Books mentioned in the book:
- Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy
- Time Management From the Inside Out by Julie Morganstern
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
- Organize Tomorrow Today by Dr. Jason Selk and Tom Bartow
- 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management by Kevin Kruse
- Master Your Time Master Your Life by Brian Tracy
- Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg
- How We Learn by Benedict Carey
- The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey, by Ken Blanchard
- Good to Great by Jim Collins
- The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt
- Triple Your Reading Speed by Wade E. Cutler
- 10 Days to Faster Reading by The Princeton Language Institute and Abby Marks-Beale
- Getting Things Done by David Allen
- The Power of Full Engagement by Tony Schwartz and Jim Loehr
- Spark by Dr. John Ratey
- The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
Links shared in the book:
1. Know your goals & priorities
For more about goal setting, see Brian Tracy’s and Wanderlust Worker’s articles.
2. Know your key result areas at work (why you were hired)
These are your Key Result Areas (KRAs).
4. Apply the 80/20 rule
Pareto’s principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, says that 20% of our efforts result in 80% of our production.
8. Do what you enjoy and are talented at
Check out To Be Successful, Do What You Do Best.
9. Create a time map
For more information check out this article on Lifehacker or the book Time Management From the Inside Out.
10. Plan your month
11. Plan your week
12. Plan your day
13. Calendar your list
Check out Millionaires Don’t Use To-Do Lists (They Use This Instead).
14. Schedule blocks of uninterrupted time
Check out Time Blocking — The Secret Weapon For Better Focus and Get What Matters Done by Scheduling Time Blocks.
18. Delegate tasks
Learn more about delegating tasks.
24. Use the ABCDE method for your task list
Brian Tracy recommends using the ABCDE Method to manage your task list.
26. Group, bulk, & batch similar tasks
Check out How Batch Processing Made Me 10 Times More Productive.
27. Focus on one task at a time
Check out 12 Reasons to Stop Multitasking Now!
28. Focus on one task until it’s complete
Check out A Case for Singletasking: The One-Task-At-a-Time Method.
29. Use the “Courtright Method”
In his podcast, Ken Courtright shared his method of managing his tasks.
30. “Don’t get good, get done”
Ken Courtright says this statement frequently in his podcasts.
32. Procrastinate on the right tasks
Check out Why Procrastination Doesn’t Need A Cure–And Might Even Make You More Productive.
33. Set self-imposed deadlines
Parkinson’s law says that work expands to fill the time allowed it.
35. Stop idle-chat visitors
Here are some other strategies to get the idle-chat visitors to move on.
37. Stop or schedule “got a minute” meetings
Check out Time Management And Got A Minute Thieves.
38. Have set email and phone time
Check out Get More Done by Checking Your Email Only Twice a Day.
39. Turn off notifications
Check out Why You Should Turn OFF Your Notifications.
40. Use blocking apps
Some apps include:
41. Plan for interruptions
Check out Plan for Interruptions to Minimize Their Impact.
43. Listen to music
Studies have shown that music can help lift our mood, which increases our productivity. It can also help block out distractions in a noisy environment.
…check out this article on Help Scout. You may also find these articles on Psychology Today and The New York Times interesting.
45. Follow the “touch it once” rule
Check out Simplify Your Life with the Touch-It-Once Rule.
50. Theme your days
This is how Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, themes his days.
51. Start your work hours by working
Check out What Successful People Do With The First Hour Of Their Work Day.
52. Be organized
Check out 10 Great Reasons You Should Be Organized.
55. Surround yourself with productive people
Spend time with people who are productive.
57. Use the Pomodoro Technique
With the Pomodoro Technique, you work in focused sprints with breaks in-between.
59. Learn to say “no”
Check out How People Pleasers Can Learn to Say “No” More Often.
61. Set buffer days
Listen to or read Ken Courtright’s insight on buffer days.
64. Use Pocket to read it later
Instead of interrupting the task you are working on, use an app like Pocket to save it for later.
65. Create a “stop doing” list
Jim Collins, author of Good to Great (among other books), suggests creating a stop doing list.
66. Always be learning and growing
A survey from 2003 said that 1/3 of high school graduates and 42% of college graduates did not read another book after graduating.
Have you ever heard of Peter’s Principle?
Remember, the average CEO reads at least 1 book a week.
67. Know (and fix) your bottlenecks and constraints
Find out whatever it is and fix it. For more information about the theory of constraints, see Eliyahu Goldratt’s book The Goal.
68. Be a selective reader
To learn more about how to be an effective and selective reader, check out Triple Your Reading Speed or 10 Days to Faster Reading.
72. Automate what you can
Is there a way you can implement Zapier?
Learn how to do macros or actions in Word, Excel, and Photoshop.
73. Avoid toxic, negative, and energy draining people
Reads Lifehack’s 10 reasons why you should avoid negative people.
74. Develop a sense of urgency
Brian Tracy in Eat That Frog! suggests that you develop a sense of urgency in your work.
75. Carry a notebook with you (or use an app)
Keep a notebook with you to record tasks, ideas, and other notes as they come to you.
76. Use the Getting Things Done methodology
To learn more, read a detailed summary of the Getting Things Done methodology or buy the book.
79. Use the salami method (just do one small piece)
Brian Tracy in Eat That Frog! suggests using the salami method.
83. Avoid having unneeded meetings
In fact, Mark Cuban says he doesn’t do meetings unless he is picking up a check.
85. Have a “no meeting” day
See what other companies are already doing this.
92. Have standing meetings
The Journal of Applied Psychology reported that “sit-down meetings were 34% longer than stand-up meetings, but they produced no better decisions than stand-up meetings”.
93. Have daily huddles (even with your family)
Ken Courtright says that in their meetings each person mentions what they are working on…
95. Control and organize your email
For more information about inbox zero, read Entrepreneur’s article here.
96. Keep emails short and sweet
In fact, if it’s long, there is a good chance it won’t even be read.
98. Use acronyms and instructions in the subject line
Here are some other acronyms you can use.
99. Don’t CC or BC unless necessary
Here are some other suggestions related to this topic.
100. Unsubscribe from newsletters you don’t read
You can also use a service like Unroll.me.
101. Exercise in the morning
One great way to have a boost in productivity is to exercise in the morning (or, if you can’t, just exercise sometime regularly).
To learn more about the benefits of exercise, check out this article.
102. Get enough sleep and rest
Most people need between 7-9 hours of sleep.
It can be tempting to work long on a project, but that’s not effective. We make more mistakes and are less productive.
In fact, working late and skipping sleep can harm the brain.
103. Eat healthy
Check out these articles by Harvard Health Publishing and Everyday Health.
104. Know your energy peaks and lows
For more information, check out The Ideal Work Schedule, as Determined by Circadian Rhythms.
105. Know your energy boosters
Read 5 Simple Mental Exercises That Will Boost Your Brainpower and 28 Science-Backed Ways to Boost Energy Instantly for more ideas.
106. Take one day off per week
Ken Courtright in his podcast says that we don’t rest from our work, we work from our rest.
107. Know what tasks drain you
Check out 6 Steps to Identifying Activities That Drain Your Energy.
108. Get accountability
109. Score and reward yourself
Jerry Seinfeld had a system that helped him write jokes every day.
112. Track your time
A couple of sites that can help you do this include RescueTime and toggl.
113. Make it habit
You can also use apps like Habatica or HabitBull or LifeRPG to help you along the way.
To explore more about forming habits, check out
114. Use positive self-talk
Check out The Power of Positive Self-Talk, 7 Steps to Positive Self Talk, and Make Your Self-Talk Work for You for more information about self-talk.
115. Act as if..
Act as if you are already great at managing your time, and the rest will start to follow.
116. Use time management apps
Here is a non-exhaustive list to get you started:
- Wunderlist
- Google Calendar
- Remember the milk
- Week Plan
- KanbanFlow (what I’m using right now)
- Trello
- Asana
- Evernote
- Excel
- Outlook Tasks & calendar
- Forest
- todoist
- Do It Now – RPG To Do List