- There's always time. Time is priorities
- Days always fill up | "Only plan for 4-5 hours of real work per day."
- Work more when you're in the zone. Relax when you're not. | "It's normal to have days where you just can't work and days where you'll work 12 hours straight"
- Respect your time and make it respected | "Your time is $1000/hour, and you need to act accordingly"
- Stop multi-tasking. It merely kills your focus.
- Set up a work routine and stick to it. Your body will adapt
- We're always more focused and productive with limited time.
- Work is the best way to get working. Start with short tasks to get the ball rolling.
- Work iteratively. Expectactions to do things perfectly are stifling. | "Doing is better than perfect"
- More work hours doesn't mean more productivity. Use constraints as opportunities.
- Separate brainless and strategic tasks to become more productive. | "Separate thinking and execution to execute faster and think better"
- Organize meetings early during the dya. Time leading up to an event is often wasted.
- Group meetings and communication (email or phone) to create blocks of uninterrupted work. | "A single meeting can blow a whole afternoon, by breaking it into two pieces each to small to do anything hard in"
- Keep the same context throughout the day. Switching between projects/clients is unproductive
- Work around procrastination. Procrastinate between intense sprints of work (Pomodoro).
- "Break the unreasonable down into little reasonable chunks. A big goal is only achieved when every little thing that you do everyday, gets you closer to that gloal."
- No two tasks ever hold the same importance. Always prioritize. Be really careful with to-do lists.
- Always know one thing you really need to get done during the day. | "Only ever work on the thing that will have the biggest impact"
- Break tasks in to hour increments. Long tasks are hard to get into; feels like it all needs to get done.
- Delegate and learn to make use of other people | "If something can be done 80% as well by someone else, delegate!"
- Turn the page on yesterdya. Only ever think about today and tomorrow | "Yesterday's home runs don't win today's games"
- Set deadlines for everything. Don't let tasks go on indefinitely.
- Set end dates for intense or stressful activities. Everything ends at some point.
- Always take notes. "Get a reminder app for everything. Do not trust your own brain for your memory"
- "Write down anything that distracts you- google searches, random thoughts, new ideas, whatever. The point is, if you write them down, they'll stop bubbling up when you'rein the zone."
- Take breaks. Sometimes.
Etienne Garbugli | www.etiennegarbugli.com