DARIUS FOROUX

What you really need is a system for doing work. A lot of people shy away from routines, systems and frameworks because they want to have “freedom.” I’m sorry to disappoint you: Freedom is your enemy. The fact is that, if you want to get things done, you need rules.

If you want to manage your time better, you have to know where it goes first. 

How do you know your time? Keep an activity log. An activity log is exactly what you imagine — an hour by hour record of what you’re doing throughout the day.

Boom. That’s ...

It’s easy to read an article or listen to some advice and apply it for a day. But that’s useless. We only make real progress and achieve big things by doing small things every single day.

When you do the little things every day, they add up. And ov...

Procrastination is not innocent behavior. It’s a sign of poor self-regulation. Researchers even compare procrastination to alcohol and drug abuse. It’s serious.

The present evidence suggests that procrastinators enjoy themselves rather than working at assigned tasks...

Also, if you’re more productive than average people:

• you’ll advance faster in your career
• you learn more
• you do more 
• and eventually are rewarded more

Most people are afraid to say no. Maybe you don’t want to let people down. Maybe you are uncomfortable with the word no. Doesn’t matter, really. What matters is this: If you keep saying yes, you’re living someone else’s life.

Think about it. Deep down, we all know that it’...

Because focusing on a single thing is one of the hardest things at work. There’s always something that interrupts you, right?

Sure, you can blame those things, but everybody knows that those things can’t interrupt you without your permission. That means every time y...

When you complain every day, eat junk food, and never work out, those things add up too. That’s how we become miserable. You almost never hear about how one single moment destroyed a person’s life. Of course, tragedies happen. But for the majority of us, we simply let lif...

All you need to do [to increase serotonin levels] is remember positive events that have happened in your life. This simple act increases serotonin production in the anterior cingulate cortex, which is a region just behind the prefrontal cortex that controls attention. 

Effectiveness, however, refers to getting the right things done. And if you want to do your job well, earn money, live a meaningful life, or learn skills, that is what matters the most. 

Otherwise, you just run around in circles. You might appear busy, but you won’t...