How The Most Powerful People Get Things Done We all have big decisions to make and deadlines to meet. And sometimes it can feel overwhelming. This got me wondering: how do the most powerful people get things done? When lives are on the line, literally trillions of dollars are at stake and the world is watching… how do people handle those situations? So I called my friend James Waters. James was Deputy Director of Scheduling at the White House and served in government for 10 years. James had some tremendous insights about how they do things at The White House that line up with a lot of what the formal research is telling us. Now if you’re looking for Republicans-this, Democrats-that, you’ve come to the wrong place. Let’s get to it. Be Responsive It ain’t like an episode of “The West Wing.” Watching that show you might think that 5 people get everything done. How do you make insanely big decisions with such a huge number of people involved? We all know people who have 1000 unread emails in their inbox or don’t pick up their phone. Sum Up
How To Master Your Time The secret to time management is simple: Jedi time tricks. Imagine you were a Jedi master called Bob (your parents, whilst skilled in the ways of the force weren’t the best at choosing names). The love of your life – Princess Lucia – is trapped in a burning building as you hurry to save her. You might think of Lucia as the embodiment of your dreams, your aspirations – she is your most important thing. Unfortunately, before you can reach her an army of stormtroopers open fire. We all know how a hero resolves this dilemma. And so it is with your life. The secret to mastering your time is to systematically focus on importance and suppress urgency. Look at what you spend your day doing. Say no. Schedule your priorities. One final lesson from the Jedi: they’re heroes. Heroes inspire us for many reasons: they make tough decisions, they keep going and they get done what matters.
A Simple Strategy to Make Every Day Productive If you’re like me, you have some days when you’re the queen of your life and get forty-three things done before lunch … and others where changing out of your pajamas is the day’s biggest achievement. This is one of the many reasons I love listening to business-oriented podcasts. You can pick up gems of wisdom and inspiration — and yea, even practical tips for productivity — from successful business people, even if they operate in a totally different realm than you. Recently I came across a shiny, new-to-me tidbit while listening to business guru Marie Forleo speak about gaining clarity in this interview with Amy Porterfield. Marie said something in passing that I’d never heard before and fortunately, Amy asked her to elaborate. Here’s Marie’s tip: “Always produce before you consume.” That’s her strategy for making sure she’s productive every day. If you’re a homemaker, for example, producing before you consume means starting the day by doing a task instead of reading the paper.
Why Procrastinators Procrastinate PDF: We made a fancy PDF of this post for printing and offline viewing. Buy it here. (Or see a preview.) pro-cras-ti-na-tion |prəˌkrastəˈnāSHən, prō-| noun the action of delaying or postponing something: your first tip is to avoid procrastination. Who would have thought that after decades of struggle with procrastination, the dictionary, of all places, would hold the solution. Avoid procrastination. While we’re here, let’s make sure obese people avoid overeating, depressed people avoid apathy, and someone please tell beached whales that they should avoid being out of the ocean. No, “avoid procrastination” is only good advice for fake procrastinators—those people that are like, “I totally go on Facebook a few times every day at work—I’m such a procrastinator!” The thing that neither the dictionary nor fake procrastinators understand is that for a real procrastinator, procrastination isn’t optional—it’s something they don’t know how to not do. Pretty normal, right? Notice anything different?
This Is How To Be Productive: 5 New Secrets Proven By Research Want to know how to be productive? Create goals, make a plan and execute. We all know this is a good idea… and it never, ever seems to work. It’s like simplifying boxing down to “Just go into the ring and punch the other guy until he’s knocked out.” Sounds easy. So let’s ask a different question: what’s stopping you from being productive? Whenever you’re not getting stuff done (or not getting the right stuff done), ask which of these 5 is the problem and apply the solution… Problem 1: Priorities Sometimes you do get a lot done… but they’re not the right things. Whenever you hear or say, “I don’t have time” — it’s a lie. You need to be realistic. Ask yourself, “What’s important?” And this is where procrastination can help. There are three variants of procrastination, depending on what you do instead of working on something: you could work on (a) nothing, (b) something less important, or (c) something more important. It’s not a question of objective important/not-important. Problem 3: Habits
Korben | Upgrade your mindKorben (versão mobile) This Is How To Be Productive Without Being Miserable: 8 Proven Secrets There’s plenty of good advice on how to be productive. But most of it makes you feel like you need to turn yourself into a machine. You don’t want to be Robby the Robot. Here’s the thing: you often don’t need help with the doing part. What really gets in your way? “It scares me.” Those are feelings. The best productivity system is the one you stick with. The research and experts say the answer is, “Yes.” Start The Day Happy The sound of the alarm clock should not signal, “Time for the pain to begin.” So indulge yourself a little in the morning. Research shows your mood in the morning affects your productivity all day: Researchers found that employees’ moods when they clocked in tended to affect how they felt the rest of the day. You’ll never be as productive as you could be if you don’t make a little effort to improve your mornings. (To learn the 7 step morning ritual that will keep you happy all day, click here.) Okay, you’re starting the day off happy and that leads to productivity. Sum Up
The Most and Least Productive Hours in a Day In a perfect world (or, at least a more efficient one), you could be productive whenever you wanted. Just sit down and start typing/put that pen to paper/invent the next app or Fidget Spinner. Unfortunately, productivity isn’t as easy as just plugging in for humans—we experience energy and creativity peaks and valleys. Those valleys are necessary—they’re your brain and body telling you that you need a break. While you can’t (and shouldn’t) eliminate the normal, less productive times in your day, there is a way to recognize when you’re most likely to be at your performance best, and optimize it. While your productivity goals will always benefit from smart time management strategies, they’ll also get a boost when you know what part of the day is optimal for you to work at your most challenging and creative tasks. It’s Ultra(dian) Easy So, since pushing through that downtime means you’re working with less than optimal focus and energy productivity researchers are suggesting a new approach.