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by
Eric Barker
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June 24 - July 7, 2021
when you produce results, you’ll get more latitude. More latitude means more freedom and control to execute your plan.
You know your troublesome hot spots and what gets you disproportionate results. You’re allotting hours to all of the big four, and you’ve gotten direction and approval from your boss.
TO-DO LISTS ARE EVIL. SCHEDULE EVERYTHING.
lists don’t give any consideration to time.
Decide when you want to leave work and you’ll know how many hours you have. Slot in what you need to get done by priority.
Most of us use our calendars all wrong: we don’t schedule work; we schedule interruptions. Meetings get scheduled. Phone calls get scheduled. Doctor appointments get scheduled. You know what often doesn’t get scheduled? Real work.
at least an hour a day, preferably in the morning, needs to be “protected time.” This is an hour every day when you get real work done without interruption. Approach this concept as if it were a religious ritual. This hour is inviolate.
Shallow work stops you from getting fired—but deep work is what gets you promoted.
two and a half to four hours after waking is when your brain is sharpest.
increasing people’s free time had no effect on their happiness, but scheduling that time in advance made all the difference. As we discussed earlier, we often don’t use our time off wisely—we do what is easy instead of what makes us happy.
So scheduling everything and using protected time can make sure the important stuff gets done.
learn to say no. If you get rid of unnecessary activities, schedule everything, use protected time, and batch busy work but you can’t stop people from piling unimportant tasks on your desk, you’ll forever be mired in the shallows.
CONTROL YOUR CONTEXT
We think that we make decisions on our own, but the environment influences us to a great degree. Because of that we need to think about how to change our environment. We can’t control our environment everywhere we go, of course, but we have more control than we usually choose to exercise.
By rearranging your workspace so temptations aren’t visible, you can trick yourself into making better choices.
END THE DAY RIGHT—AND ON TIME
how you end the day matters a lot more than you might think.
how long the procedures lasted and the average amount of pain didn’t influence people’s recollections. What really seemed to matter was the peak amount of discomfort and how it ended. A longer colonoscopy with a higher average amount of pain but a low peak and a gentle ending was remembered as less uncomfortable.
“shutdown ritual” in which you take the time to close out the day’s business and prepare for tomorrow. Research shows that writing down the things you need to take care of tomorrow can settle your brain and help you relax.
when you’re concerned about something and your grey matter is afraid you may forget, it engages a cluster of brain regions referred to as the “rehearsal loop.” And you keep worrying and worrying. Writing your thoughts down and making a plan for tomorrow switches this off.
What are the best ways to de-stress? It’s far better to engage in a hobby or ...
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There are three categories of people—the person who goes into the office, puts his feet up on his desk, and dreams for twelve hours; the person who arrives at five A.M. and works sixteen hours, never once stopping to dream; and the person who puts his feet up, dreams for one hour, then does something about those dreams.
talent usually doesn’t control what you can achieve in life.
What’s holding you back from your personal definition of success? In most cases, there is nothing you cannot overcome with time and effort.
