background preloader

Msvdvcb

Facebook Twitter

The Morning Routine Experts Recommend for Peak Productivity. What’s the best way to start your day so that you really get things done? Laura Vanderkam studied the schedules of high-achievers. What did she find? Almost all have a morning routine. I’ve interviewed a ton of top experts about their productivity secrets: Tim Ferriss, Cal Newport, Dan Ariely, Charles Duhigg, and others. But you’re busy. You don’t have time to read all that stuff. So many readers have written to me saying what my friend Jason always does: “I don’t have time.

Okay, time to round up what the experts have said and build a roadmap. 1) Stop Reacting Get up before the insanity starts. When I spoke to productivity guru Tim Ferriss, bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek, what did he say? Here’s Tim: I try to have the first 80 to 90 minutes of my day vary as little as possible. Most of us get up and it seems like things are already in motion. So of course you aren’t achieving your goals. You need to wake up before the insanity starts. Okay, you’re ahead of the maelstrom. Dr. Dr. 10 Foolproof Tips for Overcoming Procrastination. …and the very best tip is the easiest (hint: it’s the first one). Procrastination has been extensively studied by psychologists, probably because they have some world-class procrastinators close at hand: students. Students don’t have a monopoly on wasting time, though, almost everyone procrastinates now and then.

The difference is that some people learn effective strategies for dealing with it and get some stuff done; others never do. Here are ten tips for overcoming procrastination, based on science: 1. The first tip is simply to start with whatever is easy, manageable and doesn’t fill your mind with a nameless dread. Have a look at your project, whatever it is, and decide to do the easy bit first. The great thing is that after getting going, you start to build momentum and the harder bits are more likely to flow. The tip relies partly on the Zeigarnik effect: the finding that unfinished tasks get stuck in the memory. 2. Planning can help with this, but planning is also a trap. 3. 4. 5. 6. Hmm. 5 Unusual Ways to Start Working Smarter, Not Harder, Backed by Science. One of the things I love about the culture at Buffer is the emphasis on working smarter, not harder. Our team is all about getting plenty of sleep, exercise and recreation time so that our time spent working is as productive as it can be.

Working harder can be an easy habit to slip into, though. Sometimes it’s hard to switch off at the end of the day, or to take time out on the weekend and stop thinking about work. With a startup of my own to run, I find this even harder to manage lately. Whenever I’m not working on Buffer, I’m working on Exist, and it’s easy to fall into a pattern of “always working,” rather than working smart and fitting in time to look after myself as well.

If this happens to you, too, here are five methods to try that’ll help get you working smarter, not harder. 1. In one of my favorite books, Stephen Covey tells a story about a woodcutter whose saw gets more blunt as time passes and he continues cutting down trees. 2. So when should you be taking a nap? 3. 4. 5. Five Best Productivity Methods. Fixed vs. Growth: The Two Basic Mindsets That Shape Our Lives. “If you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve,” Debbie Millman counseled in one of the best commencement speeches ever given, urging: “Do what you love, and don’t stop until you get what you love. Work as hard as you can, imagine immensities…” Far from Pollyanna platitude, this advice actually reflects what modern psychology knows about how belief systems about our own abilities and potential fuel our behavior and predict our success.

Much of that understanding stems from the work of Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, synthesized in her remarkably insightful Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (public library) — an inquiry into the power of our beliefs, both conscious and unconscious, and how changing even the simplest of them can have profound impact on nearly every aspect of our lives. One of the most basic beliefs we carry about ourselves, Dweck found in her research, has to do with how we view and inhabit what we consider to be our personality. Stop Beating Yourself Up for Not Getting Everything Done Every Day | Inc.com. One of the biggest challenges that we all face is the steadily increasing number of things that we have to do on a daily basis. There is nothing new about this but many people struggle with a sense of daily frustration simply because they can't get everything done and in all likelihood they never will. I get the feeling that this sense of frustration is becoming a little more desperate every day.

I'm suggesting a simple process that can dramatically change how you feel. At the end of the day, when you look at your to do list, and start the afternoon "I'm not good enough" session, beating yourself up because you didn't get everything done, try making a new list. On this list, jot down a few bullet points for each of the following 5 questions? 1. Now don't just give them a cursory glance, actually read through the list of things that you were able to cross off and give yourself a pat on the back for getting them done. 2. 3. 4. 5.

When you finish your "DONE" list--go home. Imagine Three Different Futures to Help You Make Better Decisions. How to Master Work-Life Integration and Find Harmony in Your Schedule. How to Fit Reading Into Your Schedule and Actually Finish the Books You Want to Read.