We don't find time in large chunks. We find it in small pieces - in minutes here and minutes there. People tend to fall into one of four destructive time-management styles: <ol><li>The busy bee has their hands in everything and finishes nothing.</li><li>The fire chief is constantly reacting to the next crisis, taking care of everyone else while not doing their own work.</li><li>The superhero helps everyone while leaving little time for their own tasks.</li><li>The procrastinator is always in deadline mode. They typically divert their time to less important tasks.</li></ol>

Busy does not equal results

Everybody only gets 24 hours a day, therefore ensure you invest your time well. Pay attention to what you're spending your time on. <ul><li>Batch. Do similar tasks together at regularly scheduled intervals.</li><li>Break tasks into small pieces.</li><li>Be accountable.</li><li>Reward yourself when you accomplish a task.</li><li>Create two to-do lists: A master list that extends into the future and a focused daily to-do list.</li><li>Establish a weekly block plan on how you will use your time.</li><li>Take action. You can't spend your whole day preparing and not doing any work.</li></ul>

Tips and Techniques

productivity

Productivity

problemsolving

Problem Solving

timemanagement

Time Management

Learn to Better Manage Your Time

<ul><li>Two of the fastest-growing categories among the social apps were friend discovery and vertical communities</li><li>Will the future of social media be interest-based platforms that foster meaningful connection?</li></ul>

Results

<ul><li>Usually, Daily Active Users (DAU) and Monthly Active Users (MAU) are used to measure scale and growth</li><li>DAU/MAU=stickiness. Can be used to evaluate an app’s network effects, or how strong the network is based on how frequently its users engage.</li><li>DAU/MAU is helpful but isn’t all-encompassing—often will be higher around media consumption</li><li>Addiction (number of times app is accessed a day) and absorption (how long each session on the app lasts) are also important metrics that were analyzed. The key is the combination of the two given by the attention equation: frequency+depth=total time spent</li></ul>

Social App Metrics

<ul><li>Every app’s success benchmarks are specific to the app’s category</li><li>Dating apps should be compared to other dating apps, not TikTok or Facebook, etc.</li></ul>

Benchmarks by Category

<ul><li>Fastest growing social apps</li><li>Friend discovery—teens turn to social apps to make and build friendships</li><li>Vertical communities—the value of going niche; social networks formed around specific interests</li><li>Combination of utility and community results in high retention and downstream monetization opportunities</li></ul>The best social apps are those with an intrinsic social component. Measuring success can be difficult and there is more than one path. Category matters for benchmarks!

Friend discovery apps and vertical communities

Evaluating the potential of a social app can be complicated. Many factors must be considered. Using Apptopia, social platforms in the top 1,000 on the US App store were analyzed and ranked according to growth rate (see graphics in-article).

When assessing a social app’s potential, what does “good” look like, anyway? The most important metrics—and benchmarks to aspire to—according to the data.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

business

Business

The Stickiest, Most Addictive, Most Engaging, and Fastest-Growing Social Apps—and How to Measure Them | Andreessen Horowitz

Everyone writes—in school, at work, or just to jot down good ideas or insights. Yet, we don’t usually stop to think about how we write, express or manage our ideas.
Most books about writing either teach you how to write (e.g. sentence structure, writing style, grammar) or how to overcome psychological barriers to complete your projects on time. In reality, the writing process doesn’t start with a blank document or sheet of paper. It starts from the time you conceive an idea or make notes about it.

How The Writing Process Really Works

A slip-box (or Zettelkasten method) is a technique for thinking, learning and writing. It originated from German sociologist Niklas Luhmann. 
Luhmann was an avid learner and researcher who made notes on small slips of paper, then tagged, organized, and linked them to create his personal knowledge database. Over his lifetime, he accumulated some 90,000 notes, allowing him to publish 70 books and >400 articles.

The Slip-Box Technique

The slip-box can be used to facilitate a writing project, accelerate your learning, and manage/grow your knowledge. Luhmann originally used an analogue pen-and-paper system to make notes and link them (similar to the concept of hyperlinks in the digital world).
Slip-boxes are like a personal web of knowledge or a “second brain” where you can see and sort through existing knowledge, ideas and lines of thought.

Hyperlinked Knowledge

Throughout the day, make fleeting notes as thoughts/ideas pop up. Jot them down on paper, do it digitally, do a voice recording on your phone, etc. 
Review these temporary notes within 1-2 days while the contents are still fresh, then discard them or convert them to permanent notes.

Fleeting Notes

Literature notes are used to help you remember useful content and their bibliographical references. 
Write the ideas succinctly in your own words, and include their source/context. Quotes should be copied selectively, and only after you’ve digested what they mean. Keep these notes along with other permanent notes.

Literature Notes

At the end of each day, process the 2 types of notes (fleeing and literature). Consider how they relate to your work or interests, and how they support/contradict what you already know. Then, create your permanent notes.
These could be a recap of what you’ve learned, questions to be answered, reflections, new ideas or ways to combine existing ideas.

Permanent Notes

Your literature/permanent notes are stored in a specific sequence, with cross-references to other notes. Luhmann used an alphanumeric indexing system.
For example, an existing note may be labelled #10, and a related note will be filed behind it as #10a. The next unrelated idea is labelled #11. By using numbers and alphabets (instead of narrow topics), he could create unlimited branches (e.g. 13/3d8a6 followed by 13/3d8a7), and add the same note to multiple contexts.

Cross-referencing

One key reason for slip-boxes failure is because people try to add slip boxes on top of their existing note-taking processes. 
For this to work, you should start taking notes using the standard formats from the onset.

Why Slip-Box Method Fails

<ul><li>Start by focusing on one task at a time (instead of multitasking).</li><li>Understand and internalize the content you read.</li><li>Take smart notes.</li><li>Develop your ideas.</li><li>Assemble and share your insights.</li><li>Build daily habits.</li></ul>

Writing Successfully with 6 Steps

Handwriting makes pure copying impossible, but instead facilitates the translation of what is said (or written) into one's own words. The students who typed into their laptops were much quicker, which enabled them to copy the lecture more closely but circumvented actual understanding. They focused on completeness. Verbatim notes can be taken with almost no thinking, as if the words are taking a shortcut from the ear to the hand, bypassing the brain.

The Benefit of Writing By Hand

The key to good and efficient writing lies in the intelligent organisation of ideas and notes. This book helps students, academics and nonfiction writers to get more done, write intelligent texts and learn for the long run. It teaches you how to take smart notes and ensure they bring you and your projects forward. The Take Smart Notes principle is based on established psychological insight and draws from a tried and tested note-taking-technique. This is the first comprehensive guide and description of this system in English, and not only does it explain how it works, but also why. It suits students and academics in the social sciences and humanities, nonfiction writers and others who are in the business of reading, thinking and writing. Instead of wasting your time searching for notes, quotes or references, you can focus on what really counts: thinking, understanding and developing new ideas in writing. It does not matter if you prefer taking notes with pen and paper or on a computer, be it Windows, Mac or Linux. And you can start right away.

writing

Reading & Writing

books

Books

How to Take Smart Notes

Forget about the 12 month year and instead focus on the 12 Week Year. Why? Because you can get more done in 12 weeks than in 12 months with the right mindset, goals, and strategy.
<ul>
<li>To execute successfully, it is important to have a strong emotional connection to the outcome.</li>
<li>Without a compelling reason to choose otherwise, most people will take comfortable actions over uncomfortable ones.</li>
</ul>

Rethinking Time: Boost Your Performance In The Short Term

<ul><li>The important actions are usually uncomfortable ones. And the secret to living up to your potential is to value the important stuff.</li><li>Vision is the starting point of all high performance.</li><li>Barriers to physical performance exist in the mind.</li></ul>You must be clear on what it is you want to create. Most people focus primarily on their business or career, but business is just part of life, and it is actually your life vision that gives traction and relevance to your business

Creating Your Personal Vision

To tap into the incredible power of a personal vision, you need a future that is bigger than the present. Your business vision needs to be anchored on your personal vision.When things get hard the connection between your personal and business vision will help you to focus. When you think about a compelling vision, the neurons that fire in your brain are the same neurons that fire when you act on your vision. What that means is that you can literally train your brain to act on your vision just by thinking about it.

Envisioning Your New Future

Having an annual plan has the following benefits:<ul><li>It reduces mistakes</li><li>It saves time</li><li>It provides focus</li></ul>Having a 12-week plan has three additional and distinct differences from annual planning:<ol><li>Is more predictable than 12-month planning. The further you set your plan in the future, the less predictable it becomes</li><li>More focused. Annual plans have too many objectives and this can cause failure in execution</li><li>More structured. Most plans are never implemented because they don’t have a good structure</li></ol>

A 12-Week Plan

The physical universe will not respond to your desires, no matter how passionate or intense they are. The one thing that moves the universe is action. An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.

<ul><li>The actions that we take create our long-term results. While we plan for the future, we act on the day.</li><li>If you want to be truly effective, your daily activities must align with your long term vision, strategies, and tactics.</li><li>A weekly plan will translate your 12-week plan into daily and weekly action. Your weekly plan should cover your strategies and priorities.</li><li>Your long term and short term tasks and your commitments in the context of time.</li></ul>

One Week At A Time

<ul><li>Scorekeeping will provide you with a knowledge base that will guide decisions and lead to better performance and success.</li><li>Scorekeeping will let you know whether what you are doing is effective.</li><li>Measurement builds self-esteem and confidence because it documents progress and achievement.</li><li>The data simply focuses on achievements. It is not concerned with effort or intentions.</li></ul>

Measuring The Effort: Scorekeeping

In God we trust; all others must bring data.

Your supply of time is completely inelastic and perishable.When you are not purposeful about how you spend your time, you leave results to chance. Block out regular time each week to deal with strategically important tasks. Examples of performance time:<ol><li>Strategic blocks. A three-hour block of uninterrupted time that is scheduled into each week</li><li>Buffer blocks. Time set aside to deal with all the unplanned and low-value activities like email and voicemail</li><li>Break out blocks. Time for resting and reflection</li></ol>

Working With Intentionality

Accountability is accepting that you have a choice. That everything that you do in life is a choice. It is small thinking to see accountability as a have to rather than a choice.With such a mentality you will only produce a minimum of results. When you understand that true accountability is about choice and taking ownership of your choices, everything changes. You move from resistance to empowerment, from limits to possibilities, and from mediocrity to greatness.

Accountability And Ownership

Commitments improve relationships, strengthen integrity, and build self-esteem. Commitment is a state of being bound emotionally and intellectually to a course of action.The ability to keep commitments is fundamental to effective execution. The difference between interest and commitment is that we only do the things we are interested in when we feel like it. But with commitment, we make no excuses.

Interest Vs Commitment

<ol><li>Strong desire. A clear and personally compelling reason will make you do things</li><li>Keystone actions. A few core activities account for a majority of your results</li><li>Count the costs. Counting the costs means being ready to commit time, resources, and so on</li><li>Act on commitments, not feelings. If you learn to do the things that you need to do despite your feelings, you will surely be successful</li></ol>

Keys To A Successful Commitment

To achieve life balance, you need to be purposeful in how you spend your time, energy, and effort.<ul><li>When our attention is spread over various subjects and conversations, we apply very little of ourselves to any individual activity. This can result in feelings of being burned out, exhausted, frustrated, and disconnected.</li><li>To make the most of your time, be present in the moment. Your thinking will be clear, and decisions will come easily.</li><li>You can neither change the past nor act in the future. All you have is the eternal, right now.</li></ul>

Be Here Now

The eight elements that are fundamental to high performance are:<ol><li>Vision</li><li>Planning</li><li>Process control</li><li>Measurement</li><li>Time use</li><li>Accountability</li><li>Commitment</li><li>Greatness in the moment</li></ol>Applying the 12 Week Year will be uncomfortable because change is uncomfortable.

The Execution System

<ol><li>Uninformed optimism. This is the first stage and the most exciting as we imagine all the benefits that we are going to get from the change.</li><li>Informed pessimism. This stage is characterized by a shift into negative emotions.</li><li>The valley of despair. Most people give up at this stage. They abandon the reason they wanted to change in the first place</li><li>Informed optimism. The likelihood of success at this stage is higher. The benefits of your actions start to bear fruit</li><li>Success and fulfilment. This is the stage where you complete the cycle and enjoy the full benefits of the change process.</li></ol>

Changing Behaviour: The Five Stages

When creating your vision, focus on three-time horizons:<ol><li>Long-term aspirations.</li><li>Mid-term goals about three years to the future.</li><li>12 weeks.</li></ol>Pitfalls when creating a vision:<ul><li>You don’t take the power of vision seriously.</li><li>The vision isn’t meaningful to you.</li><li>Your vision is too small.</li><li>You don’t connect your vision to your daily actions.</li></ul>

Creating Your Vision

The guide to shortening your execution cycle down from one year to twelve weeks Most organizations and individuals work in the context of annual goals and plans; a twelve-month execution cycle. Instead, The 12 Week Year avoids the pitfalls and low productivity of annualized thinking. This book redefines your "year" to be 12 weeks long. In 12 weeks, there just isn't enough time to get complacent, and urgency increases and intensifies. The 12 Week Year creates focus and clarity on what matters most and a sense of urgency to do it now. In the end more of the important stuff gets done and the impact on results is profound. Explains how to leverage the power of a 12 week year to drive improved results in any area of your life Offers a how-to book for both individuals and organizations seeking to improve their execution effectiveness Authors are leading experts on execution and implementation Turn your organization's idea of a year on its head, and speed your journey to success.

career

Career

The 12 Week Year

<ul>
<li>The to-do list is the most important component of any productivity system.</li>
<li>It takes the mountain of tasks, chores, activities and ideas out of our head and into the world, where we can see them clearly.</li>
<li>The to-do list frees up our brain for creative work, without the fear of forgetting something.</li>
<li>If the list becomes too overwhelming, we can edit, condense, or delete tasks to make it simpler.</li>
<li>We can opt for a notebook and pen, or install an app on our smartphone.</li>
</ul>

The To-Do List

A writing tool is essential for our productivity system, and though pen and paper are fine, there will be a need to digitize the text in the future, so it is good to opt for a writing app.
Having an app that works on our PC/Laptop and automatically syncs all the files on our smartphone is the preferred way. A few options can be Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Apple Notes, Apple Pages, and Google Keep.

Writing Apps

No matter how many communication apps like Slack, Zoom, Teams, or Whatsapp come, the email will not go away anytime soon. We need to optimize our email experience, deleting spam and unwanted emails, while unsubscribing to newsletters that snatch your attention.
It is a good idea to clear all your emails, reply to the urgent ones or mark them as read. Regarding what app to use, the omnipresent Gmail is the go-to app for email, both in the browser and the smartphone.

Email

<ul>
<li>The productivity community follows this philosophy: If it's not in my calendar, it didn’t happen.</li>
<li>The calendar is the dashboard of our life, letting us visualize our weeks and months. </li>
<li>Putting things on the calendar is both a to-do list task and a reminder, with the phone buzzing a few minutes before the task needs to be done. </li>
<li>Google Calendar is the app of choice here, syncing easily with Apple, Windows or Android.</li>
</ul>

Calendar

Time-tracking tools are a must for freelancers that have hourly billing have a psychological edge: Pressing the start button that counts our productive time makes us more focused and less inclined to open a Facebook tab on the side.
Apps like RescueTime provide a comprehensive report on the activities that take our time.

Time Tracker

There are certain apps whose sole function is to block us from the time-wasting black holes of the internet: Reddit, Youtube, Instagram or Facebook.
These apps keep our eyes on the ball as we cannot access the places that provide us with a quick dose of dopamine. A few such apps that one can search for is Freedom and Cold Turkey

App Blockers

Habits are powerful, and the key component of any habit is being regular.
Just like Jerry Seinfeld used a giant annual calendar, crossing a big red X on days he worked, we can use habit-forming apps to keep us regular in our desired routines and not break the chain.
A few choices are Momentum or Habitica.

Habit Formers

habits

Habits

The seven starter tools you need for a simple productivity system - RescueTime Blog

Our day creates our life. We mistakenly believe that we will work hard, get lucky and eventually achieve success, not knowing that making each day successful is the key to a successful life.
The daily routines of famous people provide us with key ideas on focusing on what matters, simplicity and decision making.

Daily Routines Of Famous People

The writer slept for about three to four hours in the afternoon/evening and then worked on his books till 2:00 am. 
He realized that he is more creative at night, and took care of his day job (at an insurance firm) by working about six hours in the day.

Franz Kafka’ Routine

The entrepreneur only checks his email once in the morning and does not touch it again for 24 hours.
He also never takes any work home. This is a lesson for today's hyper-connected world with endless phone notifications and blurred boundaries of work and home.

David Karp’s Routine

The Former Prime Minister stayed in bed until 11:00 a.m., reading newspapers and having breakfast.
He enjoyed his leisure time on a normal work day, with an afternoon nap, plenty of eating and reading books.

Winston Churchill’s Routine

The famous Apple Co-founder used to get up and look in the mirror, asking himself this: If today was the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? If the answer he got was ‘no’ for too long, it would be clear he needs to change something in his life.
This stoic reminder makes us reevaluate our lives and live each day at its best, leading to a more happy and fulfilled existence.

Steve Jobs’s Routine

The British journalist ensures a fitness sports routine for an hour every morning, followed by a beauty routine. 
We need to put ourselves first in the morning, rather than being trapped in obligations or the instructions of other people.

Anna Wintour’ Routine

Getting up at 4:00 am is an exceptional routine to follow, as implemented by one of the founding fathers of the United States. 
The early morning focus is unparalleled, and we can make or break the day by seizing the morning and intentionally focusing on what we want to accomplish for the day before it starts.

Benjamin Franklin’s Routine

The writer/journalist used to write early morning and then stop in the afternoon after reviewing his work, using the downtime from afternoon till night to debate ideas in his head and get ready for the next morning.
The lesson here is that it is important to stop working and letting our mind work on its own.

Ernest Hemingway’s Routine

The writer used to reflect on what she had done during the day during late evenings, before dinner. 
This period of incubation makes us a witness, and is a form of meditation, highly crucial for creative professionals.

Joan Didion’s Routine

The writer, filmmaker and philosopher had specific time zones for work, with no phone calls before noon, and taking the entire Friday to answer letters.
This scheduling routine helps us avoid getting stressed.

Susan Sontag’s Routine

<ul>
<li>Barack Obama makes it simple by getting up early, working out, reading newspapers and spending quality time with his family over breakfast.</li>
<li>He starts working by 9:00 am and occasionally works late, making sure to attend dinner with his family.</li>
<li>He eliminates unnecessary decision making by having a personal uniform, a set of identical suits that let him focus on what’s important.</li>
</ul>

Barack Obama’s Routine

The writer used to explore unfamiliar terrien on foot or on the bicycle. Apart from walks, he used to go and see friends, read in cafes, sketch, paint, make notes, and finally write when in the mood.
This diverse range of activities minimized writer’s block.

Henry Miller’s Routine

The Japanese writer used to wake up at 4:00 am and work for about six hours, then going for a 10 km run or swimming. He used to follow strict discipline and used the technique of mesmerism by conditioning the mind with repeated disciplinary behaviour.
It isn’t easy waking up daily at 4:00 am, so Marukami used his disciplinary behvaiour to go to bed at 9:00 pm sharp.

Haruki Murakami’s Routine

Here are the self-described daily routines of some of the most famous people in history – past, present, writers, presidents,…

12 Daily Routines Of Famous People In History – And What You Should Take From Each

Many people run their lives on a faulty operating system, namely the to-do list.
People who use a to-do list keep a running list of all the things they promise to get done, but at the end of the day, the list of uncompleted tasks got longer. Their days and sometimes entire careers are spent in a blur of never getting enough done, even though they use a technique that they thought would make them more productive.

The to-do list is faulty

There is nothing wrong with getting tasks onto a piece of paper or app. The problem is running your life with a to-do list.
To-do lists:
<ul>
<li>perpetuate harmful self-stereotypes</li>
<li>lead to distraction</li>
<li>destroy the fun in life</li>
</ul>
The best to-do list is one you make with a schedule builder.

What is wrong with to-do lists

It's much easier to fill up our to-do list than to actually do the tasks. 
Constantly reminding ourselves that we didn't do what we said we'd do cements a self-stereotype: We begin to see ourselves as someone who doesn't follow through. Eventually and subconsciously, we begin to see ourselves as the problem. The narrative is that we are not good with deadlines; maybe we are no good. In reality, the real culprit is the to-do list methodology.

To-do lists and harmful self-stereotypes

While to-do lists are supposed to keep us on task, they don't. To-do lists lead to more distraction. A distraction is any action that draws us away from what we plan to do. Working on a task can be a distraction if it is not what you committed to doing with your time. For example, instead of working on a big planned project, looking at your to-do list can give you 'permission' to escape into doing something else, thereby putting off the real hard task.

To-do lists lead to distraction

A to-do list is a cruel and oppressive ruler. To-do lists occupy our minds, stress us out and drain enjoyment out of our lives.
Few people know what leisure time is supposed to feel like. Unfinished tasks invade our thoughts when we try to relax and sometimes keep us up at night worrying about the tasks we still have to do.

To-do lists destroy the fun in life

If you want to stop the tyranny of the to-do list, you must break the habit of letting your list tell you what to do. Build a weekly schedule instead. For example, study from 2-4 pm, exercise from 4-6 pm, work from 6-9 pm, work on the to-do list from 9-10 pm.
<ul>
<li>Being a schedule builder will affirm a better self-image.</li>
<li>You are more likely to stay on track by adding a fixed time.</li>
<li>You will be freed from feeling you should be doing something else.</li>
</ul>

Make a to-do list with a schedule builder

Behavioral designer, Nir Eyal, reveals the hidden dangers of to-do lists and the value in taking a more scientific approach using a schedule builder.

Be a Schedule Builder, Not a To-Do List Maker

"Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.”

“Luck is only important in so far as getting the chance to sell yourself at the right moment. After that, you’ve got to have talent and know how to use it.”

“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.”

“It’s not knowing what to do; it’s doing what you know.”

“The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you’re willing to work.”

“Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.”

“The least productive people are usually the ones who are most in favor of holding meetings.”

“Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.”

“Simplicity boils down to two steps: identify the essential, eliminate the rest.”

“You can do anything, but not everything.”

“You don’t need a new plan for next year. You need a commitment.”

“Never mistake motion for action.”

“Action is the foundational key to all success.”

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

“Life is too complicated not to be orderly.”

“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.”

“Edit your life frequently and ruthlessly. It’s your masterpiece after all.”

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”

“All things will be produced in superior quantity and quality, and with greater ease, when each man works at a single occupation, in accordance with his natural gifts, and at the right moment, without meddling with anything else.”

“It is not necessary to do extraordinary things to get extraordinary results.”

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last long. Well, neither does bathing — that’s why we recommend it daily.”

“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”

“Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it.”

“Time management is not a peripheral activity or skill. It is the core skill upon which everything else in life depends.”

“The true price of anything you do is the amount of time you exchange for it.”

“Ordinary people think merely of spending time, great people think of using it.”

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”

“Drive thy business or it will drive thee.”

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

“Nothing is particularly hard when you divide it into small jobs.”

“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work in hand. The Sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.”

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”

“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”

“Sometimes, things may not go your way, but the effort should be there every single night.”

“What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.”

"Soon is not as good as now.”

Productivity quotes are all over the internet. I always like tips that give insight into someone’s success. But they need to be actionable too. Reading random productivity quotes from a bunch of…

Productivity Quotes That Will Make You More Effective

Habits and work systems can produce the best return on your time.
Getting more work done is about knowing what to do, when to do it, and how to get it done in order to maximize the little time you have every day.

There are no productivity hacks

Urgent but unimportant tasks = distractions.
Urgent tasks put us into constant “reply mode.” Important work is related to planned tasks that move us closer to our goals.

Unimportant tasks are really just distractions

Anytime you are pulled away from your tasks, it takes time to readjust to them when you jump back in (sometimes it can take up to 25 minutes).
Interruptions (notifications, loud noises, social media, checking email etc.) harm your concentration.

Interruptions break your flow

Busy work makes you feel like you are moving quickly and being productive in the process. But the truth is you are not. 
When you're busy, you're more likely to make poor time-management choices : for example, taking on commitments you can't handle, or prioritizing trifling tasks over crucial ones.

Busy doesn't mean productive

<ol>
<li>Before the day ends, identify and write down the best actions you need to take tomorrow. </li>
<li>Every morning, focus on completing your action list from yesterday before midday. </li>
<li> Improve and repeat every day.</li>
</ol>

Planning today for tomorrow

There's no single hack for getting more work done in less time, but instead a host of habits, and work systems can produce the best return on your time. Getting more work done is about knowing what to do, when to do it, and how to get it done in the shortest possible time to maximise the little time you have everyday.

How to Get More Work Done in a Week Than Most People Do in a Month

“Action is the foundational key to all success.”

Action gets results. Results are what you want, not just ideas.
Don't spend all your time thinking about everything you can improve. Until you start doing what needs to be done, you're not really making a difference.

Your thoughts don't define you; your actions do

“To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult.”

The biggest hurdle is to take that first step. You have everything you need to make an impact in the world if you can push the reasons aside why you should not start now.
Use what you have right now where you are and just start. Watch the magic of getting things done.

Getting started is the most difficult

Humans are prolific procrastinators. People have struggled with habitual hesitation going back to ancient civilizations. It’s easy to make plans and throw dates on your calendar, and yet it’s…

Learn to Better Manage Your Time

The Stickiest, Most Addictive, Most Engaging, and Fastest-Growing Social Apps—and How to Measure Them | Andreessen Horowitz

How to Take Smart Notes

The 12 Week Year

The seven starter tools you need for a simple productivity system - RescueTime Blog

Kai Z.