Reading Time: 2 minIf I need to travel to a business that I’ve never been to before, I almost always scout it on Google Maps Street View first, so I have some idea what I’m looking for. Just a few weeks ago, this habit paid off when I discovered that I had the address wrong and would have […]
Productivity
Get rid of busy and leave productive
Reading Time: < 1 minWhen it comes to your workday, it’s often filled with two types of work: Things that keep you busy Things that are productive I was recently talking to someone that had brought in a consultant to help them streamline their manufacturing, and he dropped a great quote on me. Their goal was to become more […]
Manage your time or your energy
Reading Time: < 1 minI’m a big advocate of time management, and have well over 100 posts on here about productivity of various forms. When you get down to it, though, your time isn’t what you need to manage — it’s your energy. In the his book “The Personal MBA“, author Josh Kaufman puts it this way: Here’s the […]
Why should I be doing that?
Reading Time: < 1 minThere are times in my life when I know I should be doing something differently, but I just can’t convince myself to change. This could be exercising more often, writing more frequently, or just buckling down to finish the contract that I’m writing. In most cases, it’s because I’ve lost sight of the “why” behind […]
Your tools matter less than you think
Reading Time: < 1 minThis is a tough post for me to write, because I’m very much a tool guy. If you read back through this blog, it’s littered with new tools I’ve tried, ones I’ve switched to, comparisons, etc. I love playing with digital tools, and that won’t stop. However, it really doesn’t matter. I’ve shared my process […]
Just cross the swamp
Reading Time: < 1 minIn an ideal world, you have some big tasks to focus on each day. In the real world, you have a lot of distractions that will pop up to take you off track, and fighting through those is a key to really getting things done. I came across a great quote in the book “The […]
Plan the trip, but follow your headlights
Reading Time: < 1 minSetting goals can be a great way to improve over time. Whether it’s goals for your business, fitness, relationships, or something else, having a goal is a great way to focus your attention. Generally, though, you can’t just attack the goal; it needs to be broken into pieces. For example, if your goal is “lose […]
Reading versus studying
Reading Time: 2 minA little over a year ago I shared my shortcut of using Blinkist to read book summaries in about 20 minutes versus the hours it takes to read a full book. There are advantages both ways, but I’m finding that Blinkist helps meet the Pareto Principle — I’m getting 80% of the value of the […]
If you can’t describe it, you don’t know it well enough
Reading Time: 2 minA key to understanding how well you know a subject is how easily you’re able to explain it to others. As I shared last year in “Explain it to me like I’m five“, being able to distill a complex subject down is a great skill to develop. In the case of that post from last […]
Time-shifting your effort
Reading Time: 2 minTime-shifting can be a wonderful thing. I talked last year about how time-shifting is so helpful for entertainment and communication, which is why I suspected Clubhouse might have trouble staying relevant. There’s another angle to be considered, and that’s time-shifting your effort. Effort Part of this is pretty obvious, when you schedule your work around […]