Tax Day is a horror for many procrastinators. For many people, a little procrastination isn't harmful - like 15 minutes lost in Facebook or putting off doing the laundry for a few days. But then there are things like taxes. And all the people who keep meaning to start <a href="http://www.vox.com/2014/7/31/5882885/retirement-planning-saving-how-much-do-i-need">saving for retirement </a>, but never do. And people with <a href="http://www.vox.com/2014/11/17/7230641/maps-charts-obesity-weightloss">obesity </a>or <a href="http://www.vox.com/2014/6/10/5797264/diabetes-is-on-the-rise">diabetes </a>who constantly tell themselves, "I'll start eating right tomorrow" - but never do. For some people, p rocrastination creates huge problems at work, at school, and at home.

But getting a better understanding of why our brains are so prone to procrastination might let us find new strategies to avoid it. For example, psychologist Tim Pychyl has co-authored a <a href="http://postcog.ucd.ie/files/2010%20I%20forgive%20myself,%20now%20I%20can%20study%20How%20self-forgiveness%20for%20procrastinating%20can%20reduce%20future%20procrastination.pdf">paper </a>showing that students who forgave themselves for procrastinating on a previous exam were actually less likely to procrastinate on their next test. He and others have also found that people prone to procrastination are, overall, less compassionate toward themselves - an insight that points to ways to help.

Roughly 5 percent of the population has such a problem with chronic procrastination that it seriously affects their lives. None of it seems logical. How can people have such good intentions and yet be so totally unable to follow through? Conventional wisdom has long suggested that procrastination is all about poor time management and willpower. But more recently, psychologists have been discovering that it may have more to do with how our brains and emotions work. Procrastination, they've realized, appears to be a coping mechanism. When people procrastinate, they're avoiding emotionally unpleasant tasks and instead doing something that provides a temporary mood boost. The procrastination itself then causes shame and guilt - which in turn leads people to procrastinate even further, creating a vicious cycle.

<a href="http://http-server.carleton.ca/~tpychyl/prg/about/about_director.html">Pychyl </a>, a professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, has been studying procrastinators for some 19 years. I talked to him about why people procrastinate and how they can learn to stop. Susannah Locke: What are the biggest misconceptions about procrastination? Tim Pychyl: When a procrastinator thinks about themselves, they'll think, "Oh, I have a time management problem," or, "I just can't make myself do it. There's a problem with my willpower." And when other people think about procrastinators, they use that pejorative term: "They're lazy."

I can simplify that and say that psychologists recognize we all have a 6-year-old running the ship. And the 6-year-old is saying, "I don't want to! I don't feel like it!" SL: What are you discovering about how procrastinators' brains work? TP: Recently we've been doing research that relates to the work on "present self"/"future self" because what's happening with procrastination is that "present self" is always trumping "future self." <a href="http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/faculty/marketing/faculty/hershfield">Hal Hershfield </a>has done some really great research on looking at how we think about <a href="http://nautil.us/issue/9/time/why-we-procrastinate">"future self." </a>He's shown that in experimental settings if someone sees their own picture digitally aged, they're more likely to allocate funds to retirement. When [the researchers] did the fMRI studies, they found our brain processes present self and future self differently. We think of future self more like a stranger.

But psychologists see procrastination as a misplaced coping mechanism, as an emotion-focused coping strategy. [People who procrastinate are] using avoidance to cope with emotions, and many of them are unconscious emotions. So we see it as giving in to feel good. And it's related to a lack of self-regulation skills.

If you speak to people, they'll tell you that it doesn't feel voluntary: "I feel like I have no control over it." For some people, it feels totally involuntary, like they can't help themselves. SL: What's your one biggest tip for stopping procrastination? TP: One of my pet expressions is, "Just get started." And it's important you don't say, "Just do it" - that's overwhelming. But just get started. Whenever we face a task, we're not going to feel like doing it. Somehow adults believe that their motivational state has to match the task at hand. We say, "I'm not in the mood."

SL: What's the most surprising thing to you about procrastination? TP: I think the most surprising thing I'm still grappling with is that for many people, the experience of procrastination doesn't match the definition that most of us are working with: a voluntary delay of an intended action despite knowing you're going to be worse off for the delay.

My graduate student <a href="http://www.spsp.org/members/?id=29450161">Eve-Marie Blouin-Hudon </a>just did three studies, and what she looked at is our ability to imagine the future self. She measured people's self-continuity. You'd see circles representing present self and future self and choose how much to overlap them. Some people see these selves as completely distinct, and some people see them totally overlapping. The people who see the present and future self as more overlapping have more self-continuity and report less procrastination.

Tax Day is a horror for many procrastinators. For many people, a little procrastination isn't harmful - like 15 minutes lost in Facebook or putting off doing the laundry for a few days. But then there are things like taxes. And all the people who keep meaning to start saving for retirement, but never do.

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Why your brain loves procrastination

Most people want to know the single best way to schedule their day for maximum productivity, and there are numerous articles and books that claim to know the "perfect schedule." But the reality i, there is no perfect method for everyone. Because we all have particular strengths and weaknesses when it comes to time management and productivity, what works for one person could be a total disaster for another.

History has shown that the most productive people use wildly different scheduling techniques depending on their circumstances, personalities, and energy levels. Winston Churchill, for example, <a href="http://dailyroutines.typepad.com/daily_routines/2009/02/winston-churchill.html">worked late into the night </a>and broke up his day with whiskey and naps. Toni Morrison <a href="http://dailyroutines.typepad.com/daily_routines/2008/09/toni-morrison.html">begins writing before dawn </a>. There is no "one size fits all schedule" for maximum productivity.

Want to develop a better work routine? Discover how some of the world's greatest minds organized their days.<a href="https://podio.com/site/creative-routines?utm_source=zapier.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=zapier"><img src="https://zapier.cachefly.net/storage/photos/5593f96afb6d2c22176dd276c019effc.png"> </a> Click image to see the interactive version (via <a href="https://podio.com/?utm_source=zapier.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=zapier">Podio </a>). We want to help you find the scheduling method that works best for you . We want to see you achieve warp-speed productivity every day. With that in mind, here are five different daily scheduling methods you can try. Some of these methods are pretty straightforward, while others are borderline crazy.

When scheduling out tasks, it's important to block out both proactive blocks and reactive blocks. Proactive blocks are when you focus on important tasks that you must get done. This is when you make progress on important projects, draft important documents, or sketch out a prototype for your next great product. Reactive blocks are when you allow time for requests and interruptions, such as email and impromptu meetings.

It's all about finding the right fit. Time blocking simply means planning out your day in advance and dedicating specific hours to accomplish specific tasks. Doing this requires determining in advance what you will accomplish and exactly when you will accomplish it. Once you have those in mind, enter these into your calendar and then get to work on those tasks at the appropriate time during the day.

By forcing yourself to work within a rigid structure and to accomplish tasks in a given time, you are forced to bring laser focus to every activity. Productivity guru Cal Newport swears by the time blocking method, <a href="http://calnewport.com/blog/2013/12/21/deep-habits-the-importance-of-planning-every-minute-of-your-work-day/">saying </a>: Sometimes people ask why I bother with such a detailed level of planning. My answer is simple: it generates a massive amount of productivity. A 40 hour time-blocked work week, I estimate, produces the same amount of output as a 60+ hour work week pursued without structure. Planning out your day in advance with your calendar can help you focus on those tasks that matter most. "No matter how you look at it," Art of Less Doing writer <a href="http://www.lessdoing.com/blog/2012/03/20/dont-try-to-prioritize-work-on-your-timing">Ari Meisel says </a>, "tasks involve timing." (His technique is to use <a href="http://su.pr/2qUZoY">FollowUp.cc </a>to get reminders via email of tasks at just the right time.)

For example, you could schedule your most challenging tasks for the first two hours of the day and plow through your inbox during the afternoon. This allows you to work undistracted and still know you'll get to things like email and phone calls. This method has the advantage of helping you know exactly how you're going to use your time and exactly when you're going to accomplish specific tasks. Standard to do lists present you with a list of tasks to complete in your own time. Time blocking provides you with a list of tasks and a specific time frame to complete each task.

Find the best calendar app for the job: <a href="https://zapier.com/blog/best-calendar-apps/">Beyond Google Calendar and Apple Calendar: The Best Calendar Apps to Manage Your Schedule </a> The MIT method is all about focusing on what's essential. Rather than writing out a massive to do list and trying to get it all done, determine the 1-3 tasks that are absolutely essential and then relentlessly focus on those tasks during the day. It's not that you never do more than three tasks in a day, but that you don't do anything else until you've completed the three essential tasks.

The reality is, most days there are only a few essential things that must be done. Yes, there are a thousand voices clamoring for our attention, but most of those voices aren't crucial. The notifications blowing up your phone and the emails filling your inbox can all wait. If you can complete the 1-3 essential tasks, everything else becomes secondary or even unnecessary.

This is the core topic of Gary Keller and Jay Papasan's book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/ONE-Thing-Surprisingly-Extraordinary-Results/dp/1885167776">The ONE Thing </a> : "What's the ONE Thing you can do this week such that by doing it everything else would be easier or unnecessary?" Once you determine your 1-3 most important tasks, they are scheduled first in your day. You then make progress on essential items before you get bombarded by distractions. You can use this in conjunction with the time blocking method, saving your initial hours for the most important tasks. Email, phone calls, and meetings come later, after you've completed your essential tasks.

By focusing obsessively on your most important tasks, every day is productive. You never have a day where you waste time on meaningless tasks. Productivity expert <a href="http://jamesclear.com/productivity-tip">James Clear puts it this way </a>: If you do the most important thing first each day, then you'll always get something important done. I don't know about you, but this is a big deal for me. There are many days when I waste hours crossing off the 4th, 5th, or 6th most important tasks on my to do list and never get around to doing the most important thing.

By focusing obsessively on your most important tasks, every day is productive. You never have a day where you waste time on meaningless tasks. Productivity expert <a href="http://jamesclear.com/productivity-tip">James Clear puts it this way </a>: Recommended <a href="https://zapier.com/blog/best-todo-list-apps/">task management apps </a>: The <a href="https://zapier.com/blog/best-pomodoro-apps/">Pomodoro Technique </a>is all about working in short, massively productive, intensely focused bursts, and then giving yourself a brief break. It's incredibly simple, in that all it requires is a timer, and it allows you to break down a large task into manageable intervals. Here's how it works:

<ul><li>Choose a task </li><li>Set your timer for 25 minutes </li><li>Work on the task until the timer ends </li><li>Take a short break (around 5 minutes) </li><li>Every 4 Pomodoro sessions, take a longer break (15-30 minutes) </li> </ul>This technique allows you to accomplish a significant amount over the course of the day while still taking adequate breaks. The relatively short time of each session also allows you to intensely focus without becoming mentally fatigued. Some people absolutely swear by the Pomodoro Technique. Paul Klipp, president of Lunar Logic's Polish branch, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-be-more-productive-pomodoro-technique-2014-5">says this about using Pomodoro </a>:

Despite its beautiful simplicity, there are some downsides to the Pomodoro Technique. Pomodoro sessions are supposed to be uninterrupted periods of focus, meaning you can't pause mid-session and then pick it back up later. If a coworker stops by and asks for a few moments of your time, you need to either politely decline or stop the session all together.

You might think that a person could do 16 of these cycles in a day. I'm lucky to get more than two in a day without interruptions. But in those 50 minutes I get more done than I do in the other seven hours of my work day, at least in terms of advancing the most important aspects of my most important projects.

However, as Klipp noted above, it's possible to accomplish a significant amount in only a few sessions. Recommended <a href="https://zapier.com/blog/best-pomodoro-apps/">Pomodoro apps </a>: The human body operates on cycles called " <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultradian_rhythm">ultradian rhythms </a>." During each of these cycles, there is a peak when we are most energized and a trough when we are exhausted. With the 90-minute focus technique, you take full advantage of the energy peaks and troughs that occur throughout your day: Work 90 minutes and then rest for 20-30 minutes. In discussing peak performance <a href="http://projects.ict.usc.edu/itw/gel/EricssonDeliberatePracticePR93.pdf">in a 1993 study </a>, Anders Ericcson pointed out that those rest periods between intense work sessions is essential for improvement.

We've been trained by the 8-hour workday to assume that we should work steadily from 8am to 5pm with only a break for lunch, to exert maximum output from the start to finish of the workday. And while this method certainly allows managers to stay on top of employees, it hampers productivity.

Most people pay little attention to the natural rhythms of their body and use stimulants like coffee to power through periods of low energy. This almost always results in a complete crash around 2:30pm, which corresponds with a trough in your ultradian rhythm. Working in 90-minute bursts allows you to correlate your maximum energy levels with your task list, which then gives your productivity a major boost. You're working with your body instead of against it. As Digital Strategist <a href="https://medium.com/@yeptom/we-are-not-linear-processes-f0858a0cda88#.4p421ao7x">Tom Gibson puts it </a>:

But when you don't find yourself up against the clock, you may want to consider the natural rhythms of your body when deciding on your scheduling method. Your body might not fall exactly in line with the 90-minute cycles, but monitor your energy levels throughout the day for a few weeks to see if you can find a pattern for yourself.

This is a somewhat bizarre scheduling method that only works for a few select people, but if it works for you, you'll achieve uncommon amounts of productivity in a single day. Most people are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biphasic_and_polyphasic_sleep">monophasic sleepers, </a>meaning they get their daily sleep in one chunk (or phase). <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biphasic_and_polyphasic_sleep">Biphasic sleepers </a>get their sleep in two smaller chunks, such as 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the late evening. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biphasic_and_polyphasic_sleep">Polyphasic sleepers </a>take this method to the extreme, breaking up sleep into multiple short phases, which allows for less sleep overall and significant increases in productivity. The amount of sleep in each phase can vary, with some people sleeping only in 20-minute naps and others grabbing larger chunks of sleep and then supplementing with naps.

Chris Jeub, another polyphasic sleeper, <a href="http://www.chrisjeub.com/adding-28-hours-more-per-week/">agrees </a>: "My polyphasic sleep schedule has me feeling healthy and alert, has given me more satisfying sleep, and has helped increase my productivity by up to 28 hours per week." This schedule has some very obvious drawbacks. Steve Pavlina <a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/10/polyphasic-sleep-response-to-reader-feedback/">noted the challenge </a>of having this type of schedule while still maintaining a sane family schedule. And if you miss any of your scheduled sleep sessions, it can significantly throw off your sleep schedule. But this schedule also has some massive advantages, like getting extra hours every day. If you only sleep four hours per day, you add approximately 28 extra hours to your week (assuming normally sleeping 8 hours).

Eugene Dubovoy is a project manager from Russia who has adopted a polyphasic schedule of sleeping 3.5 hours every night supplemented by three 20-minute naps during the day. As a result, he has significantly more time at his disposal and gets much more done than he would otherwise. As he told <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/this-guy-has-only-slept-45-hours-per-day-for-two-years-2013-11#ixzz2lLaEOWQL">Business Insider </a>: "The biggest benefit is that I have about two months of extra time each year. Time is the most valuable resource in our lives."

Creating your most productive schedule might mean creating hybrids of some of these methods. The MIT method works well with the Time Blocking Method. Three Pomodoro sessions fit neatly inside a 90-minute work session. And the Polyphasic Method...well, you might be on your own there.

But it is crucial that you schedule your day. As <a href="http://gregmckeown.com/essentialism-the-disciplined-pursuit-of-less/">Essentialism author Greg McKeown </a>, says: "If you don't prioritize your life, someone else will." By setting a daily schedule, you ensure that you are the one prioritizing your life. This post was originally published in November 2016 and updated in March 2019. Watch image by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@wilstewart3">Wil Stewart </a>via <a href="https://unsplash.com/search/time?photo=tB4-ftQ4zyI">Unsplash </a>. Pomodoro timer photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/standout/5222790553/?utm_source=zapier.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=zapier">David Svensson </a>. Ultradian rhythm illustration by <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/Officevibe/the-productivity-secret-of-the-best-leaders/47-Waveform_of_LifeUltradian_RhythmActivityPeakWavelengthRest9020_20">Officevibe </a>. Polyphasic sleep illustration via <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Uberman.svg">Wikimedia </a>.

Most people want to know the single best way to schedule their day for maximum productivity, and there are numerous articles and books that claim to know the "perfect schedule." But the reality i, there is no perfect method for everyone. Because we all have particular strengths and weaknesses when...

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Master Your Time: 5 Daily Scheduling Methods to Bring More Focus to Your Day

<img src="https://www.bakadesuyo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/how-to-stop-being-lazy.png"> Wall Street Journal Some days the to-do list seems bottomless. Just looking at it is exhausting. We all want to know how to stop being lazy and get more done. I certainly want the answer. So I decided to call a friend who manages to do this - and more. <a href="https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/04/interview-author-cal-newport-on-how-you-can-become-an-expert-and-why-you-should-not-follow-your-passion/">Cal Newport </a>impresses the heck out of me. Why? Well, I'm glad you asked. He's insanely productive:

How to stop being lazy😅

<ol><li>He has a full-time job as a professor at Georgetown University, teaching classes and meeting with students. </li><li>He writes 6 (or more) peer-reviewed academic journal papers per year. </li><li>He's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cal-Newport/e/B001IGNR0U/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&linkCode=ur2&qid=1407672725&sr=1-2-ent&tag=spacforrent-20">the author of 4 books </a>including the wonderful "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0076DDBJ6/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0076DDBJ6&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20">So Good They Can't Ignore You </a>." And he's at work on a fifth. </li><li>He's married with a young child and handles all the responsibilities that come with being a husband and dad. </li><li>He <a href="http://calnewport.com/blog/">blogs </a>regularly about productivity and expert performance. </li> </ol>

No, he does not have superpowers or a staff of 15. Okay, let's you and I both stop being jealous of his productivity for a second and learn something. Below you'll get Cal's secrets on how you can better manage your time, stop being lazy, get more done - and be finished by 5:30. Let's get to work. To-do lists by themselves are useless. They're just the first step. You have to assign them time on your schedule. Why?

Until it's on your calendar and assigned an hour, it's just a list of wishful thinking. Here's Cal: Scheduling forces you to confront the reality of how much time you actually have and how long things will take. Now that you look at the whole picture you're able to get something productive out of every free hour you have in your workday. You not only squeeze more work in but you're able to put work into places where you can do it best.

Until it's on your calendar and assigned an hour, it's just a list of wishful thinking. Here's Cal: Experts agree that if you don't consider how long things take, <a href="https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2012/01/whats-the-secret-to-better-to-do-lists/">you're setting yourself up for failure </a>. I can hear what some of you are thinking: But I get interrupted. Things get thrown at me last minute. Great - build that into your schedule. It doesn't need to be perfect. Things will change. But you need to have a plan, otherwise you'll waste time.

Want to <a href="https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/07/chronic-procrastination/">stop procrastinating </a>? Schedule. Here's Cal: Does this sound too mechanical? Overly structured and not much fun? Wrong. This study was designed to identify the relationship between free time management and quality of life, exploring whether the amount of free time or the way people using their free time relates to their quality of life... The result has found a positive relationship between free time management and quality of life.

Want to <a href="https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/07/chronic-procrastination/">stop procrastinating </a>? Schedule. Here's Cal: Does this sound too mechanical? Overly structured and not much fun? Wrong. (To learn more about the science of a successful life, check out my bestselling book <a href="http://geni.us/butwt">here </a>.) Okay, the to-do list is in the trash and things are going on the calendar. How do you prioritize so you're not at work forever? Work will fill the space it's given. Give it 24/7 and guess what happens?

Cal calls it "fixed schedule productivity": Fix your ideal schedule, then work backwards to make everything fit - ruthlessly culling obligations, turning people down, becoming hard to reach, and shedding marginally useful tasks along the way. My experience in trying to make that fixed schedule a reality forces any number of really smart and useful in-the-moment productivity decisions.

Cal calls it "fixed schedule productivity": Anything that increases your perception of control over a situation - whether it actually increases your control or not - can decrease your stress level. Via <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061771295/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0061771295&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20">Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long </a>: Over and over, scientists see that the perception of control over a stressor alters the stressor's impact.

Cal calls it "fixed schedule productivity": Anything that increases your perception of control over a situation - whether it actually increases your control or not - can decrease your stress level. Via <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061771295/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0061771295&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20">Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long </a>: (For more on how to achieve work/life balance, click <a href="https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/03/work-life-balance/">here </a>.)

You've drawn a line in the sand and worked backward, giving all your tasks hours in your day. But how do you handle longer term projects? I think you'll agree that the last thing this world needs is more short term thinking. How do you write books, teach classes, meet with students, do research papers and be a good parent consistently? Plan the week. Here's Cal:

Are you rolling your eyes? Does this sound overbearing? It's simpler than you think. What's really necessary? Just one hour every Monday morning. Here's Cal: And he's right. Research shows you spend your time more wisely <a href="https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/05/spend-time-wisely/">when you follow a plan </a>. Via <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BPDR4BY/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00BPDR4BY&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20">What the Most Successful People Do at Work: A Short Guide to Making Over Your Career </a>: Preliminary analysis from CEOs in India found that a firm's sales increased as the CEO worked more hours. But more intriguingly, the correlation between CEO time use and output was driven entirely by hours spent in planned activities. Planning doesn't have to mean that the hours are spent in meetings, though meetings with employees were correlated with higher sales; it's just that CEO time is a limited and valuable resource, and planning how it should be allocated increases the chances that it's spent in productive ways.

Are you rolling your eyes? Does this sound overbearing? It's simpler than you think. What's really necessary? Just one hour every Monday morning. Here's Cal: And he's right. Research shows you spend your time more wisely <a href="https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/05/spend-time-wisely/">when you follow a plan </a>. Via <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BPDR4BY/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00BPDR4BY&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20">What the Most Successful People Do at Work: A Short Guide to Making Over Your Career </a>: Maybe you think it's enough to run down the week's duties in your head. Nope.

Studies show writing things down makes you <a href="https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2011/05/what-little-thing-can-increase-the-chance-peo/">more likely to follow through </a>. (For more on how the most productive people get things done, click <a href="https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/06/most-productive-people/">here </a>.) So you've got a fixed schedule and a weekly plan - but the math doesn't add up. There's just too much stuff. Cal has an answer for that too. Maybe you're thinking: I just have too many things to do. I could never get it all done in that amount of time.

And Cal concedes that you might be right. But the answer isn't throwing up your arms and working until 10PM. eliminate as much of the rest as you can Here's Cal: You feel like you have no time but John Robinson, the leading researcher on time use, disagrees. We may have more free time than ever. Via <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EX0XYU6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00EX0XYU6&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20">Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time </a>:

And Cal concedes that you might be right. But the answer isn't throwing up your arms and working until 10PM. eliminate as much of the rest as you can Here's Cal: You're judged on what you do best so if you want to have as much success as possible you're always better off doing fewer things but doing those things better. People say yes to too much. I say no to most things. I'm ruthless about avoiding or purging tasks if I realize they're just not providing much value.

He insists that although most Americans feel they're working harder than ever, they aren't. The time diaries he studies show that average hours on the job, not only in the United States but also around the globe, have actually been holding steady or going down in the last forty years. Everybody, he says, has more time for leisure.

So what gives?It feels like you have no time <a href="https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/04/busy/">because it's so fragmented </a>with little annoying tasks that drain the life out of you. So do less. And be <a href="https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/02/most-successful-people/">amazing at those things </a>. (For more on what the most successful people do, click <a href="https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/12/successful-people/">here </a>.) Your plans are in order and by doing less, it all fits on the schedule. But one question remains: what exactly should you be doing with your time? All work is not created equal. Cal says knowledge workers deal with two fundamentally different types of work, Shallow and Deep:

And what's the problem? Most of us are "drowning in the shallows": People who are the most busy often are getting a lot less done of significance than the people who are able to stop by 5PM every day. That's because the whole reason they need to work at night and on the weekends is because their work life has become full of just shallows. They're responding to messages, moving information around and being a human network router. These things are very time consuming and very low value.

And what's the problem? Most of us are "drowning in the shallows": Nobody in the history of the universe ever became CEO because they responded to more email or went to more meetings. No way, Bubba. Cal has it right: Shallow work stops you from getting fired - but deep work is what gets you promoted. Give yourself big blocks of uninterrupted time to make things of value. What's the best first step?

Stop checking email first thing in the morning. <a href="https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/06/most-productive-people/">Tim Ferriss </a>, author of the international bestseller, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002WE46UW/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002WE46UW&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20&linkId=EBJJXUY3B2QTGEVD">The 4-Hour Workweek </a>, explains: ...whenever possible, do not check email for the first hour or two of the day. It's difficult for some people to imagine. "How can I do that? I need to check email to get the information I need to work on my most important one or two to-dos?" You would be surprised how often that is not the case. You might need to get into your email to finish 100% of your most important to-dos. But can you get 80 or 90% done before you go into Gmail and have your rat brain explode with freak-out, dopamine excitement and cortisol panic? Yes.

Stop checking email first thing in the morning. <a href="https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/06/most-productive-people/">Tim Ferriss </a>, author of the international bestseller, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002WE46UW/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002WE46UW&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20&linkId=EBJJXUY3B2QTGEVD">The 4-Hour Workweek </a>, explains: ...whenever possible, do not check email for the first hour or two of the day. It's difficult for some people to imagine. "How can I do that? I need to check email to get the information I need to work on my most important one or two to-dos?" (For more on how to motivate yourself, click <a href="https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/06/how-to-motivate-yourself/">here </a>.)

So how do we tie all this together? Cal's five big tips: <ol><li>To-Do Lists Are Evil. Schedule Everything. </li><li>Assume You're Going Home at 5:30, Then Plan Your Day Backwards </li><li>Make A Plan For The Entire Week </li><li>Do Very Few Things, But Be Awesome At Them </li><li>Less Shallow Work, Focus On The Deep Stuff </li> </ol>Schedules and plans sound cold and clinical but the end result couldn't be farther from that.

You'll be less stressed, create more time for friends and family, and make things you can be proud of. Here's Cal: The offices of the world could use a few less cubicle drones and a few more proud craftsmen. A PDF of the extended interview with Cal (including his research on how geniuses work) will be in my next weekly email. Sign up to get it <a href="http://eepurl.com/o6uAD">here </a>. Related posts:

Before we commence with the festivities, I wanted to thank everyone for helping my first book become a Wall Street Journal bestseller. To check it out, click here. *** Some days the to-do list seems bottomless. Just looking at it is exhausting. We all want to know how to stop being lazy and get more done.

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P Mustak Ahmed