pithy insights from the best books on time management and the art of extraordinary performance [1/3]

In this three-part essay, I would like to share with you the most important takeaways that I have gathered from the best books on time management and the art of extraordinary performance. Through these pithy insights, my intention for you is to develop a focused and highly productive mindset that will help you in navigating through the complexities that come with working in the modern world.  When internalized, they will guide you in your quest to living a productive and purposeful life enriched with incredible achievements.

The fundamentals to achieving better results and mastering the art of stress-free productivity will never change and that’s why it’s crucial that we learn and practice them in our day-to-day life to advance forward both personally and professionally. So, without further ado, here are the insights:

• If there’s one thing you can keep in mind as you begin your workday, it’s this maxim: Multitasking does not equal productivity.
• Multitasking makes you less focused on the most important task at hand.
• Deep work is intentional and conscious effort, and hence necessitates setting up rituals to prepare your mind for it such as defining your space and creating boundaries.
• Unless we diligently prioritize our tasks, it’s easy to become anxious, overwhelmed and fall into the procrastination trap.
• If you want to march steadily towards your big goal and attain long-term success, you must cultivate the daily habit of eating your frog: the most intense and ugliest needle-moving task of the day and tackling it as soon as you start your day.
• You need some tension and constructive stress to live well. After all, growth and antifragility come from struggle.
• Character ethics lay the foundation of human achievement. And each of the seven habits of highly effective people is rooted in them.
• Becoming an effective person is an inside-out process and that’s why we need to focus inward first.
• There’s no magic bullet or “quick fix” to become a highly effective person; it’s a process that you need to commit to perform and nurture day in and day out.
• Once we give ourselves permission to stop becoming a “superhuman” and try to do it all, only then we’ll be able to focus on things that truly matter and perform the daily tasks that reflect our values and take us towards our goals.
• Instead of repeating our misaligned, hamster-wheel patterns, we can start walking on the path of Essentialism, which is nothing but a disciplined, systematic approach for establishing where our highest point of contribution exists, and then making execution of those key things almost effortless.
• Focus on quality, not quantity. It’s best to focus on fewer tasks and do them exceptionally well. 
• When we find our ‘one thing’ and only do that with a laser-sharp focus, we cultivate true mastery in it. 
• It’s extremely useful to constantly question ourselves about what is truly essential and narrow our focus to those things. 
• It’s crucial that you overcome procrastination and distance yourself from the technological slot machines and amusement parks if you really want to enhance your focus and creative output.
• You have to understand that Resistance will never go away; it’ll always be there to keep you from going ahead with your plans. The only way to push through it is to show up every single day and take consistent actions that help you advance forward to your mighty goal.

. . .

If you enjoyed these insights, I’d encourage you to read my book Daily Productivity (The Daily Learner, Book 5). The condensed timeless knowledge in these meditations will assist you in navigating through the complexities that come with working in the modern world.

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