The 1-Hour (Deep) Workday
#595

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4 Hours Too Much? OK. Let’s Do 1!!

We’ve been talking a fair amount about the idea that some of history’s greatest creators didn’t work all that much. To be clear, they worked hard and (very importantly!) CONSISTENTLY, but the fact is that it’s really hard to put in any more than 4 to 6 hours of really high-quality work. Of course...

+1 inspired by Note: Mindfulness

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Morning Routines
#591

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The Keystone for Your 4-Hour Workday

Continuing our theme of architecting the optimal 4-Hour Workday, let’s talk a little more about some wisdom from Alex Pang (and his great book Rest) on HOW the greatest creators can get away with working so little. Let’s get right to the point with this one. The greatest creators? They start their da...

+1 inspired by Note: Rest

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Masterpiece Days & Productivity

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The 4-Hour Workday
#590

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The Magic Number for Greatness?

In our last +1, we talked about the fact that we need to train our recovery the same way we train our Deep Work. We want to create nice, rhythmic waves in our lives and prioritize rest. One great way to do that? Deep Play. I briefly mentioned the fact that, as Alex Pang tells us in his great book Rest, w...

+1 inspired by Note: Rest

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Energy & Productivity

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Deep Play
#589

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Have Fun Training Your Recovery!

Continuing our theme of attaining mastery sans the misery, let’s talk about Deep Play. That’s one of the main things Alex Pang talks about in his book Rest in which he teaches us how to get a lot more done by, somewhat paradoxically, working less. He tells us that if you actually look at the daily sc...

+1 inspired by Note: Rest

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Creativity & Energy

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A Cognitive Athlete Who Smokes
#559

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Let’s Not Be One

In our last couple +1s, we’ve talked about Optimizing your FOMO by unplugging from the incessant consumption of the inessential. Today I’d like to look at the same basic idea from a slightly different angle. In An Audience of One, Srinivas Rao talks about the importance of creating an environment tha...

+1 inspired by Note: An Audience of One

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Conquering Digital Addiction & Peak Performance

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Getting to the Bottom of Things
#518

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Vis-a-Vis Staying on Top of Things

In our last +1, we talked about the humble algorithm and Professor Harari’s point that it is, arguably, the single most important concept in our world today. We also did a quick audit of the algorithms in your life. (You get to work uninstalling a sub-optimal one and installing an optimal one in its pl...

+1 inspired by Note: Sapiens

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Conquering Digital Addiction & Leadership

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Task Switching Is Expensive
#508

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A Super-Quick Exercise to Calculate the Costs

We talk a lot about the value of going deep and creating, as Peter Drucker puts it in The Effective Executive “large quantums of time” to focus on ONE Thing as Gary Keller puts it. (In fact, as we’ve discussed, Keller tells us that creating “time blocks” where we single-mindedly focus on the mo...

+1 inspired by Note: The Distraction Addiction

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Conquering Digital Addiction & Productivity

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The 80/20 Principle
#162

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What Works? Do More of That

Once upon a time (1897 to be precise), an Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto was studying wealth and income distribution in England. He discovered that a small percentage of individuals owned the majority of land and wealth. In fact, 20% of the population controlled 80% of the wealth and income. On ...

+1 inspired by Note: The 80/20 Principle

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Habits & Productivity

Deep Work Fundamentals The Big 3 tool Work

Digital Sunset
#152

Bedtime for Your Electronics

In our last +1, we talked about Digital Sabbaticals. Today, let’s talk about Digital Sunsets. I’m not 100% sure if I coined that phrase or not but I love it. (Laughing.) Here’s the idea: We know that THE #1 obstacle to getting a good night of sleep is using your technology way too late. (We also kn...

+1 inspired by Note: Sleep Smarter

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Digital Sabbaticals
#151

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Taking Breaks from Focus NOT from Distraction

Let’s revisit Cal Newport’s Deep Work for another genius idea. At the risk of repeating myself even more than normal (yes, it’s deliberate!): Deep Work is where it’s at. As we’ve discussed: Deep Work is simultaneously more RARE and more VALUABLE. Unfortunately, way too many people are spending ...

+1 inspired by Note: Deep Work

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How to Discover Your Deep Work Style
#128

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Hermit. Bimodal. Rhythmic. Journalistic. (Yours?)

Deep Work. As we’ve discussed many times, it’s increasingly more rare AND increasingly more valuable. The amount of high-quality work we produce will always be a function of a very simple equation: Intensity of Focus x Time. You want to get a lot of great work done in a short period of time? Focus yo...

+1 inspired by Note: Deep Work

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Time Blocks
#80

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The #1 Power Tool for Great Days and a Great Life (You Using Them?)

Continuing our theme of making TODAY (and every day!) a Masterpiece Day, let’s take a quick look at Time Blocks. Gary Keller wrote The ONE Thing. He also created the largest real estate agency in the world. In his great little book, he tells us how important it is to ruthlessly focus on what’s mo...

+1 inspired by Note: The ONE Thing

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Abundance & Productivity

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Deep Work + Team Work + Monkey Work
#39

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What Goes When for You?

In our last +1, we talked about matching your mental energy to the right task. The essence of that? You don’t want to try to do your most important work when your brain is fried. I like to think of this whole process of matching our task to our energy as Deep Work + Team Work + Monkey Work. I do my Dee...

+1 inspired by Note: How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big

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Masterpiece Days & Productivity

Deep Work Energy Fundamentals Legacy Planning Strategy team time management unproductive Work

How to Schedule Your Best Work
#38

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Match Your Mental Energy to Your Task

Scott Adams created Dilbert. (Over 10,000 of them by now, actually.) He also wrote a great book called How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big. In it, he tells us how he makes sure he gets his Deep Work done every day. Scott is ALL about systems. Part of his systems for crushing it (again: 10,...

+1 inspired by Note: How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big

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Creativity & Productivity

Consistency Deep Work Energy Fundamentals persistence Planning self-mastery Strategy time management unproductive Work

Multitasking Is a Myth
#37

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What We Do Is Really Task Switching — And that Has a Big Cost

Multitasking is a myth. Our brains aren’t like computers with parallel processors. We can’t actually do multiple things at one time. What we do is not “multi-tasking” per se, it’s more accurately called “task switching.” Here’s why we should care. Remember our handy-dandy Deep Work equati...

+1 inspired by Note: Manage Your Day-to-Day

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The 1-Hour (Deep) Workday #595 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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Morning Routines #591 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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The 4-Hour Workday #590 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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Deep Play #589 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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A Cognitive Athlete Who Smokes #559 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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Getting to the Bottom of Things #518 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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Task Switching Is Expensive #508 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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The 80/20 Principle #162 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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Digital Sunset #152

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Digital Sabbaticals #151 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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How to Discover Your Deep Work Style #128 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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Time Blocks #80 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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Deep Work + Team Work + Monkey Work #39 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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How to Schedule Your Best Work #38 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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Multitasking Is a Myth #37 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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The 1-Hour (Deep) Workday
#595

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Morning Routines
#591

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The 4-Hour Workday
#590

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Deep Play
#589

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A Cognitive Athlete Who Smokes
#559

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Getting to the Bottom of Things
#518

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Task Switching Is Expensive
#508

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The 80/20 Principle
#162

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Digital Sunset
#152

Digital Sabbaticals
#151

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How to Discover Your Deep Work Style
#128

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Time Blocks
#80

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Deep Work + Team Work + Monkey Work
#39

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How to Schedule Your Best Work
#38

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Multitasking Is a Myth
#37

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