pithy insights from the best books on time management and the art of extraordinary performance [2/3]

• In order to become time-rich for real, it’s crucial that you take charge of your work calendar. 
• You must be able to pinpoint what exactly you want to achieve in your career. With a definite outcome in mind, you’ll be in a better position to identify your priorities. 
• When you perform tasks that you’re not naturally good at, you basically waste time that you could have devoted to something else. Just because you’re capable doesn’t mean you have to do everything.
• We have to take ownership of our time by constantly discerning whether or not a particular activity is a priority.
• Adding multiple things to your to-do list would neither multiply your time nor maximize your success.
• The most effective way to increase your productivity is to eliminate non-essential tasks and activities from your life.
• Multipliers ― the most productive amongst us ― focus single-mindedly on the essential, needle-moving tasks and constantly ask themselves what things they can eliminate. They are motivated by results, not activities.
• It’s crucial to attain a sense of control over all your work and develop a Zen mindset so that you don’t react disproportionately to your boss or a co-worker and instead respond in the best way possible every single time.
• When you equip yourself with a powerful process and an improved sense of clarity, your productivity will skyrocket and your stress levels will plummet as you feel calmer and more in control of all your work.
• When you defer strategically important tasks in order to accomplish urgent but less important actions, you set yourself up to never deliver to your potential.
• The key to structuring your time better, i.e. using it intentionally, and staying focused is not about trying to eliminate these unplanned interruptions, but instead becoming proactive and blocking out time in your regular schedule and dedicating it to strategically important tasks.
• The key to thriving and not just surviving as a creative professional is to set up a rock-solid routine. 
• Our bodies follow circadian rhythms, and these rhythms cause us to be more effective in the morning time. That’s why we must reserve the early hours for important and challenging work.
• In order to build a better and more productive routine, we must prioritize our creative work, limiting outside communication and everything that requires involvement from others.
• You must take regular breaks and get a good amount of sleep to maximize your energy reserves.
• When we learn the essential, practical strategies that help us harness our brain’s innate potential and implement them, we enhance our performance in situations that we once found daunting and unmanageable.
• Our brains have magnificent abilities and as we learn how to arouse them in the right manner and adopt helpful tools and strategies in our daily life, we equip ourselves to perform at our best.

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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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