess fat you're carrying around. Pick it up and walk around with it for a while. Become aware that this is what you're carrying around with you every day. Imagine how much lighter and easier everything would be if you could permanently put that weight down.
  • I don't think it's easy to sustain long-term productivity, health, and happiness if your life is totally unbalanced. To excel in one area, you can't let other areas lag behind and pull you down.
  • Time management is not about self-sacrifice, self-denial, and doing more of what you dislike. It's about embracing more of what you already love.

  31 more annotations...

• 16 Dec 08
  

  Mike Jones

  Kaizen

• 07 Dec 08
  

  Andreas Climent

  lifehacks productivity motivation organization readmonthly

• 24 Jul 08
  

  Dan Dascalescu

  Awesome article on productivity, time management, and beating procrastination

  cool time management productivity Pavlina lifehacks do it now procrastination discipline motivation

• 22 Jul 08
  

  toread productivity

• 15 Jul 08
  

  duk duk

  time management

  • time management: 

     
      

     Clarity is key. 

      

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     The first step is to know exactly what you want.
  • What exactly is it that I'm trying to accomplish here?" You must know your destination with as much clarity as possible. Make your goals specific, and put them in writing.
  • Take a moment to stop and write down a snapshot description of how you want your life to be ninety days from now.
  • you must periodically retarget your goals. Reconnect with your clear, written goals by re-reading them every morning.
  • clarity is self-created
  • Be tight on your goals but flexible on your plans.
  • having a clear goal is far more important than having a clear plan.
  • A lot of time is lost in task switching because you have to re-load the context for each new task. Single handling minimizes time lost in task switching.
  • don't be afraid to experiment in your attempts to increase productivity. Sometimes the quickest way to find out if something will work is to jump right in and do it. You can always make adjustments along the way. It's the ready-fire-aim approach, and surprisingly, it works a lot better than the more common ready-aim-fire approach. The reason is that after you've "fired" once, you have some actual data with which to adjust your aim. Too many people get bogged down in planning and thinking and never get to the point of action.
  • the best managers in the world tend to have an extremely high tolerance for ambiguity.
  • If a decision can be made right away, make the decision as soon as it comes up.
  • he state of indecision is a major time waster. Don't spend more than 60 seconds in that state if you can avoid it. Make a firm, immediate decision, and move from uncertainty to certainty to action.

  •  Get rid of everything that wastes your time. Use the trash can liberally. Apply the rule, "When in doubt, throw it out." Cancel useless magazine subscriptions. If you have a magazine that is more than two months old and you still haven't read it, throw it away; it's probably not worth reading. Realize that nothing is free if it costs you time. Before you sign up for any new free service or subscription, ask how much it will cost you in terms of time. Every activity has an opportunity cost. Ask, "Is this activity worth what I am sacrificing for it?" 

      
  • "Would I have ever gotten started with this project, relationship, career, etc. if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I now know?" If your answer is no, then get out as soon as possible. This is called zero-based thinking.
  • if a certain decision you've made in the past is no longer producing results that serve you, then be ruthless and dump it, so you can move onto something better.
  • if you've taken the time to develop a sense of purpose that reaches deep into your soul, you'll be automatically motivated to put your time to better use. If you get the highest level of your life in order (purpose, meaning, spiritual beliefs), the lower levels will tend to self-optimize (habits, practices, actions).
  • To work effectively you need uninterrupted blocks of time in which you can complete meaningful work. When you know for certain that you won't be interrupted, your productivity is much, much higher.
  • I'll frequently think of new optimization ideas while I work, and I'll usually go ahead and implement those new ideas immediately. I find it more efficient to act on those ideas at the moment of conception instead of scheduling them to be done at a later time.
  • During one of these sacred time blocks, do nothing but the activity that's right in front of you. Don't check email or online forums or do web surfing.
  • Decide what it is you should be doing, and then do nothing but that.

  • to keep up is to multitask whenever possible by reading and listening to audio programs. 

      

     When watching TV, read a computer magazine during commercials.
  • Just grab a couple magazines, or print out some articles you wouldn't otherwise have time to read, and put them in your bathroom. Whenever you go out, carry at least one folded up article with you. If you ever have to wait in line, such as at the post office or the grocery store, pull out the article and read it. You will be amazed at how much extra knowledge you can absorb just by reading during other non-mental activities.
  • Listen to educational audio programs whenever you can. When you drive your car, always be listening to an audio program. One of the best ways to save time is to learn directly from people who already have the skills you want to master. Audio programs often contain more practical material than what you would learn by taking classes at a university.
  • The word "enthusiasm" comes from the Greek entheos, which means literally, "the god within."
  • Go after what really inspires you. Don't chase money. Chase your passion. If you aren't enthusiastic about your work, then you're wasting your life. Switch to something else. Consider a new career altogether.
  • The worst waste of time is doing something that doesn't make you happy. Your work should serve your life, not the other way around.
  • listen to time management and motivational tapes.

  • I kept my motivation level high by reinforcing my enthusiasm almost hourly. Even though I was being told by others that I would surely fail, these tapes were the stronger influence because I never went more than a few hours without plugging back in. 

      

     If your enthusiasm level is high, you can work so much more productively and even enjoy the normally tedious parts of your work. I've always found that whenever I want to take my business to a new level, I must take my thoughts to a new level first. When your thinking changes, then your actions will change, and your results will follow.
  • your enthusiasm is going to need daily reinforcement. I recommend either listening to motivational tapes or reading inspiring books or articles for at least fifteen minutes every day. Whenever I've stopped doing this, I've found that self-doubt always returns, and my productivity drops off. It's truly amazing how constantly feeding your mind with positive material can maintain your enthusiasm indefinitely. And if you multitask, you can get this benefit without investing any extra time into it.
  • Regular exercise is also necessary to maintain high energy and mental clarity.
  • To focus exclusively on your primary work at the expense of every other area of your life will only hurt you in the long run. Maintain balance by paying attention to every area of your life. As you grow in your career, be sure that your personal life grows as well.

  29 more annotations...

• 15 Jun 08
  

  hldnmyown unfortunately

  Education

  • graduate in only three semesters
  • graduate in only three semesters
  • graduate in only three semesters
  • graduate in only three semesters

  2 more annotations...

• 19 May 08
  

  Mounirra Jaliel
  • nothing is free if it costs you time
  • Find out what parts of your life belong in the crucial 20%, and focus your efforts there. Be absolutely ruthless in refusing to spend time where it simply cannot give you optimal results. Invest your time where it has the potential to pay off big.
  • If you cannot define your destination precisely, how will you know when you've arrived?
  • ninety days, or the length of one season.
  • Reconnect with your clear, written goals by re-reading them every morning. Post them on your walls, especially your financial goals.
  • Be tight on your goals but flexible on your plans.
  • having a clear goal is far more important than having a clear plan.
  • Be tight on your goals but flexible on your plans.
  • A lot of time is lost in task switching because you have to re-load the context for each new task.
  • Single handling minimizes time lost in task switching
  • People who succeed also fail a great deal because they make a lot of attempts.
  • A lot of time is lost in task switching because you have to re-load the context for each new task. Single handling minimizes time lost in task switching.
  • The only regret lies in never making the attempt. So don't be afraid to experiment in your attempts to increase productivity. Sometimes the quickest way to find out if something will work is to jump right in and do it. You can always make adjustments along the way. It's the ready-fire-aim approach, and surprisingly, it works a lot better than the more common ready-aim-fire approach.
  • failure is not the opposite of success. Failure is an essential part of success.
  • Thinking and planning are important, but action is far more important. You don't get paid for your thoughts and plans -- you only get paid for your results. When in doubt, act boldly, as if it were impossible to fail. In essence, it is.
  • develop the habit of making decisions as soon as possible. I use a 60-second rule for almost every decision I have to make, no matter how big or important
  • Is this activity worth what I am sacrificing for it
  • Would I have ever gotten started with this project, relationship, career, etc. if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I now know?
  • Get rid of everything that wastes your time
  • When in doubt, throw it out
  • nothing is free if it costs you time
  • Every activity has an opportunity cost. Ask, "Is this activity worth what I am sacrificing for it?"
  • Would I have ever gotten started with this project, relationship, career, etc. if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I now know?" If your answer is no, then get out as soon as possible. This is called zero-based thinking
  • Remember that failure is your friend. So if a certain decision you've made in the past is no longer producing results that serve you, then be ruthless and dump it, so you can move onto something better. There is no honor in dedicating your life to the pursuit of a goal which no longer inspires you
  • Clarity of purpose must come first.
  • You need a big, attractive goal to stay motivated
  • get the highest level of your life in order (purpose, meaning, spiritual beliefs), the lower levels will tend to self-optimize (habits, practices, actions).
  • Find out what parts of your life belong in the crucial 20%, and focus your efforts there. Be absolutely ruthless in refusing to spend time where it simply cannot give you optimal results. Invest your time where it has the potential to pay off big.
  • To work effectively you need uninterrupted blocks of time in which you can complete meaningful work
  • a minimum of 90 minutes is ideal for a single block.
  • The state of flow, where you are totally absorbed in a task and lose all sense of time, takes about 15 minutes to enter
  • Once you enter the state of flow, guard it with your life
  • more efficient to act on those ideas at the moment of conception instead of scheduling them to be done at a later time.
  • the main goal of time management is to give you the power to make your life as juicy as you want it to be. By getting clear about what you want and then developing a collection of habits that allow you to efficiently achieve your goals, you'll enjoy a much richer, more fulfilling life than you would otherwise
  • The reason to master time management is to take your good life and transform it into an exceptional one. Time management is not about self-sacrifice, self-denial, and doing more of what you dislike. It's about embracing more of what you already love.
  • By getting clear about what you want and then developing a collection of habits that allow you to efficiently achieve your goals

  34 more annotations...

• 17 Apr 08
  

  Qrystal MqKenzie

  time management motivation

  • When you work for yourself, it's easy to spend a whole day at your desk and accomplish nothing of value.
  • Most people wallow way too long in the state of "I don't know what to do."
  • The universe is waiting on you, not the other way around,
  • convinced that a possible path exists
  • The great baseball player Babe Ruth held the homerun record and the strikeout record at the same time.
  • It's the ready-fire-aim approach, and surprisingly, it works a lot better than the more common ready-aim-fire approach. The reason is that after you've "fired" once, you have some actual data with which to adjust your aim.
  • state of analysis paralysis (i.e. ready-aim-aim-aim-aim-aim...)
  • There is a tremendous cost in putting things off because you will mentally revisit them again and again
  • Once I have all the data to make a decision, I start a timer and give myself only 60 seconds to make a firm decision.
  • nothing is free if it costs you time
  • "Would I have ever gotten started with this project, relationship, career, etc. if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I now know?" If your answer is no, then get out as soon as possible.
  • There is no honor in dedicating your life to the pursuit of a goal which no longer inspires you.
  • The reason to shave 15 minutes off a task is that you're overflowing with motivation to put that 15 minutes to better use.
  • If you get the highest level of your life in order (purpose, meaning, spiritual beliefs), the lower levels will tend to self-optimize (habits, practices, actions).
  • the 80-20 rule states that 20% of a task's effort accounts for 80% of the value of that task. This also means that 80% of a task only yields 20% of the value of that task.
  • When you know for certain that you won't be interrupted, your productivity is much, much higher.
  • high-motivation, purpose-driven creative work
  • The state of flow, where you are totally absorbed in a task and lose all sense of time, takes about 15 minutes to enter.
  • enormous amounts of work and experience total connection with the task
  • Work all the time you work.
  • Decide what it is you should be doing, and then do nothing but that.
  • Work with either 100% concentration, or don't work at all.
  • Take advantage of your own strengths, and find ways to compensate for your weaknesses.
  • gushingly enthusiastic about what you're going to do with your time
  • Your work should serve your life, not the other way around.
  • actively cultivate your enthusiasm as a resource
  • work feels like play
  • When your thinking changes, then your actions will change, and your results will follow.
  • constantly feeding your mind with positive material can maintain your enthusiasm indefinitely
  • Regular exercise is also necessary to maintain high energy and mental clarity.
  • Maintain balance by paying attention to every area of your life.
  • The reason to master time management is to take your good life and transform it into an exceptional one.

  30 more annotations...

• 30 Mar 08
  

  George Kao

  productivity Delicious2012

• 23 Mar 08
  

  gabriele Domenichini

  development howto lifehacks management personal productivity time

• 26 Feb 08
  

  Travis Taylor

  see if I could graduate in only three semesters, taking the same classes that people would normally take over a four-year period. This article expl

  delicious timemanagement college delicious_import

• 14 Feb 08
  

  jrockads

  Good stuff. His blog is excellent

  Advice College Life Philosophy toread

• 06 Feb 08
  

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• 04 Feb 08
  

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  timemanagement

• 17 Jan 08
  

  ageyev

  цели procrastination stevepavlina timemanagement del.icio.us

• 01 Jan 08
  

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• 17 Mar 07
  

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• 05 Feb 07
  

  Paul Howard

  Articles Career Goals Productivity Success toread

• 

  j hought

  work

  • It's a big waste of time to go through life being unclear about what you want. Most people wallow way too long in the state of "I don't know what to do." They wait for some external force to provide them with clarity, never realizing that clarity is self-created. The universe is waiting on you, not the other way around, and it's going to keep waiting until you finally make up your mind.
  • Secondly, I believe this habit helped me remain relaxed and unstressed because my mind wasn't cluttered with so many to-do items. It was always just one thing at a time. I could forget about anything that was outside the current context.
  • The reason is that after you've "fired" once, you have some actual data with which to adjust your aim. Too many people get bogged down in planning and thinking and never get to the point of action. How many potentially great ideas have you passed up because you got stuck in the state of analysis paralysis
  • Sometimes the quickest way to find out if something will work is to jump right in and do it.
  • you'll learn a lot more by doing than you ever will by thinking.
  • There is a tremendous cost in putting things off because you will mentally revisit them again and again, which can add up to an enormous amount of wasted time. Thinking and planning are important, but action is far more important.
  • Writer's block means you're stuck in the state of thinking about what to write instead of actually writing.
  • I don't waste time thinking about writing because I'm too busy writing. This is probably why I've been able to write hundreds of original articles very easily. Every article I write spawns ideas for at least two more, so my ideas list only increases over time.
  •  It is absolutely imperative that you develop the habit of making decisions as soon as possible. I use a 60-second rule for almost every decision I have to make, no matter how big or important. Once I have all the data to make a decision, I start a timer and give myself only 60 seconds to make a firm decision. I'll even flip a coin if I have to. When I was in college, I couldn't afford to waste time thinking about assignments or worrying about when to do them. I simply picked one and went to work on it.
  • If you can speed up the pace of making decisions, you can spend the rest of your time on action.
  •  Too often people delay making decisions when there is no advantage to be found in that delay. Usually delaying a decision will only have negative consequences, so even if you're faced with ambiguity, just bite the bullet and make a decision. If it turns out to be the wrong one, you'll know it soon enough.
  •  One study showed that the best managers in the world tend to have an extremely high tolerance for ambiguity. In other words, they are able to act boldly on partial and/or conflicting data.
  • Pour the bulk of your time into action, not deciding.
  • The state of indecision is a major time waster.
  • Is this activity worth what I am sacrificing for it?"
  •  Ask yourself this question: "Would I have ever gotten started with this project, relationship, career, etc. if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I now know?" If your answer is no, then get out as soon as possible. This is called zero-based thinking. I know a lot of people that have a limiting belief that says, "Always finish what you start." They spend years climbing ladders only to realize when they reach the top that the ladder was leaning against the wrong building.
  • There is no honor in dedicating your life to the pursuit of a goal which no longer inspires you.
  • Whatever you've decided in the past is largely irrelevant if you would not renew that decision today.
  • Be absolutely ruthless in refusing to spend time where it simply cannot give you optimal results.
  •  To work effectively you need uninterrupted blocks of time in which you can complete meaningful work. When you know for certain that you won't be interrupted, your productivity is much, much higher. When you sit down to work on a particularly intense task, dedicate blocks of time to the task during which you will not do anything else. I've found that a minimum of 90 minutes is ideal for a single block.
  • If you happen to work in a high interruption environment that's negatively affecting your productivity, change that environment at all costs.
  •  During one of these sacred time blocks, do nothing but the activity that's right in front of you. Don't check email or online forums or do web surfing. If you have this temptation, then unplug your Internet connection while you work. Turn off your phone, or simply refuse to answer it. Go to the bathroom before you start, and make sure you won't get hungry for a while. Don't get out of your chair at all. Don't talk to anyone during this time.
  •  Decide what it is you should be doing, and then do nothing but that.
  •  If you need a break, then take a real break and do nothing else. Don't semi-work during a break if you feel you need rest and restoration. Checking email or web surfing is not a break. When you take a break, close your eyes and do some deep breathing, listen to relaxing music and zone out for a while, take a 20-minute nap, or eat some fresh fruit. Rest until you feel capable of doing productive work again. When you need rest, rest. When you should be working, work. Work with either 100% concentration, or don't work at all. It's perfectly fine to take as much down time as you want. Just don't allow your down time to creep into your work time.
  • but don't waste time in a state of partial effort.
  • The harder you work, the greater your capacity for work, and the more restorative your rest will be.
  • constantly feeding your mind with positive material can maintain your enthusiasm indefinitely.
  • If you get the highest level of your life in order (purpose, meaning, spiritual beliefs), the lower levels will tend to self-optimize (habits, practices, actions).

  26 more annotations...

• 28 Nov 06
  

  Anthony Woodyard

  productivity

• 26 Oct 06
  

  Michael Auzenne

  gtd imported:del.icio.us lifehacks toread

• 25 Oct 06
  

  unicron

  gtd howto imported:del.icio.us lifehacks reference thinking

• 23 Oct 06
  

  fordchao

  live pages

• 

  Kyle Klipowicz

  imported:del.icio.us management time

• 04 Oct 06
  

  Bill Reifel

  education gtd imported:del.icio.us productivity school

• 29 Sep 06
  

  Jason Simaker

  business gtd productivity success

• 13 Sep 06
  

  Steve King

  school for:jmking1

• 31 Aug 06
  

  J Bian

  时间管理 management

• 21 Aug 06
  

  Andrew Demack

  awesome motivational article

  gettingthingsdone gtd lifehacks productivity reading

• 18 Aug 06
  

  Saman Barghi

  toread

• 16 Aug 06
  

  David Koontz

  productivity

• 

  Chris Farbfoto

  business gtd management productivity

• 15 Aug 06
  

  RT

  goals gtd lifehacks productivity

• 

  Gang Li

  效率 阅读

• 11 Aug 06
  

  Simon

  productivity

• 10 Aug 06
  

  forgetcolor

  gtd productivity

• 05 Aug 06
  

  eastgates

  gtd management

• 28 Jul 06
  

  Federico

  and efficiency for high principles productivity

• 12 Jul 06
  

  thirdplanet

  css gtd lifehacks productivity reference school

• 14 Jun 06
  

  Matt Schneider

  gtd time

• 19 May 06
  

  wangyizhuo

  books productivity

• 19 Apr 06
  

  Steve Farkas

  Steve Pavlina recounts his methods of finishing a double-bachelor in college by tripling his courseload and finishing in 3 semesters.

• 20 Feb 06
  

  Hua Xia

  nicearticle

• 19 Feb 06
  

  brian botkiller

  productivity GTD lifehacks howto management Business toread entrepreneurship goals guide Inspiration resources time college daily career Blogs blog

• 27 Jan 06
  

  Mert Nuhoglu

  Do It Now

  article_self-help self-help organizing business

• 31 Dec 05
  

  steve epstein

  lifehacks productivity toread

• 27 Dec 05
  

  robert179

  Timemanagement

• 26 Dec 05
  

  Joe B

  _to_read

• 22 Dec 05
  

  jagadeesh mavinahalli

  GTD Productivity

• 20 Dec 05
  

  Noah Carter

  blog blogs career lifehacks work

• 15 Dec 05
  

  Lux Vitae

  personaldevelopment

• 09 Dec 05
  

  Alex Wichman

  productivity gtd lifehacks howto management toread

Page Comments

• 
  thirdplanet on 2006-07-12
  award given to the top computer science student each year. One
• 
  eastgates on 2006-08-05
  现在开始原文
• 
  forgetcolor on 2006-08-10
  how this guy go through college in 3 semesters through time management
• 
  Andrew Demack on 2006-08-21
  awesome motivational article

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