Tackle Tough Long-Term Issues with Three Pages a Day
In Thinking Tactics, I teach a set of thinking procedures that each take under 10 minutes. They can be used to clarify most confusion, resolve most conflicts, and figure out the next step on most projects. But not everything. Sometimes you face a bigger issue — one...
Begin Where You Are
I filled out a time-management questionnaire recently (see references below), and one question was, "Where should I begin, if I want to keep my appointments better?" The only general-purpose answer to such a question is: begin where you are. You always must begin...
Book Recommendation: Leave the Office Earlier
I've recommended three top books on time management in the past. (Getting Things Done, How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life, and The Pomodoro Technique). Each of those explains a system or philosophy of time management. If you are looking for an integrated...
Book Recommendation: The Pomodoro Technique
by Francesco Cirillo
When people complain about not getting things done, they almost always wish they had bigger blocks of time to do the work. A surprising solution to this problem is to plan your unstructured time using standard time blocks of 25 minutes. The method, called the Pomodoro...
Getting Started Using a Bit of Pretend
A bit of imagination can be surprisingly helpful with difficult thinking. I learned this by applying advice from Alan Lakein on how to get started on a difficult task: "Imagine this: You've been relieved of all responsibility for getting a difficult A-1 [important...
Unclear on Your Priorities? Do a Thought Experiment
But they're all important! When everything seems like it's off-the-charts important to do today, a thought experiment can help you figure out your actual top priority. Here's how to do it: Look at your short list of tasks to do, and pick one. Now imagine this was the...