35 Productivity Habits
Tech
- Limit email replies to one per minute
- If you can’t understand what an email asks, don’t answer
- Tune out the news. Nothing important happens, most of the time.
- Do not answer the phone, unless it’s a true emergency. (Emergencies are rare)
- Use keyboard shortcuts.
Clothes
- Define your fashion uniform.
- Wear it daily.
- Wear smart fabrics.
- Carry an all-occasion outfit with you.
- Discard what you stop using.
Hacks
- Visualize your end product
- Start before you feel ready, avoid chicken-and-egg.
- Assume you are right, when in doubt
- Decisive is productive.
- If you can’t write it down, record it.
- When you read something helpful, write to the author.
- Manage anxiety – run, swim, dance
- Sleep more. You will get more done.
- Take naps when energy runs low.
Schedule
- Do the easiest things first.
- Prioritize one item per day.
- Set a daily routine.
- No meeting unless they are decisive.
- Better done than perfect.
Food
- Routinize your diet.
- Eat healthy food.
- Get delivery to save time.
- Negotiate a daily deal with your trusted cafe.
Mind
- Notice the 80/20 rule. Which 20%? of work produces 80% of the results?
- Focus on the important, suppress the urgent.
- Decide the outcome before even starting.
- Start ‘Idea Dump’ book for genius ideas you can’t work on now.
- Eliminate trivial decisions, like what to wear.
- Learn to ignore. No need to respond to everything.
- Do a bad first draft. You can’t edit a blank page.
- Treat time as your money.