Raja's Exocortex

Habits for Success

The evolution of my thoughts and ideas on the skills, habits and character for a successful life.

TL;DR: Managing attention > managing energy > managing time

Part 1: Time Management (2008)

Influencers Brian Tracy, David Allen

  1. Effective time management is the key to success
  2. David Allen Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity
  3. Parkinson's Law Work expands to fill the time alloted for it

📌 Recognize the True Value of Time and Make the Most of It Wealth can be gained or lost. But time can only be lost. Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. So spend it carefully. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back. It is not that you have little time, but that you have wasted a good deal of it. Man who dares to waste time has not discovered the value of life. So Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination; Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

Part 2: Energy Management (2012)

  1. Manage your energy, not your time
  2. Understand your energy cycles throughout the day.
  3. Matching your energy level to the tasks at hand is the key to productivity. Do the most demanding tasks when you are fresh and leave the mundane and trivial work when you are feeling tired.
  4. Eat, sleep, exercise to replenish your energy levels (physical, mental, emotional and spiritual).

Part 3: Attention Management (2018)

  1. When you do something with great concentration and focus two things happen: 1) the passage of time stops and 2) your task is effortless and easy.
  2. In his book Flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi says that when someone is in a state of flow, the passge of time is experienced differently and the performer loses themselves in the action forgetting their physical body and condition.

Part 4: Wu-Wei (Effortless Action) (2019)

  1. Wu Wei, says that when you become on with the Tao, all action becomes effortless and needs no energy.
  2. Quoting the Tao Te Ching (tao-te-ching), the Sage does everything effortlessly and achives peak productivity and performance.

📌 Tao Te Ching Verse 47 ... the Sage arrives without going,
Sees all without looking,
Does nothing, yet achieves everything.

How to Manage Attention

  1. Avoid digital distractions - go on a information diet, uninstall all unnecessary smartphone apps, disable all but essential notifications.
  2. information consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention - Herbert A Simon
  3. Master the art of doing one thing at a time.

#TODO: importance of an information diet