Mental models are simple concepts that can improve the way you think about and interpret any situation
Time management is a lie we need to stop telling ourselves Time management is an illusion. It’s not real. Out of all the things we can manage in our life, time isn’t one of them. By definition, when we manage something we have control of it, we govern it, we can train it, influence it. [...]
The capacity of your throughput is equal to the capacity of your bottlenecks. Your personal productivity has two aspects: capacity and throughput. You need them both, but they aren’t identical. And when it comes to effective productivity, one is more important than the other. Your capacity Think of capacity and throughput [...]
When’s the last time you balanced your roles? We live our lives in terms of roles—authentic roles or parts we’ve chosen to fill. Roles represent responsibilities, relationships, and areas of contribution. Much of the pain in life comes from the sense that we’re succeeding in one role at the expense of other, possibly [...]
1: Start with writing down your roles. To help guide our long-term goals and even our daily choices, we need to put down in ink what roles are most important to us. Writing down our roles keeps them in our awareness and helps us pay attention to all the important dimensions of our [...]
If you’re not using a SMART goals foundation when you set a goal, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Guaranteed. There’s a world of difference between setting a goal and achieving a goal. This year, 92 percent of us won’t achieve our goals. If you're serious about goal setting, here's what the high achievers [...]
Welcome to SMART goals mini bootcamp! Clarity is vital for the achievement of SMART goals. Your dream or goal must be specific and clear and should not be vague. As you build this SMART goal foundation, remember the following: Clarity is paramount. Vague is the enemy of productivity. Ambiguous is the enemy of [...]
Setting good goals creates a force that pulls you to success Did you know that when you set a goal, it’s like placing a landmark on the horizon ahead of you? With your eye on that landmark, you can navigate your whole life straight toward it. It’s true! Without that landmark (real or figurative)—your [...]
Breaking tasks down into subtasks will help you to see large tasks as more approachable and doable, and reduces your propensity to procrastinate or defer tasks—because you simply don’t know where to begin. Here's what you need to do... Some tasks are simple A simple task is an uncomplicated activity, a single unit of [...]
Your Unscheduled Task list is your mind’s secret weapon! Your mind can be a messy place when you’re trying to be productive. So many things to do! Just keeping track of everything is like a tornado swirling in your head. The winds are whipping… cows flying by… you can’t get a good grip on anything! [...]
It’s this simple: Use the Rule of Three. In fact, the Latin phrase "omne trium perfectum" (everything that comes in threes is perfect, or, every set of three is complete) conveys the same idea as the rule of three. To turbocharge your productivity, limit your daily task list to only the top three most important things you want [...]
Sometimes it’s the smallest decisions that can change your life forever. A decision is the timely choice or selection of a future course of action. Some decisions are so simple that you're barely aware you're making them, while others are time consuming, high risk, and can leave you feeling anxious. Decisions can make or [...]
Starting your year by answering the questions in these four simple steps will make a difference as you work to achieve a more-in-control life. We’re all looking for answers. Where do the right answers come from? They come from asking the right questions. This year may have proved there are years that ask questions [...]
