6 Things The Most Productive People Do Every Day Ever feel like you’re just not getting enough done? Know how many days per week you’re actually productive? About 3: People work an average of 45 hours a week; they consider about 17 of those hours to be unproductive (U.S.: 45 hours a week; 16 hours are considered unproductive). We could all be accomplishing a lot more — but then again, none of us wants to be a workaholic either. It’d be great to get tons done and have work/life balance. And who better to ask than Tim Ferriss, author of the international bestseller, The 4-Hour Workweek? (Tim’s blog is here and his podcast is here.) Below are six tips Tim offered, the science behind why they work, and insight from the most productive people around. 1) Manage Your Mood Most productivity systems act like we’re robots — they forget the enormous power of feelings. If you start the day calm it’s easy to get the right things done and focus. Here’s Tim: I try to have the first 80 to 90 minutes of my day vary as little as possible. Research shows email:
How To Motivate Yourself: 3 Steps Backed By Science You make goals… but then you procrastinate. You write a to-do list… but then you don’t follow through. And this happens again and again and again. Seriously, what’s the problem? Why are we so good at thinking of what to do but so terrible at actually doing those things? The problem is you’re skipping an essential step. The Mistake Every Productivity System Makes Productivity systems rarely take emotions into account. We can’t ignore our emotions. And we can’t fight our feelings. Via The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking: …when experimental subjects are told of an unhappy event, but then instructed to try not to feel sad about it, they end up feeling worse than people who are informed of the event, but given no instructions about how to feel. So what does the unavoidable power of feelings mean for motivation? In their book Switch, Chip and Dan Heath say that emotions are an essential part of executing any plan: Focus on emotions. 1) Get Positive It’s optimism.
10 Laws of Productivity You might think that creatives as diverse as Internet entrepreneur Jack Dorsey, industrial design firm Studio 7.5, and bestselling Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami would have little in common. In fact, the tenets that guide how they – and exceptionally productive creatives across the board – make ideas happen are incredibly similar. Here are 10 laws of productivity we’ve consistently observed among serial idea executors: 1. A bias toward action is the most common trait we’ve found across the hundreds of creative professionals and entrepreneurs we’ve interviewed. 2. When our ideas are still in our head, we tend to think big, blue sky concepts. 3. Trial and error is an essential part of any creative’s life. To avoid ‘blue sky paralysis,’ pare your idea down to a small, immediately executable concept. 4. When working on in-depth projects, we generate lots of new ideas along the way. 5. 6. Part of being able to work on your project a little bit each day is carving out the time to do so. 7.
The Brain Hacks Top Founders Use To Get The Job Done Katia Verresen's new client had a big problem: He needed to find three to four extra hours in his day. This, of course, seemed like an impossible feat for an oversubscribed startup founder, but his ability to fundraise and recruit the best talent depended on it. By the time he met Verresen, executive coach to many such founders, he was drained, pessimistic, dreading every week before it started. Even though tech culture champions sleeplessness, overtime and burnout, Verresen has seen how this mindset can lead to failure. To turn it around, her first order of business is to collect as much data on her clients as she can and funnel it into a plan with one goal: Maximizing energy. Physical energy, emotional energy, and mental energy. But the proof is in the pudding. Her method has turned Verresen into one of the most sought after coaches in the business. Filling Your Buckets Maintaining and using energy wisely might seem like obvious advice, but it’s hardly ever heeded.
The Magic of Doing One Thing at a Time - Tony Schwartz by Tony Schwartz | 8:53 AM March 14, 2012 Why is it that between 25% and 50% of people report feeling overwhelmed or burned out at work? It’s not just the number of hours we’re working, but also the fact that we spend too many continuous hours juggling too many things at the same time. What we’ve lost, above all, are stopping points, finish lines and boundaries. Tell the truth: Do you answer email during conference calls (and sometimes even during calls with one other person)? The biggest cost — assuming you don’t crash — is to your productivity. But most insidiously, it’s because if you’re always doing something, you’re relentlessly burning down your available reservoir of energy over the course of every day, so you have less available with every passing hour. I know this from my own experience. If you’re a manager, here are three policies worth promoting: 1. 2. 3. It’s also up to individuals to set their own boundaries. 1. 2. 3.
GTD Cheatsheet – An Intro on the GTD system The system created by David Allen in his popular book Getting Things Done focuses on freeing up your mind’s RAM (or resources). The GTD system simply takes all or our mental and physical “stuff” in our lives and organizes it into a system where we can easily: 1) Act on it or 2) Store it and retrieve it later. The GTD Cheatsheet is a small, condensed version of GTD. 1. 2. 3. Time Management Tips: How to Find the Right Mindset to Succeed With Time Management | The Best Time Management Tips For the past several years I have worked with time management techniques such as lists, prioritization, planning and so on. But it wasn’t until I adopted a Quadrant 2 mindset that I really started seeing results. . 1. How to tackle the different tasks Each task needs to be tackled in a specific way, at a specific time and handled right. them the repercussions could be bad. tasks as you do when working in Quadrant 1 but without all the stress and pressure of the first quadrant. working on time management I want you to remember this mindset, use all the exercises we discuss to further increase the time you spend in Quadrant 2 and decrease the time you spend in the other Quadrants. on how to become efficient you should join The Time Management Expert Course. system that can save you over 2000 hours/year, time that can be put to better things, like living life! I have something you are going to be interested in checking out. Click Here Now To Find Out The Details! Comments comments
The Complete Flake’s Guide to Getting Things Done Are you smart and motivated and passionate, and have lots of cool things you’d like to get done, but somehow when it comes to doing them, you just . . . don’t? Are you great at ideas but lousy at execution? Talk a good game but don’t get any results? Spend a lot of time thinking about where you want to go, but not much time actually moving your ass down the road that would take you there? You, my friend, are a flake. Most of us are creative and smart. What we lack is focus. That, and we lack this “drive” thing. If you are a flake, you need to learn how to get things done. We live in a world made of stuff, so it gets pretty painful when we blow stuff off. What Do You Want Out of It? You’re not going to get a damned thing done until you actually know what you want to get out of it. I know this is making your eyes roll into the back of your head. That’s a good thing to do, but I’m not talking about that. Just know what you want to get out of the thing you’re thinking about doing. Getting Real
8 Things Everybody Ought to Know About Concentrating “Music helps me concentrate,” Mike said to me glancing briefly over his shoulder. Mike was in his room writing a paper for his U.S. History class. Mike made a shift about every thirty seconds between all of the above. Do you know a person like this? The Science Behind Concentration In the above account, Mike’s obviously stuck in a routine that many of us may have found ourselves in, yet in the moment we feel it’s almost an impossible routine to get out of. When we constantly multitask to get things done, we’re not multitasking, we’re rapidly shifting our attention. Phase 1: Blood Rush Alert When Mike decides to start writing his History essay, blood rushes to his anterior prefrontal cortex. Phase 2: Find and Execute The alert carries an electrical charge that’s composed of two parts: first, a search query (which is needed to find the correct neurons for executing the task of writing), and second, a command (which tells the appropriate neuron what to do). Phase 3: Disengagement 1. 2. 3. 4.
5 Unusual Tricks For Actually Reaching Your New Year's Goals With the new year rolling around, most of us are planning ways to improve our health, set some big goals, and finally achieve things we have been putting off for a while. But when you look at the statistics, almost 80% of people will fail by the springtime, and after a year, only a smaller percentage of people are still involved with their goals at all. So here’s how to be that tiny percentage of people that are still going strong a year later. #1 Follow intrinsic motivation… rather than forcing yourself. Let me ask you this: do you think the typical person who just begins working out during the new year will still be exercising if: They’re intrinsically motivated (they like it)They’re forcing themselves to do it by using rewards (money/food), punishments, etc. Can you guess which one? The first! Although your friend may be slimming down quicker than you after spending 5 hours a week pounding it out in the gym, see if they’re still exercising in 1-2 years when it really matters.
5 Ways to Make Your To-Do Lists More Effective To-do lists seem pretty straightforward: A list of all of the tasks you plan to accomplish during any given day or week. And, really, there are few things more satisfying than drawing lines through each entry. Progress! But, many times, they balloon to unrealistic levels, and we end up feeling overwhelmed and ineffective. 1. When you take a few minutes to write your to-do list the night before, you can hit the ground running the next morning, Pozen advises. 2. Everything that goes on your daily to-do list should fit two criteria: It should be something important that you need to do--versus that which doesn’t really need to be done or which can be delegated to someone else--and something that needs to be done on that day. “When people don’t take control, they go through their days passively. 3. Whether it’s five minutes or two hours, include an estimate of how long it will take to complete, recommends Omar Kilani, cofounder of popular to-do list app Remember The Milk. 4. 5.
Self-Massage Moves for Back and Neck Pain By Michele BenderPhotos by Itzy Ramirez You don’t need an appointment, a spa or even another person to reap the benefits of a massage. “When it’s not possible to get a professional treatment, you can relieve everyday aches and tension on your own,” explains Elizabeth Bryan Bragg, a licensed massage therapist at Shift PT in New York City. “Massage assistance equipment such as Theracane, Backnobber and foam rollers are great tools to use for myofascial release and relaxation of tired, knotted muscles,” adds Scott Danberg, director of fitness at the Pritikin Longevity Center & Spa in Miami. Related: 5 More Moves to Send Back Pain Packing Try these five self-massage techniques to beat neck and back pain. Soothe: Back of the neck pain Twist two or three scarves into a thick braid-like shape, suggests holistic psychotherapist Patty Schein.Stretch the braided scarves and place them behind your neck, holding one end in each hand. Soothe: Upper back pain Soothe: Side of the neck pain
Vensim Exercises for Sciatica - the one VITAL exercise This web page will outline the exercises for sciatica that actually work. You also need to know the exercises that can potentially cause harm too. Why? Many people suffer with sciatica, and many people search for help only to find that their pain remains or at times becomes worse. The first step in any program is to find out specifically what is causing your pain. So before we begin, let's go through the most common causes of sciatica and there solutions. Cause #1 - Disc Herniations You will see on many sites that disc herniations are a common cause of sciatica. And if you have a herniated disc, fixing the disc is also not the best thing to do. Cause #2 - Spinal Stenosis This is in fact very rare and is when the spinal canal's internal size decreases. Cause #3 - Spinal Slippage Also called spondylolithesis, and in fact is quite common. Once more this is a very rare situation and for those with minor slippage, pain is less likely from the actual joint involved. Cause #4 - Spinal Imbalance