15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management Summary

What I discovered is that highly successful people don’t prioritize tasks on a to-do list, or follow some complex five-step system, or refer to logic tree diagrams to make decisions. 

Actually, highly successful people don’t think about time much at all. Instead, they think about values, priorities, and consistent habits.

Dan Ariely, a Duke University professor of psychology and behavioral economics, suggests that most people are most productive and have the highest cognitive functioning in the first two hours after they’re fully awake.

Problem

• To-do lists should be called painful wish lists. A series of tasks you hope to accomplish, without a specific plan. 

Solutions

• Schedule a chunk of time for everything that is important to you; this is called “time blocking” or “time boxing.”
•  Important items should be scheduled as early in the day as possible
• Third, don’t cancel goals; reschedule them if necessary.
• Treat your time-blocked calendar entries as if they were appointments with your doctor; they are that important.

• Every Yes is a No to something else. It's not that you should say no to everything; it's that you should think it through.
• uncontrolled, saying yes to requests for time will quickly block out all the other things we value—including the very things that made us successful in the first place.
• Give yourself permission to say no without guilt. You should not care about what others think of you for declining their requests!
• Say no to everything that does not support your immediate goals

1. Stand up desk
2. Calendar task & plan to do it
3. Themed day
4. Touch it once
5. Routine streak competition

Every day, start your work with the Most Important Task (MIT).

Identify your MIT.

What task is game-changing? Try to prepare a must-do list the night before.

Be specific with your goals.

Instead of planning to “save money,” be specific about how much you will save. For example, “I will save $5,000 by the end of the year.”

Identify the activities that will lead to achieving your goal.

Which of them are important right now?

Spend at least two of the first hours of the day on your MIT.

It’s easier to focus in the morning. Don’t delay your work on the MIT.

Studies show that working on your MIT increases your levels of energy and happiness. By working on your MIT first thing, you do what matters most as your priority, setting yourself up for a successful day.