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To change your life, start by resetting your default behaviors - RescueTime

Too many productivity apps

The default behavior of thinking you need every app out there to be productive is false.

So choose the right tools for your task flow and stick to them. Remember that productivity is not primarily tied to tools, it’s tied to your behavior.

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4 Productivity Mistakes You Don't Know You're Making

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workalpha.com

There are a lot of people talking about what you ought to do to be more productive, or which fancy tools and apps you should use to get more things done. However, there aren't as many people talking about what you shouldn't do to try and be more productive, or which activities will make you less productive (email is the only thing getting attention here).

Key Ideas

Multitasking

Those that do multitask the most are the worst at it.

Productivity is defined as, “having the power to produce.” By that definition, multitasking is the opposite of productivity becau...

Not Getting Enough Rest

When we get tired, we make mistakes, which means more time and money must be put into correcting those mistakes.
When we get tired, it takes us longer to do things, costing more time and money to do something that could get done in less time if we were fully awake.

Doing Everything Yourself

Either one of two problems: you don’t like delegating tasks, or you’re having trouble prioritizing which tasks deserve your time.

Figure out which tasks deserve your time the most (or those tasks that you do best), and outsource something that’s of low priority.

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The most effective way to implement a behavior change

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fastcompany.com

We all have goals we want to achieve, behaviors we want to change, and habits we want to build (or break). Finding things we want to accomplish is the easy part. But putting in the work to actually hit them? That's where things usually fall apart.

Key Ideas

The Dynamics of a Resolution

We all have goals to achieve and behavioral changes we want to implement. Making the resolution is the easy part. The implementation and the work that is to be put in daily is the real challenge.

Why Resolutions Fail

Getting motivated by negative emotions like fear or regret.
A sudden influx of motivation followed by giving up in the first instance of a setback ("All or Nothing" approach).
Having a big and unattainable resolution.
Not being in terms with the concept of failure.
Not committing fully to the process.

Social Pressure

New research suggests we are less prone to keep working on our goals after we publicize them. This is because we may end up talking about our goals and celebrating our success prematurely rather than implementing them.

Social Pressure makes us fearful, as we can feel afraid of appearing inept. This negative mindset does not work well where we need daily work.

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Time Management Is About More Than Life Hacks

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hbr.org

Project creep, slipping deadlines, and a to-do list that seems to get longer each day - these experiences are all too common in both life and work. With the new year resolution season upon us, many people are boldly trying to fulfill goals to "manage time better," "be more productive," and "focus on what matters."

Key Ideas

Prerequisites for Effective Time Management

Trying to apply time management tools without having prerequisite time management skills is unlikely to work effectively. The prerequisites are:

Awareness about time being a limited reso...

Steps To Improve Time Management

The way to improve your Time Management skills requires us to figure out where to focus. This can be done by:

Getting an objective self-assessment done by your peers or boss, or establishing a baseline behavior to measure your performance against.
Understanding that it is your skills, not your personality or preferences that can be developed to provide the best results.
Identifying the key skill(s) that you need to prioritize, and avoiding spreading yourself too thin.

Developing Awareness Skills

The key factor to consider when developing awareness skills is that effectiveness (doing things well) is as important as efficiency (doing things fast).

Find which time of the day is your 'peak performance time.
Treat time as money, a limited resource, and create a 'time budget' for your to-do list.
Measure and evaluate the projected time vs the actual time taken.
Consider which of the tasks create follow-up tasks that take up your time later.
Take into consideration the 'opportunity cost' of spending time in an activity.

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