8-step process for maximizing efficacy (doing the right things) - From productivity tricks for the Neurotic, Manic-Depressive, and Crazy (Like Me) Essay Flashcards
1) Wake up at least 1 hour before you have to be at a computer screen. E-mail is the mind killer.
DON’T CHECK AND DON’T SEND EMAILS FIRST THING IN THE MORNING.
2) Make a cup of tea (I like pu-erh) and sit down with a pen/pencil and paper.
RELAX DUDE
3) Write down the 3-5 things — and no more — that are making you most anxious or uncomfortable. They’re often things that have been punted from one day’s to-do list to the next, to the next, to the next, and so on.
Most important usually = most uncomfortable, with some chance of rejection or conflict.
4) For each item on the original list, ask yourself:
- “If this were the only thing I accomplished today, would I be satisfied with my day?”
– “Will moving this forward make all the other to-do’s unimportant or easier to knock off later?”
5) Look only at the items you’ve answered “yes” to for at least one of these questions.
FIRST THINGS FIRST!!!
6) Block out at 2-3 hours to focus on ONE of them for today.
FIRST THINGS FIRST!!!
Let the rest of the urgent but less important stuff slide. It will still be there tomorrow.
7) TO BE CLEAR: Block out at 2-3 HOURS to focus on ONE of them for today. This is ONE BLOCK OF TIME. Cobbling together 10 minutes here and there to add up to 120 minutes does not work.
Refer to Cal Newport’s blog posts and books referring to the benefits of Deep Work.
8) If you get distracted or start procrastinating, don’t freak out and downward spiral;
just gently come back to your ONE to-do.
If you consistently feel the counterproductive need for volume and doing lots of stuff, put these on a Post-it note:
Being busy is a form of laziness–lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.
Being busy is most often used as a guise for avoiding the few critically important but uncomfortable actions.
Don’t overestimate the world and underestimate yourself.
You are better than you think.
