Just when I started on my new lifestyle, I bought a book about managing your day.
This is an excellent read, and once again, I bought from book depository (free shipping!).
Here’s a summary of what I learnt:
Chapter 1 - Build a Routine
Framework: Establish a regular daily routine to ‘trick’ your mind into creative mood. Important/Meaningful/Creative tasks before everything else. Leave reactive tasks (Email, News, Facebook) to later.
Frequency: Consistently work on a project to gain momentum or main ‘the flow’. When an idea is constantly in your mind, you are also more likely to spot surprising relationships.
Take Break: Renew your energy during break.
Reflect: Spend time to reflect on ‘how you work’. Review unproductive habits and thought process.
Get Lonely: Benefit from solitude.
Chapter 2 - Finding Focus
Schedule: Block off time in your calendar as if it is “meeting”. Especially in the morning when you are fresh.
Email and Mobile: The 2 biggest distractions of our time. Understand their cost.
Kill Temptations: The very act of resisting temptation eats up concentration. Kill them totally.
Hangover Effect: We cannot multitask. We can only context switch. And unfinished challenges will linger mentality when we switch.
Progress Marker: To battle email, creative tasks such as 50-hr-of-work needs visible markers. Use diary or keep versions.
Transitional Moments: Immerse in the opportunity and serendipity.
Chapter 3 - Taming your Tools
Filter: Don’t over consume information. Consciously filter.
Check Yourself: Are you acting out of boredom or blind habit when you could be serving a higher goal?
Unplugging: Once in a while, unplug (electronics and Internet).
Your Health: Be conscious of your body, posture and breathing.
Chapter 4 - Sharpening your Creative Mind
Creativity: It is not a talent, but a way of operating.
Personal Projects: Practice unnecessary creation and explore new stuff in a low-pressure environment.
Tank: Look for tellable signs that your tank is empty (it will eventually), then relax, or switch projects.
Subconscious: Disengage from a problem and let your subconscious do its work.
No Time: We don’t have time because it is convenient not to have time, because maybe we don’t want to challenge ourselves.
Define Finished: Define what is “finished” from the start. Don’t be a perfectionist.