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We accumulate ideas. Have you ever thought about that? We’re exposed to so many ideas that we adopt some of them, and make them our own.
And there’s nothing wrong with that. It only becomes a problem if you don’t filter the input you get from people.
Make your life so simple that it’s a breeze to live. And let’s be honest here. Who wants to live a life that’s impossible? Life is already hard enough. Don’t make it harder.
To improve your focus, boost your serotonin activity. Research shows that exercise can do that. But something else, that’s equally effective, and a lot easier is a simple mind-exercise. All you need to do is remember positive events that happened in the past.
Focus on your life. Think about what matters to you. Then, do those things and don’t get distracted — stay on the path.
Every time I had an idea or a goal, I would start, but along the way, things would go wrong. I went from start to total chaos. Distractions, other ideas, other opportunities, failure, negative self-talk, etc., would get in the way. And the results are always the same: You never get anything done.
The deadlines create urgency, accountability will create responsibility, working in intervals improves your focus, exercising will give you more energy, so does a healthy diet, and eliminating distractions will take away the temptations. But there’s no system that can help you if you don’t have an inner drive.
Effectiveness, however, refers to getting the right things done. And if you want to do your job well, earn money, live a meaningful life, or learn skills, that is what matters the most.
How do you know your time? Keep an activity log.
An activity log is exactly what you imagine — an hour by hour record of what you’re doing throughout the day.
Know where your time goes. Identify the critical tasks from the trivial tasks in your life. And cut the trivial, time-wasting, tasks.
You don’t have to keep a log for 365 days a year. Instead, do two stretches of two-three weeks a year. That’s enough to keep track of your time and identify new time-wasters.
Get over yourself. Stop worrying. And do something useful. (I know, it’s not that simple, but still: You can learn how to stop worrying.)
Pick only 1 or 2 “checking” vices you actually like. Eliminate the rest. You’re not missing anything anyway.
I always tried to escape my issues. Escaping problems gives you some stamina to face your shitty life again. But you and I both know that problems never go away until you grab them by the root and extinguish them.
What matters is this: If you keep saying yes, you’re living someone else’s life. Think about it. Deep down, we all know that it’s true. We’re not even in control of our own time. Want to be in full control of your life? Say no to a million things and yes to a few things that matter.
Because you’re wasting a lot of brain power when you rely on your memory. When you write everything down, you can use your brainpower for other things. Like solving problems.
You survived this hard thing called LIFE. Be proud of yourself. Everything you do after getting out of bed is a win.
Invest in yourself. Learn something. Read books. Get courses. Watch videos. Do it from home or go places. It doesn’t matter. Just learn new things. You’ll be more productive and more excited about life.
Rules actually help us to solve problems and get the most out of life.
“At the end of each day, you should play back the tapes of your performance. The results should either applaud you or prod you.”
It’s simple: Close the day before you start a new day. Also, close every week before you start a new week.
Also, there’s nothing you can do late in the evening. Just go to bed, already. Leave the problem solving for tomorrow when your brain is fresh.
Most people don’t use technology but are rather used BY technology.
Your attention is all over the place, but not at the right place. As the Stoic philosopher Seneca once said: “To be everywhere is to be nowhere.”
That’s why I’ve tried every productivity hack, system, or software, but they are all useless when you compare it to doing meaningful work. Do you want to get stuff done? Do stuff that matters.
“If you find yourself wanting to speed up the reading process on a particular book, you may want to ask yourself, “Is this book any good?” Life is too short to read books you don’t enjoy reading.”
Life is too short to do work you don’t enjoy. No matter how many productivity hacks you try, you won’t produce more if you’re not passionate about what you do. If you find yourself regularly procrastinating, you may want to ask yourself: Am I passionate about my work?
find something that you are so passionate about that you don’t want to procrastinate for one second. We all know that time is finite, so why not behave accordingly? If you know that you have limited time on this planet, why waste it?
I’m not saying that productivity tips are useless. In fact, I’ve written about productivity tips that improved my output. What I am saying is that the best solution for procrastination is doing meaningful work.
And procrastination can be a sign that you’re doing something that’s not meaningful. Don’t let procrastination become a habit. After all, the worst procrastination is putting off your dreams and goals.
We all know that life’s too short to spend worrying about things that will never happen. And if something bad does happen to you, do something about it.
There are always distractions. So you better train yourself to manage your attention. Not your time. Because that’s the biggest mistake people make. We falsely believe that we can manage time. But time can’t be managed. The only thing you control is your attention.
And remember: Focus determines the quality of your life. No focus means no control of your attention. And no control means frustration. We all know what frustration leads to. Start managing your attention. Not your time.
I’ve found that perfectionism is just another form of procrastination. When you constantly worry about making mistakes, doubt creeps in your mind. And that causes indecision.
And that feeling of being helpless is the biggest pitfall for us. Because what do we do when we feel helpless? Exactly—we give up.
Without a doubt, perfectionistic tendencies can be a good thing. But as we all know, achieving goals is not the only thing in life. It’s more about HOW we reach our goals and aspirations.
To me, that’s the sweet spot: Instead of beating yourself up when you make a mistake or if you fail yourself, you just adjust or solve the problem.
Otto von Bismarck put it best: “Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others.”
Books are only a waste of money if you don’t read them. If you want to read more, you have to buy more books.
Here’s how. Most people read 50 pages an hour. If you read 10 hours a week, you’ll read 26,000 pages a year. Let’s say the average book you read is 250 pages: In this scenario, you’ll read 104 books in a year.
Read books that are close to what’s going on in your life. There’s a book for everything you can think off.
Don’t waste your time reading about subjects you have zero interest in.
Instead, pick out the books that are related to your profession or hobby. Read books about people that you admire. Don’t read a book just because it’s a best-seller or a classic if it has no meaning to you.
At times, I’m reading 5 books at once. I might read 50 pages of one book in the morning and then read another book in the afternoon.
Read as much as you possibly can — but never forget to apply what you’ve learned because that is what counts the most.
Don’t try to be someone you’re not. If you like to plan your holiday, just do it. But try to stay flexible: You’re on a vacation.
it takes an average of 25 minutes to return to the original task after an interruption. Since we are interrupted more than once, this adds up quickly, and before you know it, you feel like you have done nothing that day.
The point is; do something that’s worth your time. Be conscious about your time. And spend so it improves the quality of your life.
Tools, apps, or hacks, don’t work if you lack the right mindset because productivity is a way of living. It’s about achieving maximum output, getting shit done, and not wasting time. I think that output and happiness go hand in hand. To me, doing nothing equals misery.
